privacy – Tech News

Police Unmask Millions of Surveillance Targets Because of Flock Redaction Error

A handful of police departments that use Flock have unwittingly leaked details of millions of surveillance targets and a large number of active police investigations around the country because they have failed to redact license plates information in public records releases. Completely unredacted Flock audit logs have been released to the public by numerous police departments and in some cases include details on millions Flock license plate searches made by thousands of police departments from around the country.
https://www.404media.co/police-unmask-millions-of-surveillance-targets-because-of-flock-redaction-error/

Apple fined $116 million over app privacy prompts

Apple has been fined more than €98 million (about $116 million) by Italy’s antitrust regulator over the “excessively burdensome” privacy rules it imposes on third-party apps. The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) says that Apple abused its dominant app store market position by burdening developers with “disproportionate” terms around data collection that exceed privacy law requirements, compared to rules for native iOS apps.
https://www.theverge.com/news/849528/apple-italy-antitrust-fine-att-app-privacy

Texas Sues Top TV Makers for ‘Secretly Recording’ What You Watch

A data-harvesting technique in today’s smart TVs has sparked Texas to sue the top display makers, accusing them of spying on consumers by routinely capturing screenshots. “This conduct is invasive, deceptive, and unlawful,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says. “The fundamental right to privacy will be protected in Texas because owning a television does not mean surrendering your personal information to Big Tech or foreign adversaries.”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/texas-sues-top-tv-makers-for-secretly-recording-what-you-watch

Google: No, We’re Not Secretly Using Your Gmail Account to Train Gemini

Google has hit back at claims circulating on social media that accuse the tech giant of training its Google Gemini AI on users' emails without their permission. In a statement shared with The Verge, Google called reports "misleading," saying that the company has “not changed anyone’s settings. Gmail Smart Features have existed for many years, and we do not use your Gmail content for training our Gemini AI model.”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/google-no-were-not-secretly-training-gemini-on-your-gmail-account

California enacts law giving consumers ability to universally opt out of data sharing

The bill signed Wednesday would require them to set up an easy-to-find mechanism that lets Californians opt-out with the push of a button, instead of having to do so repeatedly when visiting individual websites. “These signals are going to be available to millions more people and it's going to be much easier for them to opt out,” said Matt Schwartz, a policy analyst at Consumer Reports.
https://therecord.media/california-signs-law-opt-out-browsers

Flurry to pay $3.5 million for harvesting sexual and reproductive health data from period app

The defunct analytics company Flurry agreed to pay $3.5 million to resolve a class action lawsuit claiming it improperly harvested data from a widely used period tracking app. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit said data they provided to the app, Flo Health, was obtained by Flurry, the ad analytics company AppsFlyer, Meta and Google.
https://therecord.media/flurry-pays-harvesting-sexual-data

Utah Lawmakers Pass Bill That Puts App Stores in Charge of Age Verification

Utah has become the first US state to pass legislation requiring app stores to verify users' ages and seek parental consent before allowing minors to download apps. "Parents want a one-stop shop to verify their child’s age and grant permission for them to download apps in a privacy-preserving way. The app store is the best place for it," Meta, X, and Snapchat said in a joint statement. "We applaud Utah for putting parents in charge with its landmark legislation and urge Congress to follow suit."
https://www.pcmag.com/news/utah-lawmakers-pass-bill-that-puts-app-stores-in-charge-of-age-verification