privacy – Page 17 – SSL and internet security news

Modern Mass Surveillance: Identify, Correlate, Discriminate

January 27, 2020 infossl

cameras, essays, facerecognition, identification, lawenforcement, laws, privacy, Security technology, smartphones, surveillance

Communities across the United States are starting to ban facial recognition technologies. In May of last year, San Francisco banned facial recognition; the neighboring city of Oakland soon followed, as did Somerville and Brookline in Massachusetts (a statewide ban may follow). In December, San Diego suspended a facial recognition program in advance of a new … Read More “Modern Mass Surveillance: Identify, Correlate, Discriminate” »

Clearview AI and Facial Recognition

January 20, 2020 infossl

artificialintelligence, facerecognition, lawenforcement, police, privacy, Security technology, surveillance

The New York Times has a long story about Clearview AI, a small company that scrapes identified photos of people from pretty much everywhere, and then uses unstated magical AI technology to identify people in other photos. His tiny company, Clearview AI, devised a groundbreaking facial recognition app. You take a picture of a person, … Read More “Clearview AI and Facial Recognition” »

Police Surveillance Tools from Special Services Group

January 10, 2020 infossl

cameras, eavesdropping, espionage, foia, lawenforcement, police, privacy, Security technology, surveillance

Special Services Group, a company that sells surveillance tools to the FBI, DEA, ICE, and other US government agencies, has had its secret sales brochure published. Motherboard received the brochure as part of a FOIA request to the Irvine Police Department in California. “The Tombstone Cam is our newest video concealment offering the ability to … Read More “Police Surveillance Tools from Special Services Group” »

Hacking School Surveillance Systems

December 30, 2019 infossl

generations, hacking, privacy, schools, Security technology, surveillance

Lance Vick suggesting that students hack their schools’ surveillance systems. “This is an ethical minefield that I feel students would be well within their rights to challenge, and if needed, undermine,” he said. Of course, there are a lot more laws in place against this sort of thing than there were in — say — … Read More “Hacking School Surveillance Systems” »

ToTok Is an Emirati Spying Tool

December 24, 2019 infossl

apple, eavesdropping, google, malware, phones, privacy, Security technology, smartphones, spyware, surveillance, unitedarabemirates

The smartphone messaging app ToTok is actually an Emirati spying tool: But the service, ToTok, is actually a spying tool, according to American officials familiar with a classified intelligence assessment and a New York Times investigation into the app and its developers. It is used by the government of the United Arab Emirates to try … Read More “ToTok Is an Emirati Spying Tool” »

EFF on the Mechanics of Corporate Surveillance

December 13, 2019 infossl

businessofsecurity, eff, privacy, Security technology, surveillance, tracking

EFF has published a comprehensible and very readable “deep dive” into the technologies of corporate surveillance, both on the Internet and off. Well worth reading and sharing. Boing Boing post. Powered by WPeMatico

Extracting Data from Smartphones

December 11, 2019 infossl

dataprotection, hacking, privacy, Security technology, smartphones

Privacy International has published a detailed, technical examination of how data is extracted from smartphones. Powered by WPeMatico

Obfuscation as a Privacy Tool

November 5, 2019 infossl

facerecognition, obscurity, privacy, Security technology, surveillance

This essay discusses the futility of opting out of surveillance, and suggests data obfuscation as an alternative. We can apply obfuscation in our own lives by using practices and technologies that make use of it, including: The secure browser Tor, which (among other anti-surveillance technologies) muddles our Internet activity with that of other Tor users, … Read More “Obfuscation as a Privacy Tool” »

Mapping Security and Privacy Research across the Decades

October 24, 2019 infossl

academicpapers, computersecurity, historyofsecurity, privacy, Security technology

This is really interesting: “A Data-Driven Reflection on 36 Years of Security and Privacy Research,” by Aniqua Baset and Tamara Denning: Abstract: Meta-research—research about research—allows us, as a community, to examine trends in our research and make informed decisions regarding the course of our future research activities. Additionally, overviews of past research are particularly useful … Read More “Mapping Security and Privacy Research across the Decades” »

Public Voice Launches Petition for an International Moratorium on Using Facial Recognition for Mass Surveillance

October 22, 2019 infossl

biometrics, facerecognition, privacy, Security technology, surveillance

Coming out of the Privacy Commissioners’ Conference in Albania, Public Voice is launching a petition for an international moratorium on using facial recognition software for mass surveillance. You can sign on as an individual or an organization. I did. You should as well. No, I don’t think that countries will magically adopt this moratorium. But … Read More “Public Voice Launches Petition for an International Moratorium on Using Facial Recognition for Mass Surveillance” »