Smart Devices Are Spying on You Everywhere, And That’s a Problem

Have you ever felt a creeping sensation that someone’s watching you? Then you turn around and you don’t see anything out of the ordinary. Depending on where you were, though, you might not have been completely imagining it. There are billions of things sensing you every day. They are everywhere, hidden in plain sight – … Read more

Privacy policies are four times as long as they were 25 years ago

A machine learning analysis of 50,000 privacy policy texts shows they have ballooned to an average of over 4000 words since 1996 Technology 3 February 2022 By Chris Stokel-Walker Privacy policies are getting harder to read Antons Jevterevs / Alamy Privacy policies have become longer and less readable, and require more access to user data … Read more

Google Topics: What does the cookie replacement mean for online privacy?

Google has a new plan to replace cookies, the files that track us when we browse the internet, but it is controversial with advertisers and privacy campaigners Technology 27 January 2022 By Matthew Sparkes A Google logo at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai in 2018 JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images Google has been … Read more

AI unmasks anonymous chess players, posing privacy risks | Science

Think your bishop’s opening, queen’s gambit, and pawn play are unique? A new artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm has got your chess style pegged. AI software can already identify people by their voices or handwriting. Now, an AI has shown it can tag people based on their chess-playing behavior, an advance in the field of “stylometrics” … Read more

Online privacy: Will 2022 be the year we start taking things seriously?

Governments are drafting new laws to protect your privacy online, but are people even that bothered about companies using their data? Technology 28 December 2021 By Matthew Sparkes Governments are looking to control data giants Antons Jevterevs / Alamy Despite the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the Edward Snowden leaks and revelations from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, … Read more

AI reads boring terms and conditions documents so you don’t have to

By Chris Stokel-Walker Settle in for a lengthy read Anna Berkut Almost no one reads the long and complicated terms and conditions (T&C) agreements found on websites and apps, but now an artificial intelligence (AI) can pick out the important bits for you. These legal documents are famously impenetrable – a 2019 study of 500 … Read more