[ad_1] Now, Google has reportedly offered to restrict the use of Fitbit data for Google ads and tighten the monitoring of that process, Reuters says. The company also formalized its commitment to supporting other wearable manufacturers on Android and allowing Fitbit users to choose third party services through APIs, Google said in a statement. Those […]
Category: data
Amazon’s data request portal for police is visible on the web
[ad_1] Investigators need logins for non-urgent requests. However, they only need to “declare and acknowledge” that they’re officers if there’s an emergency. We wouldn’t expect this to be widely abused (you could easily face legal trouble), but it’s theoretically possible to misuse the system. We’ve asked Amazon for comment, although it hadn’t responded to TechCrunch […]
Twitter ‘Transparency Center’ shows government data requests by country
[ad_1] About every six months, Twitter releases a transparency report detailing things like how many state-backed accounts it has suspended and the number of government requests for information on account holders. Today, Twitter is unveiling a centralized hub for those reports and the data they contain. The new Twitter Transparency Center is now live. The […]
Secret Service bought location data pulled from common apps
[ad_1] With Locate X, an agency like the Secret Service could, for instance, create a geo-fence around a crime scene. It could then identify mobile devices that were in that area prior to the crime and see where those devices traveled before or after the incident. Police took that approach following a burglary in 2019, […]
A third of TikTok’s US users may be 14 years old or younger
[ad_1] TikTok asks users to self-report their birthdays, and it uses tools like facial recognition to estimate users’ ages. Users under 13 only have access to a walled-off mode within the app, and they can’t share personal info or videos. But it wouldn’t be hard to lie to get around age restrictions. The app doesn’t […]
Google stops responding to data requests from Hong Kong authorities
[ad_1] Until recently, Hong Kong has had an open and free internet, unlike mainland China. Some fear the law has the ability to make individuals and companies remove content. As The Washington Post explains it “targets vaguely defined crimes including subversion of state power, collusion with foreign powers, secession and terrorism.” After the law was […]
Former employees claim Talkspace mined therapy transcripts for marketing
[ad_1] Karissa Brennan, a therapist who contracted through Talkspace for two about years, says the company contacted her about a resource she shared with a patient. She says the company told her to keep her clients inside the app. Brennan told the paper she believes she sent an anxiety worksheet to her client. The company’s […]
Capital One fined $80 million over 2019 data breach
[ad_1] A bank spokesperson said the company had since poured “significant” resources into bolstering its security and otherwise addressing orders from both the OCC and the Federal Reserve. The payout isn’t small, but it might not make many victims happy. The breach exposed sensitive details like addresses, reported income and (in some cases) account numbers […]
Have I Been Pwned’s code base will be open sourced
[ad_1] Hunt noted there were a few reasons for this, including the prevalence of open source projects and the fact Have I Been Pwned has always been “open in spirit.” On a practical level, it’ll enable others to fix bugs and implement ideas that he’s not necessarily able to. It’ll take some time to fully […]
EU antitrust regulators are investigating Google’s Fitbit purchase
[ad_1] Google has long said it would not use Fitbit data for targeted ads and that the deal “was about devices, not data.” It pledged to silo Fitbit’s health data to keep it separate from its ad business, and it affirmed that plan to EU regulators last month in an attempt to stave off an […]