Tag Archives: privacy

You’d think it would be difficult to find an app that can secretly track a person’s every move. But researchers have found them right in the open on Google’s Play Store. Antivirus company Avast said Wednesday that it’s found seven stalkerware apps available on Android’s market. In all, they had been installed more than 130,000 …

Researchers have discovered that more than 1,000 Android apps harvest your data, even when you tell them no. This is an eye-opening thought at a time when companies such as Facebook, Google and Amazon are under the microscope for their privacy and security policies. Studies have shown that apps with no permissions are able to piggyback on other apps you’ve given …

One German state has told schools it’s now illegal to use Microsoft Office 365 under data protection laws. The Hesse Office for Data Protection and Information Freedom ruled that using the cloud platform could expose student and teacher personal information to access by US officials. The decision follows several years of debate in Germany over whether Microsoft software should be …

Not far from a frenzy of screaming tweens chasing online video stars, in a glass building overlooking Disneyland, VidCon introduced a new celebrity to its pantheon: video forgeries known as deepfakes. But with the ability to manipulate video to make anyone do anything, people may instead be running in fear.  VidCon, which started in earnest Thursday, is the world’s biggest conference …

Permissions on Android apps are intended to be gatekeepers for how much data your device gives up. If you don’t want a flashlight app to be able to read through your call logs, you should be able to deny that access. But even when you say no, many apps find a way around: Researchers discovered more than 1,000 apps that …

Your Independence Day visits to r/technology will be short indeed — Reddit’s tech subreddit is offline as part of a stand against social media. Wikipedia cofounder Larry Sangler led the push to “demand that giant, manipulative corporations give us back control over our data, privacy, and user experience.” “Following on from the announcement by Larry Sangler of a Social Media …

The UK is examining how social video app TikTok handles children’s data and whether it ensures child safety on its platform, a report says. The investigation follows TikTok paying up $5.7 million to settle US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that it illegally collected personal information from children. TikTok, which was previously known as Musical.ly, allows users to record themselves …

Washington, DC, Attorney General Karl Racine has said his court case against Facebook for last year’s Cambridge Analytica data breach will go ahead. Facebook’s second attempt to block the lawsuit has now failed, Racine tweeted Friday. The DC attorney general sued Facebook in December, alleging that the company failed to safeguard the personal data of its users. Facebook’s “lax oversight …

Mozilla has launched a pilot test of its new web browser for Android phones, called Firefox Preview. The new browser is faster and more privacy-focused, and is available now for early adopters to test ahead of a “feature rich, polished version” coming in the fall, the nonprofit organization said. Firefox Preview is twice as fast as Firefox for Android, has …

The creators of DeepNude, a desktop app that used artificial intelligence to morph a photo of a clothed woman into a picture of her naked, have shut down the app and renounced using the software, a day after an article focused attention on the program. “We don’t want to make money this way,” said a message posted on the app’s …