Yahoo is in the midst of a major controversy over alleged email surveillance, and now it’s looking to set the record straight. The internet giant on Wednesday sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, asking the NSA to shed more light on an alleged court order it sent the company. The crux …
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Facebook wins ‘Big Brother’ award in Belgium
Facebook is watching you. The social media giant won the “Big Brother” Award in Belgium on Thursday. The award is named after the dystopian government surveillance in George Orwell’s “1984,” and given to the “biggest privacy-offender of the year,” according to the Flemish League for Human rights, which runs the awards, and its partners. Facebook, nominated by international digital advocacy …
Read More »FCC’s internet privacy proposal just got a little weaker
The push and pull continues on how much the FCC will be able to safeguard your privacy on the internet. In a major shift in policy, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler eased back in his proposal for regulating privacy practices of internet service providers to keep them in line with the less restrictive approach of the Federal Trade Commission. …
Read More »Did Yahoo spy on its users for the US government?
Now playing: Watch this: Time to quit Yahoo? Site reportedly spied on emails for… 2:17 Enlarge Image Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer reportedly chose to obey the government’s demand. ChrisFarina, Corbis via Getty Images Yahoo built surveillance tools last year after the National Security Agency or the FBI issued a secret directive to scan all customers’ incoming emails, according to a …
Read More »Yahoo scanned user email for signs of terrorist messages, report says
Now playing: Watch this: Time to quit Yahoo? Site reportedly spied on emails for… 2:17 Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, pictured at the Fortune Global Forum in San Francisco in 2015, complied with a US government order to scan all user email according to reports from Reuters and the New York Times. Justin Sullivan, Getty Images Yahoo went searching for something …
Read More »Signal chat app’s creator: US government demanded our user data
You never know if the government is secretly compelling your favorite internet company to hand over its data on users. Well, sometimes you do. On Tuesday, the ACLU announced it succeeded in getting a gag order (PDF) lifted for its client Open Whisper Systems, creator of the Signal messaging service. That’s the service favored by antisurveillance activists like Edward Snowden. …
Read More »Get to know the security features in the Edge browser
Windows 10 comes with two built-in browsers: Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11. But Microsoft really wants you to use Edge, not IE11, because Edge is faster, sexier, simpler and more secure. Microsoft knows that Internet Explorer ended up with a bad rap for being slow and lacking in security, so the company even disabled several legacy technologies in Edge …
Read More »FCC hits brakes on set
New government rules that are meant to free consumers from set-top box rental fees have been put on hold. The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday it will wait to vote on the controversial proposal, which Chairman Tom Wheeler has said will help consumers cut their cable bills. Democrats on the FCC said they are still committed to “unlocking the set-top …
Read More »Snapchat Spectacles are so LA
Now playing: Watch this: Watch out, GoPro: Snapchat Spectacles could succeed where… 1:25 Let’s get this out of the way: Over the weekend, Snapchat unveiled a pair of video camera-equipped sunglasses called Spectacles, and the whole effort could crash and burn miserably. But if Snapchat has earned anything, it’s the benefit of the doubt. The $129 shades, which are coming …
Read More »Allo, privacy, are you there? Google keeps your messages forever
Google’s Allo gives users a messaging app with Google Assistant built in, offering automatically generated responses called Smart Replies and other computer-generated suggestions for your everyday life. To make those features as useful as possible, Google made a trade-off with your privacy, the company confirmed Wednesday. Instead of keeping your messages on company servers for a short period of time, …
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