Pavel Durov: A VPN Does Bypass Russia’s Telegram Ban
Telegram users in Russia will now need to install a VPN to ensure that they have uninterrupted access to the popular encrypted messaging app. On April 13, a Russian court…
General Privacy News
Chinese Police use facial recognition to apprehend one person among crowd of 50,000
Chinese police have used automated face recognition cameras to identify and apprehend a fugitive among a stadium crowd of 50,000. This marks a decisive shift in the possibility to be…
Rhode Island Lawmaker Pulls Porn Censorship Bill, Citing Its ‘Dubious Origins’
A Rhode Island lawmaker has a yanked a controversial porn censorship bill, citing its “dubious origins.” The “Human Trafficking and Prevention Act” (HTPA), versions of which are circulating in more…
US Senators Introduce ‘Privacy Bill of Rights’ in Wake of Facebook Data-Harvesting Scandal
Two US senators have introduced a bill that seeks to establish a “privacy bill of rights” for American consumers and prohibit social media platforms and other websites from sharing or…
Microsoft and Facebook start intervening in private conversations. How long until they beep out unwanted parts in real time?
For the first time, a telecommunications provider is having opinions on the content of your conversations. This is unprecedented and a sharp deviation from all previous history. How long until…
Another day, another breach: At what point does storing passwords in plaintext become criminally negligent?
The third largest breach ever in Finland happened yesterday. Passwords were stored in plaintext. At T-Mobile Austria, they explain that of course they store the password in plaintext, but they…
Brazil’s ISPs Earn Failing Grades on Data Privacy
Brazil’s internet service providers (ISPs) earn failing grades on data privacy, researchers say. Earlier this month, Brazilian independent research center InternetLab -- in partnership with the Electronic Frontier Foundation --…
Finland’s ISPs Begin Censoring Websites on Government Blacklist
Internet service providers (ISPs) in Finland have begun blocking access to websites on a government-curated blacklist. According to English-language Finnish news service Metropolitan.fi, the initiative is the product of a…
Analog Equivalent Privacy Rights (21/21): Conclusion, privacy has been all but eliminated from the digital environment
In a series of posts on this blog, we have shown how practically everything our parents took for granted with regards to privacy has been completely eliminated for our children,…
Facebook and Cambridge Analytica: Pretty much everyone’s looking the wrong way and learning nothing
People have finally woken up to what happened with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, and the massive personality databases that were built. The problem is, nobody's learning anything for the future,…