Displaying items by tag: Data Collection

Yesterday (July 5, 2023) Social Networking Giant, Meta launched their competitor to Twitter. This new app is a companion app to Instagram called threads. Ironically, Twitter had a lot of buzz about the new app including from people that routinely talk about how terrible Twitter is under Elon Musk. These Twitter detractors have been posting count down timers, information on how to ensure you can be on threads as soon as it launches and more. It is interesting, if not a bit funny, to see the dialog there. However, there is a very dark cloud (heavy black and pendulous) over the green pastures of Meta’s Threads. This is the very serious concern about Privacy and Security.

Published in News

Once again Google has been caught with their hands in the personal data collection cookie jar. It seems that their Messages and Phone Dialer Apps were sending information about your calls and messages without giving the user any chance to opt-out of this data collection. They also perform this data collection without any user notification at all.

Published in Security Talk

In early February, rumors about a potential acquisition of Mandiant by Microsoft started to circle the internet. The response was not positive with many feeling that it was allowing the fox to run the chicken coop. Although unpopular the rumor did make sense on a few levels. However, regardless of whether the rumors were true or not, Microsoft is not buying Mandiant; Google is. Yes, Google is scooping up Mandiant for a cool $5.4 Billion.

Published in Security Talk

ID.me, the private identification verification company, has become a popular go-to when it comes to governmental services. We have seen it put in play at the local, state, and federal level. The idea is to have a source of truth for someone’s identity that can be used across multiple platforms. The reality is very different as it seems you need to have a different ID.me account for different services depending on the email address used. It also seems to be going well beyond normal methods of verification as we have seen multiple state and federal agencies begin collecting biometric data through the service.

Published in Security Talk

Facebook makes their money off their users. That is no shock to anyone considering the number of investigations currently ongoing over Facebook’s data collection practices. Of course, Facebook is not the only group collecting this type of information, they just tend to take it a bit farther than most of the other groups. Because of these invasive data collection practices many countries have tightened their laws around what can and cannot be used to develop and send out targeted ads. This has included a whole new category for “intimate” information. Even Apple has decided that this style of data collection might be out of bounds and have change their own privacy policies in iOS.

Published in Security Talk

When Edward Snowden revealed the extent of US Government surveillance and just how much corporations cooperated with them to accomplish their goals everyone was shocked. Many could not believe that the companies we trust would betray us in the ways that Snowden showed. Even as the clarifications and denials were being typed up by Microsoft, Google and others the consumer backlash was starting and not just in the US. Consumers here and overseas were pulling their data out and cancelling accounts. This change has (and will continue to) seriously hurt technology companies financially. As we all know, the only way to motivate big business is to hit them in the bank account.

Published in Editorials

Lately the news has had a few articles about how companies like Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo etc. are pushing the government for radical changes to their surveillance policies and demanding better protections for their customers. We have seen new ads focused on explaining how important our data is to them (and in some cases how the other guys are abusing it). The groups lining up and demanding change are many of the same companies that Edward Snowden’s bevy of leaked documents claimed were working hand in hand with the NSA to allow for mass spying on peoples’ data and that in cases where they were not directly cooperating lax security practices allowed for easy retrieval of user information.

Published in News
Sunday, 24 November 2013 16:27

LG TVs ignore privacy settings

After one user of LG's Smart TV noticed that the device collects data about his habits, regardless of the adjusted settings, LG decided to make a statement about the situation. They acknowledged the error and promised compensation

Published in News
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The fight for internet freedom, privacy and net neutrality has been a rough one. Over the past couple of years we have watched as a parade of laws have trotted past us. SOPA, PIPA, CISPA, and more have all shown us one certain thing; the powers that be have little to no regard for individual freedoms, free speech or the impact of restrictive laws on innovation, technology and the economy as a whole. However there was an underlying trend to these laws that disturbed us and many other privacy and right groups out there. The trend was a general trammeling of the right to free speech when it comes to any online sources; some would even say any source that had an opposing view point. Even the right to have protected sources was slowly being removed if you were an independent blogger (citizen journalist) and this effort is now being expanded.

Published in News
animal farm-pigs

There is a rumor going around (from “sources wishing to remain anonymous”) that claims that US Law Enforcement and the NSA have been asking internet companies for user passwords. The article originally posted by cNet has made the rounds this morning across a few sites; all of them pointing back at the single cNet source. Now on top of everything else that is going on many people are ready to jump on board with this and further denounce the NSA, the FBI, DHS, IRS, and anyone else in the US government with initials. But outside of the claims from a single blogger at cNet are there any other indications that this is a common practice?

Published in Editorials
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