The Federal Communications Commission has proposed fining the nation’s four largest wireless carriers $200 million for selling access to their customers’ real-time location information. Under the proposal released Friday, the agency said T-Mobile would face a fine of more than $91 million. AT&T would be fined more than $57 million; Verizon more than $48 million; …
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Apple blocks Clearview AI facial recognition on iPhones after developer violation
Apple has blocked customers from using the controversial Clearview AI facial recognition app on iPhones after Apple determined the startup violated its developer agreement and suspended its account. The move is a new blow to the facial recognition startup that also faces lawsuits and challenges from privacy advocates. Clearview AI had used its developer account to distribute its software to …
Read More »How schools may use kids’ phones to track and surveil them
Editor’s note: A spokesman for data tracking company Inpixon originally said its technology is in schools. After publication, the company contacted CNET with an updated statement that Inpixon is in “various stages of contract negotiations” and noted that the service wasn’t live in any school. We’ve updated the story accordingly. Teachers often lament that phones can be a distraction in …
Read More »How to set up a VPN on Xbox
If your virtual private network can protect your laptop and phone from prying eyes, why shouldn’t it protect your Xbox too? Whether gaming, streaming Hulu and Netflix, using an onboard browser or all of the above, more people are turning to their Xbox consoles as a full-service, big-screen entertainment hub. And that means a greater need for privacy on your gaming console. …
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You might open Apple Maps daily to check the traffic, search for the nearest gas station or look for a new cafe, but those tasks just scratch the surface of everything that the most updated version of Apple Maps can do. For example, there’s a cool feature that lets you take a Flyover tour of a city, which is useful …
Read More »Google is already making Android 11. What we know about about security, notifications, more
Google’s latest mobile OS, Android 11, dropped this week for developers. And while Google may be done naming each Android release after sweets and desserts, the search giant is still keeping to its schedule of shipping major updates to its mobile OS each year. Early prerelease versions of Android — as with any operating system — are interesting because they can …
Read More »UK Google users to lose EU data protection due to Brexit
The accounts of Google users in the UK will be controlled out of the US now that the country has left the European Union, according to Reuters. This means that the data belonging to British citizens will no longer fall under the control of European privacy regulation, even though they are still protected by the GDPR. Google accounts of European …
Read More »Mozilla’s standalone Firefox VPN is now available in beta
Mozilla has a new virtual private network service and if you have a Chromebook, a Windows 10 computer or an Android device in the US, you can start using a beta version now. Called Firefox Private Network, the new service is designed to function as a full-device VPN and give better protection when surfing the web or when using public Wi-Fi networks. The company …
Read More »Here are two easy steps to double
Update, April 22: Read our iPhone SE 2020 review. Original story follows. The first time you open a new app on your iPhone ($500 at Best Buy), you’re bombarded with prompts and requests, each one asking for access to different pieces of your private information. I know I’m guilty of reflexively approving these prompts. The problem with my approach is that …
Read More »Your phone talks about you behind your back. These researchers are listening in
When you download an app, the permissions requests and privacy policy are usually the only warnings you’ll get about the data it’s taking. Usually, you just have to take the app’s word that it’s grabbing only the data you’ve agreed to give it. Often, though, there’s more grabbing going on than you were led to believe, security researchers have determined. …
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