Articles about Privacy

The UK government is set to introduce a new Data Protection Bill which will give people the right to demand companies delete personal data. The bill, due to be introduced this summer, will make it easier for people to find out what information is held about them and how it is being used.

Matt Hancock, the Digital Minister, says that the bill amounts to a widescale "right to be forgotten" and it will give people the opportunity to separate themselves from online posts they made when younger. It will also take steps to increase privacy by making it harder for companies to gain permission for limitless access to personal data.

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WikiLeaks has published the latest installment of its cache of CIA documentation known as Vault 7. This time around we learn about Project Dumbo, a hacking tool which allows for the control of webcams and microphones.

Wired, Bluetooth and wireless devices can all be detected by Dumbo. In addition to this, Dumbo gives the CIA the ability to delete or corrupt recordings that have been made. WikiLeaks has published user guides for three versions of Dumbo, the most recent of which is dated June 2015.

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LogMeIn has revealed a major new deal which it says will help its services become smarter and more personalized than ever.

The privacy firm has announced that it will acquire the digital self-service, chatbot and virtual assistant company Nanorep to provide more personalized experiences for its customers.

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You don't, as we all know, get something for nothing... but that doesn't stop companies from making it appear as though you do. The latest perpetrator of this crime against common sense is Verizon. The carrier has rolled out a rewards program -- Verizon Up -- which enables subscribers to earn credits for racking up a bill.

For every $300 spent on Verizon Wireless products and services users are paid a credit which can be collected and spent on various rewards (money off handsets, accessory discounts, and so on). But there is a price, and that price is privacy. In return for letting you accrue credits, Verizon scoops up vast swathes of personal data including browsing history, app usage, location, interests, and much more.

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Kim Dotcom has been of interest to the US government and law enforcement agencies for some time, and it was ruled that the Mega and Megaupload founder could be extracted to the US. But now it seems that the NSA was spying on the internet entrepreneur after surveillance was supposed to have stopped.

New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) had been working with the NSA on a joint surveillance operation called Operation Debut. While surveillance was supposed to have stopped in January 2012, it has emerged that the NSA continued to use GCSB's technology without its knowledge.

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Amber Rudd, the UK Home Secretary, has claimed that "real people often prefer ease of use and a multitude of features to perfect, unbreakable security." Rudd holds the Conservative government's belief that it should be able to access encrypted messages, even when end-to-end encryption is used, such as with WhatsApp.

Using terrorism as a justification for wanting to gain access to encrypted messages, she goes on make extraordinary and misguided claims about what she and the government want. Her bizarre and misinformed rant in the Daily Telegraph is deeply concerning, not only because of the implications her suggestions have on privacy, but also the lack of technical knowledge she demonstrates while making her claims and demands.

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It's been a little while since we heard anything about Free Basics by Facebook -- the successor to its Internet.org project which aims to provide access to a number of online services, free of charge, in developing countries (63 in total) -- but a new report slams the service.

On the face of it, this is a good thing, but Free Basics from Facebook has certainly not been without its controversies: the service was banned in India and Egypt, for example. Now a report from Global Voices -- a "global anti-censorship network of bloggers and activists dedicated to protecting freedom of expression online" -- has published a damning report about the service.

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The tracking capabilities of social media sites has long been a cause for concern, with Facebook being the most notable example. Now the Microsoft-owned professional social network LinkedIn has announced details of a new tracking feature that will be of interest to website owners.

LinkedIn Website Demographics does not (despite what some reports might suggest, #PrivacyKlaxon) allow for the tracking of individual users, but it does give website owners the chance to get a better idea of the demographics of their visitors. This is less about creating targeted content, and more about determining whether existing content is attracting the right audience -- although clearly one leads to the other.

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China's control of the internet is no secret and the government's latest encroachment into people's lives sees residents of the north-west Xinjiang -- a largely Muslim area -- being forced to install surveillance software on their phones, sparking privacy concerns.

Notifications were sent out recently informing mobile users that they had just 10 days to download and install the Jingwang spyware. Random checks are now being carried out on the street to ensure that citizens have the app installed. Anyone found without the software faces up to 10 days in jail.

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The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has issued a PSA warning about the potential dangers of smart toys. The bureau encourages parents to consider cyber security before bringing internet-connect toys into the home because they could risk the privacy and safety of children.

The announcement warns of the potential for personal information to be gathered through such toys. The presence of sensors, microphones, cameras, data storage components, speech recognition and GPS, coupled with cloud storage of data, is cited as cause for concern, and parents are urged to check privacy agreements.

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Anyone subject to secret surveillance by the FBI through access to their private data remains unentitled to be told about the related national security letters (NSLs). The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that existing gagging orders that prevent companies from advising people about NSLs relating to them do not violate the First Amendment.

A case had been brought to court by the Electronic Frontier Foundation on behalf of Cloudfare and CREDO Mobile that challenged the legitimacy of the gagging orders. EFF won its case back in 2013, but subsequent changes to the law, coupled with the appeal court ruling, means that companies are still unable to inform customers about the existence of national security letters relating to their accounts.

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Over the weekend, distress rippled around the HTC community as advertisements suddenly appeared in the TouchPal keyboard. The keyboard is installed as the default on many of HTC's Android phones, including the HTC 10, and users took to social media to voice their unhappiness and concerns about privacy.

Despite the ire directed at the Taiwanese company, HTC is not directly responsible for the keyboard, or the update that pushed ads onto people. Rather, the developer issued an update resulting in the SNAFU that upset so many people.

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation has published the latest edition of its "Who has your back" privacy report. This is the seventh report from the digital rights group, and this year it criticizes both WhatsApp and Amazon for having policies that "fall short of other similar technology companies."

Four big telecom companies -- AT&T, Comcast, T-Mobile, and Verizon -- performed very poorly, while at the other end of the scale Adobe, Credo, Dropbox, Lyft, Pinterest, Sonic, Uber, Wickr, and WordPress were all praised. In all, the report rates 26 technology companies in five key areas relating to privacy and government data requests: "Follows industry-wide best practices," "Tells users about government data requests," "Promises not to sell out users," "Stands up to NSL gag orders" and "Pro-user public policy: Reform 702."

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Transparency reports about government data requests have become very common from tech companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Google. But while these firms publish reports, their hands are tied when it comes to what they can reveal. Twitter wants to change that.

A federal judge in California ruled in Twitter's favour, dismissing the US government's claim that revealing precise numbers of data requests represented a "clear and present danger." The ruling against the government doesn't change anything in the short term, but it is still an important victory for freedom of speech.

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The location-sharing Snap Map feature of SnapChat is leading schools to warn parents about the potential risks of the popular app. The feature allows users to share their location on a map with friends and it's been around for a couple of weeks now.

While many users are happy to be able to see where their friends are, others are concerned about potential privacy issues. Some schools have written to parents warnings that the app could be used to track their children and raises "serious safeguarding concerns." But while there are concerns about the safety of Snap Map, there are numerous mitigating factors to consider. So what's all the fuss about?

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