What's Going on Under the Covers?

When we surf the web today - on our computers or smartphones - we are mercilessly tracked. Marketing firms and data brokers are hoovering up ungodly amounts of our personal data, selling it, trading it and mining it to derive even more about us. Many offer some way to limit or stop this wanton data collection, but good luck figuring out how - let alone even knowing who to ask. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just click one button and tell everyone to leave you alone? Of course, we tried this a decade ago with Do Not Track, but there were no regulations in place to require companies to respect it. While we have a long way to go, some regions do now have privacy laws - and now we have a new way to invoke our privacy rights: Global Privacy Control. Today, I'll tell you how to enable this on your devices and tell data miners to get lost. In other news: Clearview AI has been forced to cut back on its creepy facial recognition software; the EU is proposing dangerous new surveillance requirements in the name of child safety; if you have an HP computer, you need to check for BIOS software updates ASAP; automated vehicles are outfitted with tons of video cameras, and law enforcement have been using this data for investigations; thousands of popular websites are saving data from online forms even if you don't click 'submit'; the CDC has been buying cell phone location data to track compliance with covid curfews and more; data from period-tracking apps may soon be used against people seeking abortions if Roe v. Wade is struck down in the US; Facebook is ending some location-based services (though still collecting your location data); Chinese hackers have stolen hundreds of billions of dollars in intellectual property, including military, manufacturing and pharmaceutical info; and mental health apps aren't taking proper care of your very personal data. Article Links [Engadget] Clearview AI agrees to limit sales of facial recognition data in the US https://www.engadget.com/clearview-ai-agrees-to-limit-sales-of-facial-recognition-data-in-the-us-173357030.html[Electronic Frontier Foundation] The EU Commission’s New Proposal Would Undermine Encryption And Scan Our Messages https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/05/eu-commissions-new-proposal-would-undermine-encryption-and-scan-our-messages[TechSpot] HP pushes out BIOS update addressing high-severity vulnerabilities affecting 200+ models https://www.techspot.com/news/94561-hp-pushes-out-bios-update-addressing-high-severity.html[VICE] San Francisco Police Are Using Driverless Cars As Mobile Surveillance Cameras https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7dw8x/san-francisco-police-are-using-driverless-cars-as-mobile-surveillance-cameras[WIRED] Thousands of Popular Websites See What You Type—Before You Hit Submit https://www.wired.com/story/leaky-forms-keyloggers-meta-tiktok-pixel-study/[None] CDC tracked Americans’ phones to see if they followed COVID-19 lockdowns https://www.mlive.com/news/2022/05/cdc-tracked-americans-phones-to-see-if-they-followed-covid-19-lockdowns.html[VICE] Data Broker SafeGraph Stops Selling Location Data of People Who Visit Planned Parenthood https://www.vice.com/en/article/88gyn5/data-broker-safegraph-stops-selling-location-data-of-people-who-visit-planned-parenthood[NPR] How period tracking apps and data privacy fit into a post-Roe v. Wade climate https://www.npr.org/2022/05/10/1097482967/roe-v-wade-supreme-court-abortion-period-apps[9to5mac.com] Facebook to discontinue Nearby Friends and other location-based features https://9to5mac.com/2022/05/05/facebook-to-discontinue-nearby-friends-and-other-location-based-features/[CBS News] Chinese hackers took trillions in intellectual property from about 30 multinational companies https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chinese-hackers-took-trillions-in-intellectual-property-from-about-30-multinational-companies/[The Verge] Mental health apps have terrible privacy protections, report finds https://www.theverge.