Articles about Privacy

The importance of data privacy in healthcare [Q&A]

Healthcare data

Data is one of the biggest drivers of innovation in healthcare today. Almost everything in healthcare relies on having access to the right data from developing new drugs and medical equipment to allocating resources.

Making use of this data often requires sharing with other organizations and that presents challenges when it comes to keeping it secure. We spoke to Riddhiman Das, co-founder and CEO at TripleBlind, to learn how healthcare organizations are securing their data while still making it accessible.

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Google rolls out privacy tools to make it easier to remove personal information and explicit images from searches

Google privacy protection shield

Google has announced the rollout of a series of new and updated privacy tools designed to give users greater control over the removal of information about themselves from search results. A new privacy dashboard will alert users if search results start to include their contact information.

As well as making it easier to request the removal of such personal data, Google is expanding its privacy protections to give people a way to remove personal, explicit images from search results. There are also expanded controls for limiting the appearance of other explicit images in searches.

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Employees share more secrets with AI than they would in a bar

A new study of 1,000 office workers across the US and UK shows half of us already use AI tools at work, one-third weekly and 12 percent daily.

But the report from Cybsafe finds 38 percent of users of generative AI in the US admit to sharing data they wouldn't casually reveal in a bar to a friend.

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Boost web privacy by installing DuckDuckGo Browser for Windows and Mac

Protecting your precious privacy when browsing gets harder by the year. With this thought in mind, privacy focused search engine DuckDuckGo has decided to dip its toes into the desktop web browser market with the recent launch of DuckDuckGo Browser for Windows Beta, which follows hot on the heels of an earlier Mac release.

This may be DuckDuckGo’s first Windows browser, but it’s an already established option on mobile (iOS and Android) in addition to the existing Mac build. Both desktop versions are built from their operating system’s browser systems, which means the Windows build -- unlike most browsers -- isn’t a simple Chromium port. Instead, it's been built from scratch using the same underlying elements as Microsoft’s Edge browser, namely Microsoft’s Windows WebView2 API on top of the Blink rendering engine.

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How do you solve privacy issues with AI? It's all about the blockchain

Blockchain

Data is the lifeblood of artificial intelligence (AI), and the power that AI brings to the business world -- to unearth fresh insights, increase speed and efficiency, and multiply effectiveness -- flows from its ability to analyze and learn from data. The more data AI has to work with, the more reliable its results will be.

Feeding AI’s need for data means collecting it from a wide variety of sources, which has raised concerns about AI gathering, processing, and storing personal data. The fear is that the ocean of data flowing into AI engines is not properly safeguarded.

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The Big Brother in your pocket: How a US company secretly tracks and rates half of the world's mobile users

Big-Brother-Smartphone

Imagine a hidden system that tracks and scores you based on every phone call you make or take. It might sound like something straight out of a Black Mirror episode and remind you of China's controversial social credit system. But surprisingly, half of the world's mobile phone users are already part of a similar system, and many of them are Europeans, who are supposed to enjoy the strongest privacy protections.

NOYB, a privacy advocacy group, has filed a lawsuit against the US company TeleSign, a Belgian telecom provider BICS, and their mutual parent Proximus. They claim these companies are unauthorizedly profiling billions of phone users to assign them a 'reputation' or 'trust' score.

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Brave Browser is ending behind-the-back port scanning attacks

Brave browser

The next major version of Brave Browser, a Chromium-based browser with a focus on privacy, will prevent sites and apps from accessing local resources without user permission.

Most modern browsers allow access to local resources. In fact, many do not differentiate between local and remote resources, and do not include options to block access to local resources.

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Avoid Threads if you value your privacy

Threads logo on smartphone

The arrival of Threads this week saw Meta taking another step into the social arena with its Twitter clone. There have been lots of entirely understandable concerns voiced about Twitter recently, particularly in light of the chaotic impact of Elon Musk, and this has led to swathes of disgruntled and worried users switching allegiances and joining the likes of Bluesky, Mastodon and, now, Threads.

Whether jumping ship, leaving Twitter and signing up for Threads makes sense very much depends on your reason for doing so. If privacy is your main concern, for instance, there is little -- if anything -- to be gained. Coming from the same stables as Facebook, the fact that Threads sucks up personal data should surprise no one, but the sheer volume and range of what it collects is slightly breath-taking.

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Microsoft Edge now blocks spam notifications on the sites you visit

Blurry Microsoft Edge logo with mobile in foreground

Notifications can be useful, but all too often they are used by websites to spam people. To help protect users against such irritations, Microsoft has announced new notification blocking for its Edge browser.

The company says it is aware that website notifications may not only be annoying, but can be misleading or even dangerous. The aim in block spammy notifications is to not only offer protection to users of Microsoft Edge, but also to help them to get the most out of notifications.

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Majority of Brits are concerned about their digital identity and take steps to protect it

A new study of over 1,200 members of the UK public shows that 72 percent of respondents say they are concerned about the privacy of their digital identity, while 75 percent are concerned that the mobile apps they have are utilizing data to track their online and, sometimes, offline activity.

Perhaps more significant though is that 81 percent of people have bothered to read the small print and then decided to actively deny the permissions that an app is hoping to be given.

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Consumers want personalized experience but worry about sharing the data that drives it

European consumers want the personal touch in marketing communications, but are reluctant about sharing the data that enables it.

A new report, from customer engagement platform Twilo, shows 51 percent of European consumers say they will become repeat buyers after a good personalized experience, while 49 percent will tell a friend or family member, and 33 percent will become a member of the brand's loyalty program for deals and rewards.

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Tor Browser 12.5 released with updated circuit display and promise of better connection experience

The Tor Project has announced the release of Tor Browser 12.5 for Windows (both 32-bit and 64-bit), macOS, Linux, and Android. The Firefox variant provides privacy conscious users with a means of accessing the internet through the open Tor network, designed to reduce the visibility of users online.

Tor Browser 12.5 introduces some major changes to the program, including an updated circuit display, new onion site icons and the promise of both better accessibility and a more user-friendly connection experience.

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Between a rock and a hard place: Privacy vs Personalization

Privacy

A survey by Deloitte reveals that as many as 79 percent of people are ready to share their data if they see obvious value in doing so. However, people also need to know that their data privacy is taken seriously. For companies at the cutting edge of personalization in technology and marketing, this means reassuring customers that their data will be kept safe and used transparently and for their own benefit.

While personalization and privacy may seem diametrically opposed, it is possible for businesses to achieve both and prosper. We can compare the privacy versus personalization dilemma with the legendary myth from Homer’s Odyssey, Scylla and Charybdis. These two sea monsters presented a perilous choice to our hero Odysseus, who needed to creatively navigate a route between the two. In the same way, businesses must carefully maneuver between the need for privacy and an ever-deeper demand for customized services.

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77 percent of UK citizens are concerned about online privacy

A new survey shows that 77 percent of people in the UK are concerned about the privacy of their data online, but 15 percent don't do anything at all to protect themselves online.

The study, carried out for Proton by YouGov, reveals concern is even greater among those who have been a victim of a hack, or know someone who has.

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Proton launches a family privacy and security plan

Online security and privacy can be difficult to achieve in a household environment, with different people using a range of devices. Proton, the company behind a number of privacy-focused services like Proton Mail and Proton VPN, may have the answer with the launch of a new family plan.

Proton Family offers an all-in-one digital security and privacy solution designed for families. The plan offers up to six family members access to Proton's premium services and features, including end-to-end encryption for emails, calendars, file storage, password management, and VPN protection.

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