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UCLA backtracks on plan for campus facial recognition tech | TechCrunch - 21 février 2020
After expressing interest in processing campus security camera footage with facial recognition software, UCLA is backing down.
In a letter to Evan Greer of Fight for the Future, a digital privacy advocacy group, UCLA Administrative Vice Chancellor Michael Beck announced the institution would abandon its plans in (...)
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Facebook Dating launch blocked in Europe after it fails to show privacy workings - 14 février 2020
Facebook has been left red-faced after being forced to call off the launch date of its dating service in Europe because it failed to give its lead EU data regulator enough advanced warning, and it failed to demonstrate it had performed a legally required assessment of privacy risks.
Yesterday, Ireland’s (...)
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In latest JEDI contract drama, AWS files motion to stop work on project - 28 janvier 2020
When the Department of Defense finally made a decision in October on the decade-long, $10 billion JEDI cloud contract, it seemed that Microsoft had won. But nothing has been simple about this deal from the earliest days, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that last night Amazon filed a motion to stop work on the (...)
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Cookie consent tools are being used to undermine EU privacy rules, study suggests | TechCrunch - 13 janvier 2020
Most cookie consent pop-ups served to internet users in the European Union — ostensibly seeking permission to track people’s web activity — are likely to be flouting regional privacy laws, a new study by researchers at MIT, UCL and Aarhus University suggests.
“The results of our empirical survey of CMPs [consent (...)
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China moves to ban foreign software and hardware from state offices - 13 décembre 2019
China has reportedly ordered all foreign PC hardware and operating systems to be replaced in the next three years, intensifying an ongoing tech war. The country has attempted this sort of thing before halfheartedly, but this is the most serious effort yet to isolate itself from the influence of the western (...)
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Uber reveals thousands of sexual assault reports last year - 6 décembre 2019
Uber just released its first-ever safety report that covers sexual assault. Let’s jump right in.
In 2017, Uber received 2,936 reports pertaining to sexual assault, and received 3,045 in 2018. Despite the increase in raw numbers, Uber saw a 16% decrease in the average incident rate, which it suggests may correlate (...)
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A network of "˜camgirl’ sites exposed millions of users and sex workers - 8 novembre 2019
A number of popular "camgirl" sites have exposed millions of sex workers and users after the company running the sites left the back-end database unprotected.
The sites, run by Barcelona-based VTS Media, include amateur.tv, webcampornoxxx.net, and placercams.com. Most of the sites’ users are based in Spain and (...)
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A huge database of Facebook users’ phone numbers found online - 5 septembre 2019
Hundreds of millions of phone numbers linked to Facebook accounts have been found online.
The exposed server contained more than 419 million records over several databases on users across geographies, including 133 million records on U.S.-based Facebook users, 18 million records of users in the U.K., and another (...)
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Sex tech startups band together to protest Facebook’s ad policies - 1er août 2019
There’s a double standard when it comes to the sexualities of men versus women, trans and gender non-conforming folks. Unbound and Dame Products, two sex tech startups, have teamed up to bring attention to the issue.
By launching a website, "Approved, Not Approved" and staging a protest outside Facebook’s NYC (...)
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Google pulls controversial anti-gay religious app from the Play Store - 29 mars 2019
The same day the Human Rights Campaign downranked the company in its index of the best LGBTQ-friendly employers, Google decided to yank a controversial app accused of promoting conversion therapy from the Play Store.
On that list, known as the Corporate Equality Index, the HRC, a prominent LGBTQ rights (...)
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China’s Alipay digital wallet is entering 7,000 Walgreens stores - 19 mars 2019
China’s payments heavyweights have been following tourists abroad as their home market gets crowded. Ant Financial, Alibaba’s financial affiliate with a valuation of $150 billion, now sees its virtual wallet Alipay handling transactions at 3,000 Walgreens stores in the U.S. and is eyeing to reach a roster of 7,000 (...)
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FTC brings its first case against fake paid reviews on Amazon - 3 mars 2019
The Federal Trade Commission announced on Tuesday evening that it has brought its first case against using fake reviews to sell products online. The Commission said it will settle with defendant Cure Encapsulations Inc., a New York City-based company, and owner Naftula Jacobwitz, who it accused of making false (...)
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Google will stop peddling a data collector through Apple’s back door - 3 février 2019
It looks like Facebook was not the only one abusing Apple’s system for distributing employee-only apps to sidestep the App Store and collect extensive data on users.
Google has been running an app called Screenwise Meter, which bears a strong resemblance to the app distributed by Facebook Research that has now (...)
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Facebook pays teens to install VPN that spies on them - 1er février 2019
Desperate for data on its competitors, Facebook has been secretly paying people to install a "Facebook Research" VPN that lets the company suck in all of a user’s phone and web activity, similar to Facebook’s Onavo Protect app that Apple banned in June and that was removed in August. Facebook sidesteps the App (...)
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Microsoft Bing not only shows child pornography, it suggests it - 13 janvier 2019
Microsoft Bing Child Exploitation Search Results redacted
Illegal child exploitation imagery is easy to find on Microsoft’s Bing search engine. But even more alarming is that Bing will suggest related keywords and images that provide pedophiles with more child pornography. Following an anonymous tip, TechCrunch (...)
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Netflix pulled an episode of "Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj" in Saudi Arabia after the kingdom complained - 2 janvier 2019
Netflix pulled an episode of "Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj" from its streaming service in Saudi Arabia after receiving a complaint from the kingdom. The removal was first reported by the Financial Times.
The episode, titled "Saudi Arabia," centers around the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and criticizes (...)
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Tech giants offer empty apologies because users can’t quit - 28 novembre 2018
’Sorry’ means nothing since so does ’We’re deleting’
true apology consists of a sincere acknowledgement of wrongdoing, a show of empathic remorse for why you wronged and the harm it caused and a promise of restitution by improving ones actions to make things right. Without the follow-through, saying sorry isn’t an (...)
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A leaky database of SMS text messages exposed password resets and two-factor codes - 16 novembre 2018
A security lapse has exposed a massive database containing tens of millions of text messages, including password reset links, two-factor codes, shipping notifications and more.
The exposed server belongs to Voxox (formerly Telcentris), a San Diego, Calif.-based communications company. The server wasn’t protected (...)
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Instagram prototypes handing your location history to Facebook - 5 octobre 2018
This is sure to exacerbate fears that Facebook will further exploit Instagram now that its founders have resigned. Instagram has been spotted prototyping a new privacy setting that would allow it to share your location history with Facebook. That means your exact GPS coordinates collected by Instagram, even when (...)
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Uber to pay $148 million in data breach settlement - 27 septembre 2018
Uber has agreed to pay $148 million to settle a data breach that affected some 57 million customers in 2016.
The agreement was with the attorneys general of all 50 states and the District of Columbia to resolve their legal inquiries on this matter, Uber’s chief legal officer Tony West said in a statement released (...)
