The future is almost now. Augmented-reality and virtual-reality headsets are real things, it’s just a matter of refining the technology. A large volley has just been fired across the bow of the marketplace by Microsoft, which announced the HoloLens, an augmented-reality system that uses goggles to overlay virtual objects and information onto the real world …
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Uber says it has strict policies protecting customer privacy. Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Image Addressing concerns that it didn’t respect the privacy of its customers, Uber said Monday that one of its employees checked a journalist’s ride on the service because she was 30 minutes late to a meeting the two had scheduled. The revelation came in response to a series …
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg isn’t too fond of Tim Cook’s recent comments. James Martin/CNET Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg apparently disagrees with Apple CEO Tim Cook’s claim that free services which are supported by ads turn people into products. “A frustration I have is that a lot of people increasingly seem to equate an advertising business model with somehow …
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Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has been asked to explain his company’s policies. Stephen Shankland/CNET Recent reports of Uber’s lack of regard for user privacy has raised the attention of Sen. Al Franken, who has sent a letter to Travis Kalanick that asks the ride-sharing service’s CEO to address the allegations. The Minnesota Democrat, who chairs the Subcommittee On Privacy, Technology, …
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The US National Security Agency is one organization that benefits from being able to read unencrypted Web traffic. NSA A tech-industry alliance announced a move Tuesday to help make privacy on the Web the rule rather than the exception. Web privacy comes through encrypted connections that scramble data sent across a network between servers that house a Web page or …
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The main page for “Privacy Basics,” a new tips and FAQ hub on Facebook. Facebook Facebook is trying to share more about itself. The world’s largest social network, which has been knocked for failing to be transparent on how it gathers data on its users, said Thursday it is updating its data policy to make it shorter and clearer to …
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Facebook is making privacy settings easier to understand with its Privacy Basics guide. And it’s a good time to get a grip on your privacy, considering Facebook also launched a Yelp-like service called Places. It shows you what friends — and strangers — have posted publicly about restaurants and other venues. Get the details in this CNET Update: Now playing: …
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Verizon’s supercookies track the websites you visit and links you click on. CNET It’s bad enough that Verizon and AT&T have unleashed a new breed of “supercookie” that can track your every online move, even as you switch between your smartphone, tablet and TV. Far worse is the possibility of abuse by advertisers, governments and hackers, privacy experts warn. “Any …
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Samaritans Social networks are powerful tools for data collation. We’ve seen Australia’s Black Dog Institute launch a tool that scans millions of Tweets daily for a real-time global map of our emotions; even a tool that scans for profanity. The major difference between those and a new web app — called Samaritans Radar — launched by UK suicide prevention charity …
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Google is testing a new approach to collecting data in its Chrome browser. Stephen Shankland/CNET It’s a sticky issue for software developers: how do you gather data about your product’s users without invading their privacy? One solution, as embodied in a new Google open-source project called Rappor, is to have the software send data that you know is wrong. That …
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