I've finally been able to convince my band, Imbalance, to withdraw from facebook. From now on we will focus on our website (which of course is connected to the fediverse) for all social interactions and news!
https://imbalance.no/2024/03/we-will-no-longer-support-the-surveillance-capitalists/
Some drivers of General Motors cars, like these Chevrolet Bolts, may not realize that their driving data is being shared with insurance companies
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/technology/carmakers-driver-tracking-insurance.html
#privacy #BigData #surveillance #SurveillanceCapitalism #cars #automotive #insurance #spying #driving
More brilliance from our democracy-hating government: #UK #government keeping files on #education critics’ social media activity
The Department for Education is keeping files monitoring the social media activity of some of the country’s leading educational experts, the. At least nine experts have uncovered files held on them, some as long as 60 pages. One individual even discovered the department had compiled an Excel spreadsheet in which officials had detailed who she interacted with. Officials at the DfE also tried to cancel a conference because two of the scheduled speakers had previously criticised government policy.
More UK taxpayer money well spent. #surveillanceCapitalism
I don't know whether people know how much their rights are eroded by selling their privacy for convenience. Of course that's the case everywhere.
...closed this as completed...
A feature request was all that was needed! Why didn't somebody do this years ago? :)
#DismantleGoogle #SurveillanceCapitalism #WebEnvironmentIntegrity
noyb win: First major fine (€ 1 million) for using Google Analytics
Swedish data protection authority (IMY) issued decisions against four companies and imposed a fine of 12 mio SEK (1 mio Euro) against Tele2 and 300.000 SEK against CDON for using Google Analytics on their webpage. Although many other European authorities (e.g. Austria, France and Italy) already found that the use of Google Analytics violates the GDPR, this is the first financial penalty imposed on companies for using Google Analytics, despite the CJEU's rulings on EU-US data transfers.
Finally there's some small steps to start to enforce these rulings. Hoping that this will set a precedent and inspire more DPAs to follow suit.
Sometimes it becomes apparent that people around me live on a completely different planet than myself. A couple of days ago the marketing people at my $DAYJOB posted a nice happy blog post about how to use one of our products to easily integrate Google Analytics (from now on "the spyware") on a website.
When I told them that this seemed inappropriate as the spyware has been (rightfully) found to violate the GDPR and illegal by a growing number of DPA's in the EU, they didn't even know about it. And even worse they clearly don't believe me.
I'm not sure if this is pure (willful?) ignorance, or that they probably use the vendor of the spyware to find information on the web and mainly get their news via commercial spyware (aka "social media") that has the same business model. I do begin to wonder though.
Thanks to @noybeu@mastodon.social for thorough documentation of the issue, and especially the links to the original decisions by the DPA's.
I avoid Tik Tok because I hate centralized big tech surveillance capitalism companies and already have enough pangs of guilt about not being able to fully unplug from Facebook (and until this year Twitter). However we've known they have been as or more sketchy with their practices than Facebook for some time. The magnitude of how much worse they have been comes to light with each passing day. If I were you I would never install their app (or any of these companies' apps) on your device. I wouldn't create an account. At this point I wouldn't even navigate to links to videos someone shares with you. #tiktok #SurveillanceCapitalism #DeleteSurveillanceCapitalism #DeleteBigTech #DeleteTikTok https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2022/12/22/tiktok-tracks-forbes-journalists-bytedance/?sh=63ef0f957da5
I missed how neck deep into #SurveillanceCapitalism that Oracle was until today. JFC while Facebook/Meta, Twitter, Tik-Tok, and Google have been getting all the heat these assholes have been as or more nefarious. The one thing I'll give them props for is being the biggest contributor to OpenJDK. The rest is a steaming pile. https://www.iccl.ie/news/class-action-against-oracle/
This was predictable. Facebook/Meta is now encrypting the QP data so that Firefox and other privacy conscious browsers that strip the tracking data can't. Only way to avoid it is to not use Facebook at all. #DeleteFacebook #SurveillanceCapitalism https://www.ghacks.net/2022/07/17/facebook-has-started-to-encrypt-links-to-counter-privacy-improving-url-stripping/
Kampen om demokratin står inte minst i datorvärlden!
#demokrati #FLOSS
♲ Mark Lansbury - 2022-06-21 11:22:29 GMT
Brace yourselves: New UK Data Laws are Coming
The Government have just announced their plans to gut the UK General Data Protection Regulation.
They are proposing to bonfire your rights and remove the protections the law affords to your:- Private life
- Vulnerabilities
- Aspirations.This is but a natural product of poor proposals being discussed in a rigged consultation process.
Big multinational corporations, their lawyers, and corporate-funded think tanks were advising the Government on how to keep our data safe, courtesy of the “International Data Transfers Expert Council”.
At the same time, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport were taking care of ignoring the critical voices of civil society and ordinary citizens, in a delicate balance of arbitrary cherry-picking and a smokescreen of wishful thinking.
The outcome of such a shiny example of integrity in policymaking is rather damning.
According to what the Government have announced, individuals would lose protections against discrimination and abuses, only to get less choices in return.
Dodgy businesses would get their licence to be malicious, reckless, and to launder your personal data overseas, far from your eyes and those of the Regulators.
The cherry on the cake, the Information Commissioner’s Office (the Regulator) would be coopted by the same Government they should keep an eye on.
https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/brace-yourselves-new-uk-data-laws-are-coming/
#ToryDictatorship #SurveillanceCapitalism #privacy #security #GDPR #online #OnlinePrivacy #BigData #DataLaundering #ToryFascistDictatorship #ToryCorruption #ToryScum #ToryScumOut #GeneralStrike #OnlineSafety #BrexitFail #Brexit #BrexitIsNotWorking
Mobile Handset Privacy: Measuring The Data iOS and Android Send to Apple And Google
Douglas J. Leith
School of Computer Science & Statistics,
Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
25th March, 2021
... what data iOS on an iPhone shares with Apple and what data Google Android on a Pixel phone shares with Google. We find that even when minimally configured and the handset is idle both iOS and Google Android share data with Apple/Google on average every 4.5 mins.
The phone's
And more are shared with Apple and Google.
Both iOS and Google Android transmit telemetry, despite the user explicitly opting out of this.
When a SIM is inserted both iOS and Google Android send details to Apple/Google.
iOS sends the MAC addresses of nearby devices , e.g. other handsets and the home gateway, to Apple t_ogether with their GPS location_.
Currently there are few, if any, realistic options for preventing this data sharing. [Without replacing the operating system.
https://www.scss.tcd.ie/doug.leith/apple_google.pdf
#SurveillanceCapitalism #mobile #MobilePhones #phones #IOW #Android #Google #Apple #BigData #DataTheft #privacy #security #Orwellian
Fairly straightforward, drop in replacement: https://e.foundation/
#OpenSource #Free #degoogled
Today, I am sharing the news that after 14 years, I will be leaving Meta.
-- Sheryl Sandberg, formerly COO, Facebook
Pushed? Jumped? Couldn't hang on? Lured?
https://facebook.com/sheryl/posts/10166258399565177
#Facebook #SherylSandburg #FuckYouMarkZuckerberg #FuckYouSherylSandberg #SurveillanceCapitalism #Surveillance #Advertising #Recession #SocialMedia
... Ms West's decision to ditch her former smartphone two years ago was a spur of the moment thing. While looking for a replacement handset in a second-hand shop she was lured by the low price of a "brick phone".
Her current handset, from French firm MobiWire, cost her just £8. And because it has no smartphone functionality she doesn't have an expensive monthly data bill to worry about.
"I didn't notice until I bought a brick phone how much a smartphone was taking over my life," she says. "I had a lot of social media apps on it, and I didn't get as much work done as I was always on my phone." ...
And on cue, another article on the re-emergence of the dumb phone. I'd been engaged in a discussion with @tom grzyb and @Wayne Radinsky on the topic in this thread. The argument I made there was that various vendors are strongly incentivised to push increasingly user-hostile "smartphones" on the public for reasons which serve the vendors but not purchasers. It's nice to see some pushback.
https://diaspora.glasswings.com/posts/cc94cba07f2b013ae85028a1592b385a
When it comes to dumb phones, my principle issue isn't the phones but the system --- I don't want a device any idiot in the world can reach, but one that only the specifici idiots I wish to be able to reach me can. Phone spam has reached levels that the entire premise of universal direct-dial access is called into strong question.
And that's before the tracking and surveillance issues --- somewhat reduced with a dumb-phone, but you're still broadcasting your location whenever the device is on.
I would like a device to run interference between any more-trusted devices and the cellular network --- I'd rather have a tethered mobile data dongle than a SIM carded tablet or laptop. But I'd also prefer that mics and cameras be separable from my devices as well.
The problem of sorting out how to filter out all but selected call traffic is a major challenge, however.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60763168
#phones #smartphones #dumbphones #DeathOfTelephony #Privacy #Surveillance #SurveillanceCapitalism #distraction #attention
The man who sold the world... Wide Web. To #drm companies, #surveillanceCapitalism ... and the #pentagon https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/20/tim_bernerslee/ see http://techrights.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web_Consortium
#privacy violator #Mozilla -- funded by #SurveillanceCapitalism -- trying to lecture Europe on [Microsoft propaganda term] https://blog.mozilla.org/netpolicy/2022/01/20/european-parliament-green-lights-crucial-new-rulebook-for-big-tech/ don't say "Big Tech" http://techrights.org/2021/06/29/microsoft-behind-big-tech-narrative/
Why is #mozilla even looking for donations while bagging so much #surveillanceCapitalism cash from #gulag and paying the CEO like 20 times more than rational? https://www.notebookcheck.net/Mozilla-pauses-donations-using-cryptocurrencies-after-community-fallout.591581.0.html
● NEWS ● #PatrickBreyer #Privacy #Surveillance ☞ Digital Services Act: #IMCO report is a missed opportunity in the fight against #surveillancecapitalism on the Internet https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/digital-services-act-imco-report-is-a-missed-opportunity-in-the-fight-against-surveillance-capitalism-on-the-internet/
