Tile’s Lack of Encryption Is a Danger for Users Everywhere

In research shared with Wired this week, security researchers detailed a series of vulnerabilities and design flaws with Life360’s Tile Bluetooth trackers that make it easy for stalkers and the company itself to track the location of Tile devices. Tile trackers are small Bluetooth trackers, similar to Apple’s Airtags, but they work on their own […]

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Opt Out October: Daily Tips to Protect Your Privacy and Security

Trying to take control of your online privacy can feel like a full-time job. But if you break it up into small tasks and take on one project at a time it makes the process of protecting your privacy much easier. This month we’re going to do just that. For the month of October, we’ll […]

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The UK Is Still Trying to Backdoor Encryption for Apple Users

The Financial Times reports that the U.K. is once again demanding that Apple create a backdoor into its encrypted backup services. The only change since the last time they demanded this is that the order is allegedly limited to only apply to British users. That doesn’t make it any better. The demand uses a power […]

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What WhatsApp’s “Advanced Chat Privacy” Really Does

In April, WhatsApp launched its “Advanced Chat Privacy” feature, which, once enabled, disables using certain AI features in chats and prevents conversations from being exported. Since its launch, an inaccurate viral post has been ping-ponging around social networks, creating confusion around what exactly it does. The viral post falsely claims that if you do not […]

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Ryanair’s CFAA Claim Against Booking.com Has Nothing To Do with Actual Hacking

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) is supposed to be about attacks on computer systems. It is not, as a federal district court suggested in Ryanair v. Booking.com, applicable when someone uses valid login credentials to access information to which those credentials provide access. Now that the case is on appeal, EFF has filed […]

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How Signal, WhatsApp, Apple, and Google Handle Encrypted Chat Backups

Encrypted chat apps like Signal and WhatsApp are one of the best ways to keep your digital conversations as private as possible. But if you’re not careful with how those conversations are backed up, you can accidentally undermine your privacy. When a conversation is properly encrypted end-to-end, it means that the contents of those messages […]

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Florida’s New Social Media Bill Says the Quiet Part Out Loud and Demands an Encryption Backdoor

At least Florida’s SB 868/HB 743, “Social Media Use By Minors” bill isn’t beating around the bush when it states that it would require “social media platforms to provide a mechanism to decrypt end-to-end encryption when law enforcement obtains a subpoena.” Usually these sorts of sweeping mandates are hidden behind smoke and mirrors, but this […]

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Cornered by the UK’s Demand for an Encryption Backdoor, Apple Turns Off Its Strongest Security Setting

Today, in response to the U.K.’s demands for a backdoor, Apple has stopped offering users in the U.K. Advanced Data Protection, an optional feature in iCloud that turns on end-to-end encryption for files, backups, and more. Had Apple complied with the U.K.’s original demands, they would have been required to create a backdoor not just […]

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When Platforms and the Government Unite, Remember What’s Private and What Isn’t

For years now, there has been some concern about the coziness between technology companies and the government. Whether a company complies with casual government requests for data, requires a warrant, or even fights overly-broad warrants has been a canary in the digital coal mine during an era where companies may know more about you than […]

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