Privacy Blog

"Friends don’t let friends get spied on.' – Richard Stallman, President of the Free Software Foundation and longtime advocate of privacy in technology.

Cell Phones

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Pryvate: the All-Encompassing and Fully Encrypted Communications Platform for Mobile and Desktop Devices

It is a big claim but Cryptique, a secure communication provider based in the Channel Islands, claims its new app is “the first all-encompassing and fully encrypted communications platform for mobile devices, across email, voice calls, conference calls, video calls and instant messenger.” Its intention? “To protect consumers and businesses from cybercriminals, intruders, corporate espionage, hackers and more.” Pryvate claims to offer military grade encryption for your mobile devices. Your […]

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Google Now Requires Full Device Encryption on New Android 6.0 Devices

Following Apple’s lead with the iPhone, Google has decided to mandate full device encryption for Android 5.0 phones and tablets with Android 6.0. New phones shipping with Android 6.0 Marshmallow software and meeting a certain performance standard must be encrypted by default. Older devices that get upgraded to Android 6.0 in the future will be exempted, according to Google: “If a device implementation is already launched on an earlier Android […]

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Burner Receives Updates with Plugins and Premium Numbers

I wrote about Burner, a disposable phone number app, about a month ago at http://goo.gl/qQ7pLm. The Burner app has many uses for disposable phone numbers to maintain your privacy: selling items on Craigslist, setting up a blind date, wives hiding from abusive husbands, celebrities who do not wish to be swamped with calls and text messages from fans or the press, or simply keeping a private number only known to […]

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New Verizon Cellphone Policy Raises Cellphone Privacy Concerns

Do you have cell phone service through Verizon? If so, you might want to take a look at your privacy settings. Verizon’s new “Relevant Mobile Advertising Program” will collect more personal information about your web and cellphone usage and will sell that information to interested advertisers. Verizon, which recently acquired the advertising giant AOL, announced this week that starting in November, it’s going to start sharing personally identifying information from […]

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Cyber Dust Privacy App for Text Messaging on your Cellphone

Cyber Dust allows you to communicate freely and honestly. Send and receive text messages, stickers, links, photos, videos and more. Your messages are protected from screenshots and disappear after they are read. They are heavily encrypted and never touch a hard drive, not even in the servers at Cyber Dust headquarters. Once your messages are gone, they are truly gone forever, never to be recovered. Messages are heavily encrypted and […]

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Blackberry’s Android-powered Priv Smartphone

Blackberry will ship its first Android smartphone, known as the Priv, before the end of the year. It is called “Priv” because the name refers to the company’s “heritage and core mission of protecting our customers’ privacy,” and that the handset will combine “the best of BlackBerry security and productivity with the expansive mobile application ecosystem available on the Android platform.” The announcement is buried inside Blackberry’s BlackBerry Fiscal 2016 […]

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Android Virus Blackmails Users after Secretly Taking Pictures of Them

If you have an Android cell phone or tablet device, be careful what apps you install. The “Adult Player” app (known by other names as well) lures victims by promising pornographic video. When the victim starts using it, the app silently takes a compromising photo of the victim, which is then displayed on the screen, along with a ransom message. The app demands a ransom of $500 (£326) to be […]

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Disposable Phone Numbers for Maximum Privacy

You can find many uses for disposable phone numbers to maintain your privacy: selling items on Craigslist, setting up a blind date, wives hiding from abusive husbands, celebrities who do not wish to be swamped with calls and text messages from fans or the press, or simply keeping a private number only known to select friends and family members. Another use is for tourists and business people traveling in foreign […]

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The Feds Now Need a Warrant to Spy on Us with Stingrays

On Thursday the Justice Department announced a new and long-overdue policy requiring the FBI and other federal agents to obtain a search warrant before using stingrays—devices that simulate a cell phone tower in order to track the location of mobile phone users. The new policy forces prosecutors and investigators not only to obtain a warrant but also to disclose to judges that the specific technology they plan to use is […]

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