privacy

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Cloud Platform 'Cryptee' Now Warns You of Insecure URLs

Andrew Orr · · Add Comment

The team behind Cryptee, an end-to-end encrypted platform for documents and photos, announced new features for 2022. One in particular caught my eye.

We’ve improved our URL boxes on mobile. Cryptee can now intelligently detect and warn you if your links are insecure. (i.e. using “http” instead of “https”) All insecure links are automatically highlighted yellow, and all secure links are highlighted green.

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Mozilla 'Pixel Hunt 'Study Aims to Track Facebook Tracking You

Andrew Orr · · Add Comment

Mozilla is launching a study called Facebook Pixel Hunt. The goal is to track Facebook tracking around the web.

According to its own privacy policy, Facebook may collect information about you across the web even if you don’t have a Facebook account. One way Facebook performs this tracking is through a network of “pixels” that may be installed on many of the sites you visit. By joining this study, you will help Rally and The Markup investigate and report on where Facebook is tracking you and what kind of information they are collecting.

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T-Mobile Blocks iCloud Private Relay for Customers in United States

Andrew Orr · · 1 Comment

It appears that carriers in the U.S. and aboard aren’t happy with iCloud Private Relay. The setting, released with iOS 15, likely interferes with surveillance of customers. A report from 9To5Mac says that T-Mobile has begun blocking the feature.

The change does not appear to be network-wide just yet, but rather it appears T-Mobile is in the process of rolling it out. This means that some users might still be able to use iCloud Private Relay when connected to their cellular network – at least for now.

Very shady behavior. I haven’t been using Private Relay because it overrides my DNS. The good news is that carriers can’t prevent you from changing your DNS settings.

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Swiss Army Seeks Private Messenger 'Threema' Over WhatsApp

Andrew Orr · · Add Comment

Switzerland’s army told its soldiers not to use foreign messengers such as WhatsApp, due to privacy concerns. Instead, the recommendation is to use private messenger Threema, a Swiss app.

Army spokeswoman Delphine Schwab-Allemand, in an e-mail on Wednesday confirming reports on the issue in Swiss media, seemed to soften the army’s position, saying that there was a “recommendation” that troops use Threema. It took effect on Jan. 1. She added that the army cannot and does not want to tell troops to use a particular app on their private devices.

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Over 24,000 People Sign Data Privacy Petition to Stop Facebook Extremism

Andrew Orr · · 3 Comments

A petition signed by over 24,000 people has been delivered to Congress from Fight for the Future, Senator Ron Wyden to encourage a federal data privacy law. The impetus? Far-right extremism on social media websites such as Facebook.

Coalition members urged lawmakers to protect against attacks like that on the Capitol last year by addressing Facebook’s data-fueled algorithmic manipulation.

When Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen testified before Congress in October, she named algorithmic manipulation as the platform’s source of power. Algorithmic manipulation is only possible with invasive and copious personal data on individual people, harvested via mass surveillance.

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DuckDuckGo to Release Private Browser for Mac in 2022

Andrew Orr · · Add Comment

On Tuesday, DuckDuckGo shared its review of achievements and improvements in 2021. Looking ahead, the company plans to release a private browser for the desktop.

Instead of forking Chromium or anything else, we’re building our desktop app around the OS-provided rendering engines (like on mobile), allowing us to strip away a lot of the unnecessary cruft and clutter that’s accumulated over the years in major browsers. With our clean and simple interface combined with the beloved Fire Button from our mobile app, DuckDuckGo for desktop will be ready to become your new everyday browsing app.