The Real Problem With Banning Masks at Protests

Privacy advocates worry banning masks at protests will encourage harassment, while cops’ high-tech tools render the rules unnecessary...

Google Abandons Plan to Phase Out Third-Party Cookies in Chrome

Google on Monday abandoned plans to phase out third-party tracking cookies in its Chrome web browser more than four years after it introduced the option as part of a larger set of a controversial proposal called the Privacy Sandbox. "Instead of deprecating third-party cookies, we would introduce ...

The FBI Just Admitted It Bought US Location Data

Rather than obtaining a warrant, the bureau purchased sensitive data—a controversial practice that privacy advocates say is deeply problematic...

Surveillance by Driverless Car

San Francisco police are using autonomous vehicles as mobile surveillance cameras. Privacy advocates say the revelation that police are actively using AV footage is cause for alarm. “This is very concerning,” Electronic Frontier Foundation EFF senior staff attorney Adam Schwartz told Motherboard...

Client side scanning may cost more than it delivers

On May 11, 2022, the EU will publicize a proposal for a law on mandatory chat control. The European Commission wants all providers of email, chat and messaging services to search for suspicious messages in a fully automated way and forward them to the police in the fight against child pornography...

Six Flags to Pay $36M Over Collection of Fingerprints

Theme park operator Six Flags has agreed to pay $36 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over its acquisition of the fingerprint data of visitors to its theme parks. The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in the case Rosenbach v. Six Flags that collecting biometric data at premises’ gates by scanni...

Mozilla Says Google's New Ad Tech—FLoC—Doesn't Protect User Privacy

Google's upcoming plans to replace third-party cookies with a less invasive ad targeted mechanism have a number of issues that could defeat its privacy objectives and allow for significant linkability of user behavior, possibly even identifying individual users. "FLoC is premised on a compelling...

Critics Blast Google’s Aim to Replace Browser Cookie with ‘FLoC’

This month Google begins a public test of a technology it says will eventually replace browser cookies in an effort to boost Chrome browser user privacy. However, critics say the switch is a half-measure and does not protect the web movements of Chrome users adequately. The Google solution–called...

California’s Prop 24 splits data privacy supporters

California’s data privacy house is divided. On the Golden State’s November ballot this year is the question as to whether to amend California’s barely-two-year-old data privacy law, the California Consumer Privacy Act. Far from the first attempt to change the fledgling law, Proposition 24 sets...

New Bill Targeting ‘Warrant-Proof’ Encryption Draws Ire

Privacy advocates are decrying a new bill, which would force tech companies to unlock encrypted devices if ordered to do so by law enforcement with a court issued warrant. The Lawful Access to Encrypted Data Act was introduced on Tuesday by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham R-SC,...

Zoom Reverses Course and Promises End-to-End Encryption for All Users

The videoconferencing platform had previously said that only paid accounts would get the feature—a move privacy advocates roundly decried...

Ring Doorbell App for Android Caught Sharing User Data with Facebook, Data-Miners

UPDATE Amazon’s Ring Doorbell app for Android is a nexus for data-harvesting, according to an investigation by the Electronic Frontier Foundation EFF. Privacy advocates allege Ring goes so far as to silently deliver updates on Ring customer usage to Facebook, even if the Ring owner doesn’t have a...

Microsoft to Apply California’s Privacy Law to All U.S. Users

Microsoft is extending a California law aimed at protecting users privacy to all of its users in the United States, an unexpected move supporting tougher requirements to disclose exactly how the company uses the consumer data it collects. The California Consumer Privacy Act, known as CCPA, is...

Apple Suspends Siri Program After Privacy Backlash

Apple is suspending a program that lets contractors listen in on Siri voice recordings after facing a rain of backlash regarding the privacy implications of the program. The suspension comes after a report in The Guardian last week outlining how contractors regularly listen to intimate voice...

Match, Tinder Swipe Right For Privacy Red Flags, Say Experts

Over 70 percent of subscribers across Match.com express concern about the amount of data they share with the platform, according to a ProPrivacy.com survey. But despite those concerns, users of the service do it anyway and also remain unaware of just how much data the company collects and how the...

35C3 Day One: Security, Art and Hacking

LEIPZIG, GERMANY – Europe’s largest hacker conference kicked off Thursday marking the 35th Chaos Communication Congress. The confab is a four-day, 24/7 celebration of everything hacker – from the latest threats to cyber-inspired art installations and discussions on how technology impacts ethics,...

Privacy Regulation Could Be a Test for States’ Rights

When the California Consumer Privacy Act CCPA passed in June, security experts applauded the state legislation as a win for consumers. The ruling gave residents certain rights around how their personal data can be stored, accessed, sold and deleted. But months later in September, the U.S. Chamber...

September 4, 2018 – Morning Cyber Coffee Headlines – “September” Edition

Good morning! Sit with Carbon Black this morning over a cup of coffee or tea and browse a few industry headlines to get the day started. We’ve got just enough information below to get you through that first cup…enjoy! September 4, 2018 - Headlines Carbon Black in the News: Carbon Black builds out...

Researchers Reveal Workaround for Apple’s USB Restricted Mode

Just as Apple rolled out its new USB Restricted Mode security feature in an OS update, Monday, researchers said that they have already found a workaround. USB Restricted Mode, released as part of iOS 11.4.1, had removed an iPhone USB access feature, so that an hour after the iPhone has been locke...

Amazon Comes Under Fire for Facial Recognition Platform

Facial-recognition technology has long been touted as a useful tool for law enforcement, but the ability of systems like Amazon’s Rekognition platform to identify large numbers of people at once in a single video or still frame has raised the hackles of privacy advocates. The American Civil...