Security advisor Luca Bongiorni spun up an Ubuntu Linux instance on Azure and was extremely annoyed to receive a sales message from a Canonical representative three hours later. Say what?? Bongiorni openly voiced his frustration, "WHY [did] MICROSOFT FORWARDED TO UBUNTU THAT I SPUN A NEW VM!?!" Customer privacy, what's that?" . It was just another day for Luca Bongiorni, a security advisor for Bentley Systems. He'd just spun up an Ubuntu Linux 18.04 instance on the Microsoft Azure cloud using a corporate sandbox for testing purposes. Three hours later, on Bongiorni's LinkedIn account he received a message from a Canonical sales representative saying, " I saw that you spun up an Ubuntu image in Azure ," and telling him he'd be his "point of contact for anything Ubuntu -related in the enterprise." Say what?? Actually, Bongiorni was a little more "frank" about his annoyance and surprise that a Canonical salesperson had tracked him down on an entirely different service and knew that he had just used Ubuntu on Microsoft Azure. " What the f*** is happening here? WHY [did] MICROSOFT FORWARDED TO UBUNTU THAT I SPUN A NEW VM!?!" Customer privacy, what's that? . Luca Bongiorni shares his concerns regarding data privacy following an unanticipated notification regarding the configuration of his Azure Ubuntu setup.. Azure Cloud, User Privacy, Ubuntu Security. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
Developers of the privacy-focused Brave browser have raised concerns last week about possible user privacy issues in Client-Hints, a new internet standard currently pending approval by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). . The Brave team suggests third-party web servers could abuse Client-Hints to secretly fingerprint and track users across the internet, a side-effect of the protocol's design. The link for this article located at ZDNet is no longer available. . Worries grow regarding the potential for Client-Hints to facilitate user monitoring and device fingerprinting by external servers.. Client-Hints, Brave Browser, User Tracking, Privacy Concerns, Internet Standard. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
US legislators have sent an open letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai asking for details about Sensorvault, an internal Google database that keeps track of users' historical geo-location details. . Members of the US House Energy and Commerce Committee want Google to reveal what exact user information the company has been collecting inside this database, and who else has access to this data. Legislators are sending this formal inquiry after a New York Times report published earlier this month revealed that US law enforcement had been regularly accessing Sensorvault user data in a dragnet-like fashion to obtain location details for hundreds or thousands of users at a time in order to identify crime suspects. The link for this article located at ZDNet is no longer available. . Congressional panel requests information from Google regarding the data collection habits of Sensorvault.. Location Tracking, Google Database, Privacy Concerns, User Data Access, Government Inquiry. . Brittany Day
Massive TVs with razor-thin frames, brilliant image quality, and streaming services built-in are more affordable than ever thanks to companies like Vizio and TCL. If you want a 65-inch 4K smart TV with HDR capability, one can be purchased for below $500 - a surprisingly low price for such a massive piece of technology, nonetheless one that's likely to live in your home for years before you upgrade.. But that low price comes with a caveat most people don't realize: Some manufacturers collect data about users, then sell that data to third-parties. That data can include what type of shows you watch, which ads you watch, your approximate location, and more. The link for this article located at BusinessInsider is no longer available. . Uncover the tactics utilized by producers to monetize information collected from budget smart televisions, raising concerns about personal privacy.. Smart TV Data Privacy, Affordable TVs, User Tracking, Consumer Electronics, Business Model. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
Android apps have been secretly sharing usage data with Facebook, even when users are logged out of the social network – or don’t have an account at all.. Advocacy group Privacy International announced the findings in a presentation at the 35th Chaos Computer Congress late last month. The organization tested 34 apps and documented the results, as part of a downloadable report. The link for this article located at NakedSecurity / Sophos is no longer available. . The organization Digital Rights Watch disclosed that several iOS applications silently communicate information with Google, jeopardizing user confidentiality.. Android Data Sharing, User Privacy Concerns, Facebook Tracking, Privacy Advocacy. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
Hola is a VPN provider that purports to offer its users freedom from censorship, a way to access geoblocked content, and anonymous browsing. The service claims that more than 47 million people are part of its peer-to-peer network. But according to a group of researchers (calling themselves Adios), it's dangerously insecure: the client software has flaws that allow for remote code execution and features of the client enabled tracking. . On top of that, critically, Hola sells access to its peer-to-peer network with little oversight, enabling it to be used maliciously. The nature and scale of problems with Hola has researchers now saying users should bid adieu to the software.. Hola VPN faces allegations of compromising user privacy by selling access to its network, raising concerns over security and facilitating DDoS attacks.. Hola VPN, Privacy Risks, DDoS Concerns, User Tracking. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
Website privacy policies, like end-user agreements, have become a morass of confusion that offer little in the way of clarity about what sites are and aren. PrivacyChoice has analyzed more than a thousand of the most trafficked web sites to score them on a scale of 1 to 100 in their collection and use of personal data, as well as the collection and use practices of the third-party companies that they allow to track users on their sites. The link for this article located at Wired is no longer available. . DataGuard reviews numerous platforms to elucidate information utilization in privacy statements and user contracts.. Privacy Tool, Website Scoring, User Data Collection, Privacy Analysis. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
The class-action suit says that Apple allows for the tracking of iPhone and iPad users' browsing habits, without user consent. Apple has been hit with another lawsuit accusing it of privacy violations for the way it shares information collected from iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users with advertisers. . The suit was filed last Thursday on behalf of an Apple user in California and seeks class-action status. It charges Apple with sharing information about users' browsing history, application use and other personal details without their consent.. Google is being sued in a class-action lawsuit for purportedly monitoring user activity without permission, raising concerns over privacy violations.. Apple Lawsuit, User Tracking, Privacy Violations, Class-action Privacy, iPhone Tracking. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
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