Privacy

The Five Dumbest Ways That People Defend NSA Spying

Over the past year, as the Snowden revelations have rolled out, the government and its apologists have developed a set of talking points about mass spying that the public has now heard over and over again. From the President, to Hilary Clinton to Rep. Mike Rogers, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and many others, the arguments are…

Exactly How the NSA Violates International Human Rights

Even before Ed Snowden leaked his first document, human rights lawyers and activists were concerned about law enforcement and intelligence agencies spying on the digital world. One of the tools developed to tackle those concerns was the development of the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance (the “Necessary and Proportionate…

The FTC Wants to Save You From Data Brokers That Sell Your Secrets

Data brokers the world over collect and sell information about your online behavior. Now, though, the FTC has plans to try and save you from their data-grabbing ways. https://gizmodo.com/big-data-brokers-they-know-everything-about-you-and-se-5991070 An FTC report issued Tuesday explains how the Commission wants Congress to examine the data broking industry and consider regulating its collection practices. Currently, brokers are…

Sorry, You Won’t Be Editing Your Google Results in the US Any Time Soon

A couple weeks ago, the internet lit up with the news of the European Court of Justice ruling that would require Google to delete irrelevant or outdated information from their search results. “Finally!” you might’ve thought. “I can get those frat party pics out of my results!” But, as a new Associated Press story makes…

Edward Snowden Threw Crypto Parties Before He Blew the Whistle on NSA

Edward Snowden is famous for one thing: blowing the whistle on the NSA. But really, he’s just a normal guy. Before this all happened, for instance, he threw parties like all of us! Wait, maybe not quite: they were encryption parties. https://gizmodo.com/edward-snowden-takes-a-victory-lap-1489090349 Wired reports that, months before Snowden leaked classified NSA documents, he gathered friends…

How the NSA Is Transforming Law Enforcement

If you’ve been imagining NSA surveillance as something distant, with analysts sitting in remote data centers quietly analyzing metadata—stop now. NSA surveillance has become a part of day-to-day law enforcement fabric in the United States. The Snowden disclosures that were made public as part of Glenn Greenwald’s book No Place to Hide drive this point…

Facebook’s Letting You Harass People About Their Relationship Status

Facebook relationship statuses completely revolutionized the art of “figuring out whether that person you want to bang is single.” It made it as easy as a search. But some sneaky people leave that drop-down menu empty, or protect that info from non-friends. Fortunately, Facebook is testing a button that lets you harass them about it.…

Which Tech Companies Protect Your Data From the Government?

Every year, the Electronic Frontier Foundationreleases its “Who Has Your Back” report card, detailing the privacy policies of tech companies. Here’s the rundown of who fights for your privacy in the face of government requests for your data—and who doesn’t even bother. Executive Summary We entrust our most sensitive, private, and important information to technology…

Look at the NSA Implanting Backdoors into Intercepted Electronics

We’ve known for months that the NSA has penchant for intercepting packages containing commercial electronic equipment to implant backdoors in them. Now, there are images which show what that process looks like. A new trove of documents, released alongside Glenn Greenwald’s book No Place to Hide, show what the NSA does when it gets its…

The European Union Court of Justice has ruled that people can ask Google to delete sensitive information from its Internet search results. Maybe that’ll happen in the U.S. at some point, too?

Researchers Are Making an ATM that Spews Hot Acid at Thieves

For wannabe thieves, nothing is more tantalizing than an empty street and a vulnerable ATM. Soon, though, they could be facing more than just failure. Taking design cues from mother nature herself, researchers are building ATMs that fend off thieves with a spray of hot, steaming foam. The inspiration for this dastardly defense mechanism comes…

Why Privacy in Social Media Is So Complex

If you’ve ever been stung by someone sharing something online about you that you’d rather they hadn’t, you’ve experienced the difficulties of maintaining privacy across social networks. In this video, Professor Derek McAuley explains just why it’s so complex. He starts with a very good point. Human social dynamics have evolved over ten of thousands…

How DRM Harms Our Computer Security

DRM and the laws that back it up actively undermine our computer security. On this Day Against DRM, the first one since we learned about the US government’s efforts to sabotage the integrity of our cryptography and security technology, it’s more important than ever to consider how the unintended consequences of copyright enforcement make us…

If you use Dropbox or Box, make sure you’re restricting access to shared links. Otherwise, third party advertisers could be raking in some seriously sensitive URLs. Dropbox your tax return, anyone?

New Vulnerability Found in Every Single Version of Internet Explorer

According to a confirmation by Microsoft late last night, a new zero day vulnerability has been found to affect every version of Internet Explorer. In other words—over a quarter of the entire browser market. Attacks taking advantage of the vulnerability are largely targeting IE versions 9, 10, and 11 in something called a “use after…

Developers: Heartbleed-Affected OpenSSL Code Is Beyond Repair

OpenSLL is screwed, and as a result we’ve got Heartbleed. But now a team of developers working to overhaul the code have deemed it beyond repair—and are instead creating an alternative, forked version. Ars Technica reports that Theo de Raadt and his team have been probing OpenSSL and found it in an absolute mess. In…

These Eavesdropping Drone Tanks Have Something to Tell You

If you want to get an up close and personal feel for what it means to live in a surveillance society, then pay a visit to the Berlinische Galerie, where, in a cavernous gallery, German artist Nik Nowak has set loose a pair of drones to snoop on museum-goers. Nowak has made a career out…

Virginia’s top court has ruled against global warming skeptics trying to obtain emails written by climate scientist Michael Mann when he was a UVA professor. The judge stated that the emails are proprietary and exempt from FOIA requests — and that releasing them would impair academic “free thought and expression.”

The U.S. Army Is Using a Chatbot to Recruit New Soldiers

He hasn’t served in any military campaigns. He’s never won a medal. Heck, he’s not even alive. But to millions of people, Sgt. Star, the Army’s recruitment chatbot, is one of the most recognizable soldiers in America. And he’s gathering a lot of personal data. But, what does he do with all the information that…

Bill Gates’ New Patent Would Keep Glassholes From Spying on Your Screens

Google’s big Glass free-for-all has come and gone, but whether or not anyone actually bought the damn thing, cameras are popping up all over the place, and people are starting to get (perhaps rightfully) paranoid. Fortunately there could be tech in the future to save your screens from prying camera eyes. And Bill Gates has…