Tag Archives: privacy

A lawsuit filed Thursday accuses Instagram of using iPhone cameras to spy on people. The issue appears to be related to a bug discovered in July, when Facebook said the app didn’t actually use the camera, even though Apple’s iOS 14 software indicated it did. “Instagram is constantly accessing users’ smartphone camera feature while the …

Mozilla permanently shut down its Firefox Send service for transferring files after people used it to launch online attacks, the nonprofit announced Thursday. “Firefox Send was a promising tool for encrypted file sharing,” Mozilla said in a statement. “Unfortunately, some abusive users were beginning to use Send to ship malware and conduct spear phishing attacks.” Spear phishing is a personalized …

Google announced a new policy Wednesday that will limit developers’ ability to put stalkerware apps on the Play store. The apps are typically used by someone who wants to monitor another person’s phone use, communications and web browsing history. The new policy forbids the apps if they don’t do enough to let phone users know they’ve been installed. Many apps …

Android users will soon have another tool to help in the fight against robocalls and spam calls. Last week, Google announced the company’s Phone app will add a new Verified Calls feature to tell you not only what business is calling you, but why they’re calling. Knowing that an unknown number is really who it claims to be is designed to help keep …

For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the WHO and CDC websites. Contact-tracing apps have consistently been hailed by governments as a key tool in fighting the spread of COVID-19, but we’ve yet to see many of them released to the public. On Thursday morning I awoke to discover a COVID-19 contact-tracing app was finally …

Faced with the possibility of not being able to transfer Facebook user data between Europe and the US, the company is fighting hard to keep the channels open. Facebook on Thursday lodged an appeal with the High Court in Ireland in the company’s latest bid to ensure that it can keep data flowing smoothly across the Atlantic. The move was in response …

For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the WHO and CDC websites. Citizen, an app that lets you see unverified crime reports in your neighborhood, has often been used to advance false claims. One doozy: a tiger reportedly loose in Manhattan that turned out to be a raccoon. Now the company wants to help cities track …

The Irish Data Protection Commission has asked Facebook to halt transferring user data from the European Union to the US. A preliminary order was sent in late August, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Facebook confirmed the Irish DPC has begun an inquiry into its data transfers from the EU to the US. The move follows a legal decision by the …

Rameez Anwar’s phone had serious problems. The device, paid for by the federally funded Lifeline program for low-income people, was overrun with pop-up ads that made it unusable. Despite multiple factory resets, the problem wouldn’t go away.  “As soon as it detected internet,” Anwar said, “it started doing the pop-ups.”  Anwar, who says he’s tinkered with computers since childhood, suspected …

Don’t let yourself get distracted by all of the shiny new features in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14. The upcoming updates are currently available in public beta for iPhone and iPad, and most users should avoid installing until the official release later this year. There are plenty of features and capabilities tucked away in iOS 13.7 and iPadOS 13.7, some of which have been …