Category «Privacy»

Background Check Agency Wants a Social Media Search Tool

Nextgov: “The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency wants a tool to automatically cull social media and other public websites to create a searchable database of posts, actions and interactions that can be used in insider threat investigations. Along with conducting background investigations for all of government, DCSA also manages the insider threat program for the …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Internet, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

FTC disputes Facebook reasoning for shutting down NYU disinformation project

ZDNet – “The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has criticized Facebook for claiming that a consent decree handed down by the organization was the reason they had to shut down New York University’s Ad Observatory. Facebook has faced significant backlash this week after they closed the researchers’ accounts working for the Ad Observatory project, which let Facebook …

Subjects: E-Commerce, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, August 15, 2021

Via LLRX – Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, 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 and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Government Documents, ID Theft, Internet, Knowledge Management, Microsoft, Privacy, Social Media

How DuckDuckGo makes money selling search, not privacy

TechRepublic: “…As much as we may resist the idea of being tracked online, we’re often told it’s necessary to give us personalized results. DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg disagrees: It’s actually a big myth that search engines need to track your personal search history to make money or deliver quality search results. Almost all of the …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Internet, Privacy, Search Engines

NYPD secretly spent $159 million on surveillance tech

Engadget: “The New York City Police Department has spent over $159 million on surveillance systems and maintenance since 2007 without public oversight, according to newly released documents. The Legal Aid Society (LAS) and the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP) obtained the documents from the NYPD, which include contracts with vendors. They show that the NYPD …

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy, Transportation

New safety and digital wellbeing options for younger people on YouTube and YouTube Kids

YouTube Official Blog: “Today, we’re announcing additional protections for people under 18 on YouTube and YouTube Kids. Younger people use YouTube every day to discover new interests, learn about the world, and connect with the world through online video. But it’s essential that as they do, they have the options and safeguards to create the …

Subjects: Internet, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines

How Your Ad Blocker Can Track You Across the Web

Gizmodo: “…the average ad blocker leaves tiny traces of data on the websites you visit. When those traces are collected en masse, a bad actor (or tech company) could use these signals to identify your specific browser—a process literally called “fingerprinting” in the ad-targeting industry. And like a fingerprint, these signals are basically impossible to …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Commerce, Internet, Knowledge Management, Privacy

Firefox 91 pushes privacy with stronger new cookie-clearing option

CNET: ” With the release of Firefox 91 on Tuesday, Mozilla has introduced a bigger hammer for smashing the cookies that websites, advertisers and tracking companies can use to record your online behavior. The new feature, called enhanced cookie clearing, is designed to block tracking not just from a website, but also from third parties …

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

Want a strong password? You’re probably still doing it the wrong way

ZDNet – Security agencies say that three random words can be a better approach than enforcing complexity to achieve account protection. Bad passwords are easy to remember, but also easy to guess and that can give an attacker access to your online accounts. That’s why the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has explained why …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, PC Security, Privacy

Does your iPhone or iPad have Pegasus spyware? Find out for free

CNET: “Every time there’s a report about an iPhone or iPad exploit being actively distributed and used, it’s unnerving. In July, it was revealed that security researchers discovered evidence of Pegasus spyware being used on the phones of journalists, politicians and activists.  The spyware can be remotely installed on a target’s iPhone or iPad without the …

Subjects: Internet, Privacy, Social Media