google Archives : Page 8 of 13 : PIA

Jun 5, 2020 |
Glyn Moody |
Cybersecurity, General Privacy News,

Time to embrace federated analytics – it’s no privacy panacea, but probably the closest we will get to one for many situations

A couple of weeks ago, a post on this blog explained how the OpenSAFELY project allowed trusted analysts to run large-scale computation across live pseudonymized patient records inside the data centre of the electronic health records software company. At a time when the world is grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, that’s a hugely important task, … Continue reading “Time to embrace federated analytics – it’s no privacy panacea, but probably the closest we will get to one for many situations”

Jun 4, 2020 |
Caleb Chen |
General Privacy News, Surveillance,

Class action lawsuit against Google says internet giant tracks private internet use

Google is being sued for 5 billion USD in a class action lawsuit over the tracking of private internet activity. Boies Schiller Flexner LLP has filed a massive lawsuit against Google and Alphabet Inc. for tracking and storing private internet activity. The suit, Case No. 20-3664, was filed on behalf of plaintiffs Chasom Brown, Maria … Continue reading “Class action lawsuit against Google says internet giant tracks private internet use”

Jun 3, 2020 |
Caleb Chen |
General Privacy News,

New paper warns of Cambridge Analytica type privacy risks in G Suite Marketplace Apps

A new research paper presented at IEEE 41 calls attention to the fact that Google Suites App Marketplace – whose apps are able to tap into the powerful Google API to read contacts, emails, calendar, etc – allows unverified apps to ask for and oftentimes receive sensitive user data. The paper which is titled “API … Continue reading “New paper warns of Cambridge Analytica type privacy risks in G Suite Marketplace Apps”

May 28, 2020 |
Caleb Chen |
General Privacy News, Surveillance,

Arizona has sued Google for illegally tracking phone location data

Arizona has filed a lawsuit against Google for “deceptive and unfair practices used to obtain users’ location data.” Specifically, Google has been collecting location history in its Search and Maps app to tie to your Google account even if you have explicitly told Google that you want to opt out of storing your Location History. … Continue reading “Arizona has sued Google for illegally tracking phone location data”

May 23, 2020 |
Glyn Moody |
General Privacy News, Governments,

OpenSAFELY: more proof that tackling the coronavirus pandemic does not require privacy to be compromised

In recent weeks, there has been an intense focus on the use of contact tracing apps as a way to emerge safely from the lockdowns that are in place around the world. A key question is whether to use a centralized or de-centralized architecture. After some division, the balance has firmly swung towards the latter, … Continue reading “OpenSAFELY: more proof that tackling the coronavirus pandemic does not require privacy to be compromised”

May 6, 2020 |
Glyn Moody |
Cybersecurity, General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Growing storm over UK’s coronavirus tracing app shows how not to do it

As this blog noted a couple of weeks ago, many governments around the world are looking to introduce coronavirus tracing apps to help take their countries out of lockdown. The hope is that such apps can be used by millions of people to pinpoint potential new cases of Covid-19 so that medical interventions can be … Continue reading “Growing storm over UK’s coronavirus tracing app shows how not to do it”

May 1, 2020 |
Glyn Moody |
General Privacy News, Governments,

Is the GDPR failing? If it is, how can it be saved?

The coronavirus pandemic rightly dominates the headlines, including those of the privacy world, but in the background, life goes on. For example, companies operating in the EU are still subject to the GDPR, two years after it first came into operation. But as this blog noted a few months back, there are increasing fears that … Continue reading “Is the GDPR failing? If it is, how can it be saved?”

Apr 23, 2020 |
Glyn Moody |
Cybersecurity, General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

What’s the best approach for building Bluetooth-based tracing apps as a way out of the pandemic lockdowns?

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, governments around the world are desperately trying to find a way to ease current lockdowns without triggering massive new waves of infection by Covid-19. There is a wide consensus that one promising element of any plan is the use of tracing apps. As this blog wrote back in March, the … Continue reading “What’s the best approach for building Bluetooth-based tracing apps as a way out of the pandemic lockdowns?”

Mar 19, 2020 |
Glyn Moody |
General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

As Covid-19 spreads around the globe, so does the idea of using smartphones to track everyone to help contact tracing

It seems extraordinary that it was only a month ago that this blog wrote about the new coronavirus, also called Covid-19. At that time, it was not yet clear whether it would turn into a full-blown pandemic. Now, there is no doubt on the matter. As that blog post reported, Covid-19 began in China, and … Continue reading “As Covid-19 spreads around the globe, so does the idea of using smartphones to track everyone to help contact tracing”

Feb 25, 2020 |
Caleb Chen |
Cybersecurity, General Privacy News,

Many WhatsApp private groups are indexed in Google and open to the public

Many WhatsApp private groups were left exposed on the open web due to a privacy-ignoring configuration error by Facebook’s WhatsApp. The discovery was made by Jordan Wilson, a journalist for DW.com. He noticed that the “Invite to Group via Link” function for WhatsApp private groups creates a link that, when posted on the public internet, … Continue reading “Many WhatsApp private groups are indexed in Google and open to the public”