Privacy is a growing concern in today’s world. Follow along with all our coverage related to privacy, security, what Apple and other companies are doing to keep your information safe, and what steps you can take to keep your information private.
One of the new privacy features included in iCloud+ is what Apple calls Mail Privacy Protection. While that’s designed to protect Apple Mail users from overly intrusive marketeers, some are worried that it could badly hurt small publishers of email newsletters.
That’s because it will deny them access to a key metric used to sell the advertising that makes many such newsletters viable …
Expand Expanding Close
An update to the TikTok privacy policy says that the app will now collect more personal data from US users, including “faceprints and voiceprints” …
Expand Expanding Close
Police and other law enforcement agencies requesting Ring video surveillance footage to help solve crimes will now need to make those requests in public. Previously, they had the ability to email Ring users to request copies of video that might show crimes in progress, or otherwise help to bring criminals to justice …
Expand Expanding Close
Okay, it’s a rather obvious PSA not to install a Chinese web browser on your iPhone, but Alibaba’s UC Browser is actually the fourth most popular browser in the world by user numbers, and the eighth most downloaded mobile app in the last decade …
Expand Expanding Close
If you own any one of a number of Amazon devices, and are in the US, you have just over a week to opt out of a feature the company calls Amazon Sidewalk, to avoid potential security and privacy issues …
Expand Expanding Close
If you want to be alerted to security breaches of user IDs and passwords, Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) is one of the most useful sites around – and it’s about to get even more so …
Expand Expanding Close
Millions of Brits had their location tracked without permission. A government report revealed the tracking, which was intended to find out whether being vaccinated against COVID-19 resulted in people being more willing to spend time away from home.
The report discloses 10% of British mobile phone owners were included in a study that used cell tower data to track approximate locations …
Expand Expanding Close
Four members of Congress have accused Apple of being “a pawn in China’s malfeasance” in putting the privacy of customer data at risk in the country.
They have urged Apple to reassess its business practices in the country, and its relationship with the Chinese government …
Expand Expanding Close
A bipartisan data privacy bill would force all tech giants to follow Apple’s example in allowing users to opt out of tracking by apps and websites.
Apple recently switched on App Tracking Transparency, which lets users decide whether or not they want to be tracked by apps in order to deliver personalized ads …
Expand Expanding Close
Apple released its 2021 Platform Security guide back in February with new details on M1 Macs, iOS 14, macOS Big Sur, watchOS 7, and more. Now the guide has been updated with specifics on how Touch ID on the new Magic Keyboard works, how iPhone unlock with Apple Watch in iOS 14.5 cryptography works, and more.
Expand Expanding Close
Update: Eufy has acknowledged the issue, and made a statement – below.
A huge Eufy privacy breach has resulted in both live and recorded camera feeds being shown to complete strangers. They also have complete access to the account, including control of pan-and-tilt cameras where fitted.
The issue was first noted on Reddit, and an Eufy cam owner at 9to5Mac has been able to confirm that he saw the same thing …
Expand Expanding Close
A senator investigating reports of the DoD tracking US citizens without warrants says that he is unable to share his findings with the public. Senator Ron Wyden says that, although he received responses from the Department of Defense, the answers given to him included classified information.
Wyden is calling for the DoD to release the information to the public in order to determine whether the people consider its actions acceptable …
Expand Expanding Close
Most people don’t want to be tracked by apps or websites for privacy reasons, but there are those who actively want their location to be constantly tracked for tax reasons – and there are apps to meet that need …
Expand Expanding Close
The new WhatsApp privacy policy has seen yet more backtracking by platform owner Facebook. It now seems that the company has given up on trying to force users to agree to its new privacy policy …
Expand Expanding Close
A new report today says that AirTag stalking is “frighteningly easy” thanks to a number of weaknesses in Apple’s privacy protections.
It reveals several ways that an abusive partner could circumvent the measures Apple takes to alert stalking victims …
Expand Expanding Close
A new study published today takes an in-depth look at how apps used in schools are sharing children’s data with third parties. The research found the majority of school apps transmit data and that Android is 8x more likely to be sending that data to “very high-risk” third parties than iOS.
Expand Expanding Close
The long-awaited App Tracking Transparency feature became available to iPhone and iPad users this week with the release of iOS 14.5, and users can now opt out of being tracked by third-party apps. Now, app analysis firm AppFigures has revealed some statistics on the adoption of this feature.
Expand Expanding Close
With the release of iOS 14.5 and the App Tracking Transparency feature, multiple companies that have ad-based businesses have been getting concerned as Apple’s privacy policies now let users opt-out of being tracked by third-party apps. Last week, Alibaba Group invited some marketing executives to discuss what to do about the changes introduced with iOS 14.5.
Expand Expanding Close
Apple finally introduced iOS 14.5 this week, which comes with the long-awaited App Tracking Transparency feature to prevent third-party apps from tracking users across the web. Since the announcement of this feature, Facebook has been complaining about the impact this option will have on its business model, and now a leaked company memo reveals how advertisers will be affected.
Expand Expanding Close
The Cellebrite Physical Analyzer – the most intrusive phone-cracking tool offered by the company – no longer supports the direct extraction of iPhone data, according to a document shared with us. This follows the discovery and exploitation of a vulnerability by secure messaging app Signal.
Signal discovered multiple security vulnerabilities in Cellebrite’s software, and was able to find a way to booby-trap iPhones to corrupt the results of a scan using Physical Analyzer …
Expand Expanding Close
iOS 14.5 finally landed yesterday after what seemed like a never-ending series of betas, bringing with it the option of blocking app tracking. Well, for most people, anyway.
We explained earlier what the two options mean …
Expand Expanding Close
US military movements in Syria were revealed by location info available for purchase from smartphone apps, says a new report today. This included enough information to identify the location of an undeclared US military base in the country.
The sensitive location information was harvested from weather, games, and dating apps on the phones of US soldiers, and appears to include special ops personnel …
Expand Expanding Close
Apple today finally made the new App Tracking Transparency feature available to users, which is part of the newly released iOS 14.5. The new feature lets users opt out of being tracked by third-party apps, but the toggle is grayed out for some users even after installing iOS 14.5 — which has made people confused about how the new feature works.
Expand Expanding Close
Apple today finally released iOS 14.5 to the public, which comes with the long-awaited App Tracking Transparency feature. With this new option available in the iOS settings, users can opt-out of being tracked by third-party apps across other apps and websites. To further highlight this new feature, the company has now shared a new video explaining how App Tracking Transparency works.
Expand Expanding Close