This week, the social media world has been alight with warning about a “genealogy” site that makes just about anyone’s information — addresses (current and former), age, family members, possible associates — available for free to any user. While this has caused a minor uproar, with concerned folks telling each other how to opt out of having their data shared by this site, this sort of data-aggregating service isn’t exactly anything new — and while what this site is doing might seem remarkably creepy, it is, in fact, completely legal. [More]
privacy
FBI Paid Multiple Best Buy Employees After Finding Illegal Content On Computers
By 1.10.17
As we told you last spring, lawyers for a California doctor accused of possessing child pornography claimed that the FBI had paid a Best Buy employee as an informant. Recently released court documents confirm that multiple Best Buy/Geek Squad staffers received money from the agency after telling the FBI about finding illegal content on customers’ devices. [More]
IMDb Not Complying With New Law Blocking It From Publishing Actors’ Ages
By 1.9.17
On Jan. 1, a new law went into effect in California that would require the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) remove information about actors’ ages and birthdays. We’re now more than a week into the new year, and the site hasn’t taken this information down — and it has no intention of doing so in the immediate future. [More]
Uber Trying To Make Nice With Cities By Sharing Traffic Data
By 1.9.17
Have you ever watched a busy downtown city street and wondered how many of those cars are Ubers, how far they’re going, and how long it usually takes them to get there? City planners and transit administrators do, and so to make their lives a little easier, Uber’s planning to start giving away some aggregated, public-interest data to help transit planners plan. [More]
Calling Customer Service? An AI Is Picking The Agent That’s “Best” For You
By 1.6.17
Think back to the last time you had to call a real, live person in order to complete a purchase or have a problem resolved. How did it go? Did you and the customer service representative you spoke to have trouble understanding one another in some fundamental way? Or was it a smooth interaction, almost as if the CSR you spoke with was carefully hand-picked for you by robots?
If it’s the latter, it might be because the CSR you spoke with was in fact carefully hand-picked for you by robots. [More]
Feds Accuse D-Link Of Failing To Properly Secure Routers & Webcams
By 1.5.17
Federal regulators have accused D-Link, a manufacturer of popular networking and smart-home products, of leaving its routers and webcam devices vulnerable to hackers. [More]
Got An Idea On How To Make ‘Internet Of Things’ More Secure? You Could Win $25,000
By 1.5.17
Internet-connected (“smart”) devices are becoming ubiquitous, but they have this persistent problem: they’re internet-connected. A huge number are extremely vulnerable to being taken over by bad actors, for a whole host of reasons. And so, before your fridge becomes part of the next record-breaking botnet, the Federal Trade Commission wants to give someone cold, hard, cash money for coming up with a way to prevent it. [More]
Will Massive Data Breaches Lead Verizon To Dump Yahoo?
By 12.28.16
While Yahoo has been grabbing headlines lately for its most recent data breach — one that affected more than one billion users — what about that other big story involving Yahoo, the one where Verizon Communications was preparing to buy the company’s internet business? [More]
Sen. Franken Asks Uber To Give Customers More Control Over Use Of Their Data
By 12.22.16
Last month, Uber updated its location tracking policies asking users to allow the app to continue following them for five minutes after their ride ends. Unsurprisingly, the change was met with some concern from users and privacy advocates. Now, lawmakers are jumping into the fray, urging Uber to upgrade its privacy policy to ensure that sensitive customer data is properly protected. [More]
Netflix’s Twitter Account Apparently Hacked Briefly
By 12.21.16
UPDATE: The same hacking group that hit Netflix earlier today is also claiming responsibility for compromising several Marvel Twitter accounts. [More]
FTC Orders Company That Used Verizon ‘Supercookies’ To Disclose Terms, Provide Opt-Out
By 12.20.16
A couple of years ago, Verizon caught a lot of heat for a very sneaky practice: the company was inserting a unique, permanent piece of code into all the web traffic on your phone, without user consent, so that a third party could track your every digital move for advertising purposes. After a public outcry, Verizon finally stopped, and settled with the FTC… but that third-party remained a loose thread in the story. Until now. [More]
Evernote Backtracks On Privacy Policy Changes After User Outcry
By 12.16.16
Popular note-taking and general reminder app Evernote had big plans for 2017. In January, it was going to start feeding all your personal content to an algorithm in order to improve internal machine learning. But those plans allowed for human employees to peek over the robot’s shoulder to see your stuff, which users objected to loudly enough that now those plans are on hold. [More]
Evernote: Update To Privacy Policy Was “Communicated Poorly”
By 12.15.16 — Updated: 12.16.16
Evernote is a cross-platform application for taking notes and storing information, which inspires almost religious devotion in users. This week, though, some Evernote fans have grown disillusioned because of a change to the company’s privacy policy that details how Evernote employees can access and read users’ notes. Update: this change has been called off, and Evernote will only peek at the notes of users who opt in. [More]
Don’t Want Alexa Listening In Your Wynn Las Vegas Hotel Room? Unplug That Echo
By 12.14.16
At first, it might sound pretty cool that the Wynn Las Vegas will be adding Amazon Echo speakers to every hotel room. hotel room. In fact, the idea of a voice-controlled assistant in your room may be something you see as a positive — but it could also be a bit creepy to think that the always-listening device is sitting by your bedside, hearing everything you do while alone (or not) in your room. [More]
Ashley Madison’s Penalty For Exposing Details On 36 Million Users? About $.04 Per Person
By 12.14.16
In 2015, a major data breach at AshleyMadison.com — the dating site targeted at cheaters — exposed information for some 36 million accounts. The company has now entered into a deal that settles federal and state charges that Ashley Madison: misled users about data security and failed to protect user information; charged users to delete profiles (but didn’t); and used fake profiles to lure in customers. While the settlement has a price tag of $8.75 million, Ashley Madison will actually pay significantly less than that. [More]
Court Rules That Police Can Force You To Tell Them Your Phone’s Passcode
By 12.13.16
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]
“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]
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]
