Shaun Nichols reports that although EFF touts the new Do Not Track standard, they admit that it suffers from the same fatal defect as its previous iteration: it’s voluntary: Site operators and advertisers have to enable their pages to recognize and respect the do-not-track policy. They do this by inserting code into their pages to…
Category: Online
How your phone’s battery life can be used to invade your privacy
Alex Hern reports: A little-known feature of the HTML5 specification means that websites can find out how much battery power a visitor has left on their laptop or smartphone – and now, security researchers have warned that that information can be used to track browsers online. Read more on The Guardian.
Jihadis threaten to slaughter British soldiers’ wives and families as police issue social media warning
Another cautionary tale about why you need to be careful about what you – or your children – share on social media. Chris Hughes reports: Families of British servicemen have been ordered to stop sharing personal details on social media after extremists threatened to kill a solider’s wife in a letter direct to their home. Police…
Your 23andMe DNA Can Be Used In Racist, Discriminatory Ways
Stephanie M. Lee reports: 23andMe bills itself as a company that “democratizes personal genetics” for the world. And that description’s not necessarily all that far off: For $99, customers spit into an at-home kit, mail it in, and then go online to learn about their ancestral origins and far-flung relatives. But consumers also get their…