Tag Archives: Privacy

It won’t come as a surprise to anyone with the slightest bit of skepticism or, indeed, two brain cells to rub together that Google’s replacement for cookies, FLoC, is a privacy nightmare. Google, of course, is touting the system as … Continue reading →

We haven’t talked about the Iron Law for a while so here’s an example of its action on steroids. This story is about Britain’s National Health Service and their contemplated betrayal of their patients’ privacy. I’m an American so I … Continue reading →

Remember years ago when we used to say, “Google is your friend?” Younger readers may never have heard it or know what it means but in any event, those days are long gone—gone to the same place that “Don’t be … Continue reading →

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has fallen on hard times. The Internet, email, FedEx, and UPS have been eating their lunch for years. It’s not hard to see why. A first class letter costs 55¢ with delivery time measured in … Continue reading →

If you’re an American, the government can’t take your stuff without a legal finding of wrongdoing on your part. That’s what most Americans believe but they’re wrong. The government can, and does, confiscate citizens’ property without legal proceedings or even … Continue reading →

The other day, I saw this disturbing post on Daring Fireball. The TL;DR is that Procter & Gamble (P&G) has been working with several Chinese trade and advertising groups to develop and test a way of bypassing Apple’s upcoming iOS … Continue reading →

This wants to be a Red Meat Friday item but it’s not Friday and there’s not really any red meat since everyone—but Zuckerberg, perhaps—is totally onboard with this. So no red meat but all the schadenfreude you can eat. Of … Continue reading →

One, not so bad, consequence of covid19 is that we haven’t heard much from the TSA and its shenanigans. That doesn’t mean, however, that they haven’t been busy violating people’s rights. You’d think that traveling domestically with cash is legal … Continue reading →

Over at the MIT Technology Review, Karen Hao has a seemingly promising article with the enticing title How to poison the data that Big Tech uses to surveil you. I read the article with great anticipation hoping it would provide … Continue reading →

It’s unlikely that any sentient being in the known universe, let alone any Irreal reader, is unaware of the squabble raging between Apple and Facebook over Apple’s forthcoming iOS change that will require apps to ask a user’s permission before … Continue reading →