data

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Ruling Sparks Calls to Delete Period Apps

Experts caution data could be used in abortion prosecutions

(Newser) - Many users find menstrual period tracking apps helpful in trying to become pregnant, or avoid pregnancy, or just know when they're due for their next period. But the Supreme Court's rejection of Roe v. Wade increased the fear that the data collected by the apps could be turned...

It Was a Major COVID Study. Was the Data a Sham?
It Was a Major COVID Study.
Now, Something Fishy?
longform

It Was a Major COVID Study. Now, Something Fishy?

The 'Guardian' calls into question the data supplied by Surgisphere

(Newser) - The US-based company Surgisphere touts that it aggregates and analyzes health records from hospitals around the world—including, apparently, significant amounts of coronavirus-related data. This though it apparently has "a science fiction writer and an adult-content model" on its small roster of employees. So reports the Guardian , which dug...

Zuckerberg: We Have 'New Superpower' in COVID-19 Fight

Data collection: Facebook releases county-by-county maps of people reporting symptoms

(Newser) - This time, Facebook hopes to use data collection for the greater good. (Unlike, say, this time .) The company on Monday unveiled a map that tracks coronavirus symptoms county by county across the US, reports CNET . The idea is to help hospitals and local health officials get a better sense...

California Student Sues TikTok
California Student
Sues TikTok

California Student Sues TikTok

Class-action suit says video-sharing app has 'vacuumed up' user data, sent to China

(Newser) - In March or April of this year, Palo Alto college student Misty Hong says she downloaded the TikTok app, designed to create and share short videos. Now her complaints against the service have turned into a class-action lawsuit, alleging that TikTok has secretly taken user data and transferred it without...

Facebook Probe Leads to a Big Change

The company is suspending tens of thousands of apps

(Newser) - Looks like Facebook is cleaning house. The social media giant says its "app developer investigation" has led the company to suspend tens of thousands of apps, TechCrunch reports. Some were banned outright "for any number of reasons including inappropriately sharing data obtained from us, making data publicly available...

The Smart Diaper Is Only Months Away

Lumi by Pampers sends text alerts when the diaper is wet

(Newser) - Ding! Your baby's diaper is wet. That's the idea behind Lumi by Pampers, a new line of smart diapers that text-alerts parents when the baby needs changing, CNN reports. The product also tracks the baby's sleep time and number of pees, but not—as a dad points...

Google Is Tracking You. So Cops Can Too
Google's New Treasure
Trove: the 'Sensorvault'
longform

Google's New Treasure Trove: the 'Sensorvault'

Police can access personal data, but at what cost?

(Newser) - A new frontier in crime investigation relies on the ultimate tracking device—and it's right in your purse or pocket, the New York Times reports. Detectives nationwide are inundating Google with warrants to mine its so-called Sensorvault, which holds tracking data from most Android phones and some iPhones worldwide...

FEMA Struck by a 'Major Privacy Incident'

Agency disclosed sensitive data of more than 2M disaster survivors, per DHS IG report

(Newser) - Survivors may still be picking up the pieces after the natural disasters that have swept across the country over the past couple of years, and now they have a new issue to contend with: the possibility of identity theft thanks to what the Federal Emergency Management Agency is calling a...

Why Car Crashes and Heart Attacks Are Riskier for Women
How a World Built for
Men Is Killing Women
new book

How a World Built for Men Is Killing Women

Caroline Criado Perez exposes data bias in her new book, 'Invisible Women'

(Newser) - From car design to bulletproof vests, Caroline Criado Perez sees a pattern: The world is designed for men, and women are suffering for it. In her new book Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, Perez says we're making vital decisions based mostly on data...

How Highly Personal Data Is Going Right to Facebook

The 'Wall Street Journal' uncovers the activity of 11 popular apps

(Newser) - Turns out Facebook is hoovering more data from your smartphone that you may have realized. The Wall Street Journal says 11 popular apps—mostly related to health and fitness—are sending people's highly personal information to Facebook even if the user isn't on Facebook and the app doesn'...

NYT Investigation Not Making Things Easier for Facebook

Paper alleges Facebook gave more than 150 companies special data access

(Newser) - Mark Zuckerberg is on track to lose $15 billion this year , and articles like this from the New York Times give more than an inkling as to why: An investigation based on hundreds of pages of internal documents show Facebook has for years given a select group of 150+ partners—...

Amazon: Workers Taking Bribes From Desperate Sellers

Amazon employees, mainly in China, are offering data in exchange for money, sources say

(Newser) - To best hawk a product on Amazon, third-party sellers hope for a coveted spot on the site's first page of search results, a ranking that's boosted by positive reviews. Sources tell the Wall Street Journal those rankings could be affected by "illicit transactions" between sellers and Amazon...

Don't Ignore Those Privacy Policy Emails
Don't Ignore Those
Privacy Policy Emails
OPINION

Don't Ignore Those Privacy Policy Emails

They reveal important changes in how your data is collected and shared: Mona Ibrahim

(Newser) - You've probably noticed emails about companies' privacy policy changes arriving in your inbox. It's less likely you've read them—though it's important you do, says lawyer Mona Ibrahim. Writing at Polygon , Ibrahim notes the emails may be "asking permission to do and track a lot...

'Time for Zuckerberg to Stop Hiding Behind His Facebook Page'

The Cambridge Analytica incident picks up steam

(Newser) - It's variously being called one of the biggest data leaks in Facebook history and "unequivocally not a data breach." And it has lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic clamoring for answers. This weekend thrust Cambridge Analytica into the spotlight: In 2014, some 270,000 Facebook users...

Japan Trade Minister on New Mitsubishi Scandal: a 'Betrayal'

Company says 3 subsidiaries falsified data

(Newser) - Last year, Mitsubishi confessed it had fudged fuel tests for the past 25 years. Now a new admission adds to Japan's list of corporate controversies, not just from Mitsubishi, but also from other major manufacturers. CNNMoney reports Mitsubishi Materials admitted in a statement Thursday at least two of its...

Why Your Roomba May Soon Be a 'Creepy Little Spy'
Your Roomba May Be
Up to No Good

Your Roomba May Be Up to No Good

iRobot is considering selling consumer info to Amazon, Apple, or Google

(Newser) - It may be "smart" to put robots to work in your home—but is it wise? Consumers who want the blueprint and contents of their homes kept private may be wary at news coming out of iRobot, which makes the Roomba robotic vacuum. Per the New York Times , the...

First Data Theft, Now a Threat to National Security: Report

Stolen data from Yahoo involved more than 150K accounts of government workers, military: Bloomberg

(Newser) - Yahoo announced Wednesday that hackers lifted info from more than 1 billion accounts —said to be the largest single data breach ever of an email provider—and more bad news emerged later that day about who some of the account owners were. Per Bloomberg , upward of 150,000 military...

A Promise Out of Silicon Valley: No Muslim Registry

Hundreds of tech workers sign vow to not facilitate Trump proposal if it comes to pass

(Newser) - With whispers still swirling of a possible Muslim registry after Donald Trump takes office, a few hundred employees from major Silicon Valley companies are saying they'll take no part in such an endeavor if it comes to pass. Per USA Today , more than 300 tech workers—including "engineers,...

'Embarrassing' Era Ending: FBI to Collect Cop Shooting Stats

Starting in 2017, DOJ will cull all police shootings, lethal or not

(Newser) - For the past couple years, the Guardian and Washington Post have kept better data on US police shootings than any law enforcement agency—a fact FBI Director James Comey said last year was "embarrassing and ridiculous," per the Guardian . Now the government wants to remedy that, with US...

Facebook, Microsoft to Run Mega-Cable From Va. to Spain

MAREA will be the highest-capacity trans-Atlantic cable yet

(Newser) - Virginia Beach soon be tethered to Bilbao, Spain, thanks to what Computerworld calls "an epic shift that will change everything." A joint initiative between Facebook, Microsoft, and an overseas telecommunications company, the 4,100-mile-plus MAREA subsea cable will be the highest-capacity cable to span the Atlantic, with an...

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