Privacy
- U.S. May Support 'Global Surveillance' Treaty Hated by Everyone but Authoritarian Governmentsgizmodo.com U.S. May Support 'Global Surveillance' Treaty Hated by Everyone but Authoritarian Governments
Privacy advocates, human rights groups, and multinational technology companies have all said the U.N.'s new cybercrime convention is a disaster waiting to happen.
- Undermining your privacy? Session says no and leaves Australiawww.techradar.com Undermining your privacy? Session says no and leaves Australia
The encrypted messaging app has just landed in Switzerland
- Denmark: AI-powered welfare system fuels mass surveillance and risks discriminating against marginalized groups – reportwww.amnesty.org Denmark: AI-powered welfare system fuels mass surveillance and risks discriminating against marginalized groups – report
The Danish welfare authority, Udbetaling Danmark (UDK), risks discriminating against people with disabilities, low-income individuals, migrants, refugees, and marginalized racial groups through its use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to flag individuals for social benefits fraud investigations...
- NSO – not government clients – operates its spyware, legal documents revealwww.theguardian.com NSO – not government clients – operates its spyware, legal documents reveal
Details of emerge in sworn depositions by employees of Israeli company as part of lawsuit brought by WhatsApp
- Microsoft Edge wants your Chrome data and is sneakily trying to get itwww.pcworld.com Microsoft Edge wants your Chrome data and is sneakily trying to get it
A new pop-up uses dark patterns to get you to migrate browser data over to Edge.
- Period tracking app refuses to disclose data to American authoritieswww.newsweek.com Period tracking app refuses to disclose data to American authorities
Clue vows to safeguard users following the 2024 election amid concerns anti-abortion state laws could allow phone searches for menstrual data.
- This company says it’s developing a system that can recognize your face from just your DNAwww.technologyreview.com This company says it’s developing a system that can recognize your face from just your DNA
Though it almost certainly won’t work, it is a telling sign of where the field is heading
- ICE Started Ramping Up Its Surveillance Arsenal Immediately After Donald Trump Wonwww.wired.com ICE Started Ramping Up Its Surveillance Arsenal Immediately After Donald Trump Won
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement put out a fresh call for contracts for surveillance technologies before an anticipated surge in the number of people it monitors ahead of deportation hearings.
- Facial Recognition That Tracks Suspicious Friendliness Is Coming to a Store Near Yougizmodo.com Facial Recognition That Tracks Suspicious Friendliness Is Coming to a Store Near You
Coresight AI has released a new product that sends alerts to store security when customers and staff have anomalous interactions.
- Using i2p on Android with Mull and i2pdtux.social Rhababerbarbar (@Rhababerbarbar@tux.social)
Attached: 4 images How to use #i2p on #GrapheneOS, using #mull (#firefox) Only Firefox seems to be able to use a regular ol' HTTP proxy, on Android. Pretty crazy. 1. Install i2p, on Android you can use: - [I2P](https://github.com/i2p/i2p.android.base) - I2PD, [this F-Droid repo](https://fdroid.i2...
On Android/GrapheneOS, Firefox/Mull/variants is the only browser with the needed proxy settings to use with i2p.
After a bit of searching, it works very well!
As i2p servers you can use "i2p", "i2pd" (more minimal but more efficient) or "InviziblePro" which bundles some implementation of i2p.
I am using i2pd currently, and it works well.
Installed the apps with Obtainium
- Mull from the DivestOS F-Droid repo
- i2pd from the purplei2p F-Droid repo
- MullvadVPN from Github, Orbot from the guardianproject repo (as fallback if clearnet sites are used)
The browser can open .i2p and clearnet sites, using a little hack:
network.proxy.no_proxies_on
to!.i2p
- #EuGoingDark surveillance plan: timeline, agenda, backgroundwww.patrick-breyer.de #EuGoingDark surveillance plan: timeline, agenda, background
Highly controversial, non-transparent and rarely questioned: the Commission and Council of the European Union are currently preparing a new, EU-wide digital surveillance package. The plan includes the reintroduction and expansion of the retention of citizens' communications data as well as specific
- Smart device brands must put privacy over profitswww.which.co.uk Smart device brands must put privacy over profits - Which? News
From air fryers sharing data with TikTok to smart TVs demanding to know your postcode, we're calling on smart device brands to do better at protecting your privacy
- South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook usersapnews.com South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook users
South Korea’s privacy watchdog has fined Meta 21.6 billion won for illegally collecting Facebook users’ sensitive personal information, including data about their political views and sexual orientation, and sharing it with thousands of advertisers for targeted advertisements.
- Social media algorithms exploit how we learn from our peersnews.northwestern.edu Social media algorithms exploit how we learn from our peers
Surveys of Twitter and Facebook users show people are exhausted by and unhappy with the overrepresentation of extreme political content or controversial topics in their feeds.<br /> <br /> In a review published today (Aug. 3) in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, social scientists from Northw...
- Desktop version 2024.10.0 is no longer free software · Issue #11611 · bitwarden/clientsgithub.com Desktop version 2024.10.0 is no longer free software · Issue #11611 · bitwarden/clients
Pull request #10974 introduces the @bitwarden/sdk-internal dependency which is needed to build the desktop client. The dependency contains a licence statement which contains the following clause: Y...
- Twitter/X will now allow third parties to train AI models with people's data—and any disputes must be heard in a Trump-friendly courtfortune.com Twitter/X will now allow third parties to train AI models with people's data—and any disputes must be heard in a Trump-friendly court
Any complaints will be hashed out in a Trump-friendly district.
- EFF to New York: Age Verification Threatens Everyone's Speech and Privacywww.eff.org EFF to New York: Age Verification Threatens Everyone's Speech and Privacy
Young people have a right to speak and access information online. Legislatures should remember that protecting kids' online safety shouldn't require sweeping online surveillance and censorship.EFF reminded the New York Attorney General of this important fact in comments responding to the state's...
- WhatsApp may expose the OS you use to run it – which could expose you to crookswww.theregister.com More WhatsApp privacy concerns over OS, device info leaks
Meta knows messaging service creates persistent user IDs that have different qualities on each device
- Police want the password to your phonereason.com Police want the password to your phone
Without a warrant and specific proof of incriminating evidence, police should never be allowed past your phone’s lock screen.
- Google is purging ad-blocking extension uBlock Origin from the Chrome Web Storewww.techspot.com Google is purging ad-blocking extension uBlock Origin from the Chrome Web Store
According to recent user reports, uBlock Origin is quickly disappearing from the Chrome Web Store. The official page for the ad-blocking extension now states that it is...
- License Plate Readers Are Creating a US-Wide Database of More Than Just Carswww.wired.com License Plate Readers Are Creating a US-Wide Database of More Than Just Cars
From Trump campaign signs to Planned Parenthood bumper stickers, license plate readers around the US are creating searchable databases that reveal Americans’ political leanings and more.
Archive : https://archive.ph/L5MmU
- Anti-abortion group accused of electronically intercepting patients’ exchanges with clinictherecord.media Anti-abortion group accused of electronically intercepting patients’ exchanges with clinic
A Massachusetts reproductive healthcare clinic said in court filings that the nearby office of an anti-abortion group appeared to be intercepting messages to patients and then contacting them with the goal of redirecting them away from the clinic's services.
- Privacy fears grow as France extends AI surveillance beyond Olympicswww.rfi.fr Privacy fears grow as France extends AI surveillance beyond Olympics
France’s decision to extend AI-powered video surveillance in public spaces until March 2025 is stirring fears over privacy and civil liberties. Critics argue that the technology, introduced for the 2024…
Algorithmic video surveillance (AVS), which uses AI to detect behaviours like crowd movements and abandoned objects, has drawn fire for its potential to infringe on individual rights.
Prime Minister Michel Barnier this month paved the way for its widespread use in public spaces, following hot on the heels of an endorsement of the "experimental" technology by Paris Police chief Laurent Nunes.
The extended use of AVS comes despite an evaluation report on the technology’s ethics not being due until the end of the year.
- Hackers take control of robot vacuums in multiple US cities and abuse ownerswww.abc.net.au Hackers take control of robot vacuums in multiple US cities and abuse owners
Ecovacs robot vacuums in multiple US cities were hacked in the space of a few days, with the attacker physically controlling them and yelling obscenities through their onboard speakers.
- Google threatened with break-up by USwww.bbc.com Google threatened with break-up by US
The US Government considers whether Google should spin off the Android operating system and Chrome browser.
The US government is considering seeking the break-up of the world's biggest search engine, Google, which it accuses of causing "pernicious harms" to Americans.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has been considering so-called remedies since a landmark court ruling in August which found Google illegally crushed its competition in online search.
If the DOJ pushes ahead with the proposed remedies - and they are accepted by the judge in the case - it would represent arguably the biggest regulatory intervention in the history of big tech.
Google has pushed back hard against the proposals, describing them as "radical" and "sweeping" and claiming they "risk hurting consumers, businesses, and developers."
- Ubisoft is being sued for allegedly sharing user data with Metawww.videogameschronicle.com Ubisoft is being sued for allegedly sharing Ubisoft Store and Ubisoft+ user data with Meta | VGC
The class action complaint claims Ubisoft sends user data to Facebook without permission…
As reported by Bloomberg Law, the class action complaint accuses the Assassin’s Creed publisher of sharing personally identifiable information (PII) with Facebook company Meta.
According to the complaint, players who use the Ubisoft website to buy a game on the Ubisoft Store or use it to subscribe to Ubisoft+ are having their PII sent to Meta through its Pixel user tracking software.
“Defendant does not disclose on the website that PII users’ personally identifying information would be captured by the Meta Platforms, Inc tracking Pixel utilised by defendant, and then transferred to Meta, thereby exposing the subscribers’ PII to any person of ordinary technical skill who received that data,” the complaint reads.
- 'Unprecedented capabilities for surveillance and manipulation': New report calls smart TVs and streaming services a 'Trojan Horse', and urges government actionwww.techradar.com 'Unprecedented capabilities for surveillance and manipulation': New report calls smart TVs and streaming services a 'Trojan Horse', and urges government action
A severe new report slams the TV industry for creating "a digital Trojan Horse" in every home
- Cars are data-harvesting machines. These brands share your personal informationwww.abc.net.au Cars are data-harvesting machines. These brands share your personal information
A Choice investigation has found most of Australia's popular car brands collect and share "driver data", ranging from braking patterns to video footage and voice recognition information.
- Privacy Guides Adds New "Hardware Recommendations" Section
After almost 2 years, Privacy Guides has added a new Hardware Recommendations section to their website.
Thanks to Daniel Nathan Gray and others for implementing this new hardware guide
- Chrome will now prompt some users to send passwords for suspicious filesarstechnica.com Chrome will now prompt some users to send passwords for suspicious files
Google says passwords and files will be deleted shortly after they are deep-scanned.
- Which DNS would you recommend?
ISPs are forced to block DNS request to certain hosts, they also monitor your DNS requests, and sometimes aren't updated that or are slow.
Which DNS servers do you use or would recommend to others?
- Solution to youtube-dl (yt-dlp) IP bans?
I'm getting IP-banned using yt-dlp. It seems that this is a known issue. Have any of you run into this, and if so, what has been your solution?
I currently use a VPN via a VPS. I am able to view youtube via the web client and use youtube-dl without VPN, but I am only unable to get through using the CLI on the VPN. I have also tried fiddling with some CLI args (like
--extractor-args "youtube:player_client=web"
) but that is also unsuccessful.My next step is to try signing up for mullvad to see if I can get around it that way, but would like to hear if this is affecting existing mullvad users.
Open to hearing other solutions as well. Thanks!
- [DEF CON 32] Presenting our DIY Dead Man Switchwww.buskill.in BusKill goes to DEF CON 32 - BusKill
Join BusKill at DEF CON 32 for our presentation titled "Open Hardware Design for BusKill Cord" in the Demo Lab
We're happy to announce that BusKill is presenting at DEF CON 32.
What: Open Hardware Design for BusKill Cord When: 2024-08-10 12:00 - 13:45 Where: W303 – Third Floor – LVCC West Hall
| [!BusKill goes to DEF CON 32 (Engage)](https://www.buskill.in/defcon32/) | |:--:| | BusKill is presenting at DEF CON 32 |
What is BusKill?
BusKill is a laptop kill-cord. It's a USB cable with a magnetic breakaway that you attach to your body and connect to your computer.
| [!What is BusKill? (Explainer Video)](https://www.buskill.in/#demo) | |:--:| | Watch the BusKill Explainer Video for more info youtube.com/v/qPwyoD_cQR4 |
If the connection between you to your computer is severed, then your device will lock, shutdown, or shred its encryption keys -- thus keeping your encrypted data safe from thieves that steal your device.
What is DEF CON?
DEF CON is a yearly hacker conference in Las Vegas, USA.
| [!DEF CON Documentary](https://www.buskill.in/defcon32/) | |:--:| | Watch the DEF CON Documentary for more info youtube.com/watch?v=3ctQOmjQyYg |
What is BusKill presenting at DEF CON?
I (goldfishlaser) will be presenting Open Hardware Design for BusKill Cord in a Demo Lab at DEF CON 32.
What: Open Hardware Design for BusKill Cord When: Sat Aug 10 12PM – 1:45PM Where: W303 – Third Floor – LVCC West Hall
Who: Melanie Allen (goldfishlaser) More info
Talk Description
BusKill is a Dead Man Switch triggered when a magnetic breakaway is tripped, severing a USB connection. I’ve written OpenSCAD code that creates a 3D printable file for plastic parts needed to create the magnetic breakaway. Should anyone need to adjust this design for variations of components, the code is parameterized allowing for easy customization. To assemble a BusKill Dead Man Switch cord you will need:
- a usb-a extension cord,
- a usb hard drive capable of being attached to a carabiner,
- a carabiner,
- the plastic pieces in this file,
- a usb female port,
- a usb male,
- 4 magnets,
- 4 pogo pins,
- 4 pogo receptors,
- wire,
- 8 screws,
- and BusKill software.
| [!Image of the Golden BusKill decoupler with the case off](https://www.buskill.in/defcon32/) | |:--:| | Golden DIY BusKill Print |
Full BOM, glossary, and assembly instructions are included in the github repository. The room holds approx. 70 attendees seated. I’ll be delivering 3 x 30 min presentations – with some tailoring to what sort of audience I get each time.
Meet Me @ DEF CON
If you'd like to find me and chat, I'm also planning to attend:
- ATL Meetup (DCG Atlanta Friday: 16:00 – 19:00 \| 236),
- Hacker Kareoke (Friday and Sat 20:00-21:00 \| 222),
- Goth Night (Friday: 21:00 – 02:00 \| 322-324),
- QueerCon Mixer (Saturday: 16:00-18:00 \| Chillout 2),
- EFF Trivia (Saturday: 17:30-21:30 \| 307-308), and
- Jack Rysider’s Masquerade (Saturday: 21:00 – 01:00 \| 325-327)
I hope to print many fun trinkets for my new friends, including some BusKill keychains.
| [!Image shows a collection of 3D-printed bottle openers and whistles that say "BusKill"](https://www.buskill.in/defcon32/) | |:--:| | Come to my presentation @ DEF CON for some free BusKill swag |
By attending DEF CON, I hope to make connections and find collaborators. I hope during the demo labs to find people who will bring fresh ideas to the project to make it more effective.
- My domain on duckdns isnt being resolved with rethink dns?
I self host a bunch of things on my home network and since i dont have a static ip i use duckdns so i can access it via the greater web and set up ssl etc. Works great for my laptop and other people but on my phone where im using rethink dns to filter web access the duckdns domain doeant resolve (its not getting blocked it just not resolving at all). It resolves on cloudflare and ive set that as the fallback for rethink but still doesnt resolve any advice/help would be greatly appreciated.
- Nwipe vs HDD physical destruction
I have a bunch of hard disks that have come to the end of their useful life, I was thinking about physically destroying them, but that seems like a lot of work.
https://github.com/martijnvanbrummelen/nwipe
Nwipe and shreados are very popular. What are your thoughts on the effectiveness of nwipe?
- Software with politic opinion is a security threatvitonsky.net Software with politic opinion is a security threat
The software that has a political opinion implies a bias and high risk for security. Avoid software with a "position" today, so you don't get hacked tomorrow.
- POC: Decentralized Chat
chat.positive-intentions.com
github.com/positive-intentions/chat
I'm excited to share with you an instant messaging application I've been working on that might interest you. This is a chat app designed to work within your browser, with a focus on browser-based security and decentralization.
What makes this app unique is that it doesn't rely on messaging servers to function. Instead, it works based on your browser's javascript capabilities.
Here are some features of the app:
- Encrypted messaging: Your messages are encrypted, making them more secure.
- File sharing: Easily share files using WebRTC technology and QR codes.
- Voice and video calls: Connect with others through voice and video calls.
- Shared virtual space: Explore a shared mixed-reality space.
- Image board: Browse and share images in a scrollable format.
Your security is a top priority. Here's how the app keeps you safe:
- Decentralized authentication: No central server is required for login, making it harder for anyone to gain unauthorized access.
- Unique IDs: Your ID is cryptographically random, adding an extra layer of security.
- End-to-end encryption: Your messages are encrypted from your device to the recipient's device, ensuring only you and the recipient can read them.
- Local data storage: Your data is stored only on your device, not on any external servers.
- Self-hostable: You have the option to host the app on your own server if you prefer.
A decentralized infrastructure has many unique challenges and this is a unique approach. Ive taken previous feedback and made updates. Its important to note, the app is an unstable proof-of-concept and a work-in-progress. Its important to understand at this early stage in the project, there will be breaking changes. It is not ready to replace any existing apps or services. While the app is aiming to be an encrypted and secure chat system, the project is not mature enough to have been reviewed by security professionals and should not be considered encrypted or secure. it is provided for testing/review/feedback purposes.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
- Why Your Wi-Fi Router Doubles as an Apple AirTag – Krebs on Security
> Apple and the satellite-based broadband service Starlink each recently took steps to address new research into the potential security and privacy implications of how their services geo-locate devices. Researchers from the University of Maryland say they relied on publicly available data from Apple to track the location of billions of devices globally -- including non-Apple devices like Starlink systems -- and found they could use this data to monitor the destruction of Gaza, as well as the movements and in many cases identities of Russian and Ukrainian troops. At issue is the way that Apple collects and publicly shares information about the precise location of all Wi-Fi access points seen by its devices. Apple collects this location data to give Apple devices a crowdsourced, low-power alternative to constantly requesting global positioning system (GPS) coordinates.
> Both Apple and Google operate their own Wi-Fi-based Positioning Systems (WPS) that obtain certain hardware identifiers from all wireless access points that come within range of their mobile devices. Both record the Media Access Control (MAC) address that a Wi-FI access point uses, known as a Basic Service Set Identifier or BSSID. Periodically, Apple and Google mobile devices will forward their locations -- by querying GPS and/or by using cellular towers as landmarks -- along with any nearby BSSIDs. This combination of data allows Apple and Google devices to figure out where they are within a few feet or meters, and it's what allows your mobile phone to continue displaying your planned route even when the device can't get a fix on GPS.
> With Google's WPS, a wireless device submits a list of nearby Wi-Fi access point BSSIDs and their signal strengths -- via an application programming interface (API) request to Google -- whose WPS responds with the device's computed position. Google's WPS requires at least two BSSIDs to calculate a device's approximate position. Apple's WPS also accepts a list of nearby BSSIDs, but instead of computing the device's location based off the set of observed access points and their received signal strengths and then reporting that result to the user, Apple's API will return the geolocations of up to 400 hundred more BSSIDs that are nearby the one requested. It then uses approximately eight of those BSSIDs to work out the user's location based on known landmarks.
> In essence, Google's WPS computes the user's location and shares it with the device. Apple's WPS gives its devices a large enough amount of data about the location of known access points in the area that the devices can do that estimation on their own. That's according to two researchers at the University of Maryland, who theorized they could use the verbosity of Apple's API to map the movement of individual devices into and out of virtually any defined area of the world. The UMD pair said they spent a month early in their research continuously querying the API, asking it for the location of more than a billion BSSIDs generated at random. They learned that while only about three million of those randomly generated BSSIDs were known to Apple's Wi-Fi geolocation API, Apple also returned an additional 488 million BSSID locations already stored in its WPS from other lookups.>Apple and the satellite-based broadband service Starlink each recently took steps to address new research into the potential security and privacy implications of how their services geo-locate devices. Researchers from the University of Maryland say they relied on publicly available data from Apple to track the location of billions of devices globally — including non-Apple devices like Starlink systems — and found they could use this data to monitor the destruction of Gaza, as well as the movements and in many cases identities of Russian and Ukrainian troops.
"Plotting the locations returned by Apple's WPS between November 2022 and November 2023, Levin and Rye saw they had a near global view of the locations tied to more than two billion Wi-Fi access points," the report adds. "The map showed geolocated access points in nearly every corner of the globe, apart from almost the entirety of China, vast stretches of desert wilderness in central Australia and Africa, and deep in the rainforests of South America."
The researchers wrote: "We observe routers move between cities and countries, potentially representing their owner's relocation or a business transaction between an old and new owner. While there is not necessarily a 1-to-1 relationship between Wi-Fi routers and users, home routers typically only have several. If these users are vulnerable populations, such as those fleeing intimate partner violence or a stalker, their router simply being online can disclose their new location."
- Apple and Google deliver support for unwanted tracking alerts in iOS and Android
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/05/apple-and-google-deliver-support-for-unwanted-tracking-alerts-in-ios-and-android/
- Genetic testing giant 23andMe is reportedly turning the blame back on its customers for its recent data breachwww.businessinsider.com Genetic testing giant 23andMe is reportedly turning the blame back on its customers for its recent data breach
23andMe shrugged off blame for its massive data breach, saying users "negligently" recycled and failed to update passwords, according to TechCrunch.