Group items tagged

"Insurer's algorithm analyses social media usage to identify safe drivers in unprecedented use of customer data"

An on-air comment by a US TV presenter activated Amazon Echo gadgets in viewers' homes across San Diego.

Databox project is a new £1.5M EPSRC project led by Dr. Hamed Haddadi (QMUL) in collaboration with Dr. Richard Mortier (University of Cambridge) and Professors Derek McAuley, Tom Rodden, and Andy Crabtree (University of Nottingham) who will explore the development of the Databox as means of enhancing accountability and giving individuals control over the use of their personal data.

Using Docracy's unique document change analysis, we are now tracking terms of service and privacy policies for hundreds of the world's top sites. See below for summaries of recent changes, or to see the complete terms for any of the sites we track.

Ikea recently launched their Trådfri smart lighting platform in the US. The idea of Ikea plus internet security together at last seems like a pretty terrible one, but having taken a look it's surprisingly competent. Hardware-wise, the device is pretty minimal

"Sites such as Mozilla Webmaker, Trovebox and Voost use Persona instead of usernames to sign you in. This means you only need one password to sign in to many sites."

Of course there are a gazillion ways this kind of thing will go wrong. I'm more interested in the general phenomenon of smart devices identifying us automatically and without our knowledge.

Of course there are a gazillion ways this kind of thing will go wrong. I'm more interested in the general phenomenon of smart devices identifying us automatically and without our knowledge.

"Marriott came under fire for its hotspot blocking policies last year, when the Federal Communications Commission slapped the hotel chain with a $600,000 fine. Hotel management had been preventing hotspot use"

"Smartphone users are always looking for free wi-fi but at what price does it come? Businesses are looking at ways to make the free wi-fi they offer work for them too. It can track our movements through our phones and reveal a great deal about us to those who have something to sell. "

"We've discussed the stupidity of privacy policies many times in the past. Honestly, it's an idea that serves no useful purpose, yet most sites are required to have one, and if you don't, people get all upset. But no one reads them, and most people incorrectly assume that if a site has any privacy policy, they must keep data private. "

"The Intercept's Micah Lee explains how to use Diceware's to generate a passphrase that can survive the NSA's trillion-guess-per-second cracking attempts -- but which can still be easily memorized. "

" Documenting design patterns for personal data sharing, example uses and research. Work in progress. "

"YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT ANY INFORMATION YOU SEND OR RECEIVE DURING YOUR USE OF THE SITE MAY NOT BE SECURE AND MAY BE INTERCEPTED OR LATER ACQUIRED BY UNAUTHORIZED PARTIES"

"While the Philips Hue system is based on open technologies we are not able to ensure all products from other brands are tested and fully interoperable with all of our software updates. For guaranteed compatibility you need to use Philips Hue or certified Friends of Hue products"

Lancaster University researchers say their 'Living Room of the Future' is not just a peek at what could await us as the Internet of Things (IoT) revolution gathers pace.

"Through the design, development and implementation of the Living Room of the Future (LRoTF), we build upon existing work to progress two strands of research. The first explores how media broadcasters may utilise Object-Based Media (OBM) to provide more immersive experiences. Created in conjunction with the BBC R&D the LRofTF utilizes OBM to dynamically customise television content according to audiences' personal, contextual and derived data. OBM works by breaking media into smaller parts or 'objects', describing how they relate to each other semantically, and then reassembling them into personalized programmes. In addition to this media-delivery aspect, the LRoTF explores data protection issues that arise from OBM's use of data by integrating with the privacy-enhancing Databox system. "