Christina Tabacco writes: On Monday, the plaintiff pursuing a Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) suit against Patreon Inc., an online membership business that features exclusive video content subscribers can pay for monthly, pointed the court to a favorable decision rendered in another VPPA case. There, the District of Massachusetts upheld the complaint over Boston Globe Media Partners…
Tour Amazon’s dream home, where every appliance is also a spy
Geoffrey A. Fowler reports: You may not realize all the ways Amazon is watching you. No other Big Tech company reaches deeper into domestic life. Two-thirds of Americans who shop on Amazon own at least one of its smart gadgets, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. Amazon now makes (or has acquired) more than two…
“Don’t spy on a privacy lab” (and other career advice for university provosts)
Cory Doctorow writes: This is a wild and hopeful story: grad students at Northeastern successfully pushed back against invasive digital surveillance in their workplace, through solidarity, fearlessness, and the bright light of publicity. It’s a tale of hand-to-hand, victorious combat with the “shitty technology adoption curve.” What’s the “shitty tech adoption curve?” It’s the process…
Feds: Ex Louisville Police Officer Used Law Enforcement Tech To Help Hack Sexually Explicit Photos From Women
Josh Wood reports: A former Louisville Metro Police Department officer used law enforcement technology as part of a scheme that involved hacking the Snapchat accounts of young women and using sexually explicit photos and videos they had taken to extort them, federal prosecutors said in court documents filed on Tuesday. According to a sentencing memorandum,…