The American Civil Liberties Union said Friday it is cautiously encouraged by a commitment to privacy by Apple and Google as they develop Bluetooth-based contact-tracing technology to track the spread of COVID-19.
But the civil liberties group says the two tech giants must resolve “certain important privacy-related questions” key to winning trust from a public growing wary about who sees their data.
The world was starting to develop a healthy skepticism for tech companies and their claims of making data privacy a priority. The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal seemed to get our attention and we began to understand how easy it is for groups to track our digital lives.
Then COVID-19 spread with bullet speed across the world and now surveillance of our movements to track the virus is sounding to many like a good idea.
Germany and Taiwan are cracking down on governmental use of videoconferencing app Zoom amid concerns that it might be too risky to use.
In an internal memo, the German foreign ministry restricted use of the service. The country said security and data-protection weaknesses make Zoom too dangerous to use, according to newspaper Handelsblatt. Taiwan also banned official use of Zoom for the same reasons.
Outrun is a privacy-focused run-tracking app that integrates with the Health app. (It’s also a seminal arcade racing game from 1986, but that’s not what we’re talking about today.) The Outrun running app is a great alternative to all those running and cycling apps that upload and/or sell your data to anyone who wants it, or drive you crazy with ads. Or both.
Apple’s newest iPad Pro has the ability to disconnect its microphone when the device is not in use for increased security. The disconnect happens at a hardware level so software cannot override it — but there’s a catch.
The feature only works for you if you have the right accessories.
Video-conferencing tool Zoom is seeing a surge in use during the coronavirus pandemic, due to people being stuck at home and unable to meet in meatspace groups. I’ve read about people using Zoom to drop in on yoga and pilates classes, as well as for more usual business-related activities.
The Zoom video conferencing app has been a lifesaver for many people unexpectedly forced to work from home during the coronavirus outbreak. But privacy experts have raised concerns that this app shares more user data than many might realize. That includes the iOS version reportedly sending information to Facebook, even about users who don’t have a Facebook account.
Update: Zoom has removed this controversial code.
Democrat lawmakers want Apple and other tech giants to rethink their stance on menstruation-tracking apps.
In a letter sent Tuesday to Apple, Google, and Samsung, New Jersey senator Bob Menendez and representatives Bonnie Coleman and Mikie Sherrill voiced their concern about menstruation- and fertility-tracking apps which share user health data without permission.
In a civilized society, there would be no such thing as a “read receipt” for messages or emails. You’d send your message, and that would be it. But read receipts are here, and if you’re one of the folks that doesn’t turn them off, then you’re going to love this WhatsApp tip.
You already know the meanings of the checkboxes that indicate successfully sent, delivered and read messages in WhatsApp. Today we’ll see how to check the exact time a recipient read your WhatsApp message.
America’s largest cellphone carriers are about to get hit with hundreds of millions of dollars in fines from the Federal Communications Commission according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
Officials at the FCC found the companies broke the law by selling customers’ location data to third parties and are prepared to make AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint pay big time. The companies have reportedly been notified that fines could be on the way.
The latest generation of iPhones (the 11 and 11 Pro) contain the new U1 chip, which lets your iPhone locate other iPhones with pinpoint accuracy. Currently it is only used to show you the direction of other iPhones when you AirDrop a file. However, it will almost certainly soon be used to keep track of the rumored Apple Tags (or AirTags) tracking devices.
But what if you want to turn off UWB (ultra-wideband) tracking altogether? No problem.
Lockdown, the open-source firewall app for iOS, is now available on the Mac. And just like the iOS version, it blocks all kinds of connections to trackers and other unwanted snoop-ware.
Mac users already enjoy good options when it comes to privacy apps, so how does Lockdown match up?
FBI director Christopher Wray says that the Feds are still unable to access the encrypted data on an iPhone belonging to the shooter responsible for killing three Americans at a Pensacola, Florida naval base in late 2019.
The FBI says that it has reconstructed the phone after it was damaged. But it still can’t access the information on the handset itself.
This week on The CultCast: It’s not your imagination — Apple changed AirPods Pro and made them worse! We’ll tell you what’s going on. Plus: A new report says Apple caved to FBI pressure to keep your iCloud backups less safe. And stay tuned to hear about about Tim Cook’s favorite new … shower tech? Rub-a-dub-dub, my friends.
Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast, and use offer code CultCast at checkout for 10% off your first purchase.
Facebook Messenger could soon add Face ID support to protect your conversations from nosy neighbors.
The feature would prevent access to Messenger until it is first unlocked with your face. It seems like a useful addition to the app for the security-conscious, but it’s still in development for now.
Did you know that your boss might be tracking when you open and read her emails? Or that anyone who operates a mailing list can see when you open their emails, thanks to read receipts?
But did you also know that it’s trivially easy to block read receipts? You can make your overreaching boss think that you never read her emails, or at least make her a bit more paranoid. Email tracking uses something called tracking pixels. Let’s see how to block them, and disable email read receipts on Mac and iOS.
Apple is testing an iOS fix for Location Services that will potentially allay any privacy concerns among iPhone 11 users.
Apple makes privacy part of its brand yet found itself answering questions when a security news site in December discovered the iPhone 11 Pro continued to track user location even after all Location Services toggles were switched off.
When it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), Apple wants to have its cake and eat it, too. That is to say that it wants cutting edge data-driven machine learning on its devices, without violating its own user privacy pledge.
And you know what? It’s managing to pull it off — as the company’s latest AI startup acquisition underlines.
Apple’s chief privacy officer says that Apple scans photos uploaded to iCloud to check whether they contain child abuse. Jane Horvath discussed the use of the technology during a Tuesday panel on user privacy at CES.
Horvath didn’t reveal exactly how Apple carries this out. Many companies — including Facebook, Twitter and Google — already use a Microsoft-developed tool called PhotoDNA. This checks images against a database of previously identified pictures.
Apple has made its return to CES for the first time in 28 years, as a representative of the world’s biggest tech company appeared on-stage at the world’s biggest tech conference.
Apple wasn’t showing off new products, however. Instead, Jane Horvath, Apple’s senior director of global privacy, participated in a panel Tuesday titled “Chief Privacy Officer Roundtable: What Do Consumers Want?” The panel also included representatives from Facebook, Procter & Gamble, and the FTC.
U.S. Senators grilled Apple and Facebook execs over encryption practices today, threatening to regulate the technology if the companies don’t take action on their own.
Republicans and Democrats appeared unified in their disdain for end-to-end encryption. The technology, which Apple uses for iCloud and other services, sometimes thwarts law enforcement officials’ investigations into child abuse and mass shootings. Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of the harshest critics, demanded that the companies add backdoors to their encryption keys.
Apple is finally making a comeback to the biggest tech trade show in the world after being a no show at the event for nearly three decades.
CES posted its speaker agenda this morning which revealed Apple will have an official presence at the event. The company won’t have a product booth and isn’t expected to announce anything major at the event this coming January. Instead, Apple will be there to discuss one of its favorite topics: privacy.
Apple skillfully protects user privacy by preventing advertisers from tracking everyone. Companies buying ads are less interested in anyone using Apple’s Safari browser because advertising agencies can’t use cookies to build profiles on those users.
Google added new privacy protection features to the iOS version of Google Maps today, including Incognito Mode. The new feature, which has been available on Google Maps for Android for a while, makes it so that your searches and other navigation data isn’t saved to your Google Account.
Here’s how to toggle it on and off:
Russian President Vladimir Putin approved legislation that requires all phones and computers come bundled with third-party software localized for Russia. This is giving Apple such privacy concerns it might withdraw from the country.
