Privacy
Why Facebook Shutting Down Its Old Facial Recognition System Doesn’t Matter
Facebook just made a big deal of shutting down its original facial recognition system. But the company’s pivot to the metaverse means collecting more personal information than ever before.
Emily Baker-White
Why Paris Hilton Disappeared
The party-girl heiress who defined aughts celebrity culture never made the leap to an age of reality stardom where nothing is private, and everything is content.
Alessa Dominguez
How Indian Kids Raised Without Personal Space Became Adults Who Don't Care About Privacy
As the courts decide whether Indians have a "right to privacy," the real battle rages on in living rooms and principal's offices.
Aroon Deep
Police In At Least 24 Countries Have Used Clearview AI. Find Out Which Ones Here.
As of February 2020, 88 law enforcement and government-affiliated agencies in 24 countries outside the United States have tried to use controversial facial recognition technology Clearview AI, according to a BuzzFeed News investigation.
Ryan Mac
Big Tech Thought It Had A Billion Users In The Bag. Now It Might Be Forced To Make Hard Choices To Get Them.
Long viewed as the world’s biggest market for “the next billion users,” India is fast becoming Silicon Valley’s biggest headache.
Pranav Dixit
A Clearview AI Patent Application Describes Facial Recognition For Dating And Identifying People Who Are Unhoused Or Use Drugs
A patent unveiled on Thursday describes several potential uses for Clearview AI, such as creating networks for people in industries like real estate or retail to “share headshots of high-risk individuals.”
Caroline Haskins
Venmo Is Ditching Its Public Feed. But It Still Needs To Do More.
The payments platform still needs to make friends and transactions private by default.
Katie Notopoulos
If You Have Venmo, Do This Now: Make Friends Private
Pete Buttigieg, Antony Blinken, and other Biden Cabinet officials were recently exposing their personal information on the payments app. Here's how you can make your account safer.
Katie Notopoulos
Venmo Exposes All The Old Profile Photos You Thought Were Gone
Old photos on Venmo, which is owned by PayPal, are easily exposed on its website. There’s no way to delete them or make a profile private.
Katie Notopoulos
We Found Joe Biden’s Secret Venmo. Here’s Why That’s A Privacy Nightmare For Everyone.
The peer-to-peer payments app leaves everyone from ordinary people to the most powerful person in the world exposed.
Ryan Mac
People Are Really Mad About Facebook's Changes To WhatsApp's Privacy Policies
And they are moving to Signal and Telegram as a result.
Pranav Dixit
DHS Authorities Are Buying Moment-By-Moment Geolocation Cellphone Data To Track People
The Department of Homeland Security also argues that using the information is perfectly legal and that the agency does not need a warrant to purchase it, according to a memo obtained exclusively by BuzzFeed News.
Hamed Aleaziz
Amazon Just Released A Ring Camera That Flies Around Your House
It also released a new Ring car alarm, a car cam to monitor break-ins, a new version of the Echo, and more.
Pranav Dixit
Elizabeth Warren Wants To Know Why This Company Was Spying On BLM Protesters
A group of Democratic lawmakers is demanding answers about protester surveillance conducted by data broker Mobilewalla.
Caroline Haskins
Almost 17,000 Protesters Had No Idea A Tech Company Was Tracing Their Location
Data company Mobilewalla used cellphone information to estimate the demographics of protesters. Sen. Elizabeth Warren says it’s “shady” and concerning.
Caroline Haskins
Workers Around The World Are Already Being Monitored By Digital Contact Tracing Apps
Coronavirus contact tracing apps aren’t government-mandated. But they may be employer-mandated.
Caroline Haskins
Qatar Has Made Its Coronavirus Contact Tracing App Mandatory
Citizens and residents will be required to download the Ehteraz app when “leaving the house for any reason.”
Megha Rajagopalan
Here's Why Some Professional Photographers Are Making Their Instagram Accounts Private
The judge said Instagram's terms of service are clear.
Kate Bubacz
For A Billion Indians, The Government’s Voluntary Contact Tracing App Might Actually Be Mandatory
Aarogya Setu, which more than 75 million Indians have downloaded, might soon become more than a contact tracing app.
Pranav Dixit
We Need An “Army” Of Contact Tracers To Safely Reopen The Country. We Might Get Apps Instead.
Without enough human contact tracers to identify infected people, the US is barreling toward a digital solution, and possible disaster.
Caroline Haskins
Ontario Has Given Its Police Access To People's COVID-19 Test Data
A civil liberties group says the order violates the privacy of Ontarians.
Lauren Strapagiel
UPDATE: The Company Running An Oregon Online Coronavirus Symptom Tracker Now Says It Won't Sell Your Data To Advertisers
The privacy policy for Vital's coronavirus symptom tracker for Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington counties had previously reserved the right to sell residents' personal data.
Caroline Haskins
Google Told Its Workers That They Can’t Use Zoom On Their Laptops Anymore
Zoom has exploded in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic while also coming under fire over security issues.
Pranav Dixit
The Coronavirus Pandemic Has Set Off A Massive Expansion Of Government Surveillance. Civil Libertarians Aren't Sure What To Do.
As nations around the world take on sweeping new powers to fight the disease, critics aren't sure what's necessary and what's too far.
Rosie Gray
Amazon Bought A Router Company You've Never Heard Of. It's A Huge Deal.
Experts are concerned about what Amazon’s acquisition of Eero means for consumer privacy.
Nicole Nguyen
Venmo Users Are Being Inundated With Payment Requests From Strangers
Spammers are targeting Venmo users who show up in the app’s public feed and flooding them with dozens of payment requests.
Nicole Nguyen
Investigative Genealogy Helped Police Catch Serial Killers And Rapists. Now Cases Are Going Unsolved.
Investigative genealogy has been celebrated as one of the biggest crime-fighting breakthroughs in decades, but privacy concerns have all but ground its use to a halt.
Salvador Hernandez
India Is Creating A National Facial Recognition System, And Critics Are Afraid Of What Will Happen Next
“Unless we all get plastic surgery at the same time, there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Pranav Dixit
Instagram Won’t Say Whether It Will Protect The Identity Of An Anonymous Account Sharing #MeToo Allegations
Emails seen by BuzzFeed News show that Instagram offered support and reassurances to anonymous accounts naming sexual harassers — and then walked back when the courts got involved.
Nishita Jha
Boris Johnson Secretly Asked For A Massive Amount Of User Data To Be Tracked. Dominic Cummings Said It’s “TOP PRIORITY”.
Leaked documents show the prime minister’s chief adviser emailed senior officials instructing them: “We must get this stuff finalised ASAP.”
Alex Spence
