Ads promoted browser extensions as tools to find manuals, convert PDFs, or make searches safer. But many of these extensions sent users’ search queries through servers controlled by their operators. Socket researcher John Tuckner identified 319 extensions with an estimated 13.4 million installs over a decade. The extensions hijacked users’ default search settings and routed their searches through servers controlled by the operators before sending them to Yahoo or Bing. This gave the operators…
As Android Central reports, users have received unexpected emails telling them their phone number has been verified for secondary Google accounts. Like me and many others, you may have one Google account for everyday use, another for work, and a third for things you would rather keep separate. But if you’re using an Android phone, those accounts may have something in common that you didn’t intend or even know about: your phone number. Google’s own documentation confirms that phone number…
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has fined Google €403 million ($459 million) for violating European privacy law. The penalty follows a six-year inquiry into Google’s management of user location data between May 2018 and February 2020. During that time, Google collected users’ location data without making clear that it could be used to infer their interests and shape the ads they saw. Google’s location history keeps track of users’ locations when using their devices. It’s an opt-in…
Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) has fined Google €403 million ($463M) for multiple GDPR violations related to processing users' location data. [...]
First, the good news: If you use a Linux-based operating system, you may not be asked your age in a few months. The bad news is that Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android users in California will be. California has passed a law that requires a range of operating systems to start collecting your age when you first set them up. Under the state’s Digital Age Assurance Act (DAAA), signed into law in October 2025, Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android will all have to do this from January 1, 2027. Operating…