Most Unidentified Flying Objects aren’t actually unidentified. Here’s a list of phenomena, either natural or human-made, that people often mistake for UFOs. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/if-its-not-a-ufo-what-is-it…
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Apple Launches New App Store Privacy Labels So You Can See How iOS Apps Use Your Data
Apple is officially launching its so-called “nutrition label” privacy disclosures for all iOS device owners running the latest version of iOS 14. The Verge reports: Apple says the new labels will be required for apps on all of its platforms — that includes iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS — and they will have to be up to date and accurate…
Here Comes the Google Chrome Change that Worries Ad-Blocker Creators
CNET reports: With the next version of Chrome, Google is moving ahead with a plan to improve privacy and security by reining in some abilities of extensions used to customize the browser. The move had angered some developers who expected earlier it would cripple ad blockers. Manifest v3, the programming interface behind Google’s security plans, will arrive with Chrome 88 in…
Google Will Change How Chrome Extensions Access Data in 2021
At Chrome Dev Summit 2020 today, Google announced it will change how extensions access data and how extension permissions work in 2021. On January 18, a day before the release of Chrome 88, Google will require that every extension publicly display its privacy practices and will limit what developers can do with the data they collect. From a report: The first…
Cloudflare and Apple Design a New Privacy-Friendly Internet Protocol
Engineers at Cloudflare and Apple say they’ve developed a new internet protocol that will shore up one of the biggest holes in internet privacy that many don’t know even exists. Dubbed Oblivious DNS-over-HTTPS, or ODoH for short, the new protocol makes it far more difficult for internet providers to know which websites you visit. From a report: […] Recent developments like…
Amazon Fire TV Adds Local News In 12 U.S. Cities, With 90 More Coming In 2021
At the end of a record-setting year of news consumption, Amazon Fire TV said local TV stations in 12 U.S. cities will be added to Amazon’s news app, with another 90 on deck for 2021. From a report: The initial dozen stations are in New York, LA, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Tampa, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle. The roster…
Google, Online Platforms Told by EU To Explain Search Rankings
Internet firms such as Google, Amazon.com and travel websites should explain how they rank search results on their platforms, according to European Union guidelines published Monday that could help businesses to increase their online visibility. From a report: The guidelines “set the standard for algorithmic ranking transparency,” Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s digital chief, said in a statement on the European Commission…
Chrome’s New ‘Cache Partitioning’ System Impacts Google Fonts Performance
A change made in the Google Chrome browser in October has impacted the performance of the Google Fonts service for millions of websites. From a report: The change is an update to Chrome’s internal cache system. A browser’s cache system works by serving as a temporary storage system for images, CSS, and JavaScript files used by websites. Files stored in the…
US Fertility Says Patient Data Was Stolen in a Ransomware Attack
U.S. Fertility, one of the largest networks of fertility clinics in the United States, has confirmed it was hit by a ransomware attack and that data was taken. From a report: The company was formed in May as a partnership between Shady Grove Fertility, a fertility clinic with dozens of locations across the U.S. east coast, and Amulet Capital Partners, a…
hCaptcha Runs On 15% Of the Internet
In a blog post, hCaptcha announced that its bot detector is running on about 15% of the internet, adding they they “took most of this market share directly from Google reCAPTCHA.” From the post: Competing with Google and other Big Tech companies seems like a tall order: their monopolistic market power, platform effects and army of highly paid developers are generally…