Tag Archives: Privacy

The GCHQ’s Need for Bulk Hacking has “Evolved”

Posted on 2018-12-10 by jcs

In what could be considered a corollary to The Iron Law of Data Collection1, the UK’s GCHQ (their version of the American NSA) has informed Parliament that their use of bulk device hacking—originally promised to be used sparingly only in … Continue reading →

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The Ignorant, The Stupid, and The Insane

Posted on 2018-12-06 by jcs

Every Irreal reader knows, I’m sure, about the proposed encryption—anti-encryption is more accurate—law that the Australian Government is trying to push through Parliament. When it was first proposed, I thought that it was another case of politicians being ignorant of … Continue reading →

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Microsoft Data Collection

Posted on 2018-12-01 by jcs

I don’t get it. I. Just. Don’t. Get. It. A recent study commissioned by the Dutch Government found that Microsoft was collecting individual user data from the enterprise version of Office 365 including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook without any … Continue reading →

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Nothing To Hide

Posted on 2018-11-28 by jcs

One of the tiresome and annoying things that the uninformed say about privacy issues is, “I have nothing to hide.” The idea, of course, is that, “I’m not a criminal or a terrorist so (1) no one will bother surveilling … Continue reading →

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More Trouble for Adtech

Posted on 2018-11-26 by jcs

If you’re like me and really, really hate Adtech and those who push it, I have some good news. After the GDPR went into effect, advertisers had to have your explicit, informed, and affirmative consent to collect personal information about … Continue reading →

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Adtech Prepares for a Big Hit

Posted on 2018-11-11 by jcs

A series of complaints targeting user information gatherers, data brokers, and third party users of that information could portend a tsunami bearing down on the adtech industry. In what could be the first test of whether GDPR enforcement is going … Continue reading →

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De-Googlifying Your Life

Posted on 2018-11-09 by jcs

I came across a post from Kev Quirk on why he was ditching his Android phone. He’s trading it in for an iPhone SE. The TL;DR is that Quirk tired of having Google pry into his life and record everything … Continue reading →

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Matt Green Gives Up Chrome

Posted on 2018-10-26 by jcs

Matt Green, whom Irreal has mentioned many times (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10), is a cryptographer at Johns Hopkins with an interest in user privacy. He’s also a long-time Google Chrome user. But now Green … Continue reading →

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Mike Elgan on Google

Posted on 2018-10-18 by jcs

I’ve been reading Mike Elgan since his article on the New Bedouins in 2007. He still writes about technology but is increasingly focusing on traveling to exotic places and sampling their food and wine. One of his latest posts on … Continue reading →

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Things I Don’t Miss

Posted on 2018-09-19 by jcs

I just upgraded to Safari 12.0. I’ve been looking forward to it because Apple has greatly expanded the anti-tracking measures in the new Safari. Apparently the extension framework has changed because one of my extensions was deleted and the other … Continue reading →

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