Archive

Posts Tagged ‘privacy’

Facebook Lawsuit Shows How Outdated Our Privacy Laws Are

December 31, 2014 Comments off

wallstcheatsheet.com

The latest lawsuit filed against social networking giant Facebook may ultimately lead to change in how social networks can collect and use our communications, but in the meantime serves to highlight the obsolescence and vagueness of the legislation that protects the personal data we share via social networks and email.

Re/code reports that Facebook will face a class-action lawsuit that accuses it of violating users’ privacy by scanning the messages that they send to other users of the social network. U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton dismissed some state-law claims against the company but denied Facebook’s bid to dismiss the lawsuit, which will now seek to establish how routine the process of scanning messages is to the tech firm’s business.

Facebook has argued that the alleged scanning of users’ messages was covered by an exception under the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) for interceptions by Read more…

Categories: Facebook Tags: , ,

The sound made by your computer could give away your encryption keys…

December 19, 2013 Comments off

nakedsecurity

One of the first computers I was ever allowed to use all on my own was a superannuated ICL-1901A, controlled from a Teletype Model 33.

One of the processor’s address lines was wired up to a speaker inside the teletype, producing an audible click every time that address bit changed.

The idea was that you could, quite literally, listen to your code running.

Loops, in particular, tended to produce recognisable patterns of sound, as the program counter iterated over the same set of memory adresses repeatedly.

This was a great help in debugging – you could count your way through a matrix multiplication, for instance, and keep track of how far your code ran before it crashed.

You could even craft your loops (or the data you fed into them) to produce predictable frequencies for predictable lengths of time, thus producing vaguely tuneful – and sometimes even recognisable – musical output.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

So it was with considerable amusement that I read a Full Article Here

Categories: Computers Tags: ,

Facebook can see what users type even if status is not posted

December 18, 2013 Comments off

latimes.com

Facebook

Facebook said tracking users’ activity even if they decide not to post a status or comment falls within the company’s terms of service. (Daniel Acker / Bloomberg / December 9, 2013)

By Salvador Rodriguez

Facebook has said that it is within its terms of service to see what users are typing even when the status or comment is never posted on the social network.

The Menlo Park, Calif., company confirmed that it can track users’ unpublished posts after two Facebook researchers disclosed that they had tracked the activity of about 5 million random Facebook users in the U.S. and England.

The researchers’ study looked at how often these users censored themselves while typing posts and comments on Facebook. If users typed more than five characters, the content was tracked. It was considered to be self-censored if it was not published within 10 minutes of being typed.

Facebook said the study did not track the exact words and letters that users typed, but whether or not they typed something. The methodology for the study also kept the Read more…

Categories: Facebook Tags: , , ,

NSA’s goal is elimination of individual privacy worldwide – Greenwald to EU

December 18, 2013 Comments off

rt.com

Glenn Greenwald (Reuters / Ueslei Marcelino)Glenn Greenwald (Reuters / Ueslei Marcelino)

The NSA’s ultimate goal is to destroy individual privacy worldwide, working with its UK sidekick GCHQ, journalist Glenn Greenwald warned an EU inquiry, adding that they were far ahead of their rivals in their “ability to destroy privacy.”

Greenwald, the former Guardian journalist renowned for publishing Edward Snowden’s leaks, criticized EU governments’ muted response to the revelations about the NSA’s mass espionage. Most governments reacted with “apathy and indifference” to reports that ordinary citizens were being spied upon, Greenwald said, pointing out that EU politicians only took action when they discovered that they themselves were being targeted.

“I think western governments have inculcated people to accept that privacy does not really have much value,” said Greenwald, adding it was “to get populations accustomed to violations of their privacy.”

Greenwald testified before the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties and Home Affairs via a video link, contributing to an inquiry into the NSA’s surveillance on Read more…

Categories: NSA Tags: , ,

Google wants to move into your HOME: Giant plans to fit microphones in ceilings…

December 12, 2013 Comments off

dailymail

Californian firm's chief engineer Scott Huffman, pictured,Californian firm’s chief engineer Scott Huffman, pictured, said the microphones would act like personal assistants

Google is already heavily criticised for trying to know almost everything about us, and now the firm wants to get inside our homes, literally.

Engineering director Scott Huffman told The Independent that in his vision of the future Google users would have microphones fitted inside their homes.

Huffman envisages houses with microphones fitted to the ceiling that act like personal assistants; responding to voice queries and connecting to phones, tablets and other smart devices.

He said: ‘Imagine I say ‘Can you bring up a video of the highlights of yesterday’s Pittsburgh Steelers game and play it on a TV in the living room?’ and it works because the Cloud means everything is connected.’

Elsewhere he said he could ask his Google assistant where to go for lunch that serves a particular type of food and on a certain budget and Google will find somewhere.

Huffman could then get in his car and his sat nav would be already programmed to take him to the restaurant of choice.

The plans aren’t too much of a stretch from what the Google Now app already offers thanks to what’s called Read more…

Categories: internet Tags: , , , , ,

Is your smartphone watching you?

August 17, 2013 Comments off

experimentalvaccines.org

 

CNN Samsung Galaxy S3 with face and voice recognition

MSN News Racial recognition can verify PayPal payments Read more…

Categories: Privacy, Technology Tags: , , ,

Gmail users ‘have no legitimate expectation of privacy’

August 14, 2013 Comments off

rt.com

Image by GoogleImage by Google

 

As tensions worsen among privacy-focused email users amid the escalating scandal surrounding government surveillance, a brief filed by attorneys for Google has surfaced showing that Gmail users should never expect their communications to be kept secret.

Consumer Watchdog has unearthed a July 13, 2013 motion filed by Google’s attorneys with regards to ongoing litigation challenging how the Silicon Valley giant operates its highly popular free email service.

The motion, penned in hopes of having the United States District Court for the Northern District of California dismiss a class action complaint against the company, says Gmail users should assume that any electronic correspondence that’s passed through Google’s servers can be accessed and used for an array of options, such as selling ads to customers.

“Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient’s assistant opens the letter, people who use Web-based email today cannot be surprised if their emails are processed by the recipient’s [email provider] in the course of delivery,” the motion reads in part. “Indeed, ‘a person has no Read more…

Categories: internet, Privacy Tags: , , ,

WARNING!!!! If you take photos with your cell phone

August 13, 2013 Comments off

kyeos.wordpress.com

“Warning” If you, your kids or grand kids take pics from your phone—WATCH THIS!

This is truly alarming – please take the time to watch. At the end they’ll tell you how to set your phone so you don’t run this risk!

PLEASE PASS THIS INFO TO ANYONE YOU KNOW WHO TAKES PICTURES WITH THEIR CELL OR SMART PHONE AND POSTS THEM ONLINE.

I want everyone of you to watch this and then be sure to share with all your family and friends.

It’s REALLY important info, about what your posting things on your cell phones can do TO YOU!!!

Too much technology out there these days so beware………..

PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO WATCH THIS VIDEO, AND TAKE THE RECOMMENDED PRECAUTIONS.

If you have children or grandchildren you NEED to watch this. I had no idea this could happen from taking pictures on the blackberry or cell phone. It’s scary.

 

Categories: Privacy Tags: , , ,

NSA locates cell phones even when they are turned off

August 10, 2013 Comments off

EndtheLie.com

Reuters / Lucas Jackson
Reuters / Lucas Jackson

Never mind the non-stop collection of metadata and other sneaky surveillance tools being implemented by the NSA: a new report has revealed that the National Security Agency’s spy powers allow the government to grab location data on just about anyone.

In an article published by the Washington Post over the weekend, journalist Dana Priest detailed how one of the most secretive agencies administered by the United States government has expanded drastically in the decade-plus since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. An increased demand for intelligence encouraged the development and implementation of surveillance tactics previous confined to the pages of science fiction, she wrote, and those tools today rival even what has already been unearthed by Read more…

Categories: Privacy Tags: , , ,

Google Update Turns Phone Into Possible Tool for Others to Spy on You

August 8, 2013 Comments off

thedailysheeple.com

Google-300x300

According to TechNewsDaily.com, last week Google implemented a new update to its Chrome browser. The update has a new feature called WebRTC (real time communication). This new standardized feature allows for websites and applications to use your system’s camera and microphone.

If you think your privacy is safe with Google- think again. According to Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who is co-chairman of the Congressional Privacy Caucus, “The new Google privacy policy is: You have no privacy.” Combine this with Google recently handing over more than 11,000 individuals’ personal information to the government, and you can probably see how this new standard feature could become a go to tool for those seeking to see and hear you without you knowing.

Previous to the new update, apps and websites had to use a browser plug-in for audio and visual correspondence with a user. A user could Read more…

Categories: internet Tags: , , ,