Tag Archives: privacy

Apple is delaying plans to require iOS developers to request permission from app users before collecting their unique device ID for the purposes of ad tracking, the company said Thursday. “When enabled, a system prompt will give users the ability to allow or reject that tracking on an app-by-app basis,” Apple told CNET. “We want …

For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the WHO and CDC websites. With the coronavirus pandemic pushing schools online out of public health concerns, parents and teachers are turning to digital alternatives like apps to bridge the virtual gap. While kids can learn via these apps, hundreds of advertisers are learning about them, too.  Researchers …

Earlier this week, Facebook warned users and its business partners that changes in Apple‘s next version of iOS will impact on its Audience Network advertising platform. When iOS 14 is released this fall, iPhone ($500 at Best Buy) users will have to opt in to targeted advertising. It’s not a stretch to assume that users aren’t going to eagerly opt in and …

Facebook filed a lawsuit Thursday against MobiBurn, alleging that apps using code written by the data monetization company harvested information about the social network’s users without permission. Last November, Facebook and Twitter launched investigations into two third-party software development kits (SDKs) that security researchers found were collecting data without consent. Making an app from scratch takes a lot of time, …

We’re standing in an escape room space, where one of us is trying to guide a block into a target and communicate to the other person, standing behind a wall at a control panel. CNET colleague Joan Solsman and I are in this world, but haven’t seen each other in person for months. It’s weird, fun stuff, the sort of …

Facebook said Wednesday that Apple’s upcoming privacy update could make it tougher for the social network to target some iPhone users with ads on other mobile apps. Facebook offers a service to businesses called the Audience Network, which lets businesses use the social network’s targeting to run ads on thousands of mobile apps. Facebook collects a trove of data from …

Geofence warrants are a concern among privacy advocates and lawmakers, and recently unsealed court documents show that Google engineers also have issues with the sweeping requests for location data.  On Friday, Arizona’s attorney general published internal emails from Google obtained as part of an ongoing lawsuit by the state on alleged consumer fraud and location data. Google had fought to keep …

Mozilla released Firefox Daylight on Tuesday, an overhauled version of its Firefox browser for Android phones that marks a new step to claim some influence player in the crucial mobile market. The new browser, with better speed and stronger privacy, is available in Europe and will be released in North America on Thursday. About 33 million people use Firefox on Android each month, …

 The Los Angeles city attorney on Wednesday announced a settlement with the Weather Channel over a lawsuit claiming the company’s app gathered millions of people’s location data without properly disclosing that the sensitive information was shared with advertisers.  The office considered the settlement a major privacy win, as it will now require The Weather Channel app to notify users that they …

As a virtual private network reviewer, one of the hardest lessons I’ve learned is that no matter how clean a company’s code, how skilled its development team, how many transparency gestures it offers users — VPNs are still businesses based on asking us to trust what can’t be seen. We typically engage a VPN service to better protect our online …