The Internet has become an essential part of life in today’s day and age. It is really difficult to imagine what our lives would have been like if the invention of the internet didn’t happen. But if one stops and thinks how much of our life is shared through the medium; or how much of the data shared can be traced back to the user by someone with malicious intents, a feeling of trepidation is natural. To ensure that the data shared over the internet is secure and private, many people use a VPN. But what is it and should everyone get one?
What is a VPN?Virtual Private Networks or VPNs for short is used to connect to another computer, usually called server [...]
Google Maps is one of the most used services across all platforms. Even until Apple unveiled iOS 6 in 2012, the company relied on Google Maps. However, even to this date, many prefer Google over Apple maps for navigation. For a long time, Google has been optimizing its Maps services to provide better and more accurate results. However, there are times when the company goes above and beyond to ensure accuracy. According to reports, the company is secretly tracking its users’ location even after they turned their location history off. According to the company, if a user has turned his or her location history off then it will no longer be able to track their location. But, that [...]
Online privacy has been at the centre stage of a global conversation for quite some time now. Every move by big tech companies is scrutinised for potentially risking the privacy of online users. The latest to join this ever-growing list is Google. One of the biggest tech companies in the world has been accused of allowing third-party apps to read users’ Gmail.
In a report published by The Wall Street Journal, it has been revealed that Google allows partner companies to read Gmail messages in order to offer better products and services. This is not the first time a company has been accused of using private user data for better-targeted advertisements. Facebook was [...]
Baba Ramdev, the infamous yoga guru launched a “swadeshi messaging app”, called Kimbho in India on May 30th. The app was launched as a competition to WhatsApp which is the world’s most used instant messaging app. Kimbho, however, is no longer available for download from either Google Play Store or iOS App Store. While many are bemused by the sudden vanishing, it appears that a recent takedown of the app’s security frailties might be the prime reason behind it.
A few hours after the launch, a Twitter user who goes by the name of Elliot Anderson tweeted a series of flaws that were found in the app. The French security researcher took to Twitter and posted [...]
In the past couple of day, you must have bee bombarded by every app notifying you of the change in their privacy policy. From Twitter, Facebook to Splitwise, every app has sent a notification to their users about the changes and these changes can have huge ramifications. Facebook and Google, for example, have been hit with lawsuits worth US$ 8.8 billion for coercing users into sharing personal data. The lawsuits were filed by Austrian privacy rights activist Max Schrems.
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Google is in hot waters with the law in the UK. The search giant is being sued in the high court for as much as £3.2 billion for secretly tracking and collecting personal information of 4.4 million iPhone users in the UK. The lawsuit action again the company is being led by former Which? director Richard Lloyd. He claims that claims Google bypassed the privacy settings of Apple iPhones’ Safari browser between August 2011 and February 2012 to divide people into categories for advertisers.
The Guardian reports that Lloyd’s campaign group ‘Google You Owe Us’ told the court information collected by Google included race, physical and mental health, political [...]
Facebook has been embroiled in a huge debate about the internet as a whole. As social media has grown to become such an integral part of our lives, it is no secret that users have given more personal information than needed to various social media platforms over the years. Facebook has been under the cosh for allegedly, not using that information in an ethical manner. Now, it appears that the conversation of privacy has trickled down to Facebook-owned properties, mainly WhatsApp. Co-founder and CEO of WhatsApp, Jan Koum has announced that he will be leaving WhatsApp soon.
It's been almost a decade since Brian and I started WhatsApp, and it's been an [...]
YouTube has published its first-ever community guidelines enforcement report. According to the report, YouTube removed 8.3 million videos between October and December 2017. Along with the report, it also launched a Reporting Dashboard that lets users see the status of videos they’ve flagged for review.
This report comes after the video streaming company promised more transparency in terms of how it handles abuse and decides what videos will be removed. In a blog post, the video-streaming giant said:
This regular update will help show the progress we’re making in removing violative content from our platform. By the end of the year, we plan to refine our reporting systems [...]
Over the past few weeks, Facebook has been under the cosh from the media and its users alike. Facebook was accused of leaking private data of over 50 million users which were used by Cambridge Analytica during the 2016 US Presidential Elections. However, the outrage around Facebook and callous handling of sensitive data have increased when it was learned that Facebook deleted messages sent out by Mark Zuckerberg from the recipients’ inbox. It now appears that Facebook is ready to share this luxury with all of its users in the coming months.
According to a report by TechCrunch, a Facebook spokesperson has confirmed that the social networking company is currently working [...]
The last couple of days have been frantic for the tech community. Ever since Google released two documents detailing the security flaws in almost every CPU in the world right now, the consumers have patiently waited for a fix for their devices. Some, however, have decided to take matters into their own hands. Owners of Intel-based CPUs in Oregon, California and Indiana have sued Intel over the security flaws that have been highlighted in its chipset.
They claim that the vulnerability in the chipset, which Intel learned about several months ago, make its chips inherently faulty. Intel has provided security patches ever since, but, the complaints raise concerns that these [...]
If you are an iPhone user, you must be used to the random popup asking for your Apple ID and password because of some app running in the background. It is as normal as it gets and we barely think twice before entering the password. However, there is a new phishing attack which can trick you into giving up your password and cause serious privacy concerns.
A blog post from developer Felix Krause explains how a fake popup could be easily used to trick someone into handing over their Apple ID and password. The developer explains that creating a fake popup doesn’t require extraordinary coding skills. Any iOS engineer can make the Apple ID password prompt and send that popup. [...]
Apple and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) are fighting over the user data that iPhone users in India have on their phone. TRAI argues that no smartphone company should be a guardian of the user data of its smartphones and should share it with apps that require that data to function. Apple has indicated that it believed the TRAI app is a potential risk to its user’s privacy.
TRAI has an anti-spamming app which blocks the numbers reported by the users and then launches a strict action against the number. The app is readily available to Android users, albeit poor customer reviews. TRAI Chairman R S Sharma publically slammed Apple a few weeks ago and has now [...]
