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Category Archives: Privacy

Some Lawyers Using Venmo Are Exposing Confidential Client Information

LawSites – and they May Not Even Know It  – “Multiple lawyers who are using the payments app Venmo in their law practices are exposing client information to the public — and they may not even know it. These accounts expose client names and sometimes other details, such as payment amounts, the nature of the representation, or even the client’s financial straits. Model Rule 1.6 of the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct prohibits a lawyer from revealing information relating to the representation of a client unless the client gives informed consent. The ABA has said in an ethics opinion that this rule prohibits lawyers from revealing even the identity of a client..Venmo is a so-called “social payments platform.” The “social” in that description means that anyone on the internet may be able to see the transaction. This viewability can be disabled. Any Venmo user can set their account to be private, in which case the transaction can be seen only by the two participants. A different setting, “friends only,” allows your transactions to be seen only by people you have friended on Venmo. But the default setting is public, and that means that when a lawyer uses Venmo without changing that default setting, every transaction is viewable by the public…”

LLRX Articles and Columns for August 2024

Artificial Intelligence and the Law – David Colarusso AI in Finance and Banking, August 30, 2024 – This semi-monthly column by Sabrina I. Pacifici highlights news, government reports, NGO/IGO papers, industry white papers, academic papers and speeches on the subject of AI’s fast paced impact on the banking and finance sectors. Six highlights from this… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, August 31, 2024

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, August 31, 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… Continue Reading

How safe is telegram?

Proton VPN Blog: “News that Telegram(new window) founder and CEO Pavel Durov has been arrested(new window) and charged on a wide range of charges(new window), including fraud, drug trafficking, organized crime, and the promotion of terrorism, has thrown a spotlight on the unmoderated nature of the controversial messaging platform. But is Telegram safe to use?… Continue Reading

Consumer Reports survey: Many Americans concerned about AI, algorithms

Washington, DC – “A new nationally representative Consumer Reports survey  explores Americans’ attitudes toward artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic decision-making. The survey found that a majority of Americans are uncomfortable about the use of AI and algorithmic decision-making technology around major life moments as it relates to housing, employment, and healthcare. CR conducted this multi-mode… Continue Reading

Field Guide to Police Surveillance

“Welcome to the Field Guide to Police Surveillance. EFF’s Street-Level Surveillance project shines a light on the surveillance technologies that law enforcement agencies routinely deploy in our communities. These resources are designed for advocacy organizations, journalists, defense attorneys, policymakers, and members of the public who often are not getting the straight story from police representatives… Continue Reading

What is PrivacyTests.org?

“Most web browsers leak your identity and your browsing history, but some browsers are more leaky than others. The goal of PrivacyTests.org is to understand in detail: what data is each web browser leaking? Which web browsers offer the best privacy protections [brave, chrone, duckduckgo, edge, firefox, librewold, mullvad, opera, safari, tor, ungoogled, vivaldi?] PrivacyTests.org… Continue Reading

The Political Values of Harris and Trump Supporters

Pew Research Center: – “Wide differences over cultural issues, role of government and foreign policy. ” Some of the widest gaps between Harris and Trump supporters are on issues that have divided Americans for decades, such as the role of guns in society, race and the legacy of slavery. In addition, voters who back Harris… Continue Reading

Face Search Engine Reverse Image Search

“PimEyes is an online face search engine that goes through the Internet to find pictures containing given faces. PimEyes uses face recognition search technologies to perform a reverse image search. Find a face and check where the image appears online. Our face finder helps you find a face and protect your privacy. Facial recognition online… Continue Reading

New web crawler launched by Meta last month is quietly scraping the internet for AI training data

Fortune [no paywall]: “Meta has quietly unleashed a new web crawler to scour the internet and collect data en masse to feed its AI model. The crawler, named the Meta External Agent, was launched last month according to three firms that track web scrapers and bots across the web. The automated bot essentially copies, or… Continue Reading