The New York Times has obtained a massive data set of over 50 billion location pings linked to more than 12 million phones which illustrates the ease with which tech companies can track and identify individuals. What are your thoughts on this? Learn more: . The data, which was leaked to the Times , allowed reporters to easily identify individuals by tracking their movements, despite claims by companies like Foursquare, which says it anonymizes personal data when sharing with third parties. Location data — which is often embedded in apps — is pseudonymized by a 30-digit-long mobile advertising ID which works cross-platform for advertisers and other businesses. The ID can also stitch geolocation together with other information like name, home address, email, phone number or even an identifier tied to your Wi-Fi network. The link for this article located at National Review is no longer available. . Uncovered records show more than 50 billion geolocation signals, monitoring 12 million devices, heightening fears for personal privacy.. Location Tracking, Data Breach, Privacy Concerns, Mobile Advertising. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
After interviewing over 60 people, ranging from former Facebook employees and partners, as well as reviewing over 270 internal Facebook documents, The New York Times discovered that Facebook offered its users’ data to more than 150 companies. Those companies, the investigation revealed, ranged from tech and entertainment companies to online retailers, automakers, and even banks.. Without first obtaining users’ permission, Facebook “allowed Spotify, Netflix and the Royal Bank of Canada to read, write and delete users’ private messages, and to see all participants on a thread.” It let Bing “see the names of virtually all Facebook users’ friends without consent.” Amazon could “obtain users’ names and contact information through their friends.” Yahoo could view streams of friends’ posts. The list goes on and on. The link for this article located at CSO Online is no longer available. . Social media platforms provided firms such as Instagram and TikTok with access to user conversations without approval, prompting alarms about data protection.. Facebook Privacy Breach, Data Sharing Policies, User Consent Issues, Social Media Data Privacy. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
It's not surprising that the RIAA would come out in defense of the INDUCE Act from Senator Hatch. They practically wrote the bill themselves. They had hoped to sneak it through without any debate, but a bunch of tech companies have stood up and pointed out how ridiculous this is. Meanwhile, plenty of others are showing what kinds of technology would be banned by the law. . . .. It's not surprising that the RIAA would come out in defense of the INDUCE Act from Senator Hatch. They practically wrote the bill themselves. They had hoped to sneak it through without any debate, but a bunch of tech companies have stood up and pointed out how ridiculous this is. Meanwhile, plenty of others are showing what kinds of technology would be banned by the law. Realizing this might not sail through Congress as smoothly as they had hoped, the RIAA has now gone on the offensive. RIAA head Mitch Bainwol has sent a letter to all 100 Senators defending the bill, and saying that, contrary to the claims of others, it wouldn't overturn the famous Betamax decision (which allowed technologies that could be used for infringement, if they had substantial non-infringing purposes as well). Bainwol claims that "intentional inducement" is a much higher standard than was used in the Betamax ruling. However, as Ernest Miller points out in his INDUCE Act rebuttal, the only reason that's a higher standard is because there was no law against "inducing infringement" when the Betamax decision went to court. . The MPAA stands by the SOPA Bill despite pushback, arguing against accusations regarding its risks and effects on innovation.. RIAA, INDUCE Act, Copyright Law, Technology Legislation, Intellectual Property. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
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