• Zoom reaches deal with New York AG to better protect its users

    Zoom reaches deal with New York AG to better protect its users

    Zoom has reached a deal with New York regulators to better protect users from “Zoom-bombing” and other security problems. The Thursday pact with the state attorney general’s office marks the videoconferencing company’s latest effort to address mounting concerns about the security and privacy of its platform, which has become a crucial tool during the coronavirus …
  • Apple and Google take steps to ensure privacy as coronavirus tracking rolls out

    Apple and Google take steps to ensure privacy as coronavirus tracking rolls out

    In rolling out their coronavirus tracking system to developers, Apple and Google have confirmed that it will ban location tracking by other official apps. But the decision, which prioritizes privacy and preventing governments from using the system to compile data on citizens, could complicate things for state governments looking to track coronavirus outbreaks. State governments …
  • Big Company, Big Government, Big Brother? Privacy after Covid-19

    Big Company, Big Government, Big Brother? Privacy after Covid-19

    The COVID-19 pandemic will be a history-altering event. But where will it take us? One theory of governance is that democracies only make major changes when confronted with a crisis. It is too early to conclude whether Covid-19 was such a crisis, but the immediate response to it was a rebalancing, perhaps temporary, of individual …
  • Hawley Urges AG Barr to Launch Antitrust Probe into Amazon over ‘Predatory and Exclusionary Data Practices’

    Hawley Urges AG Barr to Launch Antitrust Probe into Amazon over ‘Predatory and Exclusionary Data Practices’

    Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) asked attorney general Bill Barr to open a criminal antitrust probe into Amazon following reports that the tech giant was illicitly accessing third-party seller data, a violation of official company policy designed to boost its own products. “Amazon abuses its position as an online platform and collects detailed data about …
  • Zoom will let users report ‘Zoom-bombing’ straight from the app

    Zoom will let users report ‘Zoom-bombing’ straight from the app

    Zoom is rolling out a new feature to help users fight pervs and trolls who hijack their video meetings. The videoconferencing company said it will put a new button in its app to let meeting hosts report misbehaving users directly to Zoom’s “Trust and Safety team,” which will evaluate the problem and block the offending …
  • How Coronavirus Destroy Privacy

    How Coronavirus Destroy Privacy

    Technology to track and monitor individuals aims to slow pandemic, but raises concerns about government overreach. In South Korea, investigators scan smartphone data to find within 10 minutes people who might have caught the coronavirus from someone they met. Israel has tapped its Shin Bet intelligence unit, usually focused on terrorism, to track down potential …
  • Singapore allows teachers to use Zoom again after pervy breaches

    Singapore allows teachers to use Zoom again after pervy breaches

    Officials in Singapore are reportedly letting teachers use Zoom again after intruders allegedly crashed at least one online class last week. The southeast Asian country’s Ministry of Education said teachers will “progressively” resume use of the videoconferencing service with extra security measures in place for at-home lessons amid a coronavirus lockdown, according to local news …
  • Lawsuit claims Zoom illegally shared user data with Facebook

    Lawsuit claims Zoom illegally shared user data with Facebook

    Zoom illegally gave Facebook its users’ personal data without telling them, according to a new lawsuit against the teleconferencing company that has seen its business surge amid the coronavirus pandemic. The company failed to tell users that it gave Facebook and “and possibly other third parties” access to personal information it collected whenever they installed …
  • Zoom’s Chinese virus boom raises privacy concerns

    Zoom’s Chinese virus boom raises privacy concerns

    Teleconferencing company Zoom is drawing scrutiny as a result of its coronavirus-fueled business boom. Internet-rights advocates say they want Zoom, which has been overwhelmed with demand in the wake of the viral outbreak, to start publishing a transparency report detailing its data security practices, including how it responds to governments seeking to crack down on …