Ry Crist reports: Ring, the Amazon-owned video doorbell and home security company, came under renewed criticism from privacy activists this month after disclosing it gave video footage to police in more than 10 cases without users’ consent thus far in 2022 in what it described as “emergency situations.” That includes instances where the police didn’t have a…
Category: Business
These Companies Know When You’re Pregnant—And They’re Not Keeping It Secret
Shoshana Wodinsky and Kyle Barr report: A Gizmodo investigation into some of the nation’s biggest data brokers found more than two dozen promoting access to datasets containing digital information on millions of pregnant and potentially pregnant people across the country. At least one of those companies also offered a large catalogue of people who were…
Spotify’s new personalized playlist will recommend tracks based on what your friends are listening to
Aisha Malik reports: Spotify is launching a new personalized playlist called “Friends Mix” to give users a way to discover new tracks based on the Blends they’ve created with with their friends. The streaming service’s Blend tool allows two Spotify users to see where their musical tastes overlap by mixing together their favorite songs to…
After Huge Illuminate Data Breach, Ed Tech’s ‘Student Privacy Pledge’ Under Fire
Mark Keierleber writes: A few months after education leaders at America’s largest school district announced that a technology vendor had exposed sensitive student information in a massive data breach, the company at fault — Illuminate Education — was recognized with the software industry’s equivalent of the Oscars. Since that disclosure in New York City schools, the scope of…