A recent study by the University of California, San Diego, showed four new ways to expose Internet users' browsing histories. They also showed the ways in which these histories could and can be used to target internet users with various attacks. Most of these attacks take aim psychologically, targeting the trust users have in details to which they believe only their closest friends and family have access.
Tech companies love redefining words. Network carriers, for example, have made “unlimited” mean “limited” and Twitter has apparently turned “private” into “public”. Granted, the social networking giant pins the blame on a bug that affected only their Android-using population, but more than the worrying nature of the bug itself, it’s the fact that the bug has been active for years that should be cause for concern. And the fact that Twitter isn’t even aware of the scope of the bug isn’t reassuring either.
Richard Yu, Huawei CEO of its consumer division, may have become notorious for his public outbursts about the US government treatment of the company, but Huawei’s highest executive might not share the same exact same sentiment. Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO, gave a rare interview with international media and while his defense of the company’s independence from government control is not surprising, his praise of US President Trump might have come as a shock to those following the drama between the US and China, with Huawei caught squarely in between.
A magistrate judge in California has ruled that police can't compel people to unlock their phones with biometric methods like fingerprints and facial recognition. Before this ruling, biometrics weren't protected in the same way that alphanumeric passcodes are - while police can't force a suspect to give up a passcode, those rules didn't apply to biometric unlocking methods. Now, it seems, the two methods of locking and unlocking mobile devices are seen as equal in the eyes of the law (at least for the time being).
DuckDuckGo, the search engine that revolves around user privacy, has brought users a combination of mapping and private searches via Apple's MapKit JS framework. The update enables DuckDuckGo users to search for locations and enjoy better map results, including enhanced satellite images, new visual features, better support for address searches, and more. Unlike now, DuckDuckGo's mapping results utilized OpenStreetMap and were fairly limited.
There is no shortage of calls for electronic devices that respect and protect users’ privacy but there are extremely few that bet their money on it. One such company is Purism, a social purpose corporation (SPC) based in the US that has made a name for itself with its brand of privacy-focused open source laptops three years ago. Knowing that such laptops need not only be open but also functional, the company is announcing version 4 of the Purism Librem laptops with slightly upgraded hardware at the same price tag.
The Internet has indeed made the world a smaller place. Ironically, it has also made it a more restricted and less secure one. It’s bad enough that you are often restricted from content you legitimately paid for just because you went out of the country, but almost anyone and everyone seems to be out to get you or, more importantly, your location and Internet activities. And while there are tools that aim to protect your privacy, a lot of them are too complicated for regular joes and janes or ask users to sacrifice too much in exchange. Enter CyberGhost VPN, one of the latest solutions for a better and more open Internet, bringing privacy, accessibility, convenience, and affordability in a single package.
Today we're taking a peek at a system called Motorola Dox. It's branded with Motorola's own bat symbol, and manufactured with Hubble Connected. This same group is responsible for making Motorola Baby Monitors and Motorola Headphones with Alexa, too. Much like the Motorola Modular Power System we got our hands on yesterday, this is a plug-and-play set of devices and accessories, a system quickly becoming synonymous with the Motorola brand.
The 2019 Consumer Electronics Show kicks off in earnest on Monday, and like every year before Apple won't be participating, instead preferring its own carefully planned media events. Despite this, the company has clearly made itself known this year with a large billboard ad placed right next to the Las Vegas Convention Center, where CES is taking place. The ad isn't for a new Apple product, rather it's throwing shade at other companies in attendance by highlighting Apple's privacy policies.
There's a message floating around Facebook that you might've seen pasted in your uncle's feed. It suggests that "everything you've ever posted becomes public from tomorrow." It also suggests that you'll only be able to stop Facebook from sharing all your information if you post a certain block of text and reference to a certain statute. I cannot emphasize enough: This is absolute nonsense and no such event will take place tomorrow - or ever, really.
This week the folks at the USB-IF (USB Implementers Forum) announced the launch of their own USB Type-C Authentication Program. With this program, manufacturers may implement and be certified for the USB Type-C Authentication specification. For the end user - you - that means you'll soon be able to know immediately if a new USB-C cord is able to cryptographically authenticate - that is, give a secret handshake to your phone or PC before it's able to supply power or transfer data.
You always hear the phrase “there’s no such thing as free lunch” to the point that it has become ridiculous and almost unbearable. It doesn’t make it not true, especially in this day and age where “free” is used as a marketing strategy, often an effective one at that. There is always a cost, whether it’s hidden or not, intended or otherwise. And in the case of almost all free services today, from Facebook to Gmail to even just search, the price you pay for $0 is your privacy.