privacy

Tue
26
Nov
Dennis Faas's picture

Microsoft at 50: Can AI Keep It Relevant for PC Users?

As Microsoft celebrates its 50th anniversary, the tech giant finds itself at a pivotal moment in history. For decades, Microsoft's Windows operating system was the backbone of personal computing, driving the company to become one of the most ... valuable entities in the world. But as technology has evolved, so too has the company's role. (Source: wired.com ) Enter Artificial Intelligence (AI), a field where Microsoft is making its most significant strides, with the potential to reshape how users interact with their PCs and redefine their relationship with the company. The Evolution of Microsoft: ... (view more)

Wed
31
Jul
John Lister's picture

Apple Promotes Safari as Best Choice for Privacy

Apple has launched a privacy-focused ad campaign for the iPhone. It's billed as a promotion of its Safari browser but is clearly an attack on Google's Chrome. The ad is loosely based on The Birds but with the creatures replaced by flying ... surveillance cameras that follow and attack phone users with an onscreen graphic reading "Your browsing is being watched." It then ends with users opening the Safari browser, at which point the flying cameras explode, with a new graphic reading "Safari. A browser that's actually private." Incognito Mode Dubiously Named Apple has previously highlighted ... (view more)

Wed
27
Sep
John Lister's picture

iPhone iOS17 Update Switches On Tracking

The latest update for iPhones has switched on sensitive tracking, even for users who've actively switched it off. It appears to be a bug rather than conspiracy but users may want to check their settings. The change comes with iOS17, the latest ... version of the operating system, which started rolling out last week. It should eventually come to most models of iPhone released in the past five years. The problem is with two settings on the iPhone, namely iPhone Analytics and Significant Locations. A small minority of users have spotted the settings switched back on after the update, even though ... (view more)

Wed
05
Jul
John Lister's picture

'LetMeSpy' Spouse Spying App Hacked

An app for spying on a partner or employee has been hacked. It means victims of the spying could face further data security threats. LetMeSpy is what the makers call a "parental control" and "employee control" and what critics call "stalkerware" or ... "spouseware". Once installed on a phone, it lets the person who installed it remotely access text messages, call logs and precise location. (Source: techcrunch.com ) The marketing is somewhat inconsistent with what the company says its intended use is for, suggesting people might put it on their own phone so that they can find the phone when lost, ... (view more)

Tue
13
Jun
John Lister's picture

Fitness Tracker 'Heatmap' Dubbed Privacy Risk

Researchers say a feature in a jogging and running app called Strava makes it possible to track down a user's home address. However, they make a pretty weak argument about how plausible and successful an attack would be. Strava lets users track ... their fitness activities, including running routes. Since 2018, the app has included a "heatmap" feature that shows areas where a lot of users are active. The idea is to let people spot well-used running routes that may be useful for their needs. The feature has already been criticized after it revealed routes used by US military personnel on foreign ... (view more)

Thu
01
Jun
John Lister's picture

Amazon Hit By $30 Million Privacy Penalty

Amazon has agreed to pay a total of $30 million in penalties for privacy violations related to its Ring and Alexa devices, according to an announcement by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The penalties consist of $25 million for allegedly ... retaining children's data without deletion and $5.8 million for failing to limit employee and contractor access to Ring security videos. (Source: cnet.com ) The settlements do not require Amazon to make any admission of legal wrongdoing. (Source: theguardian.com ) Amazon Accused of Retaining Kid's Data The FTC accused Amazon of preventing parents from ... (view more)

Tue
23
May
John Lister's picture

Facebook Fined More Than $1 Billion

Facebook's parent company Meta has been fined more than a billion dollars for failing to protect user data. The case involves the way Facebook transfers customer data between Europe and the United States. Under the European Union's privacy rules, ... businesses are restricted in the way they transfer personal data to non-EU countries. In principle this can only happen when the non-EU country has laws that offer a similar level of privacy data protection. Some counties have a "data adequacy" agreement with the EU, meaning the country's privacy rules are officially classed as strong enough. In ... (view more)

Thu
11
May
John Lister's picture

Facebook Privacy Rules Could Change

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may put a temporary ban on any new products from Facebook's parent company, Meta. It could also ban Facebook from making any money from data involving children. The FTC says "Facebook has repeatedly violated its ... privacy promises." Those promises came in a 2020 agreement when Facebook promised to change its behavior. That agreement, which included a $5 billion civil penalty, came after Facebook allegedly breached the terms of a previous agreement from way back in 2012. (Source: ftc.gov ) Kids Could Chat to Strangers According to the FTC, an independent ... (view more)

Wed
10
May
John Lister's picture

Chrome to Cut Down on CAPTCHA Tests

Google is testing a Chrome feature that could heavily reduce the time users spend completing CAPTCHA tests. The tests are designed to reduce spam and other automated mischief but can irritate genuine human users. CAPTCHA stands for "Completely ... Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart". It's designed to use a test that's relatively simple for a human to do, but difficult for a computer. Often such tests take advantage of the fact that humans are better at recognizing images and patterns, for example spotting pictures with varying backgrounds that contain a bicycle. Other ... (view more)

Thu
06
Apr
Dennis Faas's picture

Google to Bring AI to its Search Engine

Google says it is set to integrate new conversational AI features into its search engine. The move comes as advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology could enhance the capabilities of Google's search engine significantly. Google CEO Sundar ... Pichai has confirmed that users would be able to ask questions to Google and engage with large language models (LLMs) in the context of search. (Source: cnet.com ) Bringing AI chat to Google Search would make the technology accessible to a wider audience, taking it from the realm of experimental project to everyday tool used to find information. ... (view more)

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