Google wrote a post updating its plans for its Privacy Sandbox project. Its goal is to make third-party cookies obsolete.
we are confident that with continued iteration and feedback, privacy-preserving and open-standard mechanisms like the Privacy Sandbox can sustain a healthy, ad-supported web in a way that will render third-party cookies obsolete.
Once these approaches have addressed the needs of users, publishers, and advertisers, and we have developed the tools to mitigate workarounds, we plan to phase out support for third-party cookies in Chrome.
I don’t know what the new “open standards” will be, but I’m definitely skeptical given the nature of Google’s advertising business. Will there be a new first-party tracking technique? Update: Here’s why the EFF thinks it’s a terrible idea.
Private browser Brave is getting ready to launch its own branded search engine with its acquisition of Cliqz.
The former Cliqz dev team, who had subsequently been working on Tailcat, are moving to Brave as part of the acquisition. The engineering team is led by Dr Josep M Pujol — who is quoted in Brave’s PR saying it’s “excited to be working on the only real private search/browser alternative to Big Tech”.
Interesting move, and I look forward to more private search engines.
AdGuard published a piece on Monday examining Apple’s new technology coming to iOS 14.5 called Private Click Measurement.
This week Google has finally made progress in adding App Store privacy labels to its apps. Gmail is the second app to get a label.
Firefox 86, introduced recently by Mozilla, adds a new privacy feature called Total Cookie Protection.
Total Cookie Protection works by maintaining a separate “cookie jar” for each website you visit. Any time a website, or third-party content embedded in a website, deposits a cookie in your browser, that cookie is confined to the cookie jar assigned to that website, such that it is not allowed to be shared with any other website.
Cryptee is an end-to-end encrypted cloud storage service and announced a huge update on Sunday.
We’ve re-designed the entire platform, re-engineered everything from ground up, added hundreds of new features, and created an entirely new Cryptee experience for you. Along the way we’ve realized it’s going to be a massive leap forward, so we thought we should get a new logo too.
I think Cryptee is a great service and one that I’ve recommended in the past.
Six mobile advertising companies have come together to form an alliance in response to forthcoming privacy changes from Apple.
Charlotte Henry and Bryan Chaffin join host Kelly Guimont to follow up on the Apple TV chat from Monday, and look at some For All Mankind extras.
At the BBC’s request, email service “Hey” analyzed its traffic and found two-thirds of emails sent to users contained a spy pixel.
Defenders of the trackers say they are a commonplace marketing tactic. This information can then be used to determine the impact of a specific email campaign, as well as to feed into more detailed customer profiles. Hey’s co-founder David Heinemeier Hansson says they amount to a “grotesque invasion of privacy”. And other experts have also questioned whether companies are being as transparent as required under law about their use.
These pixels are tiny 1×1 images embedded in photos that can track a variety of data points. You could turn off “Load Remote Images” automatically in Settings > Mail, but then of course they would load along with other photos when you want to see them.
Quad9 is a non-profit DNS provider, so called because of its 9.9.9.9 DNS server. It announced on Wednesday it has moved its headquarters from California to Zürich, Switzerland supported by Packet Clearing House and SWITCH.
Quad9’s move to Switzerland is being facilitated by SWITCH, one of Switzerland‘s centers of competence for internet security. The foundation operates several critical infrastructures and has been committed to greater cybersecurity for decades to make the internet a more secure place for its users. SWITCH is taking a seat on Quad9’s foundation council and contributing to Quad9’s governance.
Interesting move. For many people, private services and companies located in a country like the U.S. is a negative. This is because of the Five Eyes Alliance.
Users grant apps on your Mac access to features like the microphone or location services, and can change these privacy and security settings
Social media apps like Twitter often let third-party apps connect to your account. But what happens if you stop using the app?
Software designer Jonas Strehle discovered that browser favicons can be used to give you a unique ID that can be used to track you across the web. It works even if you use privacy tools like a VPN, incognito browsing, deleting cookies/browser cache, and others.
To be clear, this is a proof-of-concept and not something that Strehle has found out in the wild. Strehle’s supercookie program (which uses a Cookie Monster favicon) is a proof of the concept described by the university researchers.
I’ve written about “Privacy Not Included” from Mozilla in the past and I think it’s a great project. Mozilla reviews apps and products and scores them on their privacy. It’s especially helpful around the holiday shopping season. Recently I’ve been informed that, ahead of Valentine’s Day, Mozilla has added 50 dating apps and internet-connected sex toys to its list. They found that almost 70% of them had to be given a privacy warning label. This is important information in case someone finds their toy controlled by hackers.
Europe antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager warned Apple to give equal treatment to all apps, including its own, for the upcoming App Tracking Transparency feature.
Andrew Orr joins host Kelly Guimont to discuss Security Friday news and updates, and explains Private Click Measurement and why it matters.
Charlotte Henry joins host Kelly Guimont to chat Apple’s latest TV+ nominations and what Apple means when they talk about privacy (it’s Facebook).
A report from Mark Gurman suggests that Google could add the App Tracking Transparency privacy feature to Android. But it wouldn’t be as private since Google is ultimately an advertising company.
A Google solution is likely to be less strict and won’t require a prompt to opt in to data tracking like Apple’s, the people said […] To keep advertisers happy while improving privacy, the discussions around Google’s Android solution indicate that it could be similar to its planned Chrome web browser changes.
In other words, why even bother?
Sign In with Apple lets you create accounts with your Apple ID for apps that support it. Its “Hide My Email” feature protects your email by forwarding emails to your actual email. SimpleLogin does the same; it lets you create random email aliases that forward emails to your true email address. This open source alternative to Sign In with Apple helps you keep your email safe from newsletters, websites, and more. It’s free to download and use and there is an optional subscription for advanced features like custom domains, unlimited aliases, or a catch-all alias.
Apple is introducing a new technology called Private Click Measurement to give online advertisers a way to measure ads privately.
