October 17th, 2023
What happens to the images you post online? They’re stored on a server that somebody else owns, their content mined for any data that can be monetized. That data includes the faces in the image. So think about what happens when you post a photo of your kids. Their faces get stored, identified, tagged, analyzed, and used to perfect facial recognition technology. That’s all valuable data for tech firms over which you have little, if any, control…. Continue reading >
October 10th, 2023
We steer clear of politics here at Privacy Parent—our focus is entirely on building a world in which technology prioritizes safety and security for the people who use it—but you don’t have to get into blue vs. red to see it’s a problem when Alexa is culling its answers from random internet commenters. The Washington Post reports Alexa, Amazon’s smart speaker, is telling people Donald Trump won Pennsylvania during the 2020 election (he didn’t), and citing Substack,… Continue reading >
October 4th, 2023
It seems, finally, like we’re starting to value our digital privacy and to take steps to protect it. We have a long way to go, and anything resembling a solution is far off in the distance, but it would be a mistake not to acknowledge the real progress made in recent years. Let’s not celebrate prematurely, but let’s recognize that norms are shifting. Digital privacy is no longer a fringe concern. It’s inching toward the mainstream, which… Continue reading >
October 3rd, 2023
Is there a way to reverse the outflow of personal data? To somehow vacuum up the countless bits of digital debris that companies have made vast sums of money collecting? According to the Washington Post, yes. Sort of. Geoffrey Fowler, who covers digital privacy issues for the Post, has written about a new app from Consumer Reports that, in his words, “makes it super simple to order companies to delete your personal information and… Continue reading >
September 22nd, 2023
New cars may run on gas or electricity, but the car industry runs on data. Your data.
For the last century, cars have played a variety of roles in our lives. More than just a machine carrying us from here to there, they reflect our identity. They signify our status. They symbolize opportunity, escape, and hope. And now, improbably, after having offered the freedom of the open road to generations of drivers, they’ve… Continue reading >
September 13th, 2023
It’s become a staple of our social media feeds: the back-to-school photo. Often the kids in the pictures—smiling on a front step, full of excitement—are holding a sign showing their name, grade, and school. It’s a milestone moment, worthy of a photo, and invariably sweet.
Posting these pics is understandable, but it’s also risky. In an age of mass data-collection and tracking (and less often but more alarming, cyber-stalking), these posts offer up… Continue reading >
August 31st, 2023
Do you use Venmo to pay the babysitter? Do your kids use it to buy snacks or payback their friends? Then check your privacy settings. According to a recent article in the New York Times, Venmo is notorious for gathering your personal information and sharing it far and wide. Your contact lists, past purchases, and lots else, are scooped up and made available for just about anyone on the app to see. The reporter who wrote the… Continue reading >
August 23rd, 2023
In what really should not be a surprise to anyone, it turns out ads on YouTube videos intended for kids may have allowed tech companies to track those kids “across the internet.” That’s not supposed to happen. A recent article in the New York Times reports that lawmakers are asking questions of Google, YouTube’s parent company, and trying to find out whether the tech giant violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. “This behavior by YouTube… Continue reading >
July 19th, 2023
Threads, the new Twitter-like social media app from the makers of Instagram, racked up 100 million users within five days of launching. Obviously, it’s popular (though engagement is waning). But it’s also worrisome, as it presents new concerns about privacy and safety and appears to be “gobbling data.”
Produced by
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Threads allows users to
connect with the people on their Instagram “close friends” list. You can post
messages,… Continue reading >
July 12th, 2023
Snapchat’s My AI is aptly named, in that its use is very much not in your interest. Presented by the company as an in-app feature to help users find everything from trivia answers to gift ideas, it’s riddled with privacy and safety concerns. If you—or your kids—are going to use it, here are some concerns to think about.
First, the privacy issues. For My AI to work as intended, you have to give… Continue reading >