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The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) can legally access your “secure messaging app content,” according to a new report by The Epoch Times. In fact, it would only take officers about 15 minutes to access the contents of iMessages to collect metadata from WhatsApp. Our phones and personal electronic devices can provide agents with our location, contacts, pictures, search history, and more. Numerous people believe that encryption is one-dimensional and their messages are secure.

There are different forms of encryption and ways to bypass poorly encrypted software. People believed iMessage was secure due to Apple’s encryption, but automatic cloud backups are not encrypted and can be accessed. WhatsApp only began offering encryption backup in September, and the feature is not the default setting. The FBI document noted that search warrants could provide them with backup encryption keys as well.

Signal, Telegram, and WeChat are a bit more secure, but the FBI can still determine data logs or when the user logged into the service. Some may shrug and say they have nothing to hide and, therefore, nothing to fear. The problem is that the government can and will twist any information provided to them in order to win or develop a court case. Also, the FBI is not a beacon of ethics, and no one wants to have their personal information publicized. Since the majority of the world is not a threat to national security or a predator, sharing this much information with the government without a subpoena is asinine. All it would take is 15 minutes for someone’s private life to become public government information.

Five ways to loosen Big Tech’s grip on your life

January 27, 2021

Five ways to loosen Big Tech’s grip on your life

I imagine there are countless people right now who feel a wide range of emotions when it comes to Big Tech companies. Anger. Disgust. Confusion. Fear.

We’ve watched with exasperation as Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. have systematically squashed intellectual dissent; their actions have been so commonplace that there’s even a name for it: “De-platforming”.

We all know there’s a ton of garbage on the Internet, including from mainstream sources.

But de-platforming has proven to be wholeheartedly biased, totally arbitrary, and often comically ridiculous.

This isn’t just about the election or the Capitol. For example, if you dare utter a word on social media that goes against the infinite and infallible wisdom of the Chinese-controlled World Health Organization, then you might find yourself banned.

YouTube even suspended a renowned epidemiologist– a bona fide pandemic expert– because he opposed lockdowns and was hence ‘dangerous’.

Facebook censored more than 22 million posts in Q2 of 2020 for ‘hate speech’. Naturally, its entirely up to Facebook to define hate speech and judge whether or not you’re using it.

#killallmen, for example, is NOT considered hate speech. And even by the company’s own admission, hate speech against men, or white people, is a low priority.

It’s clear these companies have an enormous amount of unchecked power. They have the ability to erase you from the Internet, destroy your reputation, and, if you’re someone who makes money online, terminate your livelihood.

But the only reason they have this power is because we’ve given it to them. Hundreds of millions of people have intertwined their entire lives into the Big Tech ecosystem, to the point that they know absolutely everything about us.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How To Keep Your Personal And Financial Data Safe From The Government

March 5, 2020

How To Keep Your Personal And Financial Data Safe From The Government

Psst! Eyes peeled because you’re in for a reality check. Your personal data is helping corporations make billions, keeping hackers in business, and giving your government all the tools it needs to better control you. Sounds harsh, we know it does. But it’s the truth, nonetheless.

Your Personal And Financial Data Is A Precious Commodity

In today’s digital economy, your personal data, the one you give away for free, is transformed into a precious commodity. The questions you type in the Google search bar help it get to know you better than your life partner does. Investors use people’s location histories in order to know where it makes the most sense to set up shop for a new shopping mall. And your government often requests the digital data held by companies in order to ‘better understand’ the wants and needs of its citizens.

However, even if all this may not influence you directly, the next type of personal data available online will. Because whether you realize it or not, your health records, social security numbers, and banking details are also being stored online.

And hackers and cybercriminals are coming up with smarter and more sophisticated ways of getting their sleazy hands onto your data. A little negligence on your behalf is all it takes. The next thing you know, your credit report shows purchases you never made, and you’re getting phone calls from other credit companies where you didn’t even sign up for.

So, the question is: are you willing to put up with all this? Are you just going to allow strangers a backdoor into your private life? Are you ready to share your secrets with corporations, marketers, investors, and politicians alike?

If your answer is a big fat NO, you’ve got several solutions at your disposal.

Change Your Search Engine

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

UK: Google data transfer to USA just the start – “possibilities for abuse are enormous”

February 28, 2020

UK: Google data transfer to USA just the start – “possibilities for abuse are enormous”

UK digital transfer to USA - "possibilities for abuse are enormous"

By TruePublica: Google is planning to move its British users’ accounts out of the control of European Union privacy regulators, placing them under US jurisdiction instead, the company confirmed on 19 February. The shift, prompted by Britain’s exit from the EU, will leave the sensitive personal information of tens of millions with less protection and within easier reach of British law enforcement. But it won’t end there.

Alphabet Inc’s Google intends to require its British users to acknowledge new terms of service including the new jurisdiction.

“Nothing about our services or our approach to privacy will change, including how we collect or process data, and how we respond to law enforcement demands for users’ information,” Google said in an emailed statement. “The protections of the UK GDPR will still apply to these users.” If that was true, they would leave it where it was and not go to the expense. This is just the start of much more to come.

Unsurprisingly, a spokesman declined to answer questions.

Mission creep

The British state is the West’s worst offender for breaches of privacy, mass surveillance and using its secretive 360-degree architecture of civilian supervision and control. For the government, more surveillance and gathered data is better, not worse. But Google’s announcement will be followed by the other big tech firms and digital startups will look upon the UK as an increased opportunity to make money from fewer safeguards.

It was only a two months ago that the Times reported that a leading British trade economist had warned that NHS patient data will be exploited by US technology companies under a trade deal with America. Alan Winters, director of the Trade Policy Observatory at Sussex University, said clauses on data sharing and algorithms that US negotiators want inserted into a deal will be used to capture the value in NHS patient records, estimated at £10 billion a year.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

EU Antitrust Chief: “Google And Facebook Are Sucking Up Data From Every Corner”

September 1, 2019

EU Antitrust Chief: “Google And Facebook Are Sucking Up Data From Every Corner”

This is the full transcript of speech delivered by Margrethe Vestager, the European Union Antitrust Chief, held at the Business Forum of the German Ambassadors’ Conference, Berlin, 27 August 2019:

Ladies and gentlemen,

It’s a great pleasure, and an honour, to be here with you today. I want to thank Heiko Maas for those kind words, and for inviting me to join you.

I’m especially glad to have the chance to meet with you, who represent Germany’s 230 diplomatic missions around the world, as well as German industry. Because all of us here have an important role to play, to prepare Europe’s economy for the challenges of the future.

And in our working day, or just reading the news headlines, we are very often confronted with the scale of those challenges. Today’s threats to the system of global trade rules pose a serious risk to growth here in Europe, and throughout the world. Brexit remains a major source of uncertainty. We need to make enormous changes to the way we power the world’s economy, to avoid climate change running out of control. And all this is happening at a time when digitisation is transforming our markets – and Europe’s future depends on being, not just an industrial powerhouse, but a digital leader.

Europe’s advantages

Indeed all these challenges can seem daunting. But it is important to remember that Europe has already proved its capacity to take on big challenges. After all, we built the European Union on the ashes of two world wars. And we have just travelled through the biggest financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression.

And we have a good starting point to also face those challenges ahead of us.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Insane Surveillance of your iPhone that Exposes You To Massive Risks

February 14, 2019

The Insane Surveillance of your iPhone that Exposes You To Massive Risks

There is a new and very serious data scandal rising up with iPhones that Apple is being asked to shutdown. There are a number of major companies who are now secretly recording your every move on their iPhone apps without your permission or even your knowledge. They are actually recording every keystroke you make. The list of companies are Abercrombie & Fitch, Air Canada, Expedia, Hollister, Hotels.COM, and Singapore Airlines to mention a few.

According to an investigation by App Analyst, they checked apps created by Glassbox by reviewing their listed customers to see exactly what data was leaving their iPhones and going back to the companies. According to TechCrunch, none of the apps that were checked bothered to tell the client that they were recording their screens or that they were sending the information back to each company. This type of surveillance to see what you might be interested in buying next is EXTREMELYdangerous. This is going way too far and we really do need laws to prohibit this type of data collection. They are capturing everything including your banking details.

What is becoming painfully obvious is you SHOULD NOT use your phone for financial transactions — PERIOD!!!!! Additionally, get a cheap laptop and use that for any financial transactions with NO OTHER apps for movies, travel, or anything. Segregate your financial transactions from the rest of your activities.

How To Be Invisible On The Internet

December 8, 2018

How To Be Invisible On The Internet

Everywhere you look, concerns are mounting about internet privacy.

Although giving up your data was once an afterthought when gaining access to the newest internet services such as Facebook and Uber, as Visual Capitalist’s Jeff Desjardins notes, many people have had their perspective altered by various recent scandals, billions of dollars of cybertheft, and a growing discomfort around how their personal data may be used in the future.

More people want to opt out of this data collection, but aside from disconnecting entirely or taking ludicrous measures to safeguard information, there aren’t many great options available to limit what is seen and known about you online.

THE NEXT BEST THING

It may not be realistic to use Tor for all online browsing, so why not instead look at taking more practical steps to reducing your internet footprint?

Today’s infographic comes to us from CashNetUSA, and it gives a step-by-step guide – that anyone can follow – to limit the amount of personal data that gets collected on the internet.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Here’s Facebook’s Former “Privacy Sherpa” Discussing How to Harm Your Facebook Privacy

December 6, 2018

HERE’S FACEBOOK’S FORMER “PRIVACY SHERPA” DISCUSSING HOW TO HARM YOUR FACEBOOK PRIVACY

IN 2015, RISING star, Stanford University graduate, winner of the 13th season of “Survivor,” and Facebook executive Yul Kwon was profiled by the news outlet Fusion, which described him as “the guy standing between Facebook and its next privacy disaster,” guiding the company’s engineers through the dicey territory of personal data collection. Kwon described himself in the piece as a “privacy sherpa.” But the day it published, Kwon was apparently chatting with other Facebook staffers about how the company could vacuum up the call logs of its users without the Android operating system getting in the way by asking for the user for specific permission, according to confidential Facebook documents released today by the British Parliament.

“This would allow us to upgrade users without subjecting them to an Android permissions dialog.”

The document, part of a larger 250-page parliamentary trove, shows what appears to be a copied-and-pasted recap of an internal chat conversation between various Facebook staffers and Kwon, who was then the company’s deputy chief privacy officer and is currently working as a product management director, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The conversation centered around an internal push to change which data Facebook’s Android app had access to, to grant the software the ability to record a user’s text messages and call history, to interact with bluetooth beacons installed by physical stores, and to offer better customized friend suggestions and news feed rankings . This would be a momentous decision for any company, to say nothing of one with Facebook’s privacy track record and reputation, even in 2015, of sprinting through ethical minefields. “This is a pretty high-risk thing to do from a PR perspective but it appears that the growth team will charge ahead and do it,” Michael LeBeau, a Facebook product manager, is quoted in the document as saying of the change.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Canada Secretly Collected Banking Information From 500,000 Canadians Without Their Knowledge

October 29, 2018

Canada Secretly Collected Banking Information From 500,000 Canadians Without Their Knowledge

As it turns out, Silicon Valley tech giants aren’t the only institutions surreptitiously collecting massive troves of sensitive data from unsuspecting consumers. On Friday, Canada’s the Global Times published a report exposing a recently launched data collection program adopted by StatCan, the Canadian government’s economic research agency, that the agency introduced to help it collect more accurate data about consumers’ spending habits. The agency has asked Canada’s nine largest banks to turn over all the transaction records and sensitive identifying financial information (including customer’s social insurance numbers) for 500,000 randomly selected Canadians. The agency will collect and crunch this data as part of its statistical research and then, at the end of the year, it will produce a new list of 500,000 Canadians, and perform all of the same operations with their data.

After being called out by Global News, the agency explained that the data would be anonymized shortly after being compiled (meaning that all identifying information, like consumers’ SINs, would be removed).

“Canadians should know we are not accessing all of the payments data for all Canadians. It’s a small sample relative to the total number of households,” he said. “Our access to this data is permitted through both the Privacy Act and the Statistics Act.”

But that’s not exactly true. The fact that it didn’t publicly disclose the plan has left some Canadians feeling uneasy. Given that Canada has a population of roughly 20 million people, the likelihood that any one individuals’ information will be collected. To be sure, the agency said in a letter to Canada’s privacy commissioner that the data would only be used for statistics purposes. But a former privacy regulator who spoke with GN said she was “shocked” to learn of the program.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The NEW Social Media: Alternatives to Facebook, YouTube,Twitter, and Other Big Tech Platforms

October 23, 2018

The NEW Social Media: Alternatives to Facebook, YouTube,Twitter, and Other Big Tech Platforms

Lately, I’ve written a lot about the alternative media purge and how Big Tech social media platforms are attempting to control the narrative, the elections, and public perception through censorship and financial blacklisting. Lots of people are ready to leave websites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for less-censored pastures. But what are the social media alternatives that are currently available?

Here are some social media alternatives to check out.

Before we get into the alternatives, please understand that all of them will start small. None of them will be able to take on Big Tech without a lot of help and support. We’ve gotten used to free social media because the companies with whom we’ve dealt have virtually raped us, reading our so-called “private” messages, and pillaging our date to sell to the highest bidders. So really, it isn’t that free after all.

You probably won’t find your parents, your best friend from kindergarten, and your Aunt Suzie on these platforms – not yet, anyway. But what you WILL be able to do is speak without fear of censorship. You’ll be able to find your favorite alternative media sources there and find answers that simply aren’t supported by the mainstream.

The only way to change this dystopian atmosphere is to actually make changes ourselves. Go where the freedom is!

MeWe

MeWe calls themselves The Next-Gen Social Network. They raised $4.8 million and launched back in 2016 to take on Facebook and Twitter. They’re about 6 million members strong so far and Mark Weinstein, the founder, plans for it to be 500 million by 2022.

“In the future, MeWe will also revolutionize social media with decentralization, which will render Facebook’s spying and tracking data model completely obsolete,” Weinstein added, a comment that suggests he is indeed trying to replace Facebook.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

More of the Unrelenting Data Collection Toward Totalitarian Rule

October 21, 2018

More of the Unrelenting Data Collection Toward Totalitarian Rule

Totalitarian – Of or being a form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute control over all aspects of life and opposition is outlawed; a practitioner or supporter of such a government.

– American Heritage Dictionary, 3rd Ed.

We have almost reached the point where the country can be referred to as “totalitarian” in accordance with the definition provided. Incrementally, it creeps forward: the “soft” tyranny. Curing, refining itself, and hardening, there will be a point of no return that is reached…a point where it has metastasized until it is both all encompassing and ubiquitous.

The problem is twofold: the incremental spread as mentioned, and the complacency and inability of people to recognize it for what it is. Someone posted a comment recently with a paragraph from Solzhenitsyn’s “Gulag Archipelago” where the author regretfully lamented the complacency displayed by the Russians as the country turned Communist overnight. His regret was that the citizenry could have stopped it with hatchets and pitchforks at that point if they had acted and been of one accord. I have recommended it as a “must read,” and strongly advise you to consider it as a “window” to what is happening in the U.S.

Two articles surfaced this week that are astonishing: they show the surveillance and data-collection “culture” that is being inflicted upon us, dulling our already stultified public into vapidity and inaction by desensitization. This latter term: the outrage of yesterday becomes the “accepted” and commonplace of today, and even further/worse tomorrow. Paradigm shift.

First, one written by Betsy Mikel entitled “Walmart just made an announcement that may make you never want to shop there again,” published on 10/9/18 by Inc. Here is an excerpt:

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

“We Have Made Mistakes” On Data Privacy, Google Executive Tells Senate

September 26, 2018

“We Have Made Mistakes” On Data Privacy, Google Executive Tells Senate

In what will be the latest in a string of tech-giant mea culpas, Google is planning to admit that it has made “mistakes” when it comes to privacy issues when a company executive delivers testimony to the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday, according to Reuters. “We acknowledge that we have made mistakes in the past, from which we have learned, and improved our robust privacy program,” Google chief privacy officer Keith Enright is planning to say, according to a draft of his written testimony.

However, the testimony didn’t identify specific mistakes, and – what’s worse – Google’s behavior has been anything but contrite. And the company disappointed many privacy advocates earlier this week when it said it would continue to allow third-party apps to scan the contents of users’ Gmail accounts.

The company was roundly criticized for the practice over the summer when it first came to light.

According to CNET, Wednesday’s hearing will focus on the efforts of tech companies and ISPs to protect user privacy. Executives from Apple, Amazon, AT&T and Twitter.will also testify at the hearing, which is the latest in a string of tech-firm interrogations to take place since Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before a joint session of the Senate Commerce and Judiciary Committees in the immediate aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Google’s CEO is also expected to meet privately with some Republican lawmakers.

Google on Monday released a data privacy framework, suggesting companies limit data collection, be required to protect that data and give people control of and easy access to information collected about them.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai will also meet privately with top Republican members of Congress on Friday.

Google parent Alphabet has a checkered history of safeguarding privacy concerns, as Reuters points out:

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Freedom Where Did You Go?

September 22, 2018

Freedom Where Did You Go?

My Generation is the last one to have known privacy and to have lived out most of our lives in freedom.

I remember when driving licenses did not have photos and most certainly not fingerprints. A driving license was issued on proof of birth date alone.

Prior to the appearance of automobiles IDs did not exist in democratic nations. You were who you said you were.

The intrusive questions that accost us every day, even when doing something simple as reporting a telephone or Internet connection being out or inquiring about a credit card charge, were impermissible. I remember when you could telephone a utility company, for example, have the telephone answered no later than the third ring with a real person on the line who could clear up the problem in a few minutes without having to know your Social Security number and your mother’s maiden name. Today, after half an hour with robot voices asking intrusive questions you might finally get a real person somewhere in Asia who is controlled by such a tight system of rules that the person is, in effect, a robot. The person is not permitted to use any judgment or discretion and you listen to advertisements for another half hour while you wait for a supervisor who promises to have the matter looked into.

The minute you go online, you are subject to collection of information about yourself. You don’t even know it is being collected.

According to reports, soon our stoves, refrigerators, and microwave ovens will be reporting on us. The new cars already do.

When privacy disappears, there are no private persons. So what do people become? They become Big Brother’s subjects.

We are at that point now.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Thousands In Sweden Have Implanted Microchips Under Their Skin

May 20, 2018

Thousands In Sweden Have Implanted Microchips Under Their Skin

More than 3,000 people in Sweden have implanted tiny microchips beneath their skin to replace their credit card information, identification, keys, train tickets, among other everyday items, Agence France-Press announced Sunday.

The implant, which is about the size of a grain of rice, utilizes Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, also found in credit cards, debit cards, key fobs, and smartphones. This technology is considered “passive,” which means the microchip stores data that can be read by other devices but cannot read data themselves.

This might resemble an Orwellian nightmare to many, but in Sweden, residents are flocking to get these implanted microchips by “convenience over concerns of potential personal data violations,” AFP explained.

Governments in Europe quietly experimented with embedding the small chip in humans in 2015 in Sweden, and several other countries in the region, before the recent rollout.

“Swedes have gone on to be very active in microchipping, with scant debate about issues surrounding its use, in a country keen on new technology and where the sharing of personal information is held up as a sign of a transparent society,” AFP notes.

Ulrika Celsing is one of 3,000 Swedes with a microchip implanted in her hand — a process called “biohacking.” The 28-year-old told AFP, “It was fun to try something new and to see what one could use it for to make life easier in the future.”

Celsing explained that the microchip has turned into an “electronic handbag” and has even replaced her gym card.

She can even book a train ticket online, and then use her hand like a ticket to board a train.

Swedish rail company is trialing letting passengers use biometric chips as tickets. (Source: The Independent)

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The NSA Wants a Skeleton Key to Everyone’s Encrypted Data

April 15, 2018

The NSA Wants a Skeleton Key to Everyone’s Encrypted Data

Encryption can protect personal data from government intrusion, which means the government wants the key to break it.

Like it or not, you are your data. In this day and age, your receipts, social media activity, public records, GPS data, and internet search history are the proof of who you are. And while you may have thought you had secrets, the Federal Government would like the rest of them.

The seemingly innocuous pieces of information we trade away every day create a detailed mosaic of our lives used to target advertising and create personality profiles that are exploited by the FBI, political operatives like Cambridge Analytica, and Russian propagandists.

And those are just the legal shenanigans! Instances of malicious hacking that jeopardize social security numbers and other important data are on the rise as well.

But all hope is not lost! There is but one meaningful defense against such intrusions, one used by whistleblowers, banks, the government (often poorly), and college students: encryption.

Encryption Is Powerful, so Naturally the Government Wants to Control It

Encryption, to oversimplify, is the process of putting your data in a combination locked safe, and it’s becoming more popular. Like all passcodes, these combinations are best stored non-electronically.

Automatically encrypted search engines and internet services simplify the process for users. They protect individuals’ data from hacking, theft, and even the government, but they also retain a repository for all the combinations they use to lock data up.

This is the Trojan horse the NSA means to use to gain access to your private data even when it is encrypted.

But that may soon change.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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