information

The head of controversial messaging app Telegram says it will now comply with some legal requests for information about users. Russian business owner Pavel Durov announced the policy change just weeks after being arrested in France and charged with ... enabling criminal activity. Telegram is a messaging app similar to WhatsApp in that the content of messages is encrypted, to the point that even the operators of the app can't read private messages. It has a couple of significant differences that likely affect the type of people that use it, however. One is that unlike WhatsApp's limit of 1,000 ... (view more)

Google has revealed a series of measures aimed to better inform US voters while reducing the risk of malicious misinformation. It includes restrictions on its AI tools and better protection against cyber attacks for election and campaign officials. ... The measures broadly break down into three categories. The first is better information for users who are trying to find out more about elections. For example, users who search YouTube for the name of an election candidate will get an information panel detailing official website and video channel links for the candidate. (Source: engadget.com ) ... (view more)

The FCC has launched "broadband labels" to help consumers compare different packages and providers. The labels are modeled on those used for nutritional information. The idea is to help consumers make more informed decisions about choosing a ... provider. The problem is that often it's a lack of choice that's the biggest barrier to getting good value Internet services. Most providers will need to start displaying the labels from this month, though those with fewer than 100,000 subscribers have until October to comply. Customers can complain to the FCC about missing or inaccurate labels. The FCC ... (view more)

DNA and ancestry site 23andMe has admitted nearly 7 million customers are affected by a data breach. Both the breach itself and the way the site organizes its data contributed to what could be a legal disaster for the company. 23andMe is named after ... the number of segments of DNA that people share with each parent. The service involves customer submitting a DNA sample to be used either to check for genetic health conditions, get information about ancestry such as ethnic origin, or both. Customers can also agree to be put in touch with other customers when a DNA match suggest a possible family ... (view more)

A police department has warned parents of a new iPhone feature it says could allow shady people to get contact details for children. However, tech experts say the police claim is overblown at best and misleading at worst. The feature is called Name ... Drop and is in the latest version of iOS. It should now be running on most iPhones released in the past 15 years. The feature is also in many models of the Apple Watch. According to the Watertown, Connecticut Police Department, writing on Facebook: "With the new Apple update 'NameDrop' is enabled by default. With this feature enabled, anyone ... (view more)

It's no secret that advertisers and other groups buy and sell data about people's Internet use. But a new report says the information is far more detailed and specific than realized. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) says it's much easier ... than people realized to identify specific individuals, in some cases threatening national security. The data isn't hacked or stolen, but rather made available to people bidding for online advertising slots and trying to reach a particular auction. The basics of how this work are well known. Legitimate online businesses track users online but don't ... (view more)

Fujitsu has proposed an "endorsement layer" on top of the Internet to tackle bogus information. It's an idea that would certainly face both technological and societal challenges. The idea comes in a white paper (a report designed to provoke ... discussion) written alongside Keio University in Japan. It explores the idea of a "trustable Internet in which people can use information securely." (Source: kaeio.ac.jp ) The concept is simple, if abstract. The writers propose a system that "overlays a layer on the Internet, which has a mechanism to confirm the credibility of the ... (view more)

Google is making it easier for people to remove web pages with their personal contact details from search results. It won't remove them from web pages, but may make it less likely people will come across them. The policy makes information less ... visible in two ways. Firstly, it stops it appearing on the search results page through the extracts from the relevant pages. Secondly, it may make it less likely the page that hosts the content will appear in a search result. While Google is legally required to remove some personal information from search results under European privacy laws, it goes a ... (view more)

Google has started including detailed privacy information about the Android apps in the official Play Store. It's up to developers to fill out the details and Google won't be checking them in advance. The listings page for each app will now have a ... summary box listing key data privacy and security details. Users can then click or tap through to see more detailed information. The box will note how many types of data the app collects, whether it is stored in encrypted form, and whether user can easily delete it. It will also list if the developer has put the app through an independent privacy ... (view more)

Amazon has apologized after its digital assistant Alexa told a 10-year old to connect a coin to a power socket. While there's a simple explanation, it raises even more questions. The girl's mother said she had previously been watching YouTube videos ... with a variety of safe physical challenges, then used voice control to ask an Alexa-enabled device for a "challenge to do." To the mother's shock, the device replied "The challenge is simple: plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs." Fortunately the mother heard the reply, though she says ... (view more)