Digital world

  iPhone maker Apple has just made a shocking turn of events by confirming how its approach to tackling explicit and child abuse materials, better known as CSAM scanning, could be abused. The company highlights how repressive governments might use it for scanning ordeals such as plans related to political protests. The Cupertino firm rejected any reasoning provided during that period. But one ironic twist did take center stage after a reply was put forward to the government of Australia recently. Apple mentioned how it had planned to roll out on-device scan plans with the help of techniques used for digital fingerprinting. Those fingerprints are a means to match certain pictures without any individual getting the chance to view them. They’re designed to be used in a very fuzzy manner to match certain pictures that were cropped or edited while giving rise to a small number of false positives. To be a little more clear in this regard, Apple confirmed how its recent proposal was an ap...

  It’s quite common for firms to make amendments to privacy policies as well as their terms of service agreements without going public about the news. But the  FTC has vowed to take serious action  against those who opt to breach the law, adding how such actions will no longer be tolerated for obvious reasons. Calling the matter deceptive and unfair, they feel the amendments are against the law and that’s especially true as it gives companies access to user data that can be exploited as per the FTC's latest argument. The FTC added how all those competing in the industry must notify the regulatory body and avoid the practice, to begin with as they risk breaking the law, as revealed in their latest blog post. The FTC also mentioned how the number of incidents entailing the collection of user data from the web for the sake of training AI algorithms continues to peak as we speak and that’s alarming for obvious reasons. So many organizations are now resorting to the likes of u...

  The story of Apple’s lawsuit against the NSO Group, which is the name of the organization that created the notorious Pegasus spyware, has just seen its first victory in favor of the tech juggernaut. The group had been trying to get the lawsuit brought to Israel, its home country, but in spite of the fact that this is the case, a judge refused to dismiss the lawsuit, which makes it so that the legal proceedings will occur on Apple’s turf with all things having been considered and taken into account. According to the statement  put out by Judge Donato, Apple will end up experiencing similar challenges to the NSO Group if the lawsuit was sent to the Israeli justice system, and the overall burden will be more or less the same. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that witnesses and evidence are going to be equally available regardless of the country in which the case is tried, and NSO wasn’t able to provide any reasonable factors that...

  Seeing scammers and imposters arise on social media is now a norm in the online world. But you’d expect tech giants like Meta to do more to help safeguard its users online by getting rid of fake profiles. However, the reality seems to be far from that as many noticed the number of fake profiles surging across the Instagram app. In the past year, we’ve seen the issue go from bad to worse and the app’s parent firm is really falling behind in terms of finding a solution to the matter, despite there being many signs that a certain profile is making use of another’s identity or image. An investigation was also carried out by tech media outlet  Bleeping Computer  on this front and they noticed how a large number of reports were filed against such scam accounts featuring fake IDs and they were impersonating internet personalities or other public figures but ended up getting dismissed by the admin. Clearly, it’s a huge issue and no appeal made a difference, not to mention how t...

  Surfshark  recently did a deep dive into the top 100 most popular apps on the App Store, and they found that 20% of the data they are collecting is for tracking purposes with all things having been considered and taken into account. These apps were ranked based on 32 data points that they are currently in the process of collecting, all of which are defined by Apple’s privacy policy. Facebook and Instagram were found to be the least privacy conscious apps of all. They collect all 32 data points, all of which are tied to the identity of the user in question, and 7 of which are used specifically for tracking purposes. These include data points such as names, home addresses as well as phone numbers, which seems to suggest that these apps offer far less privacy than users would ideally prefer. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that X, formerly known as Twitter, was also a major offender in this regard. It collected fewer data points...

  AirTag from Apple is another name for a Bluetooth tracker that is designed to ensure users can keep track of their devices and belongings at all times. However many questions have been raised in terms of how it manages to balance security and user privacy at the same time. Some reports have suggested how AirTag can be a balancing act as the last thing you need is for the tool to track your whereabouts and lead others in on the sensitive information. After all, who needs stalking when the world is already so unsafe as it is? The latest research paper  discussing this aspect has led to a world of new possibilities in terms of how security and privacy can be further enhanced, giving users the best of both worlds with no compromise on their safety. The balance is certainly not easy but the goal can be achieved with a few changes, the experts mentioned. There are some major differences between calling for privacy when on the move and the need for spotting out rogue AirTags. When ...