Category «Privacy»

How to keep junk snail mail out of your mailbox forever (sort of)

Washington Post: “…Mail volumes in the United States peaked in 2011, but junk mail has continued almost unabated. Last year, roughly 63 billion catalogues, postcards, credit card offers and coupon booklets arrived in America’s mailboxes. That’s 62 percent of all U.S. household mail, reports the U.S. Postal Service.  This takes a heavy environmental toll. The …

Subjects: Privacy

Is Amazon Alexa spying on you?

Proton VPN Blog: “Amazon and third parties (including advertising and tracking services) collect smart speaker interaction data. We find that Amazon processes voice data to infer user interests and uses it to serve targeted ads on-platform (Echo devices) as well as off-platform (web). Smart speaker interaction leads to as much as 30X higher ad bids …

Subjects: E-Records, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Privacy

CISA Toolkit Encouraging Americans to Keep Themselves and Families Safe Online

“The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) today announced the launch of  “Secure Our World,” a nationwide cybersecurity public awareness campaign to educate all Americans on how to stay safe online. The campaign includes a public service announcement (PSA) that will air on stations around the country, as well as digital content, a toolkit, and …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Government, E-Records, Privacy

Google Indexing Public Bard Conversations In Search Results

Search Engine Journal: “…On X, formerly Twitter, people report links to conversations with Google’s Bard chatbot are appearing in search results, raising concerns about privacy and data security. You can replicate what others are seeing by typing ‘site:bard.google.com/share‘ into the Google Search bar. This has sparked a wave of concern among Bard users. Google hasn’t …

Subjects: AI, Internet, Privacy, Social Media

Behind the Scenes at ‘Have I Been Pwned’

Via Slashdot and contributor slincolne [the link is behind a paywall]: “The founder of the data-breach notification site Have I Been Pwned manages “the largest known repository of stolen data on the planet,” reports Australia’s public broadcaster ABC, including over 6 billion email address. Yet with no employees, Troy Hunt manages all of the technical …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Mail, E-Records, Economy, Financial System, Legal Research, Privacy

The Man Who Trapped Us in Databases

The New York Times [read free]- “Hank Asher was a drug smuggler with a head for numbers — until he figured out how to turn Americans’ private information into a big business. One of Asher’s innovations — or more precisely one of his companies’ innovations — was what is now known as the LexID. My …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Mail, E-Records, Financial System, Legal Research, Privacy

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, September 23, 2023

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, September 23, 2023 – 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 …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Records, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Legislation, Privacy, Search Engines

What Big Tech Knows About Your Body

The Atlantic [free to read]: “..We leave digital traces about our health everywhere we go: by completing forms like BetterHelp’s. By requesting a prescription refill online. By clicking on a link. By asking a search engine about dosages or directions to a clinic or pain in chest dying???? By shopping, online or off. By participating …

Subjects: E-Records, Health Care, Legal Research, Medicine, Privacy, Search Engines

How to Delete Private Browsing History and Protect Your Privacy

MakeUseOf: “Most people use the incognito browsing mode when they want to keep their browsing history private. But did you know that incognito mode isn’t actually private? When using incognito mode in your web browser, you may think that your activities are completely anonymous and untraceable. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Your Internet …

Subjects: Internet, Privacy, Search Engines

New Privacy Badger Prevents Google From Mangling More of Your Links and Invading Your Privacy

EFF: “We released a new version of Privacy Badger that updates how we fight “link tracking” across a number of Google products. With this update Privacy Badger removes tracking from links in Google Docs, Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Images results. Privacy Badger now also removes tracking from links added after scrolling through Google Search …

Subjects: Internet, Privacy, Search Engines

UK Guide on the use of Generative AI

UK Gov: Guide on the use of Generative AI – “Overview – Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools offer many potential benefits to Government of Canada (GC) institutions. Federal institutions should explore potential uses of generative AI tools for supporting and improving their operations. However, because these tools are evolving, they should not be used in …

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Cybersecurity, E-Government, Government Documents, Intellectual Property, Legal Research, Privacy