Always strive to learn something useful. --Sophocles

Wegmans Grocery in NYC is employing facial and biometric scanning

2026-01-07T15:12:39Z

Wegmans is a chain dating back a century, based in the NY/New England area. Currently the technology is in then NYC stores. It was deployed with no notice, and customers are given no ability to opt out, short of not shopping in the stores.

They claim that it was installed for 'customer and employee safety'. I think that Madison Entertainment made a similar claim regarding the technology used to keep attorneys out of the Rockettes shows at Madison Square Gardens if their firms are representing companies involved in litigation against them.

I'm glad that I came across this information as one of the states that they operate in is Connecticut, which is a very high probability that we'll be moving there next year. While the technology is apparently not in use outside of NYC, once it's in place in one store, it's pretty easy to install in other stores.

https://www.aol.com/articles/popular-grocery-store-chain-uses-130056099.html

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/01/the-wegmans-supermarket-chain-is-probably-using-facial-recognition.html

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/01/06/2231258/nyc-wegmans-is-storing-biometric-data-on-shoppers-eyes-voices-and-faces

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Microsoft's AI Recall feature slowly moving towards release. Again.

2025-04-14T19:41:27Z

It's moving back into the beta preview builds, which means they're hoping for a public release in coming months.

As if we need a reminder, here's some reasons as to why it's bad.

1. It will eat approximately 15% of your TOTAL disk space.
2. If you're running a solid-state disk, it will increase your disk wear. This means your disk will fail sooner than it should. This is not as problematic as your traditional spinning rust hard drive.
3. Increased CPU use, possibly laggier system. We don't know how much CPU resource it will use IRL.
4. While it is theoretically secured behind your login, we don't know how secure it is. The last time around for it, it was capturing banking information, medical info, SSNs, etc.
5. We don't know if it might be reporting things upstream to someone. Guaranteed that once it gets into the beta program, much less general release, there will be privacy and security boffins who will be watching their firewall logs for what activity it is generating.

I expect we can anticipate further privacy issues with this thing on-going. And if you're not running it, and you send sensitive or confidential information to someone who is running it, well, your information will be hoovered up by their system.

Broadly speaking, it's probably not a good idea for a lot of people. I certainly do not recommend it. The article has recommendations on how to disable it, I don't think we have solid information on how to uninstall it at this time since it is not an actual released feature yet.

https://gizmodo.com/windows-controversial-recall-is-back-heres-how-to-control-it-2000589002

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The UK government secretly ordered Apple to weaken its iCloud encryption

2025-02-23T07:01:55Z

This was a government order. And it was a secret. Apple was not allowed to reveal the order. The purpose of the order was allegedly to make it easier for the government to find CSAM, explicit child pornography. It was, in fact, admitting that they were not being very good at their investigations and wanted Apple to make it easier for them.

So Apple broadcast not only that they received the order, they actually broadcast the text of it.

And now they've announced that they are turning off ADP, Advanced Data Protection, a form of advanced encryption of iCloud information in the UK to comply with the order. If you turn on ADP, the only person who can access your data is YOU, which also means that you can lose it. That's the risk of encryption.

Apple basically engaged in naming and shaming the government, good for them! The Home Office said "We do not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any such notices." As of this time, Apple users in the UK can no longer turn on ADP, it is expected that with a future update it will be turned off for users who previously activated it.

Without ADP, the information is still encrypted, but it is done in such a way that if the government serves Apple with a warrant, Apple can get at the information. Need I remind people about an incident that I posted about a month or so ago about a back door that the U.S. government required telecommunications providers to install for surveillance purposes that the Chinese have cracked? Several telcom providers have been compromised, and it's an extreme fight to keep them out - it's an on-going problem.

I can't wait for a British tabloid to get ahold of some MP or Lord's data and splash it all over their paper.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgj54eq4vejo

https://apple.slashdot.org/story/25/02/21/1529255/apple-removes-cloud-encryption-feature-from-uk-after-backdoor-order

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Wndows Recall Uninstall is "just a bug"

2024-09-03T15:49:12Z

Of course it is!

In a recent developers build, Recall was shown as something that could be removed in Windows Features. This is apparently a bug and will be removed from the Features applet in a future update. The Verge reached out to Microsoft to try and find out if Recall will be removable but did not receive a direct answer.

In the EU, Microsoft was required to make their browser removable, presumably the same thing will be required for Recall. So hopefully some clever boffins over there will find the registry switches to let us do it over here.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/2/24233992/microsoft-recall-windows-11-uninstall-feature-bug

https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/09/02/2241242/microsoft-says-its-recall-uninstall-option-in-windows-11-is-just-a-bug

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The Windows Control Panel is slated to be removed in favor of the Settings app. Also....

2024-08-23T16:11:34Z

This was kind of inevitable, so many things are moving there and sometimes it's hard to what obscure thing you're looking for is where. In the end it will probably be a good thing, but it'll take a decade before it's stable. ;-)

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/system-configuration-tools-in-windows-f8a49657-b038-43b8-82d3-28bea0c5666b

https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/08/23/031251/microsoft-says-its-getting-rid-of-control-panel-in-windows

In other Windows news, Microsoft announces the return of Recall. That's the system where your operating system watches everything you do, OCRs it and stores it in a local database to help you remember what you were doing in the past for your convenience. This was announced back in June, and it was discovered in beta deployments that there was absolutely no security being deployed in the database in terms of encryption or permissions, so if someone gained access to your PC - which never happens - then they could see your bank credentials, credit card numbers, health insurance info, you know - trivial things.

Details have not yet been released as to what security protections have been put in place. A non-existent Microsoft PR flack was quoted as saying "Trust us!"

The revised feature will go to Insider Program testers in October. Microsoft says more details will be disclosed at that time.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/08/microsoft-will-try-the-data-scraping-windows-recall-feature-again-in-october/

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/08/22/1648253/microsoft-will-try-the-data-scraping-windows-recall-feature-again-in-october

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Microsoft will be enabling full disk encryption on clean Win 11 installs soonish

2024-08-15T15:53:50Z

A forthcoming version of Windows 11 known as 24H2 will enable Bitlocker device encryption (FDE) by default. This can be turned off if you want to get into Control Panel and deactivate it. The article notes that Tom's Hardware found that FDE can slow down disc access by 45% on solid-state drives. Additionally, Microsoft requires that the encryption key is uploaded to your Microsoft cloud account, meaning they have the means for decrypting your drive.

MS holding the key to your drive is a theoretical vulnerability. I have not read of them cooperating with authorities in the decryption of drives, much like Apple has not, though in Apple's case, they don't hold keys and cannot.

Personally, I don't think disk encryption is a good idea for the average home user. You should maintain good backups and keep them disconnected from your PC, preferably in a fire-proof lockbox or off-site. Have two sets (or more) and rotate between them so you have fall-back points if one of the backup sets fail.

We have a concept in IT that backups don't exist until you test them or need them, until that time they just exist in a void. When you pull them out and try to restore from them, that's when you find out whether or not they're any good. Backup disks and tapes fail, which is why if you value your data you want multiple copies to reduce the chance of one copy failing.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/14/24220138/microsoft-bitlocker-device-encryption-windows-11-default

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/08/14/1559240/microsoft-is-enabling-bitlocker-device-encryption-by-default-on-windows-11

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Judge rules reasonable cause and warrant required for cell phone searches at the U.S. border!

2024-07-27T14:51:14Z

Finally! On Wednesday, "Judge Nina Morrison in the Eastern District of New York ruled that cellphone searches are a "nonroutine" search, more akin to a strip search than scanning a suitcase or passing a traveler through a metal detector."

Ultimately, of course, it'll still have to be locked down either through Congressional action, which will result in more challenges and CBP ignoring it, up through the Supreme Court. But for now, if you fly in to JFK, you're probably safe from search. A CBP agent admitted in court that most of the searches were fishing expeditions and most people were quite compliant.

I will still be inclined to power off my phone while passing through the ridiculous hell of customs and immigration while coming back into the country, but this is a great improvement, especially for journalists who work on potentially dangerous stories!

Meanwhile, since Biden is a lame duck, he's said to be working on a set of SCOTUS reforms that includes adding more justices to cover the additional circuit courts that have been added to the country.

https://reason.com/2024/07/26/courts-close-the-loophole-letting-the-feds-search-your-phone-at-the-border/

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Remember Google's solemn promise to block third-party cookies in the Chrome browser?

2024-07-24T01:00:10Z

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

You didn't actually believe them, did you? After all, most of Big G's revenue is derived from selling advertising.

Well, today Google said that they are formally NOT going to follow through on their promise to block third-party cookies in their browser.

I AM SHOCKED, SHOCKED I SAY!

No, not really.

There's a reason why I don't use their browser, and not trusting Google at their word is one of them.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/07/google-will-not-disable-tracking-cookies-in-chrome-after-years-of-trying/

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/07/22/2055228/google-wont-be-deprecating-third-party-cookies-in-chrome-after-all

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Microsoft to launch its CoPilot+ without its Recall feature

2024-06-14T15:46:08Z

After suffering TONS of blowback in the press and industry, Microsoft is pulling the playback feature that took snapshots of what you were doing on your computer and saved them. The issue being that the save was unencrypted and readily accessible to anyone who could sign on to the PC: such as spouse abusers, hackers, etc. Why it was not encrypted from the get go, I don't understand.

Privacy? Who needs privacy! It's nifty! Nifty > privacy!

There were ways to deactivate the Recall feature, how easily it could be turned off is a matter of some debate. Microsoft and other vendors are also infamous for silently turning on things with updates that users had previously turned off.

CoPilot+ goes live June 18. *sigh*

https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/microsoft-postpones-windows-recall-after-major-backlash-will-launch-copilot-pcs-without-headlining-ai-feature

https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/06/14/0318213/microsoft-postpones-windows-recall-after-major-backlash

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Well! Adobe updates its Terms, says it is allowed to scan your files.

2024-06-09T01:54:09Z

This change happened February 17. And, of course, you have to agree to the change in order to continue using the product that you're paying for a subscription to, it's not like you own it or anything. In Adobe's words, they're doing it to prevent child exploitation.

"Adobe's reasoning for giving itself the right to comb through user content is the detection and removal of illegal content, such as child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, as well as abusive content or behavior, including spam and phishing."

Ignoring that people do work under NDAs. Or on secret government projects. Or with student records. Or with medical records. Or with actual exploited children. Etcetera.

Alton Brown just tweeted that his company is suspending all use of Adobe products until his attorneys can go over the user agreements with a fine toothed comb.

One content creator complained that he couldn't get ahold of an Adobe spokesdrone, nor cancel and uninstall the software, until agreeing to the new terms.

While I use Adobe products at work, I'm not really using them at home: my operating systems have aged past my ancient software. I do need new photo editing software and a good PDF creator/editor package, though. Shouldn't be hard to find, Adobe's PDF editor has been increasing in suck factor.

https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/adobe-defends-terms-of-service-changes-amid-gen-ai-explosion/

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Automakers are sharing driving data with data brokers and insurance companies!

2024-03-12T17:19:42Z

A quote from the Slashdot summary:
"Kenn Dahl says he has always been a careful driver. The owner of a software company near Seattle, he drives a leased Chevrolet Bolt. He's never been responsible for an accident. So Mr. Dahl, 65, was surprised in 2022 when the cost of his car insurance jumped by 21 percent. Quotes from other insurance companies were also high. One insurance agent told him his LexisNexis report was a factor. LexisNexis is a New York-based global data broker with a "Risk Solutions" division that caters to the auto insurance industry and has traditionally kept tabs on car accidents and tickets. Upon Mr. Dahl's request, LexisNexis sent him a 258-page "consumer disclosure report," which it must provide per the Fair Credit Reporting Act. What it contained stunned him: more than 130 pages detailing each time he or his wife had driven the Bolt over the previous six months. It included the dates of 640 trips, their start and end times, the distance driven and an accounting of any speeding, hard braking or sharp accelerations. The only thing it didn't have is where they had driven the car. On a Thursday morning in June for example, the car had been driven 7.33 miles in 18 minutes; there had been two rapid accelerations and two incidents of hard braking."

So now it doesn't matter that you're accident-free, it matters what an algorithm thinks of your driving patterns.

The one thing that is certain is that data brokers have far too much power, and I want to make sure that I can disconnect any cellular connection on my next car!

At this time, the article is not behind a paywall, though that could change:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/technology/carmakers-driver-tracking-insurance.html

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/03/11/2342228/automakers-are-sharing-consumers-driving-behavior-with-insurance-companies

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Why do a university's M&M vending machines have facial recognition software installed?

2024-02-24T17:22:14Z

This is a question being asked at the University of Waterloo (Canada) right now as the machines are being planned for removal.

If you're into IT like I am, or like reading computer security newsletters that show error screens of crashes or failure to loads, a student noticed a screen at one such vending machine on campus that showed a classic Windows error dialog that said "Invenda.Vending.FacialRecognitionApp.exe", and he asked the question 'WTF is facial recognition software doing on a vending machine?' Subsequent casual browsing of Invenda's web site found a sales brochure that "... promised "the machines are capable of sending estimated ages and genders" of every person who used the machines without ever requesting consent." While Canada may not have Europe's GDPR, their privacy laws come pretty darn close, especially on facial recognition. And the fecal matter impacted the rotary impellers.

Now, I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here as a programmer. They could be using this app to simply detect 'Hey! Someone is standing in front of the machine! Let's turn on the lights and do our little dog and pony show and try to entice them into buying something!' without storing or transmitting any biometric information whatsoever. It could be 100% innocent and they're using the tech just to detect someone staring at the machine.

Do I believe this?

Nope. I'm sure the app could do this, but if this is what they were using this for, you'd think someone would have +1 point of IQ to say 'Hey, maybe we should rename the app to FaceDetectApp.exe, just in case the name of the app leaks out'. But they didn't. And most vending machines have cell phone systems built-in to tell the managers what supply levels are, validate credit cards, and sometimes send diagnostic info if the machine needs repairs. It would be trivial to send biometric data. Modern vending machines are very sophisticated computers these days.

The article mentions a previous Canadian facial recognition scandal where a mall operator was covertly scanning people walking around a mall (or perhaps several) and collected biometric face data of over FIVE MILLION people! He was forced to erase those databases.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/02/vending-machine-error-reveals-secret-face-image-database-of-college-students/

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/02/24/0012232/vending-machine-error-reveals-secret-face-image-database-of-college-students

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Merger between Amazon and iRobot called off! And some Amazon privacy good news!

2024-01-29T14:53:55Z

The merger, announced August 2022, was seen as kind of fraught from the beginning. People didn't like the idea of Amazon having a robot running around inside their house with a camera and precision measuring devices mapping out their houses and reporting back to the Bezos mothership, then potentially reporting back that 'this couch or table would fit perfectly right There'. We know the privacy issues that Alexa has/had, and iRobot would probably have elevated those to a very uncomfortable degree.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240128042393/en/

In the good news area, the Amazon Ring video camera doorbell has improved things a bit. They have recently shut down an app that allowed police to access video footage without a warrant using an app called RFA, Request For Assistance. While this has obvious benefits for hot crimes of the moment, it also has profound potential for abuse for bored officers just wanting to pop around and see what's happening, or perhaps stalk old lovers. Now they'll have to explain things to a judge before they can pour through that footage.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/01/amazon-ring-stops-letting-cops-get-doorbell-footage-without-a-warrant/

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Sacramento, California sheriff is sharing license plate data with states that ban abortion

2023-11-02T03:06:08Z

Sacramento is probably not the only one doing this, but it's one that we know about. Several law enforcement agencies sell ALPR information (automatic license plate readers) to most anyone who wants it, and in some cases, it goes to states who claim it's illegal to travel out of state for an abortion!

Of course, if you fly, you won't be driving your car. Or if you do drive, spend the night at a hotel and take a cab. Don't drive your own car to the clinic.

I hate ALPRs. I first saw one in Texas at a mall. A police car was doing a very slow crawl through the parking lot, and when he passed, I saw the cameras mounted on his car. Makes me want to install some infrared LEDs in my license plate frame that will bloom-out the ALPR cameras. It's one thing when they're "looking for stolen vehicles", but when that information is being kept pretty much indefinitely - as it usually is - stitching a car's whereabouts by time stamp can reveal a HUGE amount of information about a person.

https://news.yahoo.com/sacramento-sheriff-sharing-license-plate-133000119.html

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Do you use the Chrome browser? Google just baked a user-tracking ad service right into it.

2023-09-11T21:27:07Z

I've never liked the Chrome browser, personally, for two reasons. It had an auto-update that at the time that I learned about it you couldn't disable, and it eats an awful lot of resources. And I don't use it except on a couple of PCs at work, not on my personal work station.

So let me give you a little background on how cookies can track you across web sites.

First off, don't go thinking that Google is mainly a search engine company. They are an advertising company. They make their money off of selling (functionally) ad space to companies through search results and looking at key words in your email. NEVER FORGET THIS. It used to be this was accomplished by what is known as third-party cookies. This was a special kind of cookie that could persist across web sites and browser sessions.

For example, you buy a pair of shoes off of Amazon. Amazon keeps a cookie (or three) in your browser's cookie cache that remembers some information about you, and theoretically no one except Amazon can read that information. So we have an Amazon.com cookie. Now, a super cookie is just a cookie with the name .Com and that's it. And because it's a top-level domain (TLD), apparently it can read some information below it, such as the Amazon.com cookie. It may not know what the information within the Amazon.com cookies means, but it knows the information is there and might be able to make some guesses.

Advertisers want as much information about people as they can get, supercookies are one such tool. Another tool is tracking pixels. These are invisible 1 pixel images that are inserted into a page or email that link to a server where the tracking pixel has a specific identity tied to the email or page that you open. If your email or web page doesn't block images or tracking pixels, when you open the page, that pixel is loaded - and the tracker database knows that specific pixel was loaded and ties that page or your email into tracking information about you.

Now, email programs can be configured to block tracking pixels and supercookies, which advertisers hate because they get less analytic information which means less information they can sell to potential ad or analytics buyers. And remember, Google is in the ad serving business.

Google came up with an alternative, baked into the browser that they want everyone to use. When you open Gmail, or Google Search, in Firefox or Microsoft Edge or Safari, you get this lovely popup: For the best experience, open this page in Google Chrome. Gee, wonder why! Now what Google is doing is they analyze the page that your browser is now looking at and generates a 'topic list', along with a unique identifier for your PC, and now they have analytics that they can sell for ad buyers! All without cookies! Oh, and it gets better! Google claims "a significant step on the path towards a fundamentally more private web."

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

They also claim that they'll block third-party cookies in the second half of 2024. I think Firefox now does that by default. And while Microsoft Edge, which is a pretty good browser, is built on Chrome code, it can also block third-party cookies.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/googles-widely-opposed-ad-platform-the-privacy-sandbox-launches-in-chrome/

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Google says: All your words are belong to us

2023-07-03T18:34:56Z

Over the weekend Google updated their Terms of Service to say that they'll scrape everything they can see online and use it to train their AI systems.

From the article: "...the company reserves the right to scrape just about everything you post online to build its AI tools. If Google can read your words, assume they belong to the company now, and expect that they’re nesting somewhere in the bowels of a chatbot."

Now, there's something very important here. Google is not talking about words that you've posted on Google servers, like Gmail or Spaces or whatever. They're talking the ENTIRE World Wide Web. Facebook. Restaurant reviews. Blogs. Etc. ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING.

And it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they ignored robots.txt block lists. Odds are the only thing that'd keep them out is passworded areas, and they know some ways around those.

Remember when Google announced that their corporate motto was "Don't be evil"? How I laughed at that! Didn't people realize that it was a hipster ironic statement? There was an unprinted subtext that followed: "... as long as it doesn't get in the way of us making a bazillion dollars and ruling the universe."

https://gizmodo.com/google-says-itll-scrape-everything-you-post-online-for-1850601486

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NY District Court Judge holds that warrants are required for border cell phone searches!

2023-05-31T13:40:16Z

Of course there's the 'absent exigent circumstances' clause inserted, always gotta have that. Regardless, huge step forward for privacy.

This is both complicated and simple. The simple part is that the government has a reasonable interest in preventing some things from entering the country, like drugs, undeclared/untaxed items, etc. But at the same time, our phones have become digital repositories of our lives, and even though it is not a declared constitutionally-protected value, we do have some legal rights to privacy.

From the article: "Just as in Riley, the cell phone likely contains huge quantities of highly sensitive information—including copies of that person’s past communications, records of their physical movements, potential transaction histories, Internet browsing histories, medical details, and more … No traveler would reasonably expect to forfeit privacy interests in all this simply by carrying a cell phone when returning home from an international trip."

Apple introduced a feature in the previous(?) version of their phone operating system that disables the interface port and the facial recognition unlock to tighten security. It is recognized that the government has to go through great lengths to compel you to produce something you know - a password or passcode - versus something you posses - a key to a lockbox or your fingerprint or face, being the key to your phone. By disabling these, your phone is much harder to access since the phone will wipe itself after X number of failed attempts. I believe Android has something similar, but I'm not familiar with their specifics.

A lot of people would simply wipe their phone before re-entering the USA, then reload their contacts from an iCloud backup once they're past Customs and restore everything once they're back home to avoid such things.

A second part of the article is also quite interesting: The court focused on the internet and cloud storage, stating: “Stopping the cell phone from entering the country would not … mean stopping the data contained on it from entering the country” because any data that can be found on a cell phone—even digital contraband—“very likely does exist not just on the phone device itself, but also on faraway computer servers potentially located within the country.” This is different from physical items that if searched without a warrant may be efficiently interdicted, and thereby actually prevented from entering the country."

But I'm not sure what this means for potential laptop searches and siphoning. Best to use solid full-disk encryption and a BIOS password if you're at all concerned about your laptop contents.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/federal-judge-makes-history-holding-border-searches-cell-phones-require-warrant

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/05/31/0439200/federal-judge-makes-history-in-holding-that-border-searches-of-cell-phones-require-a-warrant

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Buy your FREEDOM PHONE for only $500!

2021-07-17T17:21:37Z

Or buy it from AliExpress for $120.

The maker claims it has a "special secure operating system" that won't report back your personal info to 'the mothership'. Except the phone runs Parlour, Signal, Facebook: all the standard Android apps, making it extremely unlikely it's a custom OS.

Meaning it's a cheap CHINESE phone that people are paying a 3x+ markup for.

But it's FREEDUMB!

The guy who released it is a 22 y/o self-proclaimed Bitcoin millionaire who says the app store is "uncensorable", which means it will be rife with malware and apps guaranteed to steal your personal information. The Wild West! YEEHAW! FREEDUMB! And for only $500!

https://uk.pcmag.com/mobile-phones/134539/freedom-phone-meant-for-trump-supporters-is-also-made-by-chinese-vendor

The description in this Slashdot post header by various articles from The Daily Beast and Gizmodo just highlight the scam aspect.

https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/21/07/17/011226/right-wing-activists-500-freedom-phone-actually-cheap-rebranded-android-model-made-in-china

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Google is moving UK users out of EU GDPR privacy protection because of Brexit

2020-02-20T16:10:45Z

So now they're getting U.S. data protection, which basically means none. I'm sure that BoJo can fix that by the end of the year.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-google-privacy-eu-exclusive/exclusive-google-users-in-uk-to-lose-eu-data-protection-sources-idUSKBN20D2M3

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Florida Dept of Motor Vehicles sells ALL drivers license registrations to data brokers

2019-07-14T17:45:56Z

Thank you, non-big government that can be drowned in a bathtub! They've made $77,000,000 doing this, I do not know over what timespan. It was exposed when two sisters moved to FL from Idaho. One has been disabled her entire life, the other is her caregiver. Because of her disabilities, she has a digital footprint of zero. They went to DMV to get her an ID for Medicare, and within days she started getting junk mail, phone calls, and even had salesmen turning up at her door!

According to the article: "A state spokesperson said there's no way for drivers to opt-out if they don't want their personal information sold.

"The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles provides public records as legally required, in accordance with federal and state law, and as a necessary function in order for customers to efficiently conduct everyday business. The department has successfully instituted proactive security measures to ensure customer information is protected and any misuse of customer information will be pursued to the fullest extent of the law."

There's a HUGE EFFING DIFFERENCE between providing public records as required AND SELLING EVERYONE OUT TO MARKETING SLIME! That IS NOT providing public records AS LEGALLY REQUIRED! That spokesman and the head of MVD and probably most of the executives in that division should be strung up by their thumbs. Then again, so should Rick Scott and most of his cronies.

NEVER give the government your phone number unless you absolutely have to! This is especially true for voter registration, though with as much data being bought and sold, I don't know that it makes any difference. And if you have a PO Box, use that for any official correspondence.

As an example of voter registration data, last election cycle we started getting calls on our home line for ME for political surveys. I'm registered independent, and they were making big efforts to sway NM independents. We didn't have a home line when I registered to vote 14 years ago! So some data aggregator put my voter ID street address together with another record that had that phone number tied to this address, and *POOF* I start getting phone calls. We've since unplugged that phone because of the number of calls we've been getting.

https://www.wxyz.com/news/national/florida-is-selling-drivers-personal-information-to-private-companies-and-marketing-firms

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Do you own or are considering buying a Vizio smart TV? You might reconsider after reading this.

2019-03-18T03:00:47Z

According to this Reuter's article, "Smart TV manufacturer Vizio has formed a partnership with nine media and advertising companies to develop an industry standard that will allow smart TVs to target advertisements to specific households, the companies said Tuesday.

The consortium includes major TV networks like Comcast Corp’s NBCUniversal and CBS Corp, as well as advertising technology companies like AT&T Inc’s Xandr.

Addressable advertising, or targeting viewers on the household level based on their interests, has long been the goal of TV marketers. But TVs lack cookies that internet browsers use to allow ads to follow people around the web. And TV manufacturers have so far used different technology and standards to enable addressable advertising, hindering the industry’s growth, said Jodie McAfee, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Inscape, a subsidiary of Vizio."

Myself, I refuse to own a smart TV, likewise I won't own an Alexa or similar device. The only thing connected to my router is my Apple TV. There are too many things tracking my life already that I can at least eliminate what I can, and smart TVs are one such category. When I bought my latest TV last year, I purposely chose a dumb TV: I wanted all of the control to come through my Apple TV and DVD/BR player, which also makes the TV less expensive. I've always had an inherent distrust of all-in-one devices, I've especially been burned by multifunction printers where the scanner doesn't work if the ink cartridges are empty.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vizio-advertising/vizio-wants-next-generation-smart-tvs-to-target-ads-to-households-idUSKBN1QT16V

https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/19/03/13/216213/vizio-wants-next-generation-smart-tvs-to-target-ads-to-households

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More Equifax joy: their Corporate Security Officer was a Music Major. Also, scammers abound.

2017-09-16T16:23:19Z

and apparently did not have an IT background. Her LinkedIn profile has been deleted, and apparently an effort is being made to purge her from the internet. It won't be entirely successful, but it'll slow information retrieval down. The article mentions that she spent 14 years in industry, we don't know in what industry, which means she could have picked up a fair amount of IT knowledge, but not as much as if she'd studied IT and gotten a degree and a CISSP cert.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/equifax-ceo-hired-a-music-major-as-the-companys-chief-security-officer-2017-09-15

https://it.slashdot.org/story/17/09/16/0244211/equifax-cso-retires-known-bug-was-left-unpatched-for-nearly-five-months

Also, scammers are calling people at random, claiming to be Equifax, wanting to verify your information. Obviously Equifax has better things to do right now than call you. Just hang up, don't give them your name or the time of day.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/09/ftc-opens-equifax-investigation-says-beware-of-equifax-calling-scams/

ETA:Apparently the Internet Archive Wayback Machine never cached her LinkedIn page, more's the pity. It says it has a page from September 9, but nothing is retrieved when you click on it.

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