Educational

Facebook and Twitter have advised Damian Collins, the chair of the UK Parliament's digital, culture, media, and sport committee, that the companies will hand over some information relating to the rearch of Russia-backed posts during the EU referendum. Facebook has already given the US Senate similar

In 2017, Grindr, which at the time was available in 192 countries, began implementing new privacyimplementing new privacy protection measures in order to help protect its users in anti-gay countries such as those in the Middle East and Africa. Among them: users will be able to to change the Grindr

Recognising that many parents will be considering purchasing connected toys and other devices for their children, for Christmas 2017 the UK's Information Commissioner's Office issued a list of 12 guidelines for assessing products before purchasing. These include: research the product's security

A recent study from the Yale Privacy lab and Exodus Privacy founds dozens of invasive trackers hidden in common Android apps. However, the method the researchers used, which involved writing code to expose the internal workings of the devices they tested, is legally barred under the US Digital

Our usual image of online advertising is that we are one of millions whose data is being examined by a large, remote organisation - a government or major company. Research from the University of Washington has found that anyone equipped with time, determination, and a relatively small budget of $1

Some of the Google Home Mini units distributed before release to the tech press and at "Made By Google" events had a defective touch panel. The devices were meant to turn on recording only when the owner woke it up with "OK, Google" or applied a long press to the centre of the touch panels. Instead

Widespread controversy resulted when users discovered in April 2017 that the little-known data company Slice Intelligence was passing anonymised data derived from scanning users' email inboxes to the ride-hailing company Uber. The story illustrates both the power of anonymous data and the complex

Websites have long used third-party analytics scripts to collect information about how visitors use their sites. In November 2017, researchers at Princeton found that an increasing number of sites use "session replay" scripts that collect every action the user performs while on the site, including

Among the friends Facebook recommended to Kashmir Hill as people she might know was Rebecca Porter, to the best of her knowledge a total stranger. Because Hill was studying how the "black box" of Facebook recommendations worked, she contacted Porter to ask what the connection might be. To her

Logitech's announcement that it would end service and support for its Harmony Link devices in 2018 sparked online outrage after consumers realised this meant the devices would be disabled and that only those with devices still under warranty would get free replacements. Logitech has since said it

In 2017, Amazon was granted a patent has been granted a patent, first filed in 2012, on a mechanism that allows retailers to intercept network requests such as URLs and search terms on in-store wifi and either block shoppers from conducting online price comparisons or offer them discount coupons or

Sonos, which makes connected home sound systems, has told its customers that they will not be able to opt out of a new privacy policy launched in August 2017 that allows the company to begin collecting audio settings, errors, and other account data. Customers can opt out of sending some types of

Owners of the Hong Kong-based sex toy company Lovense's vibrators who installed the company's remote control app were surprised to discover that the app was recording user sessions without their knowledge. They had authorised the app to use the phone's built-in microphone and camera, but only for

On September 11, 2017, while Florida residents were evacuating during the approach of Hurricane Irma, Tesla rolled out a real-time software update that increased the battery capacity of some of its Model S sedans and Model X SUVs. The update extended the vehicles' range, enabling drivers to travel

The UK consumer watchdog Which? has called on retailers to stop selling popular connected toys it says have proven security issues. These include Hasbro's Furby Connect, Vivid Imagination's I-Que robot, and Spiral Toys' Cloudpets and Toy-fi Teddy. In its report, Which? found that these toys do not

The UK Information Commissioner's Office has published policy guidelines for big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning and their interaction with data protection law. Applying data protection principles becomes more complex when using these techniques. The volume of data, the ways it's