Kashmir Hill, Author at Gizmodo

This Simple Tool Will Reveal the Secret Life of Your Smart Home

We live in the glorious future that technophiles have long dreamed of. Almost everything can now connect to the internet: cameras, coffee pots, televisions, vacuums, toilets, children’s toys, sex toys. If you build it, a wireless connection will come for it. These smart devices are always on, always connected, and often up to more than…

Privacy & Security Kashmir Hill Apr 10

Facebook Ruins Woman’s Attempt to Pin Crime on Her Sister

Last week, a sheriff’s office in South Carolina posted a pretty crazy story to its Facebook page about how Facebook’s “People You May Know” feature had foiled a woman’s attempt to hide her identity from the police. The story, which was shared thousands of times and got some pick-up in the local media, went like…

Social Media Kashmir Hill Mar 22

Amazon and Chase Are Still Confusingly Opaque About What They Do With Your Credit Card Data

Last month, I tried to find out what Amazon learns about people who have an Amazon Rewards Visa Signature Card from Chase. Neither Chase nor Amazon would give me a straight answer. In fact, Chase’s spokesperson, Mary Jane Rogers, gave me a wrong answer in telling me that Amazon fell into a category that it…

Commerce Kashmir Hill Feb 25

I Cut the ‘Big Five’ Tech Giants From My Life. It Was Hell

Week 6: Blocking them all A couple of months ago, I set out to answer the question of whether it’s possible to avoid the tech giants. Over the course of five weeks, I blocked Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Apple one at a time, to find out how to live in the modern age without…

Tech News Kashmir Hill Feb 7

Apple Is Removing ‘Do Not Track’ From Safari

Do Not Track is apparently dead, and Apple is now taking steps to shed itself of the failed privacy project. Almost every internet browser has an option in its privacy settings called “Do Not Track,” which, if you turn it on, sends an invisible request on your behalf to all the websites you visit telling…

Privacy & Security Kashmir Hill Feb 6

I Cut Apple Out of My Life. It Was Devastating

Week 5: Apple When I first conceived of this experiment—cutting the tech giants out of my life one-by-one—I hadn’t thought to include Microsoft (because I use very few of their products) or Apple (because I use so many of theirs). I have two MacBook Airs, one for personal use and one supplied by my work.…

Tech News Kashmir Hill Feb 5

I Cut Microsoft Out of My Life—or So I Thought

Week 4: Microsoft When I initially planned to block all the tech giants from my life, I hadn’t thought to include Microsoft, mostly because Microsoft is—these days, at least—rarely on the receiving end of criticism for destroying civilization as we know it. Microsoft’s days as a tech supervillain are a distant memory, dating back to…

Tech News Kashmir Hill Jan 31

I Cut Google Out Of My Life. It Screwed Up Everything

Week 3: Google Long ago, Google made the mistake of adopting the motto, “Don’t be evil,” in a jab at competitors who exploited their users. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has since demoted the phrase in its corporate code of conduct presumably because of how hard it is to live up to it. Google is no…

Tech News Kashmir Hill Jan 29

I Cut Facebook Out of My Life. Surprisingly, I Missed It

Week 2: Facebook After Facebook’s hell-year of scandal, and its unabating erosion of our privacy—a topic I’ve been covering for over 10 years—I never thought I’d miss the social network. But here I am, staring at my screen, feeling strangely alone. In the second stage of my epic quest to thwart the world’s most powerful…

Tech News Kashmir Hill Jan 24

Amazon and Chase Will Not Give Me a Straight Answer About What They Do With My Credit Card Data

Whenever I go out to dinner with a bunch of friends, and we split the check, multiple people wind up throwing in those heavy, slate-grey credit cards bearing Amazon’s smiley arrow. Almost everyone I know has the Amazon Prime credit card because it comes with a killer rewards program, especially if you’re an Amazon Prime…

Commerce Kashmir Hill Jan 23

Life Without the Tech Giants

Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Apple collectively make products that we love, products that we hate (but can’t stop using), and products that dictate how we communicate and how we are seen. Their devices and services make our lives easier than they’ve ever been before, yet more complicated in unforeseen ways. They are so ubiquitous…

Tech News Kashmir Hill Jan 22

I Tried to Block Amazon From My Life. It Was Impossible

Week 1: Amazon Apparently, I am a masochist. I am on a mission to live without the tech giants—to discover whether such a thing is even possible. Not just through sheer willpower but technologically, with the use of a custom-built tool that would literally prevent my devices from accessing these companies, and them from accessing…

Tech News Kashmir Hill Jan 22

How Cartographers for the U.S. Military Inadvertently Created a House of Horrors in South Africa

The visitors started coming in 2013. The first one who came and refused to leave until he was let inside was a private investigator named Roderick. He was looking for an abducted girl, and he was convinced she was in the house. John S. and his mother Ann live in the house, which is in…

Tech News Kashmir Hill Jan 9

Amazon and Facebook Reportedly Had a Secret Data-Sharing Agreement, and It Explains So Much

Back in 2015, a woman named Imy Santiago wrote an Amazon review of a novel that she had read and liked. Amazon immediately took the review down and told Santiago she had “violated its policies.” Santiago re-read her review, didn’t see anything objectionable about it, so she tried to post it again. “You’re not eligible…

Social Media Kashmir Hill Dec 19

Turning Off Facebook Location Tracking Doesn’t Stop It From Tracking Your Location

Aleksandra Korolova has turned off Facebook’s access to her location in every way that she can. She has turned off location history in the Facebook app and told her iPhone that she “Never” wants the app to get her location. She doesn’t “check-in” to places and doesn’t list her current city on her profile. Despite…

Social Media Kashmir Hill Dec 18

How Facebook Schemed Against Its Users

Last year, I was trying to solve a mystery. Facebook’s “People You May Know” tool was outing sex workers’ real identities to their clients, and vice versa, and I was trying to figure out how. A sex worker using the pseudonym Leila told me she had gone to great lengths to hide her identity from…

Social Media Kashmir Hill Dec 12

Facebook Was Fully Aware That Tracking Who People Call and Text Is Creepy But Did It Anyway

Back in 2015, Facebook had a pickle of a problem. It was time to update the Android version of the Facebook app, and two different groups within Facebook were at odds over what the data grab should be. The business team wanted to get Bluetooth permissions so it could push ads to people’s phones when…

Social Media Kashmir Hill Dec 5

Be Warned: Customer Service Agents Can See What You’re Typing in Real Time

Next time you’re chatting with a customer service agent online, be warned that the person on the other side of your conversation might see what you’re typing in real time. A reader sent us the following transcript from a conversation he had with a mattress company after the agent responded to a message he hadn’t…

Privacy & Security Kashmir Hill Nov 27

‘Do Not Track,’ the Privacy Tool Used by Millions of People, Doesn’t Do Anything

When you go into the privacy settings on your browser, there’s a little option there to turn on the “Do Not Track” function, which will send an invisible request on your behalf to all the websites you visit telling them not to track you. A reasonable person might think that enabling it will stop a…

Privacy & Security Kashmir Hill Oct 15

Kashmir Hill

This Simple Tool Will Reveal the Secret Life of Your Smart Home

Facebook Ruins Woman’s Attempt to Pin Crime on Her Sister

More Internal Facebook Documents Leak Online, Revealing How Facebook Planned to Sell User Data

Amazon and Chase Are Still Confusingly Opaque About What They Do With Your Credit Card Data

I Cut the ‘Big Five’ Tech Giants From My Life. It Was Hell

Apple Is Removing ‘Do Not Track’ From Safari

I Cut Apple Out of My Life. It Was Devastating

I Cut Microsoft Out of My Life—or So I Thought

I Cut Google Out Of My Life. It Screwed Up Everything

I Cut Facebook Out of My Life. Surprisingly, I Missed It

Amazon and Chase Will Not Give Me a Straight Answer About What They Do With My Credit Card Data

Life Without the Tech Giants

I Tried to Block Amazon From My Life. It Was Impossible

How Cartographers for the U.S. Military Inadvertently Created a House of Horrors in South Africa

Amazon and Facebook Reportedly Had a Secret Data-Sharing Agreement, and It Explains So Much

Turning Off Facebook Location Tracking Doesn’t Stop It From Tracking Your Location

How Facebook Schemed Against Its Users

Facebook Was Fully Aware That Tracking Who People Call and Text Is Creepy But Did It Anyway

Be Warned: Customer Service Agents Can See What You’re Typing in Real Time

‘Do Not Track,’ the Privacy Tool Used by Millions of People, Doesn’t Do Anything

Musk Changes OpenAI Lawsuit So that If He Wins the $134 Billion, OpenAI’s Nonprofit Gets It

Pro-Iran Hackers Target Critical U.S. Energy and Water Infrastructure

‘She-Hulk’ Was Apparently One of Marvel’s Most Successful Shows

The World’s First Eye-Tracking Smart Glasses Are Intriguing and Unpolished

Noah Hawley Is Remaking ‘Terrified,’ Which Shouldn’t Happen

Unprecedented Observation Reveals 2 Supermassive Black Holes Locked in a Tight Death Spiral

This Apple MacBook Pro Is Now Under $500 After 78% Off, Grade-A Refurb Deal (16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Touch Bar)

Anthropic Launches ‘Project Glasswing’ to Stealthily Spot Cybersecurity Issues for Rivals

Tiny Robots Reveal Hidden Ocean Chemistry in Low-Oxygen Waters

Aunt Lydia Survived ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ to Bring New Complexity to ‘The Testaments’

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback