Tag Archives: eff

Tech Companies Under Pressure To Safeguard Data After Roe v. Wade Overturned



After the US supreme court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday, calls increased for tech companies to take a stand about the use of online data to incriminate individuals seeking or providing abortion services, The Guardian reported.

According to The Guardian, abortion and civil rights advocates have warned that there are few federal regulations on what information is collected and retained by tech firms, making it easy for law enforcement officials to access incriminating data on location, internet searchers and communication history.

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) posted “Digital Safety Tips: For People Seeking an Abortion”. In it, EFF recommends that people should keep searches related to abortion separate from their daily lives. Compartmentalizing it could make it harder to trace it back to you.

EFF also recommends choosing a separate browser with hardened privacy settings. They suggest browsers like Brave, Firefox, and DuckDuckGo on mobile. They also recommend turning off browser’s abilities to remember browsing history and site data/cookies. People who need to call a clinic or healthcare provider should do it through a Google Voice phone number instead of their actual phone number.

CNBC reported that tech companies may have to contend with issues about user privacy related to such health care whether they want to or not. That could be the case if they are ordered by a court to hand over certain types of data, like location information of users at an abortion clinic, search histories or text messages.

According to CNBC, before the decision [by the Supreme Court], lawmakers called on Google and the Federal Trade Commission to ensure data for online consumers seeking care would be protected in the event of a landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. The letters came in the wake of Politico’s reporting on a leaked draft decision that would cut back the protections.

ArsTechnica reported that four Democratic US Senators asked the Federal Trade Commission to “investigate Apple and Google for engaging in unfair and deceptive practices by enabling the collection and sale of hundreds of millions of mobile phone users’ personal data”.

The letter cited the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, saying that women “seeking abortions and other reproductive healthcare will become particularly vulnerable to privacy harms, including through the collection of their location data,”

Personally, I don’t think anyone wants to have their data collected by big tech companies – no matter what it was they were looking at on their phone or computer. Nobody wants data brokers to sell their information. I think that digital privacy is a topic we can all agree needs to be made more secure.


EFF Calls Facebook’s Campaign Against Apple “Laughable”



The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has shared its opinion about Facebook’s full-page newspaper ad campaign against Apple’s AppTrackingTransparency feature on iPhones. The EFF described Facebook’s campaign as “laughable”.

Facebook claimed that Apple’s new AppTrackingTransparancy for iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14 “will hurt small businesses who benefit from access to targeted advertising services.” EFF points out that Facebook is not telling you the whole story. Facebook’s complaint, according to EFF, is what Facebook stands to lose if its users learn more about exactly what it and other data brokers are up to behind the scenes.

Bottom line: “The Association of National Advertisers estimates that, when the “ad tech tax” is taken into account, publishers are only taking home between 30 and 40 cents of every dollar [spent on ads]”. The rest goes to third-party data brokers who keep the lights on by exploiting your information, and not to small businesses trying to work within a broken system to reach their customers.

EFF pointed out that small businesses cannot compete with large ad distribution networks on their own. Because the ad industry has promoted this fantasy that targeted advertising is superior to other methods of reaching customers, anything else will inherently command less value on ad markets, EFF reported.

Personally, I think EFF did an excellent job of explaining why Facebook’s “laughable” campaign is a problem. Facebook is worried that Apple’s AppTrackingTransparency feature will hurt Facebook’s chance to make money off the data it collects from its users.

This has nothing to do with an attempt to help small businesses. In my opinion, Facebook realizes that people don’t like to be tracked, and that targeted ads can be creepy. What we are seeing is Facebook having a panic attack about the amount of money they could lose after Apple, by default, prevents apps from collecting and sharing people’s data.


EFF’s Annual Report: Which Company is Protect Your Information from the Government



EFF In the United States we are supposed to have certain rights under the 4th amendment of the U.S. Constitution:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

However in today’s world most of us don’t write letters and our “papers and effects” are online. They are on the social media sites we are members of and the websites we visit. So if the FBI comes knocking at the door of the ISP you use, your favorite search company or social media sites you visit and request they hand over your information to them. Will the company simply hand over the information or do they request a warrant.  Another words which company has your back and which company does not.   That is what the (EFF) Electronic Freedom Foundation investigated. This is the third year they have publish this report.   They took a look at 18 tech companies and looked into their terms of service, privacy policies, advocacy, and courtroom track records, to see how they stack up. They looked at the following 6 criteria

  • Requires a warrant for content
  • Tell users about government data request
  • Publishes transparency reports
  • Publishes law enforcement guidelines
  • Fights for users privacy rights in court
  • Fights for users privacy rights in Congress

 

Out of the 18 companies they investigated only two companies received all six stars, Twitter and Sonic.net. Two companies MySpace and Verizon received zero stars. A full chart is available at the EFF website along with a PDF explaining what they looked for and how they evaluated it. According to the EFF they have notice some progress over the three years they have been doing the report, more companies are now letting individual know when a government entity is requesting information about them. It is nice to see that some companies are doing their part to protect our information from the government. Hopefully next year more companies will have more stars


GNC-2011-12-29 #733 Soapbox Time!



Happy New Year, this is an epic show. For those of you that are long time supporters of the show thank your for your continued and ongoing support. For the Haters well I can’t say what I really want to say.

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GNC-2011-02-07 #645 Back from Chicago!



Fresh back from the Windy City! The snow and cold weather was ok for a couple of days, but I prefer 80 and cool trade winds. Lots of great tech to cover tonight.. I have some great opportunity to someone that would like to underwrite the show for a couple of episodes, drop me a line if your interested. I should be in Hawaii over the next couple of weeks so it will be great to get back into a regular rhythm for the show production.

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Listener Links
360 View of Sun.
Fishing Net to pick up Space Junk?

Show Notes:
Older IT workers hurt the worst.
Privatization of the Shuttle?
Girl Friend Revenge.
EFF says FCC Net Neutrality Bad news!
Righthaven suing without using DMCA provisions.
Judge bans flyer handouts?
Terrorist Watch List Abuse.
Doug Kaye back from Egypt.
Hoarding Light Bulbs?
Can Anyone Listen?
Confession Application.
Comet Close Encounter.
Private Space Innovators.
Navy Stealth Plane makes Maiden Flight.
Mars Massive Hole in the Ground.
Calling ET Dilemma.
T-Mobile Free Phones on Valentines Day.
Honeycomb Tablet Website Live.
Gmail Priority Inbox comes to Mobile.
Firefox Road Map.
Huffington Post goes for 315 Million?
Darth Vader Wins!
Roku USB Port Open.
Sprint Kyocera dual Screen Mobile.
Samsung Upgraded Powershots!
Twitter Wins Super Bowl Traffic
Salt and Pepper Switch.
Doctor Ear buds.
New Blood Pressure Cuff.
Water Resist your iPhone.
Facebook Killing Marriages.
Pirating breakdown.
Greece Arresting File Sharing Site Owners.
Domain Protection Advice.
Revenge with Snow Blower.
Android 3.0 Video Editor.
Software by Download Only?
Last.FM no longer free.
FCC and Universal Service Fund.
More Denial of Service Attacks.
FBI and NASDAQ hack attacks.
XOOM no Wifi without Activation.
Reverse class action Lawsuits.
WiFi Stats.
AT&T iPhone Carrot.
UPS batteries disposal/re-cycle.
Sandy Bridge Chips shipping again.
Sun in 3d.
67% want Interactive TV.
Cord Cutters Percentages.
Google Exec Free in Egypt.
Astronaut to Fly Mission.
UFO in Israel?
UFO in Utah?

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GNC-2010-08-20 #603 Do you want to be a Star!



Moving forward, I have decided to add as many as 5 shows to the line up here at Geek News Central, host will have to agree to a two year commitment and have to carry their own weight and bring new fresh content to the site. This show remains same format, new shows to GNC will be unique and live under the GNC banner head. I have a very important survey for you to fill out. Link is directly below this paragraph. I want to find out what it would take to make you be a insider.

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Insider / Ohana Links:
What do you think of UFO’s a YouTube Explanation.
Image of the Day.
Girdles for Men?
HTML5 Video Webinar
No fed Charges in Laptop Spying.

The Geek’s Show Links:
KIA Electric Car.
Cannon G12 HD?
HP 2.3 Billion in Earnings.
Google TV Hints.
Liquid Pencil Issues.
Cannon Photo Printer.
Intel Buys McAfee?
PS3 Jailbreak.
Is that a Radio in your Arm?
3 Apps for Gmail.
Tablets in Schools.
Bad Spelling on Immigration Documents.
Gmail on iPad update.
Is Apple testing iTV?
Sputnik at 50.
Fleet Drivers and Technology.
Video Streaming for iPad.
EFF on Facebook Places.
Magazine + iPad = 2 for 1
Is the Web really dead?
Class of 2014.
ISP Top User 2.7TB
Gulf Oil Spill Update.
ISP Minimum Speed Disclosure.
Creating a new online Identity.
Wikileaks Legal Challenges.
Stumbleupon this!
Google where are the Google TV Apps?
Adobe Flash and Google TV.
PogoPlug goes Wireless.
Adobe Bug.
Universe will never stop Expanding.
Whats on the Other side?
RFID snooping bunk or real?
40 Windows App Vulnerabilities.
Recording Phone calls OK?
Blackberry + Email + Off work = Overtime?

Send in your stories to geeknews@gmail.com and be sure to provide a link to your websites!


GNC-2010-07-02 #589 Chrome Takes a Dive!



The Lenova A63 Giveaway is happening now Listen to Win. The only way to Win is to Listen and act before the show on July 6th! I talk in depth about the July Fund Raiser. I understand some of you will have reservations but if you have thought about supporting the show. This will be the month to do it. I would like to raise $10,000 between now and the end of the month. Big number I know but I have some incentives for those that donate. Thank you in advance your contribution will go toward a major upgrade in the studio!

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Insider / Ohana Links:
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iPhone Lawsuit.
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The Geek’s Show Links:
Firefox Home.
Podcorps Closing.
Fake Jobs / Customer Exchange gets a ton of sites!
Sony Dash available International.
Comcast Anyroom DVR.
AT&T makes Excuses on Locked Phones!
Hulu $10.00 and more Ads!
Flip Video Camera with Wi-Fi.
Droid Revenge.
UK Really getting Online!
eReaders = Unaccessible!
Spies need Tech Support too.
Movie + Camera + Jail + Reward – MPAA = Lawsuit
See the New $100.00 Bill.
Onstar calls to give you Directions?
Google Airlines.
Google News.
Google Rolls Over on Red Chinese?
Is your site Slow?
Video + Viral – iPhone + EVO – Best Buy = Fired
Google Me?
ISS Gets Resupplied.
ISS Parking Problem.
Does whats in your PC mater anymore?
iMovie for iPhone 4
EFF + ACLU + Time Warner – Judge = Major Loss!
The Math on iPhone 4 Antenna Loss!
Tweet do and don’ts.
Trillian 5!
Good Genes in your Family?
Instaload Batteries.
Tracking your Movements by your Hair!
Shuttle Launch Schedule.
Plagiarism Cheating Guide to College.
TwitPics looses their minds!
No Fly List what would you do?
Flying Car a Go!

Send in your stories to geeknews@gmail.com and be sure to provide a link to your websites!