What can we learn from the Clearview “end of privacy” story?
A couple of weeks ago, a story in the New York Times put facial recognition, and the serious problems it raises, firmly into the mainstream. It concerned the start-up Clearview…
General Privacy News
University of Minnesota student jailed in China for tweeting memes of Chinese President Xi Jinping: How was he caught?
In 2019, a twenty year old Chinese international student from the University of Minnesota was arrested, tried, and sentenced in China for tweets he made from an anonymous account while…
The National Cyber Security Alliance’s Data Privacy Day Honeypot on StaySafeOnline.org
I was preparing to do something for Data Privacy Day on January 28th, when I discovered something truly alarming... This year and every year since 2007, Data Privacy Day is…
Top EU court’s advisor: bulk surveillance is “disproportionate”, and national security exemptions do not always apply
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the EU's top court, has played a key role in protecting privacy in the digital age, in Europe and beyond. In…
The Firefox Browser is a privacy nightmare on desktop and mobile
The Firefox Browser is not as private as you may think - especially on iOS and Android. Mozilla recently announced that they would be allowing any Firefox user a means…
Survey finds majority of Americans are concerned about data collection by governments and companies
The majority of Americans are concerned about how their data is used by companies and the government. This is based on a research study by Pew released in late 2019.…
Can hardware ever be trusted? The Betrusted project aims to find out by going back to basics
As previous posts have noted, the Internet of Things is being widely embraced in the form of so-called "smart speakers" and other devices. That's despite the fact that few of…
4000 “smart” streetlights in San Diego contain always recording cameras and microphones
As you walk down the street, it’s hard to imagine that your privacy could be violated by the street light above you - but in San Diego, California, this nightmare…
Police forces around the world continue to deploy facial recognition systems, despite no evidence of their utility
Last month, this blog wrote about governments around the world continuing to trial facial recognition systems, and the growing concerns this is provoking. There's one area in particular where facial…
FBI used Graykey to unlock an iPhone 11 Pro, which was previously thought to be the most secure iPhone
A recent article by Thomas Brewster at Forbes highlights the fact that the FBI is able to unlock iPhones using a product called Graykey. Specifically, a product called Graykey was…