Privacy

What Everyone’s Getting Wrong About Facebook’s “Creepy” Study

If you’ve been anywhere near this great, big internet of ours over the past few days, you’ve probably heard about Facebook’s outrageous breach of trust. Except, at least this time, Facebook might not be entirely in the wrong. The Study In 2012, Facebook decided to spend a week doing a series of experimental user testing,…

You Can Now Buy the Super-Private Blackphone for $630

Paranoid? Or just privacy conscious? Well, the Blackphone is an Android handset that promises to keep your secrets safe, and now you can buy one for $630. The super-secure phone has been in the works for some time. While its specs were revealed at the start of the year—a 4.7-inch HD IPS display, 2GHz quad-core…

4 Things You Need to Know If the Police Try To Search Your Phone

In a rare unanimous Supreme Court decision yesterday, all nine Justices agreed that, yep, searching your phone without a warrant is indeed illegal. So if a police officer ever does try to dig through your digital dirt unlawfully, this is what you need to do. The often controversial Chief Justice John Roberts summed the whole…

Should Google Be Allowed to Mine Your Health Care Data?

On the heels of the I/O keynote on Thursday, Google cofounder Larry Page spilled his guts to Farhad Manjoo from The New York Times. “Right now we don’t data-mine health care data,” Page said. “If we did we’d probably save 100,000 lives next year.” But is that actually a good idea? Mining health care is…

9 Highlights From Today’s Supreme Court Cell Phone Privacy Decision

Today the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that police can no longer search your cell phone without a search warrant or an immediate threat of danger. There are plenty of caveats, but overall this is a victory for privacy advocates. Below are some of the highlights from the decision. https://gizmodo.com/supreme-court-cops-cant-search-your-phone-without-a-wa-1595858318 SCOTUS points out that we’ve…

Supreme Court: Cops Can’t Search Your Phone Without a Warrant

Turns out, SCOTUS doesn’t like warrantless cell phone snooping. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the police generally need a warrant before searching cell phones or mobile devices of the people they arrest. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote a strident ruling in favor of privacy. “Modern cell phones are not just another…

It’s Freakishly Easy To Steal Phone PINs With Google Glass

Not feeling paranoid enough today? Here you go: Your phone lock screen might actually make it easier for nefarious cyber bandits to steal your passwords. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Lowell recently conducted a study illustrating how easy it is to steal phone PINS, even from across the room. They used cameras on Google…

Privacy advocates are concerned that the U.S. Army is planning to launch two blimps over Maryland to watch for incoming cruise missiles. The Electronic Privacy Information Center has sued the Army for details of the equipment, noting that “a system that can survey a large area… could have profound implications.”

In a bipartisan vote, the House passed legislation that would prohibit the search of government databases for information on U.S. citizens without a warrant. It would also cut off funding for the CIA and NSA to build security “backdoors” into domestic tech products or services for surveillance purposes.

The British Government Just Set a Dangerous Precedent for Online Spying

Today, the British government revealed its justification for surveilling its citizens’ every move on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. UK citizens communicating using the aforementioned services are considered to be using “external communications,” as the companies are not based in the UK. It’s a distinction with staggering implications. Charles Farr, the Director General of…

Satellites Are Now Cleared to Take Photos at Mailbox-Level Detail

The Department of Commerce just lifted a ban on satellite images that showed features smaller than 20 inches. The nation’s largest satellite imaging firm, Digital Globe, asked the government to lift the restrictions and can now sell images showing details as small as a foot. A few inches may seem slight, but this is actually…

How to Stop Facebook From Using Your Browsing History

Earlier this week, Facebook announced that it was going to start using all of that ever-so-illuminating app and website data it collects to serve us with more targeted ads. In other words, Facebook is getting ready to use your browsing history to benefit advertisers. Here’s how to stop them. Of course, just because you’re getting…

How Soccer Security Is Creating the Surveillance State

International mega-events like the FIFA World Cup require increasingly expensive, high-tech security. It’s not just the financial burden that’s become worrisome. When the games are over, the host country will still possess the tech—which may have lasting repercussions for the privacy of its citizens. As the Weekly Wonk blog observes: So far, Brazil has reportedly…

​​​​This 3D-Printed Dress Reveals More Skin As You Reveal More Data

Two NYU students have created a “wearable sculpture” that uses a mobile app to adjust the fabric’s opacity based upon how much information you share about yourself — knowingly and unknowingly — on sites such as Google and Facebook. The more transparent you are, the more “transparent” you become. It’s a project that brings new…

The NSA Won’t Hand Over Data Because It Literally Can’t Keep Track of It

Last week, a US District judge ordered the NSA to stop destroying data that pertains to a pre-Snowden lawsuit against the agency. There’s just one teensy weensy problem with that: Apparently NSA’s systems handle so much data that it literally cannot find what it’s supposed to stop deleting. The data, which the NSA collects under…

Vodafone Admits It’s Been Wiretapped Across the Whole of Europe

Will we ever discover the full extent of state snooping into our private lives? A year on from the NSA / Snowden revelations, Vodafone has today admitted that government agencies use wire taps to monitor its customer calls across Europe. Though not revealing exactly which of the 29 European territories it operates in have been…

How to Encrypt Everything

A year ago, heavy duty encryption technology was something cybersecurity professionals, privacy nuts, and the odd investigative journalist cared about. Then the Snowden leaks happened. Suddenly, we were all acutely aware of how exposed our data is to the prying eyes of spies and hackers alike. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Thanks…

65 Things We Know About NSA Surveillance We Didn’t Know a Year Ago

It’s been one year since the Guardian first published the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order, leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, that demonstrated that the NSA was conducting dragnet surveillance on millions of innocent people. Since then, the onslaught of disturbing revelations, from disclosures, admissions from government officials, Freedom of Information Act requests, and…

One Year After Snowden, What’s Really Changed?

Father’s Day is here again, but this year, dad won’t be getting an exciting bucket of leaks from Edward Snowden. No, instead we all get to look back on a year of NSA revelations and wonder what’s actually changed. The truth is, depressingly little. The first reports on Edward Snowden’s leaks were published exactly one…

This Is Britain’s Ultra-Secret Middle East Spy Base

It’s emerged that Britain has an ultra-secret spy base in the Middle East which taps undersea cables running through the region. The Register reports that the base and its operations are”above-top-secret” and, despite being leaked by Edward Snowden, have until now remained under wraps. Apparently some media organizations have been subject to government pressure not…