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US president could get power to ban TikTok nationwide

1 March 2023

A bill that would empower the US president to ban TikTok from all devices nationwide has advanced beyond committee for discussion by Congress

A Wi-Fi transmitter and a woman working in the background

The outline of people’s bodies can be detected from Wi-Fi signals

25 January 2023

Machine learning can analyse how the signals from Wi-Fi transmitters are disrupted by human bodies to reveal what position people are sitting, standing or lying in

Multiple versions of a group photo with faces altered

AI-generated deepfake faces could help protect privacy on social media

18 November 2022

Algorithms that generate fake faces could be used to change people’s appearance in photos they don’t want to be shared

Close up hand use mobile app to control light in house.

Apps used as alternatives to prison in US found to have privacy flaws

3 September 2022

An analysis of 16 apps used as alternatives to incarceration found numerous privacy problems including in an app used to track almost 248,000 immigrants

Some period-tracking apps sell data to third parties

Are period-tracking apps still safe to use in the US post Roe v Wade?

9 May 2022

Some period-tracking apps share data with third parties. With the rolling back of Roe v Wade abortion protections in the US, there is concern that data collected by these apps could become incriminating

MTBE2R General Data Protection Regulation - closeup smartphone message with text Privacy Policy.

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

3 February 2022

A machine learning analysis of 50,000 privacy policy texts shows they have ballooned to an average of over 4000 words since 1996

Closeup smartphone message There Are Important Changes To Your Data Privacy.

Will 2022 be the year we start taking online privacy seriously?

28 December 2021

Governments are drafting new laws to protect your privacy online, but are people even that bothered about companies using their data?

Anonymised genomes cannot be linked to faces as previously claimed

17 November 2021

In theory, genomes shared anonymously could be linked to people on social media because the DNA can be used to predict facial features, but the risk is vanishingly small

Mandatory Credit: Photo by CHINE NOUVELLE/SIPA/Shutterstock (12324544h) (210817) - KABUL, Aug. 17, 2021 (Xinhua) - Taliban fighters are seen on a military vehicle in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Aug. 17, 2021. Normality has returned to Kabul, capital of Afghanistan as the Taliban on Tuesday urged the government employees to return to work, two days after the group took control of the capital. Declaring a general amnesty, the Taliban urged all to start routine life with confidence. It also urged women to join its government. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted that the situation in Kabul was completely under control and law and order returned to the city. Afghanistan Kabul Taliban Situation - 17 Aug 2021

Afghan people face an impossible choice over their digital footprint

18 August 2021

The Taliban's rise to power has left many people in Afghanistan looking to delete their digital footprint, but there are few resources available and keeping it intact may be key to fleeing the country, writes Nighat Dad

Why Apple's crackdown on child abuse images is no easy decision

10 August 2021

Apple will inspect photos uploaded to the cloud by iPhones in the US to detect images of child sexual abuse – a move praised by child welfare charities but condemned by privacy campaigners