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China’s Extensive Use of Genetic Information Sounds a Warning
As China increasingly relies on biometric data collection for public and national security purposes, it is time for democracies to address its role in their systems.
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The Same App Can Pose a Bigger Security and Privacy Threat Depending on the Country Where You Download It, Study Finds
In a perfect world, access to apps and app security and privacy capabilities would be consistent everywhere. My colleagues and I found differences in app availability, security and privacy.
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More Governments Use Spyware to Monitor Their People, Compromising Privacy
The right to privacy is under siege as an increasing number of governments are using spyware to keep tabs on their people. Many governments are using modern digital networked technologies to monitor, control and oppress their populations.
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EFF’s “Cover Your Tracks” Will Detect Your Use of iOS 16’s Lockdown Mode
Apple’s new iOS 16 offers a powerful tool for its most vulnerable users. Lockdown Mode reduces the avenues attackers have to hack into users’ phones by disabling certain often-exploited features. But there is a catch.
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Off-the-Shelf Crypto-Detectors Give a False Sense of Data Security
A team of computer scientists outlines a leading reason behind insecure data and makes recommendations about how to fix the problem.
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Privacy-Preserving Camera Captures Only the Objects You Want
As the sheer amount of image data being captured by digital cameras has grown, so have concerns about privacy protection. What if there was a way to take pictures that instantly capture only the objects of relevance in a frame while simultaneously blotting out unnecessary or potentially sensitive details, without the need for any editing, encryption or other digital post-processing work?
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Brain-Monitoring Tech Advances Could Change the Law
There is an ankle-bracelet for offenders. What about a brain-bracelet? A new reportscrutinizes advances in neurotechnology and what it might mean for the law and the legal profession.
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NSF Grants to Protect Data, User privacy
Researchers are working on two new cybersecurity projects, recently funded by the National Science Foundation, to ensure trustworthy cloud computing and increase computing privacy for marginalized and vulnerable populations.
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How Daycare Apps Can Spy on Parents and Children
Daycare apps are designed to make everyday life in daycare centers easier. Parents can use them, for example, to access reports on their children’s development and to communicate with teachers. However, some of these applications have serious security flaws.
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NIST Updates Guidance for Health Care Cybersecurity
In an effort to help health care organizations protect patients’ personal health information, NIST has updated its cybersecurity guidance for the health care industry. The revised draft publication aims to help organizations comply with HIPAA Security Rule.
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Google/Apple's Contact-Tracing Apps Susceptible to Digital Attacks
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists and health authorities have relied on contact-tracing technologies to help manage the spread of the virus. Yet there’s a major flaw in a framework that many of these mobile apps utilize – one that attackers could exploit to ramp up false positive notifications.
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NIST Announces First Four Quantum-Resistant Cryptographic Algorithms
NIST has chosen the first group of encryption tools that are designed to withstand the assault of a future quantum computer, which could potentially crack the security used to protect privacy in the digital systems we rely on every day — such as online banking and email software.
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Concerns About Google AI Being Sentient
From virtual assistants like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, to robotic vacuums and self-driving cars, to automated investment portfolio managers and marketing bots, artificial intelligence has become a big part of our everyday lives. No one knows when humans will create an intelligent or sentient AI, but recent revelations about LaMDA, Google’s artificially intelligent chatbot generator, raised concerns.
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The Struggle Over AI Surveillance: From Digitalization to Dystopia?
“From cameras that identify the faces of passersby to algorithms that keep tabs on public sentiment online, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools are opening new frontiers in state surveillance around the world,” states a new report. One experts says that just as with doctors’ medical practice, purveyors of new technologies should commit to a ‘do no harm’ code of ethics.
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Spain Sacks Intelligence Chief in Wake of Pegasus Scandal
Paz Esteban was replaced after a controversy over the use of the Pegasus spyware to hack top Spanish officials’ cellphones, as well as spying on Catalan separatists.
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The long view
Data Privacy After Dobbs: Is Period Tracking Safe?
Many people think all health care information is protected under the federal privacy law, known as HIPAA. But menstrual cycle tracking apps, along with other health care technologies, like texting platforms that patients can use with doctors, are not. There haven’t been any cases where a menstrual tracking app’s data has been subpoenaed yet, but that’s probably due to the slow speed of which cases proceed through the court system.
States Strike Out on Their Own on AI, Privacy Regulation
There’s been no shortage of AI tech regulation bills in Congress, but none has passed. In the absence of congressional action, states have stepped up their own regulatory action. States have been legislating about AI since at least 2019, but bills relating to AI have increased significantly in the last two years.