News
South African government admits conducting mass surveillance on all communications
The surveillance was supposedly designed to cover information about organized crime and acts of terrorism.
The only demographic not leaving Facebook is those aged 50+, research shows
Young people are leaving the platform in droves.
Chinese-style social media censorship is increasingly influencing Western platforms
Chinese-style social media censorship – coming to a Western democracy near you.
Governments around the world are increasingly shutting off the internet, putting citizens at risk
23 countries deployed internet blackouts 114 times as a control technique in the first six months of 2019 alone.
Chinese deepfake app Zao raises privacy concerns
Zao is a free application available in China’s iOS App Store that allows users to swap their face with the characters of TV shows and movies.
Facebook to test hiding ‘likes’
The testing follows more widespread implementation on Instagram.
Swedish ISP Com Hem criticized for sending customer passwords in plain text
Com Hem says they’re reviewing the policy.
US Department of Defense to start scanning articles, photos, videos, and audio to combat “fake news”
The Pentagon wants to fight “fake news”
Reddit tests warning users about some communities
Reddit often quarantines communities because they don’t remove posts. Now it’s warning users who visit communities that remove too many posts.
Twitter’s use of phone numbers for 2-factor authentication could have dangerous consequences
You might think – Twitter is surely too big to fail its users in this way. But you might want to think again.
Facebook’s Android app sucks up system libraries without permission, researcher says
“There doesn’t seem to be an opt-out option for Facebook Global Library Collector, nor does it not seem to be possible to view what they have uploaded from our devices.”
Creator sues YouTube for allegedly deleting his channel in retaliation to complaints
The YouTuber, whose real-world name is Erik Mishiyev, says he first faced copyright claims against some of his most profitable videos in 2016, to which he responded with successful counter-claims.