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Category Archives: E-Records

Data-Hungry Dating Apps Are Worse Than Ever for Your Privacy

Mozilla Report – Privacy Not Included: “When we reviewed dating apps for the first time back in 2021, they did not do well against our privacy and security criteria. This time, our research shows they’ve gotten even worse for your privacy. And in 2024, the stakes are much higher. Dating apps claim the more personal data you share, the more likely you are to find love. We have no way of knowing if that’s true. What we do know is that most dating apps fail spectacularly at protecting that information. Like romantic AI chatbots, the nature of dating apps means they probably need to collect some sensitive and personal information from you. Fine! But we learned that companies often take advantage of that and use your personal information for reasons unrelated to love. They often say they can share it, sell it, or just don’t do the bare minimum to keep that data secure. At a time when the popularity of AI integration and AI-powered deepfakes means we need better privacy protections, dating apps seem to be doubling down on their bad-for-privacy practices. Dating apps just can’t get enough of your data!Twenty two of the 25 (88%) dating apps we reviewed come with *Privacy Not Included.”

A National Security Insider Does the Math on the Dangers of AI

Wired [unpaywalled]: “Jason Matheny is a delight to speak with, provided you’re up for a lengthy conversation about potential technological and biomedical catastrophe. Now CEO and president of Rand Corporation, Matheny has built a career out of thinking about such gloomy scenarios. An economist by training with a focus on public health, he dived into… Continue Reading

Introducing Dark Web Monitoring for credential leaks

Proton Blog: “Your email address is your online identity(new window), and you share it whenever you create a new account for an online service. While this offers convenience, it also leaves your identity exposed if hackers manage to breach the services you use. Data breaches affecting online services are increasingly common, with tens of billions… Continue Reading

How Political Campaigns Use Your Data to Target You

EFF: “Data about potential voters—who they are, where they are, and how to reach them—is an extremely valuable commodity during an election year. And while the right to a secret ballot is a cornerstone of the democratic process, your personal information is gathered, used, and sold along the way. It’s not possible to fully shield… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, April 13, 2024

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, April 13, 2024 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex… Continue Reading

96% of US hospital websites share visitor info with Meta, Google, data brokers

The Register: “Hospitals – despite being places where people implicitly expect to have their personal details kept private – frequently use tracking technologies on their websites to share user information with Google, Meta, data brokers, and other third parties, according to research published today. Academics at the University of Pennsylvania analyzed a nationally representative sample… Continue Reading

How to Stop Your Data From Being Used to Train AI

Wired: “If you’ve ever posted something to the internet—a pithy tweet, a 2009 blog post, a scornful review, or a selfie on Instagram—it has most likely been slurped up and used to help train the current wave of generative AI. Large language models, like ChatGPT, and image creators are powered by vast reams of our… Continue Reading

Virtual Reality and the ‘Virtual Wall’

EFF: “When EFF set out to map surveillance technology along the U.S.-Mexico border, we weren’t exactly sure how to do it. We started with public records—procurement documents, environmental assessments, and the like—which allowed us to find the GPS coordinates of scores of towers. During a series of in-person trips, we were able to find even… Continue Reading

A US bill takes aim at protecting Americans’ data privacy

The Verge: “Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) and House Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Oregon) announced a new, national data privacy bill called The American Privacy Rights Act (PDF) today. According to their release, the bill would, among other things, “require affirmative express consent sensitive data can be transferred to a third party.” The two were behind… Continue Reading