#Data Security

[abbiistabbii]

I think every computer user needs to read this because holy fucking shit this is fucking horrible.

So Windows has a new feature incoming called Recall where your computer will first, monitor everything you do with screenshots every couple of seconds and "process that" with an AI.

Hey, errrr, fuck no? This isn't merely because AI is really energy intensive to the point that it causes environmental damage. This is because it's basically surveilling what you are doing on your fucking desktop.

This AI is not going to be on your desktop, like all AI, it's going to be done on another server, "in the cloud" to be precise, so all those data and screenshot? They're going to go off to Microsoft. Microsoft are going to be monitoring what you do on your own computer.

Now of course Microsoft are going to be all "oooh, it's okay, we'll keep your data safe". They won't. Let me just remind you that evidence given over from Facebook has been used to prosecute a mother and daughter for an "illegal abortion", Microsoft will likely do the same.

And before someone goes "durrr, nuthin' to fear, nuthin to hide", let me remind you that you can be doing completely legal and righteous acts and still have the police on your arse. Are you an activist? Don't even need to be a hackivist, you can just be very vocal about something concerning and have the fucking police on your arse. They did this with environmental protesters in the UK. The culture war against transgender people looks likely to be heading in a direction wherein people looking for information on transgender people or help transitioning will be tracked down too. You have plenty to hide from the government, including your opinions and ideas.

Again, look into backing up your shit and switching to Linux Mint or Ubuntu to get away from Microsoft doing this shit.

[scipunk]

Hackers (1995)

[musicofthenightphantomoftheopera]

KOSA COPYCAT BILL INTRODUCED IN AUSTRALIA

If you know anybody in Australia that uses the internet, spread the word immediately! Do everything in your power to make your voice heard!

[saphronethaleph]

bonk

“General?” Princess Leia asked. “Will your fighters be ready?”

“Ready as we can be, Princess,” General Dodonna replied. “We can at least hope to destroy the Death Star soon. If it’s coming here, that gives us something resembling an advantage.”

Leia nodded.

“Very true,” she said. “It’s why I didn’t get the smuggler to land somewhere else and ditch the tracking beacon. We’ve found a weakness, correct?”

“Yes,” Dodonna agreed. “But that was an enormous gamble, Princess. I hope it pays off.”

“If it doesn’t pay off, then we’re doomed anyway,” Leia said, with a sigh. “But…”

Her voice trailed off, and she looked towards the corridor.

“Something’s not right,” she said, then focused on the sunlight streaming in through a window at the far end of the corridor. “The light looks different.”

“General! Senator!” someone shouted. “The planet!”

“What about the planet, man?” Dodonna asked.

“It’s – just look!” the Rebel told him. “I don’t know how to describe it!”

The man was right.

It wasn’t really something any of them could describe.

Yavin Prime, the reddish gas giant around which Yavin Four orbited, was rippling. The gaseous, tenuous surface of the planet was splashing, like a stormy sea without the storm, and just the fact they could see the ripples meant they had to be hundreds of kilometres high… and they glowed, like fire, as they dissipated some titanic amount of energy.

“What’s going on?” Dodonna asked. “Anyone?”

“Could it be the result of the Death Star firing on Yavin?” an analyst asked.

Dodonna looked around sharply. “Has the Death Star arrived yet? Signals!”

“We haven’t picked up anything,” the analyst admitted. “I just can’t see what else could cause this.”

“Oh, my…” C-3P0 said, in astonished tones.

R2-D2 rolled up next to him and whistled.

“What?” C-3P0 asked. “What do you mean, you’re welcome?”

Luke hurried up. “Threepio, what’s going on? R2 just rolled out over here while the techs were checking on his compatibility with an X-Wing.”

R2 bleeped in a self-satisfied tone.

“Well?” Leia asked. “What’s he saying?”

“He says… ah… he was connected to the Death Star and he had the complete plans in his databank,” C-3P0 translated. “He tells me that he’s a very good slicer. And he adjusted the tolerance on the hyperdrive by a fraction of a percent.”

Luke was silent for a moment.

“You mean R2 made the Death Star crash into Yavin?” he asked.

“That appears to be the case, Master Luke,” C-3P0 confirmed.

R2 chattered some electronic noises.

“He says he’ll need some sticky tape to affix his medal,” the protocol droid added, helpfully.

[fuzzyghost]

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The ticket sales giant said through emails to its users and in a press release that it recently discovered "an unauthorized third party" was able to obtain information from a cloud database hosted by a third-party data services provider. "Based on our investigation to date, we determined that the unauthorized activity occurred between April 2, 2024, and May 18, 2024," Ticketmaster wrote in an email sent to its users on Monday. "On May 23, 2024, we determined that some of your personal information may have been affected by the incident. We have not seen any additional unauthorized activity in the cloud database since we began our investigation." The California-based company confirmed the cloud database contained personal information of customers who bought tickets to events in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. "This may include email, phone number, encrypted credit card information as well as some other personal information provided to us," it wrote in the press release, adding it is in the process of reaching out by email or mail to customers it believes were affected.

Continue Reading

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[fly-the-pattern]

[bynux]

Be Careful Putting Your Phone Down At Panera Bread Locations

I noticed my phone buzzing repeatedly when I'd have it open on the table at Panera, and on further review I realized that my phone was repeatedly scanning an NFC tag on the underside of the table. I'm assuming the servers use these as a shorthand way of confirming that food has been delivered to the correct table.

This is all well and good; this is a prime use case for NFC tags, and using an NFC reader app I was able to see that they're just basic numeric codes. As long as the tags aren't rewritable by anyone, they're not a security risk.

The NFC tags at Panera Bread are rewritable. Like, easily. Using a simple app you can get from the Google Play Store.

What this means is that someone can rewrite the NFC tags to redirect to a download link for malware, or a phishing website, or any number of other attack vectors.

I have more information about this issue on my personal website, as well as a video demonstrating the effect. My recommendation is to keep NFC turned off on your phone unless and until you're actively using it (for touchless payments, bus tickets, etc.).

[amethystsoda]

Here’s more data “training” info from the meta ai assistant that I got today:

They’ve been hiding the opt out options on their privacy policy lately 🙄🙄🙄

[bfoxanimation]

"It looks like you have some private personal and financial details on display! I'll take a screenshot and store it in a folder someone can access later. "

[scipunk]

Hackers (1995)

[qu33rsources]

How to install NewPipe on Android

NewPipe is a YouTube replacement client for Android devices. It's open-source (meaning, you can see all of their code as you please), privacy-oriented, lightweight, and supports features that are normally locked behind a YouTube Premium paywall.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with NewPipe, YouTube, Android, Google, Alphabet Inc, or any other brand or name mentioned here. I made this guide to help my friends who were curious.

NewPipe's Website: https://newpipe.net/

The GitHub Repository

Step 0. Compatibility check

Make sure you're running an Android device! This won't work on an Apple device of any kind! Also, for those more tech-savvy among you, if you have the F-Droid store installed, you can download NewPipe straight from there!

Step 1. Downloading

Go to NewPipe's Github repo (repository, the codebase or where all of the code is stored). Scroll to the bottom of the page until you see "Releases". Click on the one that says "Latest" next to it in a little green bubble:

Your version number (v#...) will be different if you're reading this in the future! That's okay. Scroll past the changelog (unless you want to read it!) until you find "Assets":

Click on the first one, the one with the little cube ending in .apk. APK files are Android Package (Kit) and are the main format for downloading apps. Once you click on the link, it should begin downloading or your browser will ask you to confirm that you want to download this file. You should always verify the filename matches what you expect it to be (namely, the file format) before attempting to install! It might take a few moments for the file to download depending on your internet connection.

Step 2. Installation

Once you have the file downloaded, you can click the download popup in your notification bar or find the file in your device's file system. One of 2 things will happen:

You will get a popup asking if you want to install an APK by the name of NewPipe - confirm that you do (and make sure the app is really NewPipe!) and it will install automatically. You can then click "Open" to open the app and begin using it.

You will get a popup warning you that you have the ability to install apps from unknown sources disabled and that you can't install this. This is normal and does not mean that you downloaded the wrong thing.

If you got the first popup, continue past this step. For those of you who got the second, let's go over what this means.

By default, most Androids have this setting disabled. This is for security purposes, so you can't accidentally install a malicious app from the whole internet. If you enable this setting (allow installations from unknown/unsigned sources), you are theoretically putting yourself at risk. Realistically, you're probably fine. But, after installing NewPipe, you can always re-disable the setting if it makes you more comfortable. That will prevent you from installing updates in the future, but it can always be re-enabled.

Ready to turn that setting on? It will vary by your individual device! Some devices will take you directly to the page with the setting upon failed installation, and some you will just have to find it yourself using the searchbar in settings.

Once you've allowed installations from unknown sources (wording may vary slightly), try to repeat the steps above of clicking the download popup or finding the APK in your files and trying to install it. It should work correctly this time!

Step 3. Updating NewPipe

Like most apps, NewPipe is in development currently and frequently has new versions released to improve it and fix bugs. Unlike most apps, NewPipe needs to be manually updated, since we haven't downloaded through the Google Play store.

To update NewPipe, all you have to do is follow the above steps for installing the app, except that when you get the popup asking to install it, it will instead say "Update". That's it! NewPipe and Android handle the rest.

NewPipe also has popup notifications for when the app has a new update, so you don't have to worry about checking the GitHub for a new release. Just click on the "A new version is available" popup and it should take you directly to the webpage.

That's it! Enjoy browsing videos in peace without ads and with the ability to download and so much more. Pro tip: you can copy paste YouTube links into the NewPipe search bar to go directly to that video/playlist/channel.

[starkidmack]

Here’s the article on how to delete your 23andMe data without all the judgmental bullshit on the other post I saw going around.

[fayrobertsuk]

Faceache

Go to https://accountscenter.facebook.com/info_and_permissions/off_facebook_activity/?entry_point=ACCOUNTS_CENTER to find out what all apps and sites have been sharing your info with Facebook, because I don't remember giving pharmacies and banks and all the (many) rest permission, but here we are...