Drones Used by California Cities to Patrol for Illegal Fireworks and Issue Fines
California residents who lit illegal fireworks over the July 4 holiday may be in for a nasty surprise in the mail thanks to covert fire department operations.
civil rights
National Public Data Published Its Own Passwords
KrebsOnSecurity has learned that another NPD data broker which shares access to the same consumer records inadvertently published the passwords to its back-end database in a file that was freely available from its homepage until today.
GAO Report Shows the Government Uses Face Recognition with No Accountability, Transparency, or Training
Federal agents are using face recognition software without training, policies, or oversight, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Cops Are Suing a Teen for Invasion of Privacy After Allegedly False Arrest Goes Viral
19-year-old Tayvin Galanakis posted his traffic stop arrest, despite not being intoxicated, on YouTube where it gained millions of views.
Amazon To Pay $30 Million For Alexa, Ring Privacy Violations
Amazon and its subsidiary, Ring, have agreed to separate multi-million dollar settlements with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over privacy violations involving children’s use of Alexa and homeowners’ use of Ring doorbell cameras.
NYPD is Refusing To Comply With NYC’s New Surveillance Tech Laws
The NYPD filed vague reports about its surveillance tech, bucking requirements under a new law.
The Spy Law That Big Tech Wants To Limit
Top tech companies are mounting a push to limit how US intelligence agencies collect and view texts, emails and other information about their users, especially American citizens.
Amazon’s Ring Neighbors App Exposed Users’ Precise Locations and Home Addresses
A security flaw in Ring’s Neighbors app was exposing the precise locations and home addresses of users who had posted to the app.
U.S. Schools are Buying Phone-Hacking Tech That the FBI Uses to Investigate Terrorists
By Tom McKay and Dhruv Mehrotra December 11, 2020 In May 2016, a student enrolled in a high-school in Shelbyville, Texas, consented to having his phone searched by one of Read More…
‘Stalkerware’ Phone Spying Apps Have Escaped Google’s Ad Ban
Several companies offering phone-spying apps — known as “stalkerware” — are still advertising in Google search results, despite the search giant’s ban that took effect today, TechCrunch has found.
Police Use of Facial Recognition Violates Human Rights, UK Court Rules
Use of the tech needs to be narrower to conform to human rights law, court held.
Belarus Has Shut Down the Internet Amid a Controversial Election
Human rights organizations have blamed the Belarusian government for widespread outages.
Twitter Faces FTC Probe, Likely Fine Over Use of Phone Numbers For Ads
Twitter’s use of the data for advertising purposes was discovered in 2019.
Why Did a Tech Executive Install 1,000 Security Cameras Around San Francisco?
Chris Larsen knows that a crypto mogul spending his own money for a city’s camera surveillance system might sound creepy. He’s here to explain why it’s not.
Police Are Buying Access To Hacked Website Data
The sale is “an end-run around the usual legal processes.”