surveillance Archives : Page 3 of 6 : PIA VPN Blog

Dec 31, 2019 |
Glyn Moody |
General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

As public fears mount over online surveillance and lack of control, advertising industry gets privacy religion – sort of…

A new Pew Research Center survey confirms what readers of this blog already know: many people are deeply worried about the routine tracking of their activities online: A majority of Americans believe their online and offline activities are being tracked and monitored by companies and the government with some regularity. It is such a common … Continue reading “As public fears mount over online surveillance and lack of control, advertising industry gets privacy religion – sort of…”

Dec 27, 2019 |
Glyn Moody |
General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

What do you get if you put DNA and facial recognition together? Today, it’s China; tomorrow, maybe everywhere else

Two themes crop up again and again on this blog: facial recognition and DNA sequencing. Both technologies on their own are powerful, and steadily becoming greater threats to privacy. So what happens when they are put together? A story in the New York Times means we don’t have to guess, because China is already doing … Continue reading “What do you get if you put DNA and facial recognition together? Today, it’s China; tomorrow, maybe everywhere else”

Nov 30, 2019 |
Glyn Moody |
General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Google’s “smart city” in Toronto: what it wanted, what it will now get – and why it’s still problematic for privacy

Earlier this year, Privacy News Online wrote about the latest news concerning plans to create a model “smart city” on Toronto’s waterfront. The company involved, Sidewalk Labs, is part of the Alphabet stable, along with Google. In an attempt to quell fears about privacy and other aspects of the plan, Sidewalk Labs released 1500 pages … Continue reading “Google’s “smart city” in Toronto: what it wanted, what it will now get – and why it’s still problematic for privacy”

Nov 1, 2019 |
Glyn Moody |
General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Beyond Aadhaar: India wants to create a giant centralized facial recognition database

Two years ago, Privacy News Online wrote about Aadhaar, India’s billion-person biometric database, used to check identity, and its potential to become the world’s biggest privacy disaster. Barely six months after that post, it emerged that access to the Aadhaar database could be bought very cheaply, as reported here by the Indian newspaper The Tribune: … Continue reading “Beyond Aadhaar: India wants to create a giant centralized facial recognition database”

Aug 20, 2019 |
Glyn Moody |
General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

The future of privacy is already here — it’s just not evenly distributed

William Gibson is best known for his book “Neuromancer“, which popularized the word and concept of cyberspace. He also came up with the phrase “the future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed“. That was a general statement about technology, but it also applies to the technology that threatens our privacy. Around … Continue reading “The future of privacy is already here — it’s just not evenly distributed”

Jul 31, 2019 |
Glyn Moody |
General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Eyes in the sky will soon see everything – even what happened in the past; is it too late to worry about privacy?

Earlier this year, Privacy News Online wrote about a new generation of nanosatellites that are starting to fill the sky. The same continuing advances in technology that have made these small but powerful systems possible are also operating at the other of the satellite spectrum. It means that traditional satellites now pack even more power … Continue reading “Eyes in the sky will soon see everything – even what happened in the past; is it too late to worry about privacy?”

Jul 29, 2019 |
Glyn Moody |
Cybersecurity, General Privacy News, Governments,

What can we learn from Palantir’s secret user manual for police users of its big data software?

Two years ago, Privacy News Online wrote about the mysterious Palantir Technologies. It describes itself as a company that makes “products for human-driven analysis of real-world data“. It is a data analytics supplier at heart, but one that is working on some of society’s most sensitive data, notably the kind used by law enforcement to … Continue reading “What can we learn from Palantir’s secret user manual for police users of its big data software?”

Jul 20, 2019 |
Glyn Moody |
Cybersecurity, General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Amazon’s collaborations with local police turn its Ring doorbell cameras into unofficial community surveillance systems

Amazon was founded almost exactly 25 years ago. Initially it sold books, and people saw it as an interesting early example of e-commerce, but probably assumed that it would remain a fairly small player in a relatively unexciting market. Nothing could be further from the truth. Amazon soon started selling goods in other sectors, and … Continue reading “Amazon’s collaborations with local police turn its Ring doorbell cameras into unofficial community surveillance systems”

Jul 12, 2019 |
Glyn Moody |
General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Here’s why Google thinks you should trust it with unprecedented quantities of your city’s “urban data”

Last October, Privacy News Online wrote about an ambitious project from Google’s sister company, Sidewalk Labs. It aims to take the idea of a “smart city” to the next level, measuring everything that happens in the public sphere so that it can be optimized – and monetized. As that post reported, many people were understandably … Continue reading “Here’s why Google thinks you should trust it with unprecedented quantities of your city’s “urban data””

Mar 9, 2019 |
Glyn Moody |
General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

A million tiny eyes in the sky: how a new generation of nanosatellites pose a threat to privacy

Everyone knows that surveillance is ubiquitous – on the Internet, in the street, at work, at school, in our homes. What made that constant spying possible was the amazing advance of digital technology. Thanks to powerful computers and massive storage facilities, it is now possible to “collect it all“, as the NSA wanted, and to … Continue reading “A million tiny eyes in the sky: how a new generation of nanosatellites pose a threat to privacy”