Tens of millions of people use smart speakers and their voice software to play games, find music or trawl for trivia. Millions more are reluctant to invite the devices and their powerful microphones into their homes out of concern that someone might be listening. Read full story here: Thousands Of Amazon Workers Are Listening To What You Tell Alexa | BNN Bloomberg
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Beyond facial recognition, we’re giving smart devices and platforms our intimate biometric details. Iris scanning is a powerful identification tool. Computers aren’t just getting smarter, they’re studying us more closely too. Whether it’s in the name of public safety, fraud protection or simple convenience, we’re feeding AI systems details that identify us and track our comings and goings. Read full story here: Amazon, Google, AI And Us: Are We Too Close For Comfort? | CNET
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A program that allows drug agents to obtain a pool of billions of call records from AT&T is “still active,” according to a watchdog report. The report, published Thursday by the Justice Department inspector general, confirmed the program — named in the report only as Project C — continues to provide access to “billions” of domestic and international call records to Drug Enforcement Administration agents. The program allows agents to pull information about the callers and when and where a call was made from the telecoms provider operating the program…
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The most controversial National Security Agency surveillance program, originally exposed by documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, has apparently ended quietly, according to the National Security Advisor to Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. In a discussion recorded for the Lawfare Podcast released on March 2, Luke Murry said that the NSA was no longer collecting call detail records—the metadata associated with phone calls and text messages—and that the Trump administration had not used the program for over six months. Read full story here: House Aide: NSA Has…
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Users are complaining that the phone number Facebook hassled them to use to secure their account with two-factor authentication has also been associated with their user profile — which anyone can use to “look up” your profile. Worse, Facebook doesn’t give you an option to opt-out. The recent hubbub began today after a tweet by Jeremy Burge blew up, criticizing Facebook’s collection and use of phone numbers, which he likened to “a unique ID that is used to link your identity across every platform on the internet.” Read full story…
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It happened to Erynn Tomlinson. The former cryptocurrency executive lost about $30,000 in cryptocurrency after hackers used a few of her personal details during interactions with Rogers customer service representatives to ultimately gain access to her account. “I don’t know how to describe it. I was sort of in shock at the whole thing,” said Tomlinson about realizing hackers stole savings she was planning on using for a mortgage. Read full story here: Social Engineering Is The New Method Of Choice For Hackers. Here’s How It Works. | CBC News
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Apple is telling app developers to remove or properly disclose their use of analytics code that allows them to record how a user interacts with their iPhone apps — or face removal from the app store, TechCrunch can confirm. In an email, an Apple spokesperson said: “Protecting user privacy is paramount in the Apple ecosystem. Our App Store Review Guidelines require that apps request explicit user consent and provide a clear visual indication when recording, logging, or otherwise making a record of user activity.” Read full story here: Apple Tells App…
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The Canadian government has shared more than 1.6 million Canadian banking records with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service since the start of a controversial information-sharing agreement in 2014, CBC News has learned. In 2016 and again in 2017, the Canada Revenue Agency provided the IRS with information on 600,000 Canadian bank accounts each year. That’s a sharp increase from the 300,000 records shared in 2015 and the 150,000 records shared in 2014, the year the sharing began. Read full story here: 1.6 Million Canadian Banking Records Shared With IRS |…
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Authorities can’t force people to unlock devices with their faces, fingers or irises, a magistrate judge from California has ruled. Forbes has uncovered a nine-page order denying the search warrant for an investigation looking into a Facebook extortion crime. While the judge admits that investigators were able to establish probable cause for the warrant, she called their request to unlock any phone on the premises with biometrics “overbroad.” The request wasn’t limited to a particular person or device, and authorities would’ve been able to get everyone in the house to…
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In June 2018, all four major US wireless carriers pledged to stop selling their mobile customers’ location information to third-party data brokers. The carriers were pressured into making the change after a security problem leaked the real-time location of US cell phone users. Read full story here: T-Mobile, Sprint, And AT&T Still Selling Your Location Data, Report Says | Ars Technica
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