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Facebook’s second in command Sheryl Sandberg said Friday that users wanting to opt out of having their data used by advertisers will have to pay for that assurance. The comments came in the wake of revelations that the personal information of 87 million users had been inappropriately used by the data firm Cambridge Analytica in the 2016 election campaign, the New York Post reported. While different forms of opt-out are already available on Facebook, an opt-out at the highest level “would be a paid product,” Sandberg said during an interview on NBC's "Today" show, the Post reported. Furthermore, Sandberg suggested...

Facebook's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, publicly admitted that "our company's invasion of our clients' privacy probably rates a score of 10 out of 10 for being as complete a betrayal as possible." Despite this colossal failure, Sandberg insisted that CEO Mark "Zuckerberg's public apology ought to be penance enough. Look, we're with the good guys. We allowed President Obama to use our massive data to get reelected in 2012. Obviously, in hindsight, the Cambridge Analytica deal was a mistake." "In our defense, the amount of data we sold to Cambridge Analytica was tiny compared to what we freely gave...

Get ready for Zuck’s big ‘stoop and scoop scene’ before Congress, Oscar performed before all those he called “dumb fu*ks” for trusting him It’s got to be the biggest insult to the intelligence of the public at large in all time: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg “testifying” before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on April 11, that is. Zuckerberg, who kicked himself off in the business world as plain “Zuck” will be “testifying” to the same people who invest heavily into his company, a name that rhymes with the one he calls people who use his platform: “I have over...

Facebook scans the contents of messages that people send each other on its Messenger app blocking any that contravene its guidelines, it has emerged. The scandal-hit firm, still reeling from revelations surrounding Cambridge Analytica, checks images and texts to ensure they are in line with its community standards. While the intentions behind the practice may be well-meaning, the news is likely to add to users' concerns over what the social network knows about them.

Facebook said Wednesday that it believes most of its users who had a specific search function enabled have had their profile data scraped by third parties. "We've seen some scraping," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on a call with reporters. "I would assume if you had that setting turned on that someone at some point has access to your public information in some way," he said. The setting Zuckerberg referred to is one where users let other users search for them by e-mail address or phone number instead of by name.

The gay hookup app Grindr, which has more than 3.6 million daily active users across the world, has been providing its users’ HIV status to two other companies, BuzzFeed News has learned. The two companies — Apptimize and Localytics, which help optimize apps — receive some of the information that Grindr users choose to include in their profiles, including their HIV status and “last tested date.” Because the HIV information is sent together with users’ GPS data, phone ID, and email, it could identify specific users and their HIV status, according to Antoine Pultier, a researcher at the Norwegian nonprofit...

Amazon and Google really do want to watch your every move. A series of patents filed by the firms 'outline an array of possibilities' for how their smart speakers could be used to better listen in on users. They suggest their always-on Google Home and Amazon Echo devices could know everything from a user's mood to their medical condition, and target advertising based on this data. The development comes amid a growing scandal involving the handling of the private data of 50 million users by Facebook and Cambridge Analytica.

Apple is set to introduce a new website dedicated to the management of Apple IDs and it will allow users to download a copy of all of the data stored by the company, according to a new report by Bloomberg. That data includes a user’s contacts as well as any photos, calendar information and even system or application level preferences. If it’s stored by Apple or one of its apps, the new Apple ID website will let a user download it. Alongside the en-masse data downloading, the new website will also allow users to carry out more mundane tasks such...

Your iPhone will track and record places that you visit most often to provide better location-based data and suggestions across iOS 11. While these suggestions can be super helpful, you may not like the idea of your iPhone and iPad tracking the locations you frequent If you value your privacy more than you do location-based data and suggestions, you can turn the feature off. How to turn off Significant Locations on iPhone and iPad: 1. Launch the Settings app from the Home screen. 2. Tap on Privacy. 3. Tap Location Services at the top. 4. Tap System Services. It's all...

Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christoper Wylie, appearing before a committee of British MPs on Tuesday, said that Facebook has the ability to spy on users in their homes and offices. The British parliament is investigating Cambridge Analytica's involvement in the Brexit election. MP Damian Collins, who chaired the committee, asked Wyle whether Facebook has the ability to listen to what people are talking about in order to better target them with ads. "There's been various speculation about the fact that Facebook can, through the Facebook app on your smartphone, listen in to what people are talking about and discussing and using...

Microsoft will ban 'offensive language' and 'inappropriate content' from Skype, Xbox, Office and other services on May 1, claiming it has the right to go through your private data to 'investigate.' Better watch out if you are playing Xbox, get ticked, and cuss. Microsoft might ban you for the “offensive language.” If they do, then say bye-bye to your Xbox Gold Membership and any Microsoft account balances.Or if you and a significant other are getting hot and heavy via Skype, you better watch your language and any nudity because that, too, can get you banned. The ban hammer could also...

Link provided is Facebook’s Data Policy. In essence, Facebook shares (sells) your data. Data collected: text messages, phone calls (no content), Google activity, contacts, locations, and the obvious. Users cannot opt-out. The data policy lays it all out. Please let others know.

If only they were capable of actually getting this. They seem to have a gap between their ears! David Hogg, who advocates Second Amendment restrictions, laments over possible constitutional implications of new clear backpack policy at his school. “It’s unnecessary, it’s embarrassing for a lot of the students and it makes them feel isolated and separated from the rest of American school culture where they’re having essentially their First Amendment rights infringed upon because they can’t freely wear whatever backpack they want regardless of what it is,” Hogg said. “One of the other important things to realize is many students...

Broward County Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie introduced the new measures in a letter sent to students' families this week.Students who survived the Valentine's Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, will have to get used to new security measures when they return from spring break next week — including clear backpacks and ID badges that must be worn at all times. Broward County Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie introduced the new measures in a letter sent to students' families on Wednesday. In it he said there would be additional security at the school, students would be given...

MENLO PARK, CA—Responding to the recent data-hijacking scandal which has its stock price plummeting and lawmakers demanding an explanation, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reminded everyone in a Facebook Live video Tuesday that the tech giant’s official terms of service specifically allow for it or any third party to utilize data it collects to engage in nefarious, Orwellian social engineering of any type it chooses. ... The young tech billionaire went on to stress that the same terms also grant third parties unlimited use of user data once it’s purchased from Facebook, even if that means doing things “the likes of...

Hundreds of millions of Facebook users are likely to have had their private information harvested by companies that exploited the same terms as the firm that collected data and passed it on to Cambridge Analytica, according to a new whistleblower. Sandy Parakilas, the platform operations manager at Facebook responsible for policing data breaches by third-party software developers between 2011 and 2012, told the Guardian he warned senior executives at the company that its lax approach to data protection risked a major breach.

Just a week after Forbes reported on the claim of Israeli U.S. government manufacturer Cellebrite that it could unlock the latest Apple iPhone models, another service has emerged promising much the same. Except this time it comes from an unkown entity, an obscure American startup named Grayshift, which appears to be run by long-time U.S. intelligence agency contractors and an ex-Apple security engineer. In recent weeks, its marketing materials have been disseminated around private online police and forensics groups, offering a $15,000 iPhone unlock tool named GrayKey, which permits 300 uses. That's for the online mode that requires constant connectivity...

Aside from a giant overreach into our personal lives that seems like regular business for Facebook, Zuckerberg’s team is realizing that our privacy and control of how facebook works is more in focus. Regardless of how much you use Facebook and the last time that you looked, take a moment to review this constantly changing area and give yourself a facebook privacy tune-up.

Your digital footprint — how often you post on social media, how quickly you scroll through your contacts, how frequently you check your phone late at night — could hold clues to your physical and mental health. That is the theory behind an emerging field, digital phenotyping, that is trying to assess people’s well-being based on their interactions with digital devices. Researchers and technology companies are tracking users’ social media posts and clicks in search of behavior changes that could correlate with disease symptoms. Some of these services are opt-in. At least one is not. People typically touch their phones...

Courts are faulting the search, but allowing the information, as case law lags behind technology Emilio Jean won his appeal, but he might as well have lost. Arizona law-enforcement officers violated Mr. JeanÂ’s privacy rights when they rigged a GPS device to a tractor-trailer he was co-piloting and tracked it for three days without a warrant, the stateÂ’s highest court ruled in January. But the Arizona court declined to throw out the illegally obtained evidence, a move that likely would have set Mr. Jean free. Instead, he is serving the rest of his 10-year prison sentence for attempting to haul...