YouTube ordered to reveal the identities of video viewers

Federal US authorities have asked Google for the names, addresses, telephone numbers, and user activity of accounts that watched certain YouTube videos, according to unsealed court documents Forbes has seen. Of those users that weren’t logged in when they watched those videos between January 1 an...

‘Supercookies’ Have Privacy Experts Sounding the Alarm

A German ad-tech trial features what Vodafone calls “digital tokens.” Should you be worried?...

Privacy Experts Skeptical of Proposed Data Protection Agency

A new federal bureaucracy, the Data Protection Agency DPA, has been proposed to completely revamp how the U.S. government regulates data collection and misuse by big tech companies. However, while privacy experts call the agency a “good first step,” they remain skeptical about how effective it...

WhatsApp Spyware Attack: Uncovering NSO Group Activity

On the heels of Facebook filing a lawsuit against Israeli company NSO Group — alleging that it was behind the massive WhatsApp hack earlier this year — privacy experts say that the move is “popping the unaccountable bubble” that commercial spyware companies have carved out for themselves. After...

Privacy Experts: Facebook's $5B Fine Unlikely to Do Much

The $5 billion fine that the Federal Trade Commission has slapped on Facebook for privacy violations may be the largest ever levied by the agency, but it’s being derided as “chump change” and ineffective by lawmakers and privacy analysts. The settlement, reported Friday evening, stems from...

Auto Lender Exposes Loan Data For Up To 1 Million Applicants

A California auto loan company left the names, addresses, credit scores and partial Social Security numbers of up to 1 million people exposed on an insecure online database. The company behind the database is Alliance Direct Lending Corporation, according to Kromtech Security Research Center, whi...

Microsoft Quietly Kills Controversial Wi-Fi Sense Feature

From its introduction, Microsoft’s Windows 10 feature Wi-Fi Sense has faced a massive amount of fear, uncertainty and doubt. Now those losing sleep over the feature can get some rest; Microsoft quietly announced last week it’s snuffing out the feature. Later this summer, when Microsoft rolls out ...

Attention Turns to FBI's 'Outside Party'

The FBI’s motion for a continuance in its case against Apple has opened a new avenue in this debate as to the identity and means by which the mystery “outside party” could unlock terrorist Syed Farook’s iPhone. Late yesterday afternoon, the FBI filed a motion to vacate a hearing scheduled for tod...

MyFitnessPal App Patches Privacy Vulnerability

The details of a patched vulnerability in a popular mobile fitness application have been disclosed three months after a fixed was released. The flaw could have allowed a user to fetch the personal profile of another registered app user. MyFitnessPal deployed a fix on June 26 for a privacy flaw in...

Stanford Metaphone Project Aims to Show Dangers of Metadata Collection

When the first NSA surveillance story broke in June, about the agency’s collection of phone metadata from Verizon, most people likely had never heard the word metadata before. Even some security and privacy experts weren’t sure what the term encompassed, and now a group of security researchers at...

Clappers Says NSA Programs Fully Authorized and Necessary

The top U.S. intelligence official addressed the recent revelations about the National Security Agency’s covert cell-phone and email data collection surveillance programs on Thursday, saying that the programs have been ongoing for years, are fully authorized under U.S. law and that the leaks...