The promise of personal AI assistants rests on a dangerous assumption: that we can trust systems we haven’t made trustworthy. We can’t. And today’s versions are failing us in predictable ways: pushing us to do things against our own best interests, gaslighting us with doubt about …
A new anonymous phone service allows you to sign up with just a zip code. [...]
In his 2020 book, “ Future Politics, ” British barrister Jamie Susskind wrote that the dominant question of the 20th century was “How much of our collective life should be determined by the state, and what should be left to the market and civil society?” But in the early decades of …
This is crazy. Lawmakers in several US states are contemplating banning VPNs, because...think of the children! As of this writing, Wisconsin lawmakers are escalating their war on privacy by targeting VPNs in the name of “protecting children” in A.B. 105 / S.B. 130. It’s an age …
Mother Jones has a long article on surveillance arms manufacturers, their wares, and how they avoid export control laws: Operating from their base in Jakarta, where permissive export laws have allowed their surveillance business to flourish, First Wap’s European founders and executives have quietly built a phone-tracking empire …
This chilling paragraph is in a comprehensive Brookings report about the use of tech to deport people from the US: The administration has also adapted its methods of social media surveillance. Though agencies like the State Department have gathered millions of handles and monitored political discussions online, the Trump …
Android devices are vulnerable to a new attack that can covertly steal 2FA codes, location timelines, and other private data in less than 30 seconds. The new attack, named Pixnapping by the team of academic researchers who devised it, requires a victim to first install a malicious app on …
Discord says that hackers made off with images of 70,000 users’ government IDs that they were required to provide in order to use the site. Like an increasing number of sites, Discord requires certain users to provide a photo or scan of their driver's license or other government …
The company Flok is surveilling us as we drive: A retired veteran named Lee Schmidt wanted to know how often Norfolk, Virginia’s 176 Flock Safety automated license-plate-reader cameras were tracking him. The answer, according to a U.S. District Court lawsuit filed in September, was more than four …
Today’s world requires us to make complex and nuanced decisions about our digital security. Evaluating when to use a secure messaging app like Signal or WhatsApp, which passwords to store on your smartphone, or what to share on social media requires us to assess risks and make judgments …
‘Brit card’ already facing opposition from privacy campaigners as government looks for ways to tackle illegal immigration All working adults will need digital ID cards under plans to be announced by Keir Starmer, in a move that will spark a battle with civil liberties campaigners. The prime minister will …
Firm, which has 18 sites around London and more in US, India and China, has received ransom demand, say reports The names, pictures and addresses of about 8,000 children have reportedly been stolen from the Kido nursery chain by a gang of cybercriminals. The criminals have demanded a …
As Keir Starmer aims to revive ID card system first proposed by Tony Blair, we look at the arguments for and against It is 21 years since Tony Blair’s government made proposals for an ID card system to tackle illegal working and immigration, and to make it more …
Details from leaked documents : While people often look at China’s Great Firewall as a single, all-powerful government system unique to China, the actual process of developing and maintaining it works the same way as surveillance technology in the West. Geedge collaborates with academic institutions on research and development …
Over the past year, Meta has blanketed TV screens around the world with commercials touting the privacy of Whatsapp, its encrypted messenger with a monthly user base of 3 billion people. “It’s private,” one ad campaign featuring the former cast of the Modern Family TV show says. “On …
Fears around children is opening up a new market for automatic license place readers. [...]
Skechers is making a line of kid’s shoes with a hidden compartment for an AirTag. [...]
The current state of digital identity is a mess. Your personal information is scattered across hundreds of locations: social media companies, IoT companies, government agencies, websites you have accounts on, and data brokers you’ve never heard of. These entities collect, store, and trade your data, often without your …
The current state of digital identity is a mess. Your personal information is scattered across hundreds of locations: social media companies, IoT companies, government agencies, websites you have accounts on, and data brokers you’ve never heard of. These entities collect, store, and trade your data, often without your …
In May 2020, Sacramento, California, resident Alfonso Nguyen was alarmed to find two Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies at his door, accusing him of illegally growing cannabis and demanding entry into his home. When Nguyen refused the search and denied the allegation, one deputy allegedly called him a liar …
The Chinese have a new tool called Massistant. Massistant is the presumed successor to Chinese forensics tool, “MFSocket”, reported in 2019 and attributed to publicly traded cybersecurity company, Meiya Pico. The forensics tool works in tandem with a corresponding desktop software. Massistant gains access to device GPS location data …
The ICEBlock tool has vulnerabilities : The developer of ICEBlock, an iOS app for anonymously reporting sightings of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, promises that it “ensures user privacy by storing no personal data.” But that claim has come under scrutiny. ICEBlock creator Joshua Aaron has been accused …
Long article on the difficulty (impossibility?) of human spying in the age of ubiquitous digital surveillance. [...]
As governments consider mandatory CCTV in early education, one big provider with cameras already installed is yet to formalise guidelines for how the footage will be stored and used Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast In the wake of horrifying reports last week alleging …
Extensions installed on almost 1 million devices have been overriding key security protections to turn browsers into engines that scrape websites on behalf of a paid service, a researcher said. The 245 extensions, available for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, have racked up nearly 909,000 downloads, John Tuckner of …