Show more

Interesting conflict: some governments and health officials are upset with Google and Apple because they won't share the location data their contract tracing apps collect. washingtonpost.com/technology/

Surveillance vendor NSO Group pitched hacking tools to US police forces that would "turn your target's smartphone into an intelligence gold mine" vice.com/en_us/article/8899nz/

Well that's pretty encouraging. It looks like when people are better informed about trade-offs and must opt-in, instead of being forced to opt-out, many prefer the privacy-preserving option. arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20

Many of the arguments in the encryption backdoor debate (life-or-death, manpower vs automation, tech ineffectiveness, + freedom vs benefit, govt. + big tech power) apply to -19 app tracking debate, but with many ppl changing sides.

The article touches on some concerns, but much depends on this being voluntary. My concern is it will be false choice like many TSA rules: ie. you can "choose" to use the app and resume work/public life or "choose" to stay at home. washingtonpost.com/technology/

Remember that Big Data companies redefine to mean private to others, not private to them. They still see and store your personal data:

"No personally identifiable information, such as an individual's location, contacts or movement, will be made available at any point"

abcnews.go.com/amp/Health/coro

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

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

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

Show thread

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

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/

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

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

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

Show thread

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

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

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

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

Show more
Librem Social

Librem Social is an opt-in public network. Messages are shared under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license terms. Policy.

Stay safe. Please abide by our code of conduct.

(Source code)

image/svg+xml Librem Chat image/svg+xml