Tag Archives: Technology

Internet-enabled sex toy sends users’ intimate data to its creator

Posted on by

“The We-Vibe 4 Plus regularly shares sensitive info with its creators at Standard Innovations Corporation. The couple-oriented vibrator sends its temperature to the manufacturer every minute, and reports whenever you change the vibration level. While it’s not calling you out by name, it wouldn’t take much to piece together details you probably don’t want to share beyond your partner, such as when you climax and what it takes to get there.  As our columnist Violet Blue learned at Def Con, it’s not helped by SIC’s vague policies on how it handles your data.”

https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/10/sex-toy-sends-intimate-data/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

If you use ‘smart’ Bluetooth locks, you’re asking to be burgled

Posted on by

“Bluetooth-enabled locks are increasingly popular, but an analysis of 16 such devices shows 12 are easily hackable with inexpensive kit and some can be broken into from 400 metres away.  When Rose contacted the 12 manufacturers about these issues, one Chinese manufacturer shut down its website, but still sells on Amazon. Ten other companies simply ignored his messages. One firm did come back to him, acknowledging the issue, but said it wasn’t going to fix it.   The Kwickset Kevo lock has a ‘fantastic’ software security system with strong crypto, Rose said, but should be avoided because the lock was so badly made you could open it in seconds with a screwdriver.”

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/08/08/using_a_smart_bluetooth_lock_to_protect_your_valuables_youre_an_idiot/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

A New Wireless Hack Can Unlock 100 Million Volkswagens

Posted on by

“Volkswagen left not only its ignition vulnerable but the keyless entry system that unlocks the vehicle’s doors, too. And this time, they say, the flaw applies to practically every car Volkswagen has sold since 1995.  One of the attacks would allow resourceful thieves to wirelessly unlock practically every vehicle the Volkswagen group has sold for the last two decades, including makes like Audi and Škoda. The second attack affects millions more vehicles, including Alfa Romeo, Citroen, Fiat, Ford, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Opel, and Peugeot.  Both attacks use a cheap, easily available piece of radio hardware to intercept signals from a victim’s key fob, then employ those signals to clone the key.”

https://www.wired.com/2016/08/oh-good-new-hack-can-unlock-100-million-volkswagens/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

China is flooding Silicon Valley with cash

Posted on by

“Investment from China into Silicon Valley, excluding real estate, topped $6 billion by the end of the first half of 2016, with more than half of that spending taking place in the past 18 months, according to the Rhodium Group research firm. Investors have been spurred by China’s growing wealth over the past decade and a government push to develop innovative technologies — particularly in areas such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence, where China still lags. U.S. start-ups, for their part, are hungrier than ever for access to China’s cash-rich companies and newly minted millionaires, especially in light of a tighter fundraising environment in Silicon Valley.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/new-wave-of-chinese-start-up-investments-comes-with-complications/2016/08/05/2051db0e-505d-11e6-aa14-e0c1087f7583_story.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

#DNCLeaks ‘disappears’ from trending news as WikiLeaks emails released

Posted on by

“Conservative Twitter users erupted on Friday after the social media platform torpedoed #DNCLeaks from its trending-news feed after Wikileaks released 20,000 emails by Democratic National Committee staff members.  Embarrassing emails sent and received by DNC members had enough momentum to propel the story to Twitter’s top ‘trending’ news feed on Friday afternoon. The #DNCLeaks entry vanished in the evening, but returned 20 minutes later after users cried foul.  The story had 250,000 tweets at the time it was pulled. The Washington Examiner then aggregated a stream of angry feedback.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/23/twitter-users-erupt-dncleaks-disappears-from-trend/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Russia Asks For The Impossible With Its New Surveillance Laws

Posted on by

EFF-awards-Apple-Google-perfect-privacy-scores-300x2071

“Russia is not the only nation whose lawmakers and politicians are heading in this direction, especially when it comes to requiring backdoors for encrypted communications. Time and time again, technologists and civil liberties groups have warned the United States, France, Holland, and a host of other nations that the anti-encryption laws they propose cannot be obeyed without rewriting the laws of mathematics. Politicians have often responded by effectively telling the Internet’s experts ‘don’t worry, you’ll work out a way.’ Let us be clear: government backdoors in encrypted communications make us all less safe, no matter which country is holding the keys.”

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/07/russia-asks-impossible-its-new-surveillance-laws

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

U.S. House kills ban on government backdoors in tech products

Posted on by

“The US House of Representatives voted Thursday to block an amendment that would have prevented the government from stepping in to force weakened encryption and security backdoors. Although Politico reports the provision received increasing support in the House over the past two years, that support has weakened in the wake of the Sunday’s mass shooting in Orlando.  After Sunday’s tragedy, the measure’s opponents pointed to suspected Islamic State sympathizer Omar Mateen’s attack on a gay nightclub to justify giving law enforcement increased spying powers and easier access to private data.”

https://www.engadget.com/2016/06/16/house-votes-down-privacy-measure-blocking-backdoors/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Warrantless data searches narrowly miss Senate approval

Posted on by

“A Senate amendment that would have allowed the FBI to search a suspect’s phone and online records without a court order came very close to becoming a reality today. The legislation, introduced by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Richard Burr (R-NC) in the wake of the recent mass shooting in Orlando, missed the necessary 60 votes it needed to pass by just two votes. The amendment in question would have allowed the FBI to use ‘National Security Letters’ to demand that your internet or cellphone provider turn over certain account information including login history, call records and IP address.”

https://www.engadget.com/2016/06/22/warrantless-data-searches-narrowly-miss-senate-approval/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

State Dept. reduced security to accommodate Clinton’s private server

Posted on by

“State Department staffers wrestled for weeks in December 2010 over a serious technical problem that affected emails from then-Secretary Hillary Clinton’s home email server, causing them to temporarily disable security features on the government’s own systems, according to emails released Wednesday.  The emails, reviewed by The Associated Press, show that State Department technical staff disabled software on their systems intended to block phishing emails that could deliver dangerous viruses. They were trying urgently to resolve delivery problems with emails sent from Clinton’s private server.”

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7006105d422740f0b4b8675c90f9a154/emails-key-security-features-disabled-clintons-server

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Resist mass cracking by US law enforcement

Posted on by

“Law enforcement could request warrants allowing mass cracking of thousands of computers at once. The Supreme Court, which oversees the Rules, submitted the changes to the US Congress in April. This is an unprecedented, broad government cracking authorization, and it is dangerous to the privacy and security of all Internet users. The changes to Rule 41 target Internet users who take steps to protect their online privacy — this could discourage use of privacy tools, and even weaken their effectiveness by exploiting vulnerabilities in such tools rather than helping to fix them.”

https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/protect-your-privacy-resist-mass-cracking-by-us-law-enforcement

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet