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dr tech

Contact tracing apps unsafe if Bluetooth vulnerabilities not fixed | ZDNet - 0 views

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    "As more governments turn to contact tracing apps to aid in their efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak, cybersecurity experts are warning this may spark renewed interest in Bluetooth attacks. They urge developers to ensure such apps are regularly tested for vulnerabilities and release patches swiftly to plug potential holes, while governments should provide assurance that their databases are secure and the data collected will not be used for purposes other than as originally intended. "
dr tech

The Trump 2020 app is a voter surveillance tool of extraordinary power | MIT Technology... - 0 views

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    "Data collection-as Parscale's comment suggested-is perhaps the most powerful thing the Trump 2020 app does. On signing up, users are required to provide a phone number for a verification code, as well as their full name, email address, and zip code. They are also highly encouraged to share the app with their existing contacts. This is part of a campaign strategy for reaching the 40 to 50 million citizens expected to vote for Trump's reelection: to put it bluntly, the campaign says it intends to collect every single one of these voters' cell-phone numbers. This strategy means the app also makes extensive permission requests, asking for access to location data, phone identity, and control over the handset's Bluetooth function."
dr tech

'Nobody can block it': how the Telegram app fuels global protest | Social media | The G... - 0 views

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    "Telegram, a messaging app created by the reclusive Russian exile Pavel Durov, is suited to running protests for a number of reasons. It allows huge encrypted chat groups, making it easier to organise people, like a slicker version of WhatsApp. And its "channels" allow moderators to disseminate information quickly to large numbers of followers in a way that other messaging services do not; they combine the reach and immediacy of a Twitter feed, and the focus of an email newsletter. The combination of usability and privacy has made the app popular with protestors (it has been adopted by Extinction Rebellion) as well as people standing against authoritarian regimes (in Hong Kong and Iran, as well as Belarus); it is also used by terrorists and criminals. In the past five years, Telegram has grown at a remarkable speed, hitting 60 million users in 2015 and 400 million in April this year. "
dr tech

UK expected to ban TikTok from government mobile phones | TikTok | The Guardian - 0 views

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    "Britain is expected to announce a ban on the Chinese owned video-sharing app TikTok on government mobile phones imminently, bringing the UK inline with the US and European Commission and reflecting deteriorating relations with Beijing."
dr tech

Democracy? There's an app for that - the tech upstarts trying to 'hack' British politic... - 0 views

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    "But, in fact, civic tech is a real thing, featuring real people, with real technical expertise, trying to hack around every democratic deficiency. They are trying to tackle everything from a sheer lack of easily accessible information to the shortcomings of the first-past-the-post system. "
dr tech

Singapore to require smartphone check-ins at all businesses and will log visitors' nati... - 0 views

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    "Singapore was one of the first nations to adopt a Bluetooth-powered contact-tracing app, fueling plenty of global debate about the best way to deploy the technology. SafeEntry will advance that debate as its introduction surely suggests that contact-tracing apps have their limitations."
dr tech

Pro-Bolsonaro violence: experts highlight role of social media platforms | Brazil | The... - 0 views

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    "The role of social media platforms and messaging apps in Sunday's political violence in Brasília is under the spotlight after experts highlighted their use by Jair Bolsonaro supporters to question the presidential election result and organise the protests. Facebook and Instagram's owner, Meta, has said it will take down content that praises the storming of government buildings in Brazil's capital, amid claims that tech firms had not done enough to head off the attacks or quell disinformation."
dr tech

New Jersey halts police use of creepy Clearview AI facial-recognition app - 0 views

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    "The app, which scraped billions of photos from the likes of Facebook, YouTube, Venmo, and other online platforms, drew the world's attention last weekend following a detailed report in the New York Times. The app's supposed capability to identify practically anyone from even low-quality photos frightened privacy advocates and officials. And today, one of the latter - New Jersey's attorney general Gurbir Grewal - actually did something about it."
dr tech

Contact apps won't end lockdown. But they might kill off democracy | John Naughton | Op... - 0 views

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    "There are clear indications that the UK government is now actively considering use of the technology as a way of easing the lockdown. If this signals an outbreak in Whitehall of tech "solutionism" - the belief that for every problem there is a technological answer - then we should be concerned. Tech solutions often do as much harm as good, for example, by increasing social exclusion, lacking accountability and failing to make real inroads into the problem they are supposedly addressing."
dr tech

Opinion | They Stormed the Capitol. Their Apps Tracked Them. - The New York Times - 0 views

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    "Surrendering our privacy to the government would be foolish enough. But what is more insidious is the Faustian bargain made with the marketing industry, which turns every location ping into currency as it is bought and sold in the marketplace of surveillance advertising. Now, one year later, we're in a very similar position. But it's far worse. A source has provided another data set, this time following the smartphones of thousands of Trump supporters, rioters and passers-by in Washington, D.C., on January 6, as Donald Trump's political rally turned into a violent insurrection. At least five people died because of the riot at the Capitol. Key to bringing the mob to justice has been the event's digital detritus: location data, geotagged photos, facial recognition, surveillance cameras and crowdsourcing."
dr tech

El Salvador's bitcoin experiment goes live - as president offers tech support | El Salv... - 0 views

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    ""There has been a high degree of improvisation in the rollout of Chivo and a great deal of opacity," says Ricardo Castaneda, a local economist. "The app asks for access to your microphone and your contacts, which are not needed for a wallet. Bitcoin might be a distraction but given the decision to push ahead with the plan despite popular opposition and the advice of experts, it could also be an important pillar of Bukele's political project.""
dr tech

The Citizen crime app hasn't made me safer - just more scared | Emma Brockes | Opinion ... - 0 views

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    "Citizen, which was launched in 2017, is a glorified police scanner that promises to help users "stay safe and informed". It invites input from witnesses - mostly involving shaky phone footage of police milling around while a stretcher is carted by in the background - and, bafflingly, includes a comments section, in which users speculate fatuously on the crime in question and quibble over the accuracy of the map function. It is grimly fascinating, mildly addictive and, relative to its stated aims, totally without value."
dr tech

Investigation into TikTok as risk to U.S. children's privacy urged by 4 U.S. senators /... - 0 views

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    "Four U.S. senators today urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate claims that the very popular video app TikTok, which is owned by a company tied to China's military and government, violated a consent decree to protect children's privacy."
dr tech

New UK app records police encounters and saves footage in cloud | Stop and search | The... - 0 views

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    "If someone sees the police approaching, they can press a button on their phone to start recording. Footage is uploaded in real time to the cloud using military-grade encryption, so that if the phone is damaged or confiscated during an interaction with police, the footage is preserved."
dr tech

UK prime minister wants to ban encrypted messaging apps like Snapchat - 0 views

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    "If reelected, British Prime Minister David Cameron would consider banning messaging apps like Snapchat and WhatsApp, if they don't make their data available to intelligence agencies, he said Monday."
dr tech

Chinese city may have used a COVID app to block protesters, drawing an outcry | The Sea... - 0 views

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    "Hu Xijin, a former editor of the ruling Communist Party's Global Times newspaper, warned that the use of the health code for purposes other than epidemic control "damages the authority" of the monitoring system and would chip away at the public's support for it. His post on Weibo, a Twitter-like social media platform, on Monday became a hashtag that was among the most-searched earlier this week, drawing 280 million views."
dr tech

Cracking apps: are crimefighters going too far to bring down cartels? | Organised crime... - 0 views

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    "The Italian supreme court ordered prosecutors last month to disclose how the Sky ECC data had been retrieved, arguing that it was impossible to have a fair trial if the accused is unable to access the evidence or assess its reliability and legality, a position supposed by the NGO Fair Trials. Whether prosecutors choose to do so could determine whether the arrests made this week lead to convictions or not. Prosecutors in the UK face a similar dilemma in relation to the hacking of EncroChat, another secret messaging platform that had the added facility of a "panic" button that when pressed would immediately erase the phone's contents."
dr tech

Indian police threaten to arrest those caught playing online shooter game PUBG -- Socie... - 0 views

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    "Just ahead of the first anniversary of its release, Indian law enforcers are accusing the popular game of inciting violence and distracting kids from their studies, even pushing for a large-scale prohibition of the "battle-royal" style shooter. Following numerous complaints by parents, a temporary ban on the mobile app was first announced by police in metropolitan Rajkot, with some other cities multiplayer-game soon following suit. While the current ban only extends until March 30, the police and children's rights watchdog are petitioning New Delhi to ban the game altogether"
dr tech

Facebook's secret settlement on Cambridge Analytica gags UK data watchdog | TechCrunch - 0 views

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    "The UK's information commissioner just told a parliamentary subcommittee on online harms and disinformation that a secret arrangement between her office and Facebook prevents her from publicly answering whether or not Facebook contacted the ICO about completing a much-trumpeted 'app audit'."
dr tech

Egypt jails women for two years over TikTok videos | Egypt | The Guardian - 0 views

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    "The verdict against Haneen Hossam, Mowada al-Adham and three others came after they had posted footage on the video-sharing app TikTok. The ruling, which can be appealed, included a fine of 300,000 Egyptian pounds (£14,600) for each defendant."
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