A while back, I woke up to find my Android phone lingering at a pattern unlock; not just to unlock my screen, but to decrypt all of my phone’s data. I was puzzled. Every other morning, I decrypted my device using a 10-digit, alphanumeric passphrase—something I perceived, accurately, as being infinitely more secure…
We’ve seen a lot of data breaches this year: some big, some small, some that are dangerous, and some that are just embarrassing. But if we were to name one as the creepiest data breach of 2017, this leak of logins for car tracking devices might take the cake.
Uber has rightfully taken heat for its past privacy overreaches: tracking riders after they get dropped off, tracking Lyft drivers, tracking and circumventing law enforcement, tracking critical journalists. Lots of tracking in situations where people expected not to be tracked!
Americans who say their phones and laptops were seized by US border agents filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts on Wednesday arguing that their First and Fourth Amendment rights had been violated.
The widespread use of facial recognition technology is almost upon us. A new iPhone is on the horizon, and it might not even have a fingerprint reader—instead, you could be unlocking your phone with your face.
If you’ve ever considered sharing your every move with a significant other, you probably have an opinion about location-sharing apps. “This is great! I’ll always know where they are!” is one opinion. “This is creepy! I’m not trying to stalk someone I could easy talk to instead!” is another. I’m of that second opinion.
Bad news, Sonos customers: to lay the groundwork for its upcoming voice assistant support, the company is asking users to agree to an updated privacy policy, one that includes both mandatory data collection rules and a mention about future device functionality. Should you disagree with said policy update, your…
The US Department of Justice is rescinding its request for IP logs that would have revealed visitors to a website used to plan a protest during Donald Trump’s inauguration.
AccuWeather sneakily got access to your location data, even when you turn off location access to its app. But after getting called out by a security researcher, the company is going to knock it off.
A leading US supplier of voting machines confirmed on Thursday that it exposed the personal information of more than 1.8 million Illinois residents.
Uber has agreed to implement a “comprehensive privacy program” as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, which alleged that the ride-hailing company stored data in an unsecured cloud service and didn’t monitor how often its employees looked at user data.
Android users are facing new threats to their privacy with the recent discovery of over a thousand spyware apps on the loose. A security firm found that at least three of these apps—which are capable of covertly taking photos, recording audio, retrieving call logs, and more—were available for download on Google Play.
As Russia transitions into an internet dystopia, it appears that Snapchat has been dragged right in. Today, Snapchat’s parent company Snap was registered as an “information distribution organizer.” And by July 1st, 2018, an amended law will require “information distribution organizers” to store months of user data,…
The Walt Disney Company is facing a lawsuit alleging it violated federal law aimed at protecting children’s online privacy. The company allegedly allowed ad tech companies to embed software in its apps, enabling the collection of children’s personal information.
Love makes people do dumb stuff. But there are practical, easy steps we can take to maintain our privacy during romantic relationships, and changing one simple behavior now could keep us safe later on if the relationship ends badly.
iRobot, the maker of Roomba, made big news this week when an interview with its CEO mentioned plans to sell the map data of customers’ homes to third parties. Today, the company launched damage control measures and the CEO is spreading assurances that this is all just a big misunderstanding.
A month after I ordered prenatal vitamins on Amazon, I started hearing an ad on Spotify that featured the sound of a baby’s heartbeat. It was an ad for a prenatal doctor.
The Roomba is generally regarded as a cute little robot friend that no one but dogs would consider to be a potential menace. But for the last couple of years, the robovacs have been quietly mapping homes to maximize efficiency. Now, the device’s makers plan to sell that data to smart home device manufacturers, turning…
The Indian government spent seven years compiling a national database that includes citizens’ iris scans, fingerprints, addresses, and phone numbers—and now Airbnb, Uber, and India ride-hailing service Ola are all interested in incorporating the system into their services, according to a report from BuzzFeed News.
