Telegram has introduced a controversial new feature that grants users a free premium membership in exchange for allowing the instant messaging app to utilize their phone number as a relay for sending one-time SMS passwords to other users attempting to log into the platform, raising concerns about potential privacy risks and the exposure of personal [...]read moreTelegram’s peer-to-peer SMS login service is a privacy nightmare
Mozilla is ending its partnership with Onerep after the company’s CEO admitted to having ties to a data broker, as first reported by Krebs on Security. “Though customer data was never at risk, the outside financial interests and activities of Onerep’s CEO do not align with our values,” writes Mozilla’s vice president of communications Brandon [...]read moreMozilla just ditched its privacy partner because its CEO is tied to data brokers
The U.S. Department of Justice sued Apple Thursday over monopolistic practices. The complaint accuses Apple of moulding its privacy and security practices in ways that benefits the company financially. One quote particularly jumps out where the DOJ calls Apple’s privacy and security justification an “elastic shield”: “Apple deploys privacy and security justifications as an elastic [...]read moreDOJ calls Apple’s privacy justifications an ‘elastic shield’ for financial gains
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced its first industry-wide review of data security and privacy policies across the largest U.S. airlines. The DOT said in a press release Thursday that the review will examine whether U.S. airline giants are properly protecting their customers’ personal information and whether airlines are “unfairly or deceptively monetizing or sharing [...]read moreDOT to investigate data security and privacy practices of top US airlines
The European Union has given its strongest signal yet that a controversial tactic rolled out by Meta last November to extract consent to tracking from regional users of Facebook and Instagram — by forcing them to choose between paying a monthly subscription or else agree to tracking — won’t wash under the bloc’s updated digital [...]read moreEU signals doubts over legality of Meta’s privacy fee
A controversial move by Meta last year, when it switched to charging users in the Europe Union for an ad-free subscription for access Facebook and/or Instagram unless they agreed to be tracked and profiled so it could keep running its attention-mining microtargeting ad business, has triggered a set of complaints from consumer rights groups. The [...]read moreMeta’s ‘consent or pay’ data grab in EU faces fresh charges of privacy coercion
Navigating The Cybersecurity Landscape Data privacy and security have become paramount concerns in the digital age, especially in the eLearning industry. With the surge in online learning, eLearning platforms are accumulating vast amounts of personal and sensitive data, making them lucrative targets for cyber threats. Protecting this data is a technical issue and a crucial [...]read moreSafeguarding Data Privacy And Security In eLearning
Avast, the cybersecurity software company, is facing a $16.5 million fine after it was caught storing and selling customer information without their consent. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the fine on Thursday and said that it’s banning Avast from selling user data for advertising purposes. From at least 2014 to 2020, Avast harvested user [...]read moreAvast fined $16.5 million for ‘privacy’ software that actually sold users’ browsing data
To give AI-focused women academics and others their well-deserved — and overdue — time in the spotlight, TechCrunch is launching a series of interviews focusing on remarkable women who’ve contributed to the AI revolution. We’ll publish several pieces throughout the year as the AI boom continues, highlighting key work that often goes unrecognized. Read more [...]read moreWomen in AI: Rashida Richardson, senior counsel at Mastercard focusing on AI and privacy
A coalition of more than two dozen digital and democratic rights groups, NGOs and not-for-profits, including noyb and Wikimedia Europe, have written to the European Union’s regulatory body for data protection urging it to reject a tactic that’s been controversially seized upon by Meta in its latest bid to circumvent the bloc’s privacy laws. If [...]read moreEuropean digital rights group say the future of online privacy is on a knife edge