As gadgets and services get smarter, they need more data, and face the hard problem of keeping it safe. Data privacy has become a huge problem for Google, Facebook, Amazon, and any company using artificial intelligence to power its services — and a major sticking point for lawmakers looking to regulate. Here’s all the news on data privacy and how it’s changing tech.
Under a proposed rule by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could demand biometric information including DNA from immigrants and associated US citizens, and even children under age 14. That would be a significant expansion of the information the agency currently collects.
The app that suffered multiple data breaches earlier this year and a replica for men called TeaOnHer were removed for “failing to meet the company’s terms of use around content moderation and user privacy,” according to 404 Media.
Apple also cited “an excessive number of complaints,” including reports of posts including minors’ data.
Porn is increasingly age-gated. Social media is next.
JPMorgan has told staff they’ll have to ditch ID badges in favor of eye or fingerprint scans to access the bank’s new HQ in New York, according to emails seen by the Financial Times. The biometric scheme was supposed to be voluntary, but shifted to required as employees moved in.
The change comes after the murder of UnitedHealthcare chief Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk and the fatal shootings at an NYC office building this summer.
The privacy-focused browser surpassed the milestone on September 30th, and says it’s attracted an average of 2.5 million new users each month over the last two years. “Across the globe, users are choosing privacy and control over their online experience, instead of Big Tech’s tracking and abuse,” said Brave CEO Brendan Eich.
If you live in Europe then you know the routine: open a new website, click through a cookie consent banner designed to maximize data gathering, let out a frustrated sigh and get on with life. That might be changing:
A note sent to industry and civil society attending a focus group on Sept. 15, seen by POLITICO, showed the Commission is pondering how to tweak the rules to include more exceptions or make sure users can set their preferences on cookies once (for example, in their browser settings) instead of every time they visit a website.
We aren’t your friends, and you’ll never be alone again.
The $9.99 / month subscription will also let you use Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 4 and Meta’s Llama Maverick through the privacy-focused Duck.ai interface, which doesn’t store your chats or use them for AI training. In addition to these perks, DuckDuckGo’s subscription comes with a VPN and an information removal tool.
404 Media has been on top of the privacy nightmare of Tea, an app that sought to make dating safer for women by sharing “red flags” but has instead been a leaky source of its users’ personal data. A new investigation by 404’s Emanuel Maiberg goes behind the scenes how the app tried to hijack the Are We Dating the Same Guy? Facebook group to goose its community numbers.
404 Media reports how ICE officials added a random person to a “Mass Text” chat, where they discussed plans to find an individual “seemingly marked for deportation.” The messages exposed sensitive information about ICE’s target, including their criminal record, Social Security Number, and driver’s license number.
The platform announced earlier this month that it will begin to use AI to detect users under 18 and automatically apply restrictions to their account. If it incorrectly identifies someone as underage, YouTube will ask for the user’s government ID, credit card, or a selfie to verify their age.
The new Instagram Maps request to enable location services (feeding Meta valuable ad targeting data from your Android or iPhone) has spawned incredulous reactions, along with claims it’s on by default, despite Adam Mosseri’s denials.
Still, he says, “We’ll get out a few design improvements as quickly as possible.”
A Microsoft workers group says reporting by The Guardian, Local Call, and +972 Magazine “revealed incriminating details about Microsoft’s indispensable role as the technological backbone of Israel’s mass surveillance of Palestinians all over Palestine” with the IDF’s Unit 8200, despite the company’s denials.
...Microsoft and Unit 8200 worked closely to build a Microsoft-powered mass surveillance weapon that “collects and stores recordings of millions of mobile phone calls made each day by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.”
After 404 Media reported that an app meant to help women exchange dating information for safety purposes was breached, TechCrunch reports that a rival app targeted at men has been exposing users’ personal data including government IDs. “The security lapse will likely affect any user who signed up or shared identity documents with the app,” TechCrunch writes about TeaOnHer, adding that the app has about 53,000 users.
The company has introduced Proton Authenticator, an open-source two-factor authentication app that can sync 2FA codes across devices using end-to-end encryption. Though Proton’s password manager already comes with a built-in 2FA feature, Proton says using its standalone Authenticator offers an “extra layer of security” by generating codes in a separate app.
Proton Authentication is available for free on Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Until now it’s stayed quiet on whether it received the same order to open a backdoor to user data as Apple, but a spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that it never did. If it had, Google wouldn’t be allowed to say so.
Apple has pulled iCloud encryption from the UK and appealed its order in the courts. Last week it was reported that the UK is ready to give up the fight following US political pressure.
I appeared on On the Media to discuss our story about the Anime Nazi who allegedly hacks universities. I explain why the identity of the alleged hacker is important, why the Times’ obfuscation of its sources is troubling, and what’s at stake in the Republican war on higher education: upward mobility.
