...Google is actually sending ads that look like emails directly into the inboxes of at least some Gmail subscribers. This new "feature" was noticed by some users...
Buyers of new iPhones are currently languishing in limbo as their phones are unable to be activated.
... the London-based marketing firm behind the smart trash cans, bills the Wi-Fi tracking as being "like Internet cookies in the real world" (see the promotional video below). In a press release, it boasts of the data-collection prowess of the cans' embedded Renew "ORB" technology, which captures the unique media access control (MAC) address of smartphones that belong to passersby. During a one-week period in June, just 12 cans, or about 10 percent of the company's fleet, tracked more than 4 million devices and allowed company marketers to map the "footfall" of their owners within a 4-minute walking distance to various stores.
Unparalleled insight into past behavior
"The consolidated data of the beta testing highlights the significance of the Renew ORB technology as a powerful tool for corporate clients and retailers," the Renew press release states. "It provides an unparalleled insight into the past behavior of unique devices-entry/exit points, dwell times, places of work, places of interest, and affinity to other devices-and should provide a compelling reach database for predictive analytics (likely places to eat, drink, personal habits, etc.)."
Historically, Microsoft has used user privacy in its marketing against Google, a company known for collecting massive amounts of data about its users. Since the PRISM program was revealed, Microsoft has tried hard to regain customer trust. But with the latest leak, it seems that Microsoft's promises about user security are nothing but empty words.
When Microsoft's Outlook.com portal was being created, abandoning the Hotmail name, the NSA became concerned that Outlook.com would block out government surveillance since the email service employed the use of encrypted chats. A newsletter dated December 26th, 2012 showed that Microsoft was working with the FBI to create a work-around for this issue.
Another newsletter states, "For Prism collection against Hotmail, Live, and Outlook.com emails will be unaffected because Prism collects this data prior to encryption." This means Microsoft was giving the government access to data before encryption, a far cry from its claims that it only handed over data when warranted.
Microsoft continued to work with the NSA to collect even more warrantless data from the company's SkyDrive cloud storage service. The leaked document shows that the NSA was allowed access to SkyDrive data without a separate request to the SSO (Special Source Operations) division.
Skype, with its 663 million global users, served as a treasure trove of data for the NSA as monitoring has tripled since July 2012. Before this date, Skype audio was recorded without problems but video proved harder to intercept. With Microsoft's aid, "The audio portions of these sessions have been processed correctly all along, but without the accompanying video. Now, analysts will have the complete 'picture'," the report writes.
f you happen to send an email to one of the 400 million people who use Google's Gmail service, you shouldn't have any expectation of privacy, according to a court briefing obtained by the Consumer Watchdog website.
In a motion filed last month by Google to have a class action complaint dismissed, Google's lawyers reference a 1979 ruling, holding that people who turn over information to third parties shouldn't expect that information to remain private.
The development of new smartphone technology that constantly records your private conversations in addition to all ambient background noise in order to "detect your moods" could mean the NSA might not have to bother with tapping actual phone calls at all in future.
The McAfee anti-virus and security company is currently engaged in a malicious, slanderous defamation campaign against Natural News. Although the Natural News website contains no malicious code whatsoever (and has passed numerous security scans with a clean bill of health), it is being flagged by McAfee as a "malicious" website that "poses especially hazardous risks to a user's computer security." (See screen shots below.)
The McAfee Site Advisor website claims, about NaturalNews.com, "We tested it and found security risks. Beware."
Pretty sad, really. Someone gave Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson Google Glass to try out in training camp, and he comes away very impressed with the latest technology. At the start of the video, he's being taught how to take pictures with a voice command. After some minor technical difficulties, the excercise works and Johnson says, with a big grin on his face, "Wow, that's crazy!" Later, Johnson is playing catch with fellow teammate Brad Smith, and the resulting video looks like something you'd see in a video game. Next up, Johnson starts signing autographs for a bunch of fans, one of which notices the new technology. When asked about it, the star receiver says, "They're crazy. They're fresh. Check the Buffalo Bills website to see yourself on it."
