Privacy News Online | Weekly Review: February 5, 2021

Posted on Feb 5, 2021 by Caleb Chen
Privacy News Online Weekly News: February 5, 2021

Featured: Privacy News Online – Week of February 5th, 2021

UK Police Chief falsely claims that end to end encrypted messaging “puts lives at risk”

UK Police Chief falsely claims that end to end encrypted messaging puts lives at risk (1)The Detective Chief Superintendent in charge of the Uinted Kingdom’s online anti terrorism unit doesn’t want Facebook to add end to end encryption to its Messenger app or Instagram. The chief thinks that providing end to end encryption to the masses would unequivocally put lives at risk but he’s wrong. So wrong that Facebook is the one that has stepped up to remind the police that weakening encryption would make everyone less safe, not more.

China releases draft of major new privacy law: why it matters to everyone online

The proposed new law, called the Personal Information Protection Law or the PIPL for short, provides a look at how the Chinese government wants to protect consumer privacy while maintaining powers of surveillance. The law draws heavily from Europe’s landmark privacy law, the GDPR, with some additional exceptions for national security. The PIPL would force companies around the world to store personal data gathered from Chinese citizens on Chinese soil where it can be processed by national security interests.

Google doesn’t want your permission to track you on iOS

Google doesn't want your permission to track you on iOSGoogle has announced that it will update its first party iOS apps like Gmail and Google Maps to stop tracking users with Apple’s Identification for Advertisers unique ID. In iOS14, apps that want to continue using the advertising ID need to obtain express opt-in permission from users via a tracking permission prompt – and Google isn’t having any of that. Instead, it seems that Google will continue tracking its iOS users through other proprietary measures that as of yet don’t require the same type of opt-in permission.

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More Privacy News This Week:

Firefox 85 Cracks Down on Supercookies

The newest version of Firefox will partition network connections and caches per tab as a way to crack down on online tracking via cookies. Cookies are text files that websites leave on your device as a way to improve user experience; however, websites often also leave third party cookies or supercookies provided by adtech companies which are only used to track you across the web. Google Chrome is planning a similar update so I guess you could say we are finally seeing cookie based tracking get its just desserts and crumble away to nothingness.

Grindr fined £8.6m in Norway over sharing personal information

The dating app has been fined by the Norwegian Data Protection Authority after it was revealed that the app shared very private information with advertisers. The personal information shared includes location, sexual orientation and even mental health details. The total fine is 10% of Grindr’s annual gross revenue and the company has noted that they have since updated their privacy policy.

Apple Patches 3 iOS Flaws Hackers May Be Actively Exploiting

Apple has released security updates for all of its operating systems, patching dozens of vulnerabilities in iOS, MacOS, WatchOS, and more. The updates contain fixes for three vulnerabilities that Apple says may have been actively exploited in the wild.

New Linux SUDO flaw lets local users gain root privileges

A root privelege escalation vulnerability is found in sudo. This vulnerability is believed to effect most Linux operating systems. The takeaway for this week: Check for updates and make sure your operating systems are up to date.

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Thank you to Josh Long, our cybersecurity correspondent from Intego, makers of award-winning security software.