The year we gave up on digital privacy
As a digital privacy reporter, I try to avoid sites and services that invade my privacy, collect my data, and track my actions. Then the pandemic came, and I threw…
Is Instagram Spying on Me? When Ad-targeting Gets Too Personal
This is not the first Instagram Spying story. There have been plenty of Instagram spying story in recent years about whether apps can listen to us or watch us. But…
The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities
Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. In each of these cities, The Intercept has identified an AT&T facility containing networking equipment that…
Fawkes protects your identity from facial recognition systems, pixel by pixel
A new tool has been proposed for cloaking our true identities when photos are posted online to prevent profiling through facial recognition systems. Deep learning tools and facial recognition software…
Invidious an open source front-end alternative to YouTube to avoid snooping
Invidious is an alternative front-end to YouTube that doesn't use the official YouTube API. Instead, it parses the YouTube site's source code to get the necessary information, similarly as projects…
How to become internet famous for $68
His eyes fume from his Twitter profile: he is Hollywood-handsome with high cheekbones and dirty blond, collar-length hair. Next to his name is one of social media’s most prized possessions,…
Three Interactive Tools for Understanding Police Surveillance
As law enforcement and government surveillance technology continues to become more and more advanced, it has also become harder for everyday people to avoid. Law enforcement agencies all over the…
A TikTok ban is the wrong solution for data privacy
First of all, a TikTok Ban is just plain un-American*. Russia bans apps when their leader doesn't like what people say on them. China bans apps when their leader doesn't…
Coffee machines, cuddly toys and cars: The Internet of Things devices that could put you at risk from hackers
Connected teddy bears, connected coffee machines and connected cars are just some of the unusual Internet of Things (IoT) devices being insecurely connected to corporate networks that could leave whole…
Working with PDFs in Python: Reading and Splitting Pages
Today, the Portable Document Format (PDF) belongs to the most commonly used data formats. In 1990, the structure of a PDF document was defined by Adobe. The idea behind the…