Glyn Moody is a freelance journalist who writes and speaks about privacy, surveillance, digital rights, open source, copyright, patents and general policy issues involving digital technology. He started covering the business use of the Internet in 1994, and wrote the first mainstream feature about Linux, which appeared in Wired in August 1997. His book, "Rebel Code," is the first and only detailed history of the rise of open source, while his subsequent work, "The Digital Code of Life," explores bioinformatics - the intersection of computing with genomics.
Two years ago, this blog wrote about the privacy implications of the exciting new field of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). The approach discussed there involved implanting tiny threads directly into the…
Given the by-now inarguable importance of data protection to the online world today, it is extraordinary that one person and his organization have almost single-handedly shaped the privacy landscape there.…
As Privacy News Online has noted, one name that crops up frequently in the context of the EU's General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR) is the privacy expert and activist Max…
For many Westerners, China is a country associated with widespread surveillance, stringent censorship, and human rights abuses in regions such as Hong Kong and Xinjiang. Despite that, the Chinese government…
One of the surest signs that privacy is becoming a major factor in the online world is the attempt by major Internet companies to claim that they value it. Mark…
A few months ago, we wrote about dual-use surveillance systems – that is, technology that can be used for both peaceful and military purposes. The post discussed some limited efforts…
As numerous posts on Privacy News Online demonstrate, Facebook is one of the biggest problems for privacy around the world. That problem just became bigger, as the company's market capitalization…
Often it can seem that the battle to protect online privacy is hopeless, as companies gather ever-more data about us as we move around the internet. But in the background,…
One way of looking at privacy is in terms of controlling personal data. That means stopping others from accessing existing private information or collecting new personal data; and not allowing…
Surveillance systems often use biometrics to identify key aspects of individuals. A previous blog post discussed the use of gait recognition, behavioral biometrics, and even cardiac signatures for this purpose.…