Privacy

HBO Invited Us to a Westworld Dinner Party, Where We Were the Ones Roasted

“Ms. Cranz, would you prefer a tequila or vodka shot? Don’t worry. We know the difference.” With one question a Westworld “robot” had roasted me to a cinder and brought into relief everything cool and terrifying about HBO’s Westworld “activation” at CES. What was the significance of that question? Two months earlier I had mistakenly…

io9 Alex Cranz

Apple Pushes Back on DOJ Claims That Company Won’t Unlock iPhones Belonging to Shooter

Following comments by U.S. Attorney General William Barr that Apple has not provided “substantive assistance” in its investigation related to the shooting last month at a naval airbase in Pensacola, Florida, Apple has addressed the issue by stating that there’s “no such thing as a backdoor just for the good guys.” https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/13/politics/pensacola-naval-station-shooting-act-of-terrorism-barr/index.html During a press conference…

Tech News Catie Keck

DOJ Steps Up Pressure on Apple to Unlock Saudi Terror Suspect’s iPhone

Apple is facing escalating demands from the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) to assist authorities investigating the deadly shooting at a naval airbase in Pensacola, Florida, last month, which is now being treated as an act of terrorism. At a press conference on Monday, Attorney General William P. Barr issued a public plea for Apple to…

Tech News Dell Cameron

Top UK Websites’ Annoying Pop-Ups Aren’t Even Doing GDPR Right, Study Finds

It’s been more than a year and a half since the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect, but the internet’s still a long way from getting compliance right. That’s the takeaway from “Dark Patterns after the GDPR,” a new report by researchers from MIT, UCL in the United Kingdom, and Denmark’s…

Tech Policy Shoshana Wodinsky

Microsoft Outsourced Skype, Cortana Voice Analysis to China With Virtually No Security in Place: Report

Microsoft had “no security measures” on a program that had humans transcribe user voice recordings from its Skype video calling service and Cortana assistant, the Guardian reported on Friday, even when those workers were located in China. The recordings consisted of clips of “deliberately and accidentally invoked activations” of the semi-defunct Cortana assistant (which is…

Tech News Tom McKay

Federal Program Offers Free Phones For the Poor, So Long as You’re OK With Chinese Malware

So much for that “free” lunch, huh? Android phones distributed via a government-sponsored program aimed at granting low-income households access to cheap cell service apparently came pre-equipped with Chinese malware, according to a Forbes report Thursday. Through its partnership with the federal Lifeline Assistance program (you know, that one Sprint got caught abusing earlier this…

Privacy & Security Alyse Stanley

Ring’s Security Update Isn’t Enough, Sen. Ron Wyden Says

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden isn’t satisfied with Amazon’s response to a string of incidents involving compromised home security cameras made by its subsidiary Ring, such as a high-profile event in 2018 in which a hacker taunted an eight-year-old Tennessee girl in her own bedroom. Motherboard reported last year that hackers have developed software to rapidly…

Privacy & Security Tom McKay

FBI Asks Apple to Unlock iPhone of Suspect in Pensacola Naval Base Shooting

The FBI is seeking Apple’s assistance in unlocking the cellphone of the gunman authorities say killed three people and wounded eight others last month at a naval base in Pensacola, Florida. Gizmodo has confirmed that FBI General Counsel Dana Boente requested Apple’s help to unlock the cellphone in a letter sent late Monday after obtaining…

Privacy & Security Dell Cameron

Trump Admin Plan to Collect DNA From Detained Migrants, Asylum Seekers Will Begin Soon

The Trump administration’s plan to collect DNA evidence from migrants detained in U.S. Customs and Borders Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities will commence soon in the form of a 90-day pilot program in Detroit and Southwest Texas, CNN reported on Monday. News of the plan first emerged in October, when the…

Privacy & Security Tom McKay

Google Suspends Xiaomi’s Nest Integration After User Appears to Pick Up Strangers’ Camera Feeds

Google has cut off access to its Nest Hub and Assistant for Xiaomi devices after a user was reportedly able to view still images from other camera owners upon linking his Xiaomi camera to his Google account. Android Police first reported on the incident after a Reddit user posted about the disturbing encounter. “We’re aware…

Privacy & Security Alyse Stanley

Nobody Listened

Despite the privacy concerns, labor strikes, and reports that Amazon is selling literal trash on its platform—in the face of all of the myriad reasons shoppers should have avoided buying through Amazon this year—the company still made a killing this season. The company said this week that the 2019 holiday season was record-shattering. The number…

Commerce Catie Keck

Ring’s Security Woes Cause Some Tech Review Sites to Rethink Glowing Endorsements

At least two tech review sites are discussing whether to rescind their positive recommendations of Ring’s home surveillance cameras, a leading digital-rights organization announced this week. In the wake of reporting by Gizmodo and other outlets this year concerning Ring’s troubled security and privacy practices, Fight for the Future has launched a campaign calling on…

Tech Policy Dell Cameron

TikTok Owner ByteDance Denies That It’s Planning to Sell Majority Stake Amid Espionage Concerns

A Bloomberg report on Monday evening said that ByteDance is considering selling off a majority stake in its incredibly popular and fantastically annoying music app, TikTok, amid intensifying U.S. government concerns that the China-based company is a security and espionage threat. However, the firm has denied the report as “inaccurate” and “meritless.” ByteDance was previously…

Privacy & Security Tom McKay

The Smart Home Is a Technological Teenager Going Through Some Awful Growing Pains

It can take a new technology decades to fully mature into a product that’s reliable and genuinely useful. Computers and mobile phones have arguably reached that point, but the smart home is barely a teenager by comparison, and as it starts to go through puberty it’s revealing a troubling, rebellious side. The idea of a…

Gadgets Andrew Liszewski

Uninstall ToTok, the Government Surveillance Tool Posing as a Chat App: Report

While, yes, your messaging apps are indeed spying on you, to argue that they were developed specifically for that purpose might seem like a stretch. But life is stranger than fiction in the year of our lord 2019, and now you can thank ToTok for making your worst dystopian surveillance state nightmares come true. (That’s…

Privacy & Security Alyse Stanley

Twitter Warns Millions of Android App Users to Update Immediately

If endlessly scrolling through Twitter on your phone is part of your daily ritual, you’re going to want to update the app as soon as you can if you’re an Android user. This week, Twitter confirmed a vulnerability in its Android app that could let hackers see your “nonpublic account information” and commandeer your account…

Privacy & Security Alyse Stanley

Ring Sure Does Have a Lot of Password Leaks That Are Entirely Your Fault

One of Ring’s stated goals is to “reduce crime in neighborhoods by connecting people.” What customers didn’t expect is that those people would be criminals who’d be spying on them in their homes, occasionally yelling racist or threatening things at their children. On Thursday, BuzzFeed News reported that at least 3,672 Ring camera owners had…

Privacy & Security Dell Cameron

It’s Time to Nervously Mock the 50 Worst Passwords of the Year

In spite of everything—the leaks, the breaches, the myriad privacy risks—a large majority of people are still using “password” and “123456” as their password. Folks, it’s long past time to stop taking security shortcuts. Security services firm SplashData has released its ninth annual Worst Passwords of the Year list, which assesses more than 5 million…

Privacy & Security Catie Keck

Judge Rules Edward Snowden Can’t Profit From His Book Because It Wasn’t Cleared by NSA and CIA

Edward Snowden will not be allowed to profit from sales of his book Permanent Record, after a federal judge in Virginia ruled Tuesday that Snowden should have sought approval from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Security Agency (NSA). It’s not clear if Snowden, who was previously a CIA employee and contractor for the…

Tech News Matt Novak

Unroll.me Settles With FTC for Rifling Through Its Users’ Email Inboxes to Find Receipts

Email cleanup service Unroll.me has settled with the Federal Trade Commission and must delete information it gathered from some consumers after it was revealed the firm was mining and selling data from users’ inboxes, the agency announced on Tuesday. In 2017, the New York Times revealed that once Unroll.me—which was supposed to help users unsubscribe…

Privacy & Security Tom McKay

HBO Invited Us to a Westworld Dinner Party, Where We Were the Ones Roasted

Apple Pushes Back on DOJ Claims That Company Won’t Unlock iPhones Belonging to Shooter

DOJ Steps Up Pressure on Apple to Unlock Saudi Terror Suspect’s iPhone

Top UK Websites’ Annoying Pop-Ups Aren’t Even Doing GDPR Right, Study Finds

Microsoft Outsourced Skype, Cortana Voice Analysis to China With Virtually No Security in Place: Report

Federal Program Offers Free Phones For the Poor, So Long as You’re OK With Chinese Malware

Ring’s Security Update Isn’t Enough, Sen. Ron Wyden Says

FBI Asks Apple to Unlock iPhone of Suspect in Pensacola Naval Base Shooting

Trump Admin Plan to Collect DNA From Detained Migrants, Asylum Seekers Will Begin Soon

Google Suspends Xiaomi’s Nest Integration After User Appears to Pick Up Strangers’ Camera Feeds

Nobody Listened

Ring’s Security Woes Cause Some Tech Review Sites to Rethink Glowing Endorsements

TikTok Owner ByteDance Denies That It’s Planning to Sell Majority Stake Amid Espionage Concerns

The Smart Home Is a Technological Teenager Going Through Some Awful Growing Pains

Uninstall ToTok, the Government Surveillance Tool Posing as a Chat App: Report

Twitter Warns Millions of Android App Users to Update Immediately

Ring Sure Does Have a Lot of Password Leaks That Are Entirely Your Fault

It’s Time to Nervously Mock the 50 Worst Passwords of the Year

Judge Rules Edward Snowden Can’t Profit From His Book Because It Wasn’t Cleared by NSA and CIA

Unroll.me Settles With FTC for Rifling Through Its Users’ Email Inboxes to Find Receipts

National Film and Sound Archive of Australia Adds ‘Succulent Chinese Meal’ Guy

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

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

Let us help find what you are looking for...