Search Results for: gdpr

Chrome will stop highlighting HTTPS sites as secure

HTTPS

Later this year, Chrome will adopt a new approach to indicating site security. Starting in September, the browser will no longer use a security indicator to highlight the fact that you're visiting an HTTPS page.

Instead, Google will simply issue a warning when a website is not secure. As the company puts it, "users should expect that the web is safe by default, and they’ll be warned when there’s an issue". The change is coming in Chrome 69.

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YouTube Music and YouTube Premium launch May 22

YouTube Music

Google has announced a new music streaming service, YouTube Music, as well as YouTube Premium, both of which launch next week. The two services come as a result of Google splitting up YouTube Red.

YouTube Premium will be available for $11.99 per month, while YouTube Music will have free and paid-for versions. The free edition will be ad-supported, but these can be banished for $9.99 per month.

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WhatsApp update brings Slack-style group messaging features and new admin controls

WhatsApp group messaging

The latest update rolling out to WhatsApp users heralds the arrival of a batch of new group messaging features.

Available to both iOS and Android users, the new features include a Slack-style "group catch up" option, and it is also possible to add a description to group chats, and search for individual participants.

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Apple clamps down on apps that share location data with third parties

iPhone X with Apple logo

Apple appears to be more vigorously enforcing App Store policies relating to the sharing of location data. Over the last few days the company has been removing apps that share location details with third parties without consent.

Developers of apps found to be exploiting user privacy in this way have received emails from Apple. These indicate that apps have undergone "re-evaluation" and found to be in violation of sections 5.1.1 and 5.1.2 of the App Store Review Guidelines.

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Facebook's new Clear History privacy tool will let you stop third-party tracking and delete collected info

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At its F8 conference today, Facebook revealed details of an upcoming tool it is working on --- Clear History. The tool will let Facebook users not only see which sites and apps gather information about usage, but also let users delete this information.

The privacy-centric tool comes as the social network slowly comes to the realization "that people want more information about how Facebook works and the controls they have over their information". The ability to delete browsing histories from Facebook appears to be a direct response to the Cambridge Analytica scandal in which private data was shared without consent.

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There's still no 'dislike' option, but Facebook is testing upvote and downvote buttons with many users

Thumb up, thumb down

The Like button is synonymous with Facebook, and ever since its inception people have been clamoring for its nemesis to be added to the site. The arrival of 'reactions' two years ago pleased some people, as it gave them the opportunity to express a negative response to something -- but there was still no Dislike button.

The social network is currently testing a feature which is a step closer to the option people have been asking for for so long. Currently being trialed is a comment voting system that lets users upvote or downvote comments left by others.

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81 percent of organizations see an increase in cyber security challenges

security threats

A new study from IT solutions provider US Signal reveals that businesses are seeing a greater number of security challenges.

The survey of security experts from a cross-section of organizations also shows 40 percent of respondents experienced at least one security incident in the last year, and 13 percent didn't know if they had.

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WhatsApp raises minimum user age to 16 in Europe and announces data download tool

WhatsApp on Android phone

With new privacy laws due to roll out around Europe next month, WhatsApp has increase its minimum age from 13 to 16.

The Facebook-owned messaging tool has made the change in order to comply with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) which comes into force on May 25. To continue to use WhatsApp, users must now confirm that they are at least 16 years old and agree to the privacy policy and terms of services of the newly-created WhatsApp Ireland Limited.

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Instagram launches Data Download tool so you can grab the contents of your account

A couple of weeks ago, Instagram said that it was working on a tool that would enable users to download everything from their accounts. Now the tool has been launched ahead of the roll out of GDPR in Europe.

There has been no fanfare for the data download tool, but it's available for everyone to use. It gives people the opportunity to download "photos, comments, profile information and more" which is ideal for anyone looking to either backup their data, or who is thinking about moving to a rival service.

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Facebook publishes its internal Community Standards guidelines and introduces appeals process

Facebook censorship

Facebook faces lots of criticisms and questions, and while much of this is focused on privacy and security, there are also lots of queries about what is permitted on the platform. To help users to understand what's allowed and what's not, the company has published its Community Standards for everyone to read.

As well as making it clear exactly what sort of content is likely to attract the attention of censors, Facebook is also introducing a new appeals process, giving people the ability to fight back if their content is removed.

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What information do Facebook advertisers know about me?

Facebook app permissions

This is the question Facebook poses and (sort-of-but-not-really) answers in the latest addition to its Hard Questions series. It's the social network's latest attempt to claw back some respect and trust from its users in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal, and it sees the company insisting that "you are not the product".

Whether this is believed or not is neither here nor there. That the company is now having to go to such extraordinary lengths to appear transparent, to try to prove that nothing untoward is going on, is simply indicative of the massive level of suspicion leveled at Facebook.

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It looks like Facebook is preparing to build its own AI chips

Facebook chip

Facebook appears to be looking to design and build its own processors at some point in the future. The social networking giant has posted a job listing on its corporate website looking for a manager to help build an "end-to-end SoC/ASIC, firmware and driver development organization".

The move would see Facebook doing what Apple and Google have started to do in recent years, moving design and production in-house to reduce reliance on the likes of Intel and Qualcomm. While little is known about how its own processors would be used, it is likely that they would feature in future Oculus hardware and smart speakers.

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German government moves to open source private cloud

German flag

The German federal government is moving to an open source, self-hosted cloud platform from Nextcloud for file sync and sharing and collaboration, in order to protect the data of its citizens.

The Federal Information Technology Center (ITZBund), which takes care of IT services for the entire federal government, has been running a pilot of 5000 users with Nextcloud since October 2016 and after a successful tender this will now be rolled out everywhere.

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Facebook reveals new privacy controls for users around the world

Facebook on three smartphones

Facebook has been hit with renewed criticism of its privacy policies in recent weeks in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Having promised to give users more control over their privacy settings -- and after already introducing some tools to this end -- the social network has now revealed how it will comply with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe and bring new "privacy protection" to users around the world.

With the impending arrival of GDPR, it had previously been thought that European Facebook users would have greater privacy controls than those in other parts of the world. But the company then revealed that GDPR-style privacy controls would actually be made available to everyone. Today, Facebook makes good on that promise, starting the rollout of new privacy settings in Europe and then around the globe.

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A quarter of organizations have had data stolen from the public cloud

cloud data cable

Public cloud services are now in use in 97 percent of organizations, but one in four have experienced data theft and cloud-first strategies are on the decline.

These are among the findings of the latest annual cloud report from McAfee. Among other highlights are that 83 percent store sensitive data in the public cloud and 69 percent trust the public cloud to keep their sensitive data secure. However, one in five organizations has experienced an advanced attack against its public cloud infrastructure.

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