Articles about Privacy

Apple has announced that it is to expand the scope of its twice-yearly transparency report. Starting with one of its next report -- the one which will cover the period July 1 to December 31, 2018 -- the company will share details of government app takedown requests.

The announcement was tucked away in the latest transparency report, in which Apple shares details of "Government and Private Party Requests for Customer Information". The company says that it takes the protection of user data very seriously, and this addition to the report sees Apple demonstrating this by providing even more information.

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There have long been accusations that digital assistants such as Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri are constantly listening in on and recording conversations, and recent events in Portland, Oregon are simply going to serve as extra fuel for conspiracy theorists.

A couple were disturbed to find that Alexa not only recorded a private conversation they had in their house, but then sent it on to a colleague as a message. Danielle says she and her husband felt it was "a total privacy invasion", and it is unlikely that Amazon's explanation will do anything to encourage her to use her Echo every again.

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It has been impossible to avoid stories about GDPR over the last few weeks and months, and today the new rules regarding privacy and personal data come into force across the EU.

Inboxes across Europe have been flooded with GDPR-related emails as companies have rushed to comply with the new regulations that require them to seek consent from users to collect data about them. But now GDPR day has arrived, dozens of US websites are blocked in the EU.

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With the recent scandals involving Facebook coupled with the impending arrival of GDPR in Europe, there has been a lot of talk about privacy recently. Now the social networking giant is to start asking all of its users to review information about privacy and "how to control their experience".

The company says that it introduced updated data policies and made privacy settings easier to find, as well as making other changes, in Europe, and now is rolling out the same things to the rest of the world.

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Following on from a trial in Australia, Facebook is rolling out anti-revenge porn measures to the UK. In order that it can protect British users from failing victim to revenge porn, the social network is asking them to send in naked photos of themselves.

The basic premise of the idea is: send us nudes, and we'll stop others from seeing them.

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If you've ever been curious about just what data Apple has gathered and stored about you over the years, now you can find out -- if you're in Europe, at least.

The iPhone-maker has just launched a new Data and Privacy portal in order to comply with GDPR which comes into force across the EU from Friday. The website lets you download pretty much every piece of data that Apple has collected about you.

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A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) shows that Amazon has started selling facial recognition software to at least two US law enforcement agencies.

A report published by the ACLU shows that the online retailer has been advertising its facial recognition system -- known as Amazon Rekognition, and described as "deep learning-based image and video analysis" -- to numerous states. Testimonials from the Orlando, Florida Police Department and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon suggest that the system is already in use.

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Yesterday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared in front of members of the European Parliament to answer questions and to address concerns that the EU has about the social network in general, and its use of private data in particular -- thanks largely to the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.

At least that was the idea. What actually happened was nothing short of a farce, with Zuckerberg smugly sitting back and choosing which questions to answer, neatly avoiding any he was uncomfortable with. It was little more than a PR-cum-damage-limitation exercise for the Facebook founder... and it didn't really go very well.

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Trend Micro has a new privacy-focused mobile browser for iOS users called Zero Browser. It has been designed specifically to block a range of tracking techniques, including the invasive activity-recording "session replay" method.

The company says that the browser was created to overcome the shortcomings of existing "incognito" browsing modes and brings an extra level of privacy to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users.

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The clock is ticking for the arrival of GDPR (or General Data Protection Regulation) in Europe. As of May 25 -- this Friday -- new regulations will give people greater access to the data companies store about them and the right to have it deleted.

Microsoft is among the global technology firms that will have to comply with the laws in Europe and -- pointing out how it appreciates "the strong leadership by the European Union on these important issues" -- the company says that it will also roll out some of the benefits of the privacy legislation on a global basis. It will be known as Data Subject Rights.

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With GDPR coming into force at the end of this week, new research from Egress Software Technologies found over half of respondents were in the dark about what their company was doing to prepare for the legislation.

Only 43 percent of the 1,000 respondents were aware of preparations, there is also a lack of awareness surrounding personal data in general. One in 10 are unaware they are handling personal data in their day-to-day jobs and 57 percent are unable to correctly identify when it would need to be protected.

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Security researchers have discovered a bug in the Comcast website that makes it possible to gather information about Xfinity users. As well as customer data such as home addresses, it is also possible to access wireless network details including passwords.

The bug was reported by Karan Saini and Ryan Stevenson after they found it was possible to use the Xfinity activation website to access customer data using nothing more than a customer account ID and that customer's house or apartment number.

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Having previously refused to answer questions in the UK, last week Mark Zuckerberg agreed to appear in front of the EU parliament to speak about Facebook's use of data.

The Facebook chief is due to appear in front of MEPs tomorrow, Tuesday, and European Parliament President Antonio Tajani has announced that the appearance will be livestreamed. So, if you fancy tuning in to see what Zuckerberg has to say and how he is able to "clarify issues related to the use of personal data", you will be able to do just that.

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For a long time, the words "don't be evil" were associated with Google. While not an official motto as such, the words were heavily ingrained in the company.

Google's method of operating has caused many people over the years to question the phrase, and when the company was re-organized under Alphabet the motto became "do the right thing". Nonetheless, in the Google Code of Conduct which is given to employees, "don't be evil" remained -- until just a few weeks ago when it was quietly relegated.

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LocationSmart, a company based in Southern California, is under investigation by the FCC after it was discovered that its website made it possible for just about anyone to access location data for the majority of US cell phones.

Security expert Brian Krebs reported that a bug on the LocationSmart website made it possible for anyone to check on the location of any AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon phone in the US. Even more worryingly, the data is said to be accurate to a few hundred yards.

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