Privacy

Germany Declares Facebook’s Facial Recognition Illegal

Although we think it’s generally a pretty nifty feature, valid concerns over the misuse of Facebook’s auto-recognition tagging have lead Germany to ban it entirely. That’s right—Facebook in its current state is now illegal. Deep Scheiße, Zuckerberg. The German government—which possesses perhaps the world’s most adamant privacy laws as a result of Nazi and subsequent…

Social Media Sam Biddle

Microsoft Locks Down Their Location Tracking Database

After Microsoft’s database of publicly-accessible Wi-Fi locations was exposed, they’ve heeded the criticisms and decided to make the information a bit less accessible. According to Cnet’s Declan McCullagh, Microsoft tweaked the Live.com location services API so that it no longer allows someone to enter in a MAC address and receive a precise geographical location. Furthermore,…

Tech News Adrian Covert

Berserk Cop Arrests Photographer for Standing on Sidewalk

The more digital video spreads, the more misinformed police fear it—as evidenced by this cop’s draconian response to a guy simply filming a pulled over vehicle. It’s important to know your rights, but knowledge can’t keep you un-cuffed. The videographer in question—accused of disrupting the crime scene—was doing nothing of the sort, unless the police…

Privacy & Security Sam Biddle

Newest Android Trojan Records All Your Calls

Security researchers have identified a new Android bug in the wild—this one gunning after your phone calls, NetworkWorld reports. The good news? The recordings seem to just sit on your SD card after installing the malicious app. [NetworkWorld]

Tech News Sam Biddle

Who’s Spying on You Through Your Browser?

Wall Street Journal has amassed a sizeable infographic containing all the ways top websites track your data. While nearly all websites send your data to third-party trackers, some are worse than others. Luckily the main offenders are websites that suck. The worst website of them all is Dictionary.com, who send your browsing data to 234…

Privacy & Security Adrian Covert

Anyone Can Access Microsoft’s Massive Location Database and See Where Your Laptop and Smartphone Have Been

Microsoft has been going around and building a database of publicly broadcast MAC addresses (along with their corresponding street address) for location services purposes. That might include those of your phones and laptops. Problem is, Microsoft didn’t secure the database. According to a report from Cnet’s Declan McCullagh, Microsoft is gathering data from Windows 7…

Tech News Adrian Covert

Document: FBI Surveillance Geeks Fear, Love New Gadgets

Can’t wait for 4G to become the ubiquitous standard for mobile communication? On the edge of your seat for the unveiling of Microsoft’s secret Menlo Project and Greenfield application? You’re not the only one watching the growth of these and other new technologies with rapt attention. According to an internal FBI document (.pdf), the law…

Tech News Kim Zetter - Wired

Facial Recognition: It’s Not Creepy, So Get Over It

Facial recognition, like targeted advertising before it, is the internet’s newest bogeyman. Many have an instant aversion to their faces being scanned by a computer. You shouldn’t. With the right caveats, the tech’s like robot vacuums: helpful, not scary. It’s not so surprising that personal facial recognition has created a face-jerk reaction among privacy advocates.…

Social Media Sam Biddle

Facebook Makes It Easier to Opt Out of Facial Recognition

Facebook’s facial recognition system was so intrusive, the EU felt it necessary to investigate it for privacy violations. While Facebook has always allowed you to turn it off, it’s always been a bit fiddly—until now. [Reuters] https://gizmodo.com/facebooks-latest-privacy-settings-shadiness-invades-you-5809647

Social Media Kat Hannaford

Google’s Street View Fleet Accidentally Mapped Millions of Phones and Laptops

Street View, one of Google’s coolest and move privacy-offending services of all time, has just caught another black eye: CNET reports the WiFi-scanning cars recorded millions of mobile devices—plus their locations. And then released them online. The revelation is just the latest blotch on an already spotty record for Google when it comes to not…

Tech News Sam Biddle

TSA to Debut Scanning Software that Won’t Reveal Your Naked Body to the World

If you’re going to be bombarded by radiation before boarding a flight, you shouldn’t have to bear the extra insult of also having your birthday suit exposed in the process. The TSA’s scanning software just got a censorship patch! https://gizmodo.com/one-hundred-naked-citizens-one-hundred-leaked-body-sca-5690749 The LA Times reports the TSA will phase in the software, which replaces your backscatter-imaged…

Privacy & Security Sam Biddle

Google+ Now Lets You Keep Your Gender Private

Google listened, and now lets you make your gender private in Google+. It also uses gender-neutral language—”they” as opposed to “him” or “her”—to make things simpler. Well done! [The Mary Sue] https://gizmodo.com/xkcd-author-asks-is-google-too-gendered-5819664

Tech News Kwame Opam

Apple Sics Secret Service on Spy Cam Artist

That video artist whose software grabbed pictures of Apple Store computer users? He’s been tracked down by Apple and raided by the Feds. He had to see this coming. Every morning for three days, Kyle McDonald would trek down to the New York Apple Stores in SoHo and West 14th St. and install software that…

Tech News Ryan Tate

I Flunked My Social Media Background Check. Will You?

Your next job application could require a social media background check. Odds are, you have no clue what that means. Nobody does. It’s new and scary and probably scours the Web for pictures of you puking on the beach. But screw speculation. We wanted to know. So we ran background checks on six Gizmodo employees.…

Social Media Mat Honan

China Enlists Cisco To Spy On the Public

500,000 cameras have been purchased by the Chinese government for installation in the Chongqing city over the coming three years, to keep an eye out for crime, but more importantly political activists. Or so human-rights warriors fret. Since the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989, the US government has been strict about US companies selling their…

Privacy & Security Kat Hannaford

Dropbox’s New T&Cs Pushes Users Into a Panic Over Privacy and Ownership

For the second time in as many weeks, Dropbox has found itself in the headlines over privacy concerns. This time ’round, it’s due to Dropbox changing its terms of service, leading people to think they could do whatever they damn well pleased with their uploaded media. https://gizmodo.com/dropbox-passwords-were-optional-for-a-short-time-on-sun-5813847 Understandably, people panicked. This isn’t the case however,…

Privacy & Security Kat Hannaford

Dear Fitbit Users, Kudos On the 30 Minutes of “Vigorous Sexual Activity” Last Night

Fitbit users beware: The details of your sexual tryst last night—all vigorous, 15 minutes of it (21 calories burned!)—has probably been broadcast for all the Internet to see. But wait a moment. First of all, Fitbit‐what is it? Basically, it’s an online exercise and calorie tracking service that logs data via a transmitter device. When…

Privacy & Security Jack Loftus

Not-At-All Creepy Background Check App Hits Android and iPhone

Hey everybody, now you can run free background checks on friends and co-workers and family members and random acquaintances right from your phone! That’s great right? What? It’s weird? Well, yes, sure. Welcome to modern life. Background Check by Been Verified hit Android today for the first time, and returned to the iTunes Store. Apple…

Tech News Mat Honan

Google+ Stumbles Early with Privacy Loophole

Well, this didn’t take long: Google’s mayonnaise on toast clone of Facebook is already catching heat for privacy problems. Nothing as egregious as Buzzgate, but Google+ seems to be allowing unfettered sharing of your stuff with anyone. Not good! Google+ has Circles, a sorta-neat, simplified “Groups” system, wherein you have to explicitly sort your buddies…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Is Microsoft Trying to Patent Skype Spying?

Patents are usually either completely mundane, or kinda far-fetched. Rarely are they entirely ominous, as is the case with one Microsoft just filed a method for a 3rd party to “silently record [a] communication”—say, one on Skype. We don’t actually have to surmise Skype, as Microsoft’s filing names the recently-acquired VOIP darling by name. The…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Germany Declares Facebook’s Facial Recognition Illegal

Microsoft Locks Down Their Location Tracking Database

Berserk Cop Arrests Photographer for Standing on Sidewalk

Newest Android Trojan Records All Your Calls

Who’s Spying on You Through Your Browser?

Anyone Can Access Microsoft’s Massive Location Database and See Where Your Laptop and Smartphone Have Been

Document: FBI Surveillance Geeks Fear, Love New Gadgets

Facial Recognition: It’s Not Creepy, So Get Over It

Facebook Makes It Easier to Opt Out of Facial Recognition

Google’s Street View Fleet Accidentally Mapped Millions of Phones and Laptops

TSA to Debut Scanning Software that Won’t Reveal Your Naked Body to the World

Google+ Now Lets You Keep Your Gender Private

Apple Sics Secret Service on Spy Cam Artist

I Flunked My Social Media Background Check. Will You?

China Enlists Cisco To Spy On the Public

Dropbox’s New T&Cs Pushes Users Into a Panic Over Privacy and Ownership

Dear Fitbit Users, Kudos On the 30 Minutes of “Vigorous Sexual Activity” Last Night

Not-At-All Creepy Background Check App Hits Android and iPhone

Google+ Stumbles Early with Privacy Loophole

Is Microsoft Trying to Patent Skype Spying?

Feds Sniffing Around Polymarket After Suspicious Bets

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

Don’t Get Too Attached to Any AI App

‘Paradise’ Writer Teases What’s Coming in Season 3 After That Huge Twist

Trump’s New White House App Is Mildly Concerning and Weird for a Lot of Reasons

Bloodsucking Ticks Can Survive Inside Your Home Longer Than You Might Think

The Best New Toys of March 2026

Judge Denies Liking LinkedIn Post Critical of Elon Musk But Reassigns His Cases Anyway

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

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

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