New York Times: This Surveillance Artist Knows How You Got That Perfect Instagram Photo. “A tech-savvy artist unearthed video footage of people working hard to capture the perfect shot for Instagram. It is a lesson in the artifice of social media and the ubiquity of surveillance.”
Electronic Frontier Foundation: Study of Electronic Monitoring Smartphone Apps Confirms Advocates’ Concerns of Privacy Harms. “Researchers at the University of Washington and Harvard Law School recently published a groundbreaking study analyzing the technical capabilities of 16 electronic monitoring (EM) smartphone apps used as ‘alternatives’ to criminal and civil detention.”
NBC News: TikTok could face a $29 million fine in the U.K. for failing to protect kids’ privacy . “The Information Commissioner’s Office issued TikTok a ‘notice of intent’ informing the Chinese-owned video app of its ‘provisional view that TikTok breached UK data protection law between May 2018 and July 2020.’ It follows an investigation into the company that began in 2019.”
WIRED: The Ungodly Surveillance of Anti-Porn ‘Shameware’ Apps. “Covenant Eyes is part of a multimillion-dollar ecosystem of so-called accountability apps that are marketed to both churches and parents as tools to police online activity. For a monthly fee, some of these apps monitor everything their users see and do on their devices, even taking screenshots (at least one per minute, in the case of Covenant Eyes) and eavesdropping on web traffic, WIRED found.”
Washington Post: Health apps share your concerns with advertisers. HIPAA can’t stop it.. “In a nation with millions of uninsured families and a shortage of health professionals, many of us turn to health-care apps and websites for accessible information or even potential treatment. But when you fire up a symptom-checker or digital therapy app, you might be unknowingly sharing your concerns with more than just the app maker.”
Motherboard: Revealed: US Military Bought Mass Monitoring Tool That Includes Internet Browsing, Email Data. “Multiple branches of the U.S. military have bought access to a powerful internet monitoring tool that claims to cover over 90 percent of the world’s internet traffic, and which in some cases provides access to people’s email data, browsing history, and other information such as their sensitive internet cookies, according to contracting data and other documents reviewed by Motherboard.”
9to5 Google: Google app starts rolling out ‘Results about you’ to help remove personal information. “At I/O 2022 in May, Google announced a new tool to streamline the process of removing Search results that contain your contact and other personal identifiable information (PII), and it’s now starting to go live.”
CNET: Google’s $100 Million Privacy Settlement: How to Claim Your Money Before Time Runs Out. “There’s less than a week to file a claim in a class action lawsuit claiming Google illicitly uses a facial-recognition program to sort pictures in Google Photos. The search giant agreed to a $100 million settlement this spring and Individuals whose likenesses appeared in a Photos album could be eligible for up to $400.”
Washington Post: Customs officials have copied Americans’ phone data at massive scale. “U.S. government officials are adding data from as many as 10,000 electronic devices each year to a massive database they’ve compiled from cellphones, iPads and computers seized from travelers at the country’s airports, seaports and border crossings, leaders of Customs and Border Protection told congressional staff in a briefing this summer.”
Washington Post: Scams are showing up at the top of online searches. “Add one more to the list of online places bad guys are hiding: the very top of search results. Nasty scams and malware are preying on your trust by hiding behind the ads that sit on top of search pages. Google, DuckDuckGo and Bing are being paid to put them in front of us, and they haven’t figured out how to stop it.” The link I’ve put in this item is a gift article, so you’ll be able to read it even if you’re not a WP subscriber.
CNET: Uber Investigating Computer System Breach. “Uber’s computer network was breached on Thursday, leading the ride-hailing giant to take several internal communications and engineering systems offline as it investigated the hack, The New York Times reported.”
Engadget: Period tracker app Flo launches ‘Anonymous Mode’ for iOS devices. “Flo’s anonymous mode has arrived. The period tracker promised to launch the new mode shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, in an effort to assuage privacy-related fears.”
