Category «Spyware»

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, December 13, 2025

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: Your Boss Has More Ways Than Ever to Monitor What You’re Doing at Work; How to break free from smart TV ads and tracking; Every Legal Team Needs to See This LLM Leak; U.S. Plans to Scrutinize Foreign Tourists’ Social Media History; and A New Anonymous Phone Carrier Lets You Sign Up With Nothing but a Zip Code.

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Email Security, KM, Legal Research, Legal Technology, Privacy, Social Media, Spyware

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, November 22, 2025

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: WhatsApp Flaw Exposed 3.5 Billion Phone Numbers; The internet isn’t free: Shutdowns, surveillance and algorithmic risks; GAO: ‘Digital footprints’ endanger the nation, military and personnel; Your Smartphone, Their Rules: How App Stores Enable Corporate-Government Censorship; and Unremovable AppCloud on Samsung Phones Sparks Privacy Fears.

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, KM, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media, Spyware

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, May 17, 2025

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: License Plate Reader Company Flock Is Building a Massive People Lookup Tool, Leak Shows; Senators want TSA to scale back facial recognition at airports; How Signal, WhatsApp, Apple, and Google Handle Encrypted Chat Backups; Deepfakes, Scams, and the Age of Paranoia; Does One Line Fix Google?

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, KM, Legal Research, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media, Spyware

Automakers are collecting sensitive data and selling it without your permission

The public is increasingly familiar with the scale of data collection, surveillance, marketing and sale, and privacy violations that routinely occur when using apps, browsers, social media, the internet, and cell phones. But extensive data collection and privacy violations also routinely occurs when we use cars and trucks [regardless of manufacturer], much if not all of it likely without our knowledge or consent. Sabrina I. Pacifici’s article will inform you about how, where, when and by whom your transportation data is collected, and ways in which is it used, including sale by data brokers.

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Legal Research, Privacy, Spyware, Technology Trends, Travel

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, September 21, 2024

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: FTC Says Social Media Platforms Engage in ‘Vast Surveillance’ of Users; AI voices are officially too realistic; Tor Network Denies Report That ‘Anonymity Is Completely Canceled’; ‘Terrorgram’ Charges Show US Has Had Tools to Crack Down on Far-Right Terrorism All Along; and DuckDuckGo Joins AI Chat, Promises Enhanced Anonymity.

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Internet Trends, Privacy, Search Engines, Search Strategies, Social Media, Spyware, Technology Trends

TikTok fears point to larger problem: Poor media literacy in the social media age

In the past few years, Professor Nir Eisikovits and his colleagues at UMass Boston’s Applied Ethics Center have been studying the impact of AI systems on how people understand themselves. Here’s why I think the recent move against TikTok misses the larger point: Americans’ sources of information have declined in quality and the problem goes beyond any one social media platform.

Subjects: AI, Data Mining, Internet Trends, Privacy, Social Media, Spyware

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, April 6, 2024

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: Cyber Safety Review Board: Microsoft security culture; DA says he shut down 21 sites stealing millions through crypto scams ‘inadequate’; CISA Publishes New Webpage Dedicated to Providing Resources for High-Risk Communities; and Does wiretap law apply to cookies on hospital websites?

Subjects: AI, Cryptocurrencies, Cryptocurrency, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Economy, Healthcare, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media, Spyware, Viruses & Hoaxes

DOJ funding pipeline subsidizes questionable big data surveillance technologies

Professor Andrew Guthrie Ferguson discusses how predictive policing has been shown to be an ineffective and biased policing tool. Yet, the Department of Justice has been funding the crime surveillance and analysis technology for years and continues to do so despite criticism from researchers, privacy advocates and members of Congress. Guthrie’s research reveals an entire ecosystem of how technology companies, police departments and academics benefit from the flow of federal dollars for these surveillance technologies.

Subjects: Big Data, Civil Liberties, Criminal Law, Legal Research, Privacy, Spyware

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, February 17, 2024

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: Inside the Underground Site Where ‘Neural Networks’ Churn Out Fake IDs; 5 Steps to Improve Your Security Posture in Microsoft Teams; Drone surveillance case in Michigan Supreme Court tests privacy rights; and ‘AI Washing’ Is a Risk Amid Wall Street’s Craze, SEC Chief Gesler Says.

Subjects: AI, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Email Security, Federal Legislative Research, Financial System, Firewalls, Healthcare, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media, Spyware

Each Facebook User is Monitored by Thousands of Companies

By now most internet users know their online activity is constantly tracked. No one should be shocked to see ads for items they previously searched for, or to be asked if their data can be shared with an unknown number of “partners.” But what is the scale of this surveillance? Judging from data collected by Facebook and newly described in a unique study by non-profit consumer watchdog Consumer Reports and the Markup, Jon Keegan writes that it’s massive, and examining the data may leave you with more questions than answers.

Subjects: Big Data, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Commerce, Privacy, Social Media, Spyware