USA
Airbnb is about to opt users into a system that scrutinizes their data for racial bias
The program starts on August 31 and users will be opted in automatically.
Politicians called out over support of warrantless mass surveillance
Dragnets are scooping up people’s data with little oversight.
As Twitter editorializes the president, alternative Gab experiences record growth
Big Tech censorship is actively fueling growth of alternative platforms.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez supports repeal of FOSTA
AOC is among those who say it has largely been ineffective and actually made it more difficult to prevent sex-trafficking.
iCloud is now officially a surveillance tool, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov says
Apple’s soapbox tour promoting privacy could soon be coming to an end.
Disney+ user account logins are appearing on the dark web, but Disney said it wasn’t hacked
Users are turning to social media to express their frustration.
New YouTube rules will cut some creator ad revenue by up to 90% in 2020
YouTube is making introducing these new rules in January 2020 as part of its settlement with the FTC over alleged COPPA violations.
Facebook deletes the largest Donald Trump fan page with over 3 million followers
Facebook says it removed the page for violating the company’s rules around “impersonation and pretending to be an individual or business” – something the owner denies.
Over 15,000 unsecured private webcams are easily visible online
When it comes to P2P devices, most of them are IoT and web cameras that are always connected to the manufacturer’s server. The problem is, this is only as secure as the manufacturer makes it, and not all of them work under the same standards.
Fortigate & Pulse VPNs hit by hackers
This isn’t the first time these VPNs have faced the issue of security flaws.
Senator Wyden calls for US wireless carriers to stop helping government spy on its own citizens
Section 215 of the Patriot Act is going to expire at the end of this year. Wyden underlined the importance of civic participation, by contacting their senators through mails and calls to ask them not to renew section 215.
Google settles Street View car mass Wi-Fi data collection lawsuit for $13 million
The settlement cost is rather low considering the much higher recent fines for other big-tech privacy scandals.