Smartphones have taken over our lives faster than the law is able to deal with. For a few years now, it’s been kind of an open legal question whether or not law enforcement can force you to provide them with the password or PIN you use to unlock your phone. A few previous courts have ruled no, that having to provide your passcode is tantamount to self-incriminating testimony. But recently, an appeals court in Florida has found the other way. [More]
Data & Privacy
“Security As An Afterthought:” 3 Frightening Privacy Claims From Former Uber Staffers
By 12.12.16
Even if you’re a fan of Uber’s service, it’s often difficult to not take issue with the company’s short history of: disregarding taxi regulations, having questionable screening procedures for drivers, taking a casual approach to customer privacy, and forbidding both its employees and users from bringing lawsuits. Now, several former Uber security staffers are pulling back the veil on what they see as problems at the hugely popular ridesharing service. [More]
Don’t Fall For The ‘Missed Delivery Notice’ Email Scam This Holiday Season
By 12.9.16
If you’re like everyone else you know, you’ve probably been doing — or plan to do — a bit of online holiday shopping this year. Missing a delivery could put a serious kink in your day, but don’t let that fear draw you into a scammer’s net. [More]
Should You Be Able To Serve Divorce Papers Through Facebook?
By 12.9.16
If you so choose, you can use the internet to avoid virtually all person-to-person contact; sign contracts electronically, transfer funds from account to account, transact business, order dinner and a movie, but can you use Facebook to sidestep the awkward — and sometimes difficult — process of serving divorce papers on your estranged spouse? Not always, says one judge. [More]
Verizon Won’t Explain Confusing Ad Data Policy On NFL Mobile Streaming
By 12.9.16
If you’re a Verizon Wireless customer, you may have taken advantage of the carrier’s promotion that allows you to stream local football games via the NFL Mobile app without eating away at your monthly data allotment. However, you might not have noticed that the commercials you watch during those games do count against your data limit — at least initially. It’s confusing to some Verizon customers, and the nation’s largest wireless provider won’t explain why it’s not more straightforward. [More]
Company Behind “Smart” Vibrator To Settle Claims It Violated Users’ Privacy
By 12.8.16 — Updated: 12.11.16
From phones to children’s toys and speakers, just about everything can become a “smart” device today. Even vibrators. And just like all of the other devices, sex toys can also violate your privacy. That’s the crux of a soon-to-be settled lawsuit. [More]
Busch Gardens: Errant Reservation Emails Were The Result Of A Glitch, Not A Hack
By 12.8.16
While it’s a very useful thing to receive an email confirming your upcoming reservation to a theme or amusement park, it’s not quite so helpful if you never made plans to visit that attraction in the first place. Busch Gardens is now reassuring folks who accidentally got an email about an impending trip to one of its parks that the errant missives were due to a glitch, and not an information breach. [More]
T-Mobile Offered To Forward Your Number To A Random Stranger’s Device Today
By 12.7.16
Today, T-Mobile announced a new feature that’s useful for users with multiple devices and multiple phone numbers: Digits, which lets customers link their numbers and devices to receive calls. There was a problem with beta signups for the service, though: it was showing people who tried to sign up other customers’ phone numbers. [More]
Uber Tracks You Even After Your Ride: Invasion Of Privacy Or Necessary?
By 12.7.16
Obviously Uber needs your location to send a car to pick you up, and obviously the service tracks your location during the ride to make sure you get where you’re going. But why does Uber now continue to follow you for five minutes after your ride ends? [More]
Android Phone Maker Accused Of Knowingly Selling Phones Loaded With Spyware
By 12.6.16
Some especially sneaky spyware, which takes all of a user’s messages and browsing data and quietly ships it to servers in China, was recently discovered on some inexpensive Android devices sold in this country. Two customers who own the offending phones have filed a class action against the company that sold them here in the United States, on behalf of the buyers of at least 120,000 devices. [More]
Cable Exec: Data Caps For All Are Inevitable, “It’s Not If … But When And How”
By 12.6.16
Hey, remember when your home broadband was effectively unfettered by monthly restrictions on downloads? Well, internet service providers would prefer that you didn’t have such free and easy access to data, because they want those data caps to be for all your internet use, everywhere, as soon as they can make it happen. [More]
Instagram To Let You Turn Off Commenting & “Like” Positive Comments
By 12.6.16
Just weeks after Twitter announced that it would be stepping up its efforts to hide and report harassment and abuse, Instagram says it’s also launching a new tool to give users more controls over the comments on the photos and videos they post. [More]
These Toys Don’t Just Listen To Your Kid; They Send What They Hear To A Defense Contractor
By 12.6.16
Kids say a lot of random, unsolicited, or just plain personal things to their toys while playing. When that toy is stuffed with just fluff and beans, it doesn’t matter what the kid says: their toy is a safe sounding board. When their playtime companion is an internet-connected recording device that ships off audio files to a remote server without even notifying parents — that’s a whole other kind of problem. [More]
USDA Can No Longer Hide How Much Money Stores Make From Food Stamps
By 12.1.16
All across America, families use benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP — formerly, and colloquially, known as the Food Stamp program) to buy food, but participation in SNAP varies from store to store, and the federal regulator that oversees the program has denied requests to turn over data on retailer-specific use of SNAP benefits. However, yesterday a federal court ruled that the government can no longer shield this information from public view. [More]
Senators Make Last-Ditch Attempt To Block Expanded Government Hacking Authority
By 11.30.16
There’s a change coming that could arguably make it a lot easier for feds to snoop through your digital stuff, even if you’ve done nothing but been the victim of some malware. If Congress doesn’t act to stop it, that change to Rule 41 becomes effective basically at midnight tonight. So a handful of Senators who want to block it are all but begging their colleagues to act now. [More]
China Wants To Assign Every Citizen A Credit Score For Their Lives
By 11.30.16
Imagine if the authorities compiled a score based on your everyday actions, which followed you around and affected your ability to do everything from get your kid into college to booking a stay in a fancy hotel. While this sounds like a particular plot line from the most recent season of the Netflix series Black Mirror, it’s actually a new way that the Chinese government has devised to exert control over its citizens. [More]
Malicious Android Apps Have Taken Over More Than 1M Google Accounts
By 11.30.16
Is there something lurking in your phone that shouldn’t be? Malware designed to look like real Android apps has taken control of more than a million Google accounts since August, according to a new report from security researchers. [More]
Can You Be Arrested For Not Showing Your Driver’s License?
By 11.28.16 — Updated: 11.29.16
Imagine you and your friends are driving somewhere in two cars. Your friend in the other car gets pulled over for a minor traffic violation, so you pull over to wait. Then an officer comes to your door asking to see your license. If you refuse to produce the license because you’ve done nothing wrong, can you be arrested? Depends on which judge you ask. [More]
