Category «Privacy»

Update WhatsApp after hack

Washington Post – “Global messaging app WhatsApp, which boasts over 1 billion users, was targeted by hackers last month in a breach that saw mobile devices attacked through the voice-calling functionality of the app. The security flaw potentially gave hackers access to private messages, location data and other personal user information. While WhatsApp hasn’t specifically …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Internet, Privacy, Social Media

How to stop Google from keeping your voice recordings

The Verge -Keep your ‘Hey Google’ questions off the record (or isn’t it time you used DuckDuckGo) “Home assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistant are becoming ubiquitous, and as that happens, more and more users are discovering how much of their data is actually being collected by these handy items. The Washington Post’s Geoffrey …

Subjects: E-Commerce, Internet, Privacy, Search Engines

Yes, Americans can opt-out of airport facial recognition – and it is not easy

EFF – Skip the Surveillance By Opting Out of Face Recognition At Airports – “…It might sound trite, but right now, the key to opting out of face recognition is to be vigilant. There’s no single box you can check, and importantly, it may not be possible for non-U.S. persons to opt out of face recognition …

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, E-Records, Legal Research, Privacy, Transportation

Your most sensitive data is likely exposed online. These people try to find it.

c/net: “Justin Paine sits in a pub in Oakland, California, searching the internet for your most sensitive data. It doesn’t take him long to find a promising lead. On his laptop, he opens Shodan, a searchable index of cloud servers and other internet-connected devices. Then he types the keyword “Kibana,” which reveals more than 15,000 …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Mail, E-Records, ID Theft, Internet, Libraries, Privacy

2019 Data Breach Investigations Report

“The Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) provides you with crucial perspectives on threats that organizations like yours face. The 12th DBIR is built on real-world data from 41,686 security incidents and 2,013 data breaches provided by 73 data sources, both public and private entities, spanning 86 countries worldwide. Data breaches continue to make headlines …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Legal Research, Privacy

Consumer groups accuse Amazon of illegally collecting data on children

Washington Post – Amazon Echo Dot Kids accused of illegally collecting data on children – “A coalition of 19 consumer and privacy groups plans to file a complaint Thursday alleging that Amazon’s Echo Dot Kids Edition is illegally collecting voice recordings and other identifying information on users under 13 and that the system’s parental controls are …

Subjects: E-Commerce, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

7 simple ways to protect your digital privacy

The New York Times – “What little privacy people don’t give away, companies tend to take. Given this unfortunate reality, to get complete privacy you’d need to install a labyrinthine series of software tools that make the internet slow and unusable — think specialty Web browsers, encrypted email and chat; virtual private networks; and security-focused …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Internet, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media

Consider this – Alexa is always listening and collecting data about you

The Daily Dot – Here’s what you need to know about the security and privacy implications of smart speakers, both the myths and the realities – 1) Smart speakers are always listening – One of the first things you’ll hear about smart speakers like echo is that they’re “always listening” to your conversations—which is technically …

Subjects: AI, Cybersecurity, E-Commerce, Internet, Privacy

The Voluntariness of Voluntary Consent: Consent Searches and the Psychology of Compliance

Sommers, Roseanna and Bohns, Vanessa K., The Voluntariness of Voluntary Consent: Consent Searches and the Psychology of Compliance (April 10, 2019). Yale Law Journal, Vol. 128, No. 7, 2019. Available at SSRN “Consent-based searches are by far the most ubiquitous form of search undertaken by police. A key legal inquiry in these cases is whether …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Records, Legal Research, Privacy

What Amazon knows about you – more than you may have considered

“Depending on how much you shop, watch and read with Amazon, the e-commerce behemoth may know more about you than any other company on earth, Axios chief tech correspondent Ina Fried reports. [Note – this is an extensive report – I have included just a portion] Naturally, Amazon knows what you’ve browsed or bought on …

Subjects: E-Commerce, Internet, Libraries, Privacy, Social Media

ODNI Releases Annual Intelligence Community Transparency Report

“Today, consistent with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), as amended (codified in 50 U.S.C. § 1873(b)), and the Intelligence Community’s (IC) Principles of Intelligence Transparency, we are releasing our sixth annual Statistical Transparency Report Regarding Use of National Security Authorities presenting statistics on how often the government uses certain national security authorities. Providing these statistics …

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

Google to roll out auto-delete controls for location history and activity data

Google Blog – Introducing auto-delete controls for your Location History and activity data – Whether you’re looking for the latest news or the quickest driving route, we aim to make our products helpful for everyone. And when you turn on settings like Location History or Web & App Activity, the data can make Google products …

Subjects: Internet, Privacy, Search Engines