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Kyle Rankin  

With so many relying on video conferencing at home, it's more important than ever to disable your camera w/ a hardware kill switch when you aren't using it. If your laptop doesn't have one, cover up the camera when your call is over. puri.sm/learn/hardware-kill-sw

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Kyle Rankin  

Before Clearview Became a Police Tool, It Was a Secret Plaything of the Rich

nytimes.com/2020/03/05/technol

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Kyle Rankin  

I was interviewed for a DW News article on how @purism is taking on tech giants with the -focused smartphone.

m.dw.com/en/smartphone-startup

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Kyle Rankin  

This doesn't bode well for any legislation that would curb abuses by marketing firms. If Feds bypass 4th amendment using adtech, regulating that industry could trigger "going dark" claims like w/ e2e encryption.

gizmodo.com/feds-find-fourth-a

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Kyle Rankin  

Update: Avast has shut down the subsidiary company that was capturing and selling customer data due to all the backlash. One down, a few thousand to go.

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20

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Kyle Rankin  

Don't dismiss compulsory student tracking via a phone app just because it's limited to athletes. These measures always start with a small powerless group, then use that "success" to justify expanding to others.

campusreform.org/?ID=14274

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Kyle Rankin  

Your browsing data is so valuable that even an AV company that's supposed to protect you from software that capture and sells your data, itself captures and sells your data.
vice.com/en_us/article/qjdkq7/

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Kyle Rankin  

It's happening. People are becoming aware of the implications of services around them and are voting with their feet.

cnbc.com/2020/01/23/23andme-la

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Kyle Rankin  

Apple canceled the project to encrypt iCloud backups two years ago due to pressure from the FBI because it "would deny them the most effective means for gaining evidence against iPhone-using suspects"

reuters.com/article/us-apple-f

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Kyle Rankin  

Update: Kashmir Hill's piece in the NYTimes today describes a US startup that's providing law enforcement the exact kind of facial recognition tech I was warning about in China. China's present surveillance state is becoming our future. nytimes.com/2020/01/18/technol

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Kyle Rankin  

Many Android phone vendors subsidize their cost w/ malware/spyware/adware just like many laptop vendors, but Android lets vendors make it impossible to remove.

In this case, free Android phones the US govt. handed out to the poor contained Chinese malware.

forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewste

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Kyle Rankin  

The NSA ran into a similar problem. It's hard for people to avoid the temptation to abuse their power for personal benefit.

For services like this, the best approach is not to collect the data in the first place, or else only give users keys to it.

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20

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Kyle Rankin  

Overheard someone at the Target return counter returning a gift because they thought it was creepy that it listened to them. There's hope.

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Kyle Rankin  

This is exactly the kind of problem we are trying to solve with the Librem 5 on multiple fronts, hardware and software.

nytimes.com/interactive/2019/1

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Kyle Rankin  

Important read. Unless more people push harder for from the companies that collect and sell our data and the govts that buy it, the rest of the world will follow in China's footsteps--the tech (and largely, the will) is already here.

nytimes.com/2019/12/17/technol

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Kyle Rankin  

"These owners can choose to share some, all, or none of their footage with police; police do not need a warrant in order to request camera footage from residents....when camera owners are "uncooperative or unavailable," officers are instructed to contact Ring and request that the captured video be preserved."

vice.com/en_us/article/bjw9e8/

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Kyle Rankin  

Many tech companies tout and security features that coincidentally also increase their own control and your dependence on them.

In this case, the feature protects user location data from competitors but not from Apple:

washingtonpost.com/technology/

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Kyle Rankin  

This opt-in clause is the critical reform we need. As in California, tech companies will lobby to remove it.

"Companies further would have to obtain a person’s permission to collect and share their sensitive data."

washingtonpost.com/technology/

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Kyle Rankin  

Et tu, DMV?

"The California Department of Motor Vehicles is generating revenue of $50,000,000 a year through selling drivers’ personal information, according to a DMV document obtained by Motherboard."

vice.com/en_us/article/evjekz/

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Kyle Rankin  

I mentioned the other day that health care data is one area where people who "have nothing to hide" still care about .

Personal finances is the other area and it looks like Google's going there too.

washingtonpost.com/technology/

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