If the Ashley Madison hack was an inside job, then it shows that even strong protection against outside attacks isn’t necessarily enough to prevent a leak of private data.
Everyone wants to get their hands on it.
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Analyzing big data sets holds the promise of big insights. But the axiom “garbage in, garbage out” is particularly apt, since conclusions can be only as good as the raw data itself.
Tell no one… that we’ve just lost all your data.
ALM
David Anderson’s report on surveillance isn’t a charter for online privacy but it could create problems for a government set on capturing all our data.
Nothing sinister, just taking a quick peek.
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Researchers are tapping into some of the massive amounts data collected these days, which could include information about you. But how do they protect your privacy?
The government can’t read your email, but it will be able to find out where you sent it to and from.
Paul Downey/Flickr
In the future it will be possible to donate our personal data to charitable causes. All sorts of data is recorded about us as we go about our daily lives – what we buy, where we go, who we call on the…
The consent policies of popular websites would take a month to read. Perhaps including a sign like this would be a simpler solution.
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We live in a world increasingly dominated by our personal data. Some of those data we choose to reveal, for example, through social media, email and the billions – yes, billions – of messages, photos and…
When the sun sets on Patriot, what will spy agencies do?
Roving Eye 365/Flickr
Last week a proposal called the Freedom Act was defeated in the US Senate. The Freedom Act was to restrict whole-of-population collection of communications data which is currently permitted under the Patriot…
No longer a ‘hipster thing’ … even governments are embracing typewriters.
Christian Gonzalez/Flickr
In writing, music, photography and other areas, “outdated” technologies have initially been valued for their retro, nostalgic appeal in the hipster culture. Vinyl is one of the most notable technologies…
Don’t look a big data gift horse in the mouth.
Horse graphic by Yganko/Shutterstock
There have been so many leaks, hacks and scares based on misuse or misappropriation of personal data that any thought that “big data” could provide benefits rather than only opportunities for harm may…
With the progressive delegation of human decisions to machines we need to consider the impact on human autonomy.
phloxii/shutterstock
Autonomous vehicles, or self-driving cars, are likely to be seen more widely on roads in 2015. Already, legislation authorising the use of autonomous vehicles has been introduced in the US states of Nevada…
What data from telcos and tech companies does the government want handed over?
Flickr/Nic McPhee
Governments around the world want to know a lot about who we are and what we’re doing online and they want communications companies to help them find it. We don’t know a lot about when companies hand over…
Uhh, your profile said you were blond.
Heartlover1717
Online daters continue to express outrage about the revelation that OkCupid has been experimenting on users by telling them they matched well with people they had nothing in common with to see if they…