Privacy & New Media

Tech Dirt
Karl Bode
Mon, Aug 24th 2020

Like most internet of broken things products, we’ve noted how “smart” devices quite often aren’t all that smart. More than a few times we’ve written about smart lock consumers getting locked out of their own homes without much recourse. Other times we’ve noted how the devices simply aren’t that secure, with one study finding that 12 of 16 smart locks they tested could be relatively easily hacked thanks to flimsy security standards, something that’s the primary feature of many internet of broken things devices.

“Smart” doorbells aren’t much better. A new study by Consumer Reports studied 24 different popular smart doorbell brands, and found substantial security problems with at least five of the models. Many of these flaws exposed user account information, WiFi network information, or, even in some cases, user passwords. Consumer Reports avoids getting too specific as to avoid advertising the flaws while vendors try to fix them:

<a href="http://The content in this post was found at: more

The content in this post was found at:

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200813/14463045107/consumer-reports-study-shows-many-smart-doorbells-are-dumb-lack-basic-security.shtml

Clicking the title or link will take you to the source of the post and was not authored by the moderators of privacynnewmedia.com.

David Lazarus
Los Angeles Times
Aug. 25, 2020

Clear Channel Outdoor, one of the world’s largest billboard companies, will in coming days roll out technology across Europe capable of letting advertisers know where people go and what they do after seeing a particular billboard.

Sounds creepy, no?

Well, brace yourself. Clear Channel has been quietly using this technology in the United States for the last four years, including in Los Angeles.

“They’re spying on you in your own neighborhood,” said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy.

“You don’t know it’s happening,” he told me. “You don’t know who they’re sharing the information with.”

The content in this post was found at:

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-08-25/column-clear-channel-billboards-privacy

Clicking the title or link will take you to the source of the post and was not authored by the moderators of privacynnewmedia.com.

Brooke Auxier
Pew Research Center
January 27, 2020

Americans prefer to keep certain information about themselves outside the purview of online searches, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in June 2019. Given the option, 74% of U.S. adults say it is more important to be able to “keep things about themselves from being searchable online,” while 23% say it is more important to be able to “discover potentially useful information about others.”

The content in this post was found at:

Clicking the title or link will take you to the source of the post and was not authored by the moderators of privacynnewmedia.com.

Washington Post
Editorial Board
May 1, 2020

THE PING of a smartphone usually means a text from a friend or a news story from a favorite publication. Soon enough, it could instead signal that it’s time to stay inside for 14 days. Technologists are coding furiously to create a plan for digital contact tracing that, paired with traditional manual methods and widespread testing capability, could ease the country out of lockdowns. But before the United States bets on Silicon Valley to solve its problems, leaders ought to ask themselves two questions: How well does it work, and how high is the cost?

The content in this post was found at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/tech-firms-must-prove-that-digital-contact-tracing-is-worth-the-privacy-intrusion/2020/05/01/cbf19b8e-7dc7-11ea-9040-68981f488eed_story.html

Clicking the title or link will take you to the source of the post. and was not authored by the moderators of privacynnewmedia.com.

The content in this post was found at:
https://epic.org/2020/07/lawmakers-request-ftc-privacy-.html

Clicking the title or link will take you to the source of the post. and was not authored by the moderators of privacynnewmedia.com.

The content in this post was found at:
https://epic.org/2020/08/gao-releases-report-on-privacy.html

Clicking the title or link will take you to the source of the post. and was not authored by the moderators of privacynnewmedia.com.

New York Times
Nellie Bowles
July 10, 2020 Updated July 13, 2020

“It sounds sinister. A soft-spoken cryptocurrency mogul is paying for a private network of high-definition security cameras around the city. Zoom in and you can see the finest details: the sticker on a cellphone, the make of a backpack, the color of someone’s eyes.

But in San Francisco, a city with a decades-long anti-authority streak, from hippies and pioneering gay rights activists to the techno-utopian libertarians and ultra-progressives of today, the crypto mogul has found a surprisingly receptive audience.

Here’s why: While violent crime is not high in the city, property crime is a constant headache. Anyone who lives here knows you shouldn’t leave anything — not a pile of change, not a scarf — in a parked car. Tourists visiting the city’s vistas like Twin Peaks or the famously windy Lombard Street are easy marks. The city government has struggled to solve the problem.”

The content in this post was found at:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/business/camera-surveillance-san-francisco.html

Clicking the title or link will take you to the source of the post. and was not authored by the moderators of privacynnewmedia.com.

The Washington Post

Nov 11, 2018

more

The content in this post was found at
https://gazette.com/business/study-finds-potentially-manipulative-ads-in-apps-for-preschoolers/article_dc050634-dd80-11e8-acf9-737d7a7433d9.html

Clicking the title or link will take you to the source of the post. and was not authored by the moderators of privacynnewmedia.com.

Powered by WPeMatico