Even for a company as serially scandalous as Facebook, it’s been a bad week for the social network. Separate investigations revealed that Facebook gave more than 150 firms access to people’s private messages, while also making it impossible for users to avoid location-based ads. After months of fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, US prosecutors also finally got around to filing a lawsuit... 

Patents recently issued to Google provide a window into their development activities. While it’s no guarantee of a future product, it is a sure indication of what’s of interest to them. What we’ve given up in privacy to Google, Facebook, and others thus far is minuscule compared to what is coming if these companies get their way. These patents tell us that Google is developing smart-home products... 

Based on reports from several users, the latest version of the basic Samsung messenger has a glitch that is severely violating the privacy of owners of the devices. A new bug in the Samsung Messages smartphone application has been reported to be conspicuously sending strings of gallery images to random contacts, with several users having confirmed that this is the case on Reddit. One user said that... 

The evil geniuses at Facebook are camouflaging consent provisions and manipulating users into hastily accepting their tracking terms by showing them fake notifications, a new lawsuit says. The accusations were made in a complaint filed by the European Center for Digital Rights on behalf of an anonymous Facebook user. The lawsuit, filed against Facebook Ireland Ltd. (where the social network has its... 

Google Chrome users recently became aware that the browser quietly scans their personal files without prior consent. Sputnik discussed this with professor Mauro Conti, the head of SPRITZ Security and Privacy Research Group and an associate professor at the University of Padua. Sputnik: So one of the main functions of an anti-virus is to scan files to determine the potential threat. Why is so much... 

The world’s largest social network has just rolled out a new feature of its facial recognition technology that will notify users when someone has uploaded a photo of them even if they haven’t been tagged in it on Facebook. The new feature sprang into action Tuesday. Facebook says it will “help people better manage their identity” on the platform “using face recognition.” Though not all... 

Ronald Reagan only released one year of tax returns saying it was an invasion of privacy. The conservative leader only released the one return after the 1979 Republican National Convention. Liberal pundits and Mitt Romney want billionaire Donald Trump to release his returns so they can scour the pages for hit pieces on the GOP frontrunner. Donald Trump signing his tax returns in 2015. The liberal... 

Facebook acted like the US’s National Security Agency when spying on the social network’s European users without consent or authority, according to a Belgian data protection watchdog. Earlier, the Belgian Privacy Commission (BPC) filed a lawsuit against Facebook, which the BPC said is spying on people in “the very same way” that the US National Security Agency (NSA) does, according... 

A senior Communist functionary claims that the end-user service agreement attached to the new Windows 10 OS violates the Russian law requiring the personal data of Russian citizens to be collected and processed only by specially-licensed companies. Vadim Solovyov, the chief lawyer of the Communist Party in the State Duma addressed Prosecutor General Yury Chaika with an official request to launch a... 

American senior Senators admit that they have no idea what they are talking about. Lindsay Graham, a member of the powerful Senate Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, admitted that he had never sent an email in his entire life. In 2008 John McCain, one of the loudest voices pushing “cybersecurity” spying bills, claimed that he doesn’t send emails as well: “I don’t... 

The Senate Intelligence Committee voted overwhelmingly to advance a cybersecurity bill meant to expand information-sharing between the private sector and the government, though privacy advocates contend it only strengthens domestic surveillance programs. Dubbed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), the bill cleared the Senate Intelligence Committee by a 14-1 vote, with outspoken civil... 

Almost all automobiles sold today contain systems that can potentially be compromised by hackers, a United States Senator warns, but automakers appear largely unaware of the implications, according to his report. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) is calling on the world’s automobile makers to implement mandatory safeguards after his congressional inquiry revealed a widespread absence of security... 

Dozens of US law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, have used radar devices that allow them to “see” through walls of buildings to monitor human activity, a new report states. This has led to questions regarding how legal these tactics are. The policing agencies began using the radar device more than two years ago without public disclosure and little notice from courts until a recent case... 

UK PM David Cameron may block encrypted messaging platforms Snapchat and WhatsApp if the Conservatives win May’s general election, as part of the party’s agenda to bolster surveillance powers following last week’s terror attacks in Paris. During a meeting with Britain’s security chiefs, the Prime Minister pledged to halt the use of communications platforms that can withstand snooping from... 

Members of a medical team disinfect people at an Ebola treatment center in Liberia, October 2, 2014. Liberia has passed a law that will restrict the media coverage of the Ebola outbreak in an attempt to protect privacy of the patients. “We have noted with great concern that photographs have been taken in treatment centers while patients are going in to be attended by doctors. That is invasion of...