There are legitimate security concerns about Google, most recently around its handling of user location data. However, there are a growing number of media outlets and U.S government officials bashing the company for allowing Gmail add-ons and third-party mail clients to read user messages – which is required for them to function. A few months […]
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New Ghostery Browser arrives with improved speed, ad blocking, and other privacy features [APK Download]
Some of you might know Ghostery as a handy Chrome extension/Firefox add-on that blocks trackers on websites. What I forgot, though, was that there was also a mobile browser for Android and iOS and it’s been around for quite some time. It just got an overhaul yesterday, complete with some enhanced privacy features if you’re […]
Read MoreIncognito mode in Google Chrome might become ‘Private mode’
For privacy-conscious users, Incognito Mode has long been a favorite feature of Google Chrome. It lets you browse the web without maintaining a history or saving information like cookies and form inputs. Other browsers have tended to call it Private Mode, since that’s probably a term more people are familiar with, and it looks like […]
Read MoreNewegg hacked, card information stolen for millions
Popular e-commerce website Newegg is the latest victim of cyber attacking by Magecart, according to Volexity, a cyberthreat monitoring firm. Newegg is one in a string of high profile cyber attacks making use of the card skimming code which recently compromised British Airways, Ticketmaster, and Feedify. Most critically, customer names and complete card details were stolen […]
Read MoreMozilla’s Firefox & Apple’s Safari browsers add anti-Facebook and Google privacy protections
Care about your data privacy? Here’s a good reason to stop using the Google Chrome browser, and use Firefox or Safari instead on your desktop, laptop, and mobile devices. Facebook, Google, and many other online ad businesses are tracking pretty much everything you do online, through your web browser and apps, to figure out how […]
Read MoreThe Tor Project launches Tor Browser alpha on Android
For years, you’ve been able to connect to the Tor Network on Android using Orbot and browse using Orfox. Now, you can get the privacy and security benefits of Tor in a new package. The first alpha of the Tor Browser is now live in the Play Store, and it will (eventually) simplify the process […]
Read MoreMastercard sold Google data on cardholders’ in-store credit card use
REUTERS Bloomberg: For the past year, select Google advertisers have had access to a potent new tool to track whether the ads they ran online led to a sale at a physical store in the U.S. That insight came thanks in part to a stockpile of Mastercard transactions that Google paid for. But most of […]
Read MoreFirefox will block tracking scripts by default, starting in 2019
Mozilla has always been a strong advocate for internet privacy. More recently, Mozilla has been working on Firefox Focus, a simplified browser that blocks all trackers/cookies and erases browsing data after you close the app. Now the company wants to take privacy a step further, by blocking all tracking scripts by default on the main […]
Read MoreGoogle and several other tech companies pushing for a new federal privacy law
Online privacy is a touchy subject, with all of us falling on different parts of the how-much-do-I-actually-care spectrum. In general, though, most people seem to understand that the companies whose products we use or rely on daily, like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, are collecting a lot of data on them. The creepiness factor is real, […]
Read MoreHow to fully disable ‘Ok Google’ listening on your Android phone
Our phones being able to respond to voice commands is great: you can ask for a unit conversion in the kitchen without getting flour on your screen, or change your driving destination without taking your eyes off the road. What’s less great is that to facilitate that convenience, phones have to be listening at all […]
Read More[Update: Possible class action lawsuit] Google clarifies its language about Location History settings, but there’s still room for improvement
Google’s location-tracking practices endured a new wave of scrutiny at the start of this week thanks to an investigation by The Associated Press, which put some meat on the bones of suspicion many users have harbored for a while now. By week’s end, Google updated some language on the help page for its Location History […]
Read MoreGoogle clarifies its language about Location History settings, but there’s still room for improvement
Google’s location-tracking practices endured a new wave of scrutiny at the start of this week thanks to an investigation by The Associated Press, which put some meat on the bones of suspicion many users have harbored for a while now. By week’s end, Google updated some language on the help page for its Location History […]
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Apple Toying With The Idea Of Using iPhones For Identification
Our smartphones are highly personal devices and in some instances, they can already be used for personal identification, such as storing driver’s licenses. However it seems that Apple is taking things one step further and suggesting that perhaps our iPhones could even be used as passports. Advertising This is according to a recently discovered patent […]
Read MoreHow to turn off info sharing on TVs and set-top boxes with Google Assistant (non-Android TV devices only)
Google Assistant is currently baked into LG’s 2018 ThinQ AI TV lineup and all generations of the DISH Hopper DVR set-top box. This means owners of these devices with Assistant built in can command their TV, call up information, manage tasks, control smart home devices, and more with the power of their voice. However, this also means […]
Read MoreGoogle Maps now shares battery level, shows Earth isn’t flat
Google Maps is one of those conveniences of modern life that many can’t imagine life without. But more than just helping us not get lost, Maps also has one other somewhat controversial feature: location sharing. Now more than just knowing where your friends and family are, you will also be able to see how much […]
Read MoreFacebook’s staunchest privacy advocates are disappearing
Some of Facebook’s top privacy defenders have left, and it’s not clear who replaces them.Image: Thibault Camus/AP/REX/Shutterstock By Karissa Bell2018-08-02 17:35:02 UTC As Facebook continues to struggle with its image post-Cambridge Analytica, another one of the company’s most public privacy advocates has left the company. Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos formalized his departure Wednesday, when […]
Read MoreHow to Check if System Integrity Protection (SIP) is Enabled on Mac
System Integrity Protection (SIP) locks down certain Mac OS system folders to prevent modification, execution, and deletion of critical system-level files on the Mac, even with a root user account. While the SIP security feature is enabled by default on all modern Mac OS releases, you may find yourself in various situations where you need […]
Read MoreWhat can we learn from the Dixons data breach that blew up after disclosure
European consumer electronics retailer Dixons Carphone’s apologetic admission yesterday that a 2017 data breach was in fact considerably worse than it first reported suggests disclosures of major breaches could get a bit more messy — at least under the early reign of the region’s tough new data protection framework, GDPR — as organizations scramble to comply with […]
Read MoreFacebook really doesn’t want users to go to a fake Unite the Right counter-protest next week
According to COO Sheryl Sandberg, getting ahead of an event called “No Unite the Right 2, DC” is the reason behind Facebook’s decision to disclose new platform behavior that closely resembles previous Russian state-sponsored activity meant to sow political discord in the US. “We’re sharing this today because the connection between these actors and the […]
Read MoreOne more thing re: “privacy concerns” raised by the DCMS fake new report…
A meaty first report by the UK parliamentary committee that’s been running an inquiry into online disinformation since fall 2017, including scrutinizing how people’s personal information was harvested from social media services like Facebook and used for voter profiling and the targeting of campaign ads — and whose chair, Damian Collins — is a member […]
Read MoreAirbnb Fires Back That New York City’s Rental Regulations Violate Users’ Privacy
Airbnb Inc. asked a Manhattan judge to deny New York City’s request for information about listings for seven midtown buildings, saying it sets a “scary precedent” that would allow the city to seek data about thousands of people who share the address of someone posting on the site. The city sued Airbnb this month, seeking […]
Read MoreFor Sale: Survey Data on Millions of High School Students
“The harm is that these children are being profiled, stereotyped, and their data profiles are being traded commercially for all sorts of uses — including attempts to manipulate them and their families,” said Joel Reidenberg, a professor at the Fordham University School of Law who was one of the authors of a recent research report […]
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