Category «Privacy»

Republicans seek Pennsylvania voters’ personal information as they try to review the 2020 results

The New York Times: “Pennsylvania Republicans moved on Wednesday to seek personal information on every voter in the state as part of a brewing partisan review of the 2020 election results, rubber-stamping more than a dozen subpoenas for driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers. The expansive request for personal information, directed at Pennsylvania’s …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Records, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation, Privacy

How to Hide Your House From Nosy People on Google, Apple, Bing Maps

Lifehacker: “With the rise of increasingly convenient features such as street-level 360º photos available on Google Maps and other competing mapping services, there’s always a risk your personal data will be captured in a publicly available photo in a way you’d rather avoid—whether than means the outside of your house or the location where you …

Subjects: Internet, Privacy, Search Engines

The Best Antivirus Protection for 2021

PCMag: “Antivirus software is critical for every PC. Without it, your personal information, your data, and even your bank account are all at risk. We’ve tested more than 40 utilities to help you pick the best antivirus protection…We call it antivirus, but in truth it’s unlikely you’ll get hit with an actual computer virus. Malware …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Education, ID Theft, Internet, Privacy

Gmail app takes calls now, too, because Google wants it to do everything

The Verge: “Google is announcing even more Workspace features today, part of an increased cadence of changes to the company’s office and communications software suite over the past year or so. Today’s announcement is a bit of a milestone, however. Although there is still the smattering of small and coming-soon updates, the bigger change is …

Subjects: E-Mail, Internet, Knowledge Management, Privacy

LAPD officers told to collect social media data on every civilian they stop

The Guardian: “The Los Angeles police department (LAPD) has directed its officers to collect the social media information of every civilian they interview, including individuals who are not arrested or accused of a crime, according to records shared with the Guardian. Copies of the “field interview cards” that police complete when they question civilians reveal …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

Bosses turn to ‘tattleware’ to keep tabs on employees working from home

The Guardian: “…Remote surveillance software like Sneek, also known as “tattleware” or “bossware”, represented something of a niche market pre-Covid. But that all changed in March 2020, as employers scrambled to pull together work-from-home policies out of thin air. In April last year, Google queries for “remote monitoring” were up 212% year-on-year; by April this …

Subjects: Economy, Knowledge Management, Privacy

How to block Facebook from snooping on you

Washington Post: “Seven steps you can take to keep Facebook and Instagram from gathering so much of your personal information outside of their apps. If you ever get that eerie feeling Facebook or Instagram are listening to you, you’re not entirely hallucinating. Facebook says it’s not literally activating the microphones on our smartphones, but it …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management, Privacy, Social Media

Data Brokers Know Where You Are and Want to Sell That Intel

Wired: “These firms could track whether you’ve visited your therapist’s office or your ex’s house. And without regulation, they’re a threat to democracy…In a new report for the Cyber Policy Program at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, I surveyed 10 major data brokers and the sensitive data they advertise. They openly and explicitly …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Records, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy

EPIC Obtains Documents About DC’s Use of Automated ‘Risk Scores’ for Public Benefit Recipients

“EPIC, through a freedom of information request, has obtained new records about the D.C. Department of Human Services’ use of automated systems to track and assign “risk score[s]” to recipients of public benefits. The documents show that DCDHS has contracted with Pondera, a Thomson Reuters subsidiary, for case management software and a tool known as …

Subjects: AI, E-Records, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy