• Nov 24, 2021
  • Glyn Moody
  • General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Amazon has Been Lobbying Hard Against Privacy Protections – Mostly with Success; Who’s Smiling Now?

Recently, this blog explored the allegations by 17 US states that Google had abused its monopoly power to stifle competition, and delayed the EU’s ePrivacy legislation. Hard on its heels comes a major report from Reuters that Amazon has lobbied hard against data protection in the US, mostly with success. In a way, that’s not … Continue reading “Amazon has Been Lobbying Hard Against Privacy Protections – Mostly with Success; Who’s Smiling Now?”

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  • Oct 21, 2021
  • Glyn Moody
  • Cybersecurity, General Privacy News, Surveillance,

Do We Really Want Amazon’s Internet-Connected Autonomous Surveillance Robots Wandering Around our Homes?

It might seem strange that Amazon has figured so many times on this blog, what with its facial recognition service, eavesdropping Alexa devices, Ring home surveillance, and Halo wearable device. Amazon may have begun as an online bookseller, but its ambitions in the digital space seem limitless. Recently it has announced two new autonomous devices … Continue reading “Do We Really Want Amazon’s Internet-Connected Autonomous Surveillance Robots Wandering Around our Homes?”

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  • Dec 18, 2019
  • Glyn Moody
  • Cybersecurity, General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Smile as you buy your holiday goods in a store – you are probably being watched, tracked and analyzed

Amazon may have started out by selling books, but it is now getting heavily into the surveillance market. There are four main sectors where it is already working on solutions that pose risks to privacy. Three of them have been covered extensively in this blog before. They are: the home, with its Alexa devices; the … Continue reading “Smile as you buy your holiday goods in a store – you are probably being watched, tracked and analyzed”

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  • Nov 26, 2018
  • Jayson Q.
  • General Privacy News, Guides,

How to remove your voice search history from Amazon, Google or Siri

Many people report strange targeted adverts showing up after a specific conversation with someone. The general consensus is that our mobile devices and smart tech is monitoring us, which is possible as everything seems to contain a microphone now… even television remotes. Often these microphones are constantly listening for a certain keyword; “Okay Google”, “Hey … Continue reading “How to remove your voice search history from Amazon, Google or Siri”

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  • Nov 21, 2018
  • Derek Zimmer
  • Cybersecurity, General Privacy News, Surveillance,

The Internet of Things is Surveillance

The IOT is back in the news again this week. A judge has ordered Amazon to turn over audio data from an Alexa device related to a murder investigation. There’s a few interesting things raised by this warrant. The investigators believe that Alexa may have captured audio of the attack itself and uploaded it to … Continue reading “The Internet of Things is Surveillance”

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  • Oct 13, 2018
  • Glyn Moody
  • Cybersecurity, General Privacy News, Surveillance,

Amazon hopes to blanket your home and car with listening, eavesdropping Alexa devices

Last year, Privacy News Online noted that there was a new frontier for digital privacy: home devices that understand spoken commands. Recent research from Canalys confirms that the market continues to grow strongly, admittedly from a small base: The worldwide smart speaker market grew 187% in Q2 2018, with shipments reaching 16.8 million units. Google … Continue reading “Amazon hopes to blanket your home and car with listening, eavesdropping Alexa devices”

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  • Jul 6, 2018
  • Glyn Moody
  • General Privacy News, Governments,

The Next Frontier in Threats to your Privacy: Voice Recognition

Privacy News Online has been tracking the increasing use of facial recognition technologies for some time. Concerns about their wider deployment are growing. But the surveillance world does not stand still. While people focus their attention on facial recognition, a new form of tracking is being rolled out: voice recognition – detecting who is speaking, … Continue reading “The Next Frontier in Threats to your Privacy: Voice Recognition”

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