From the Associated Press: MOSCOW (AP) – Russia has banned the use on its territory of a smartphone app widely used like a walkie-talkie to organize demonstrations and other gatherings. The app, called Zello, reportedly has been popular among long-distance truckers in Russia who are conducting strikes to protest a road tariff system.
“We typically think of social media platforms—Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, etc.—as distinct from one another…. This is true for most users. But it’s also true for the trolls and bots that drive disinformation campaigns. This phenomenon helps explain what happened when the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA) targeted US social media during and after the 2016 US presidential election.” You can read more in n article by Josephine Lukito in the […]
Note: This article is off-topic. That is, it is not about privacy or any related topics. However, if you are somewhere near the eastern seaboard of the United States this week, this is information you probably need to know. From the Apple Insider web site: With Hurricane Dorian approaching the coast of Florida, word is again spreading about “push to talk” iPhone app Zello. However, downloaders should be aware that […]
I hadn’t thought about this issue until I read that four companies that made billions of illegal robocalls have now been caught and fined. I don’t think my phone has received a robotic robocall for the past several days. (I never answer calls from phone numbers I don’t recognize. If the caller hangs up without leaving a voice message I assume it was a marketing caller, probably a robo-caller.) The […]
I have written several times about the private communications app called Zello. See https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Aprivacyblog.com+zello&t=h_&ia=web for my past Zello articles. Zello has many uses , especially in catastrophes such as hurricanes, tornados, floods, forest fires, traffic jams, and more. It has also been used to coordinate anti-government activities in Russia. Now the Venezuelans are using Zello as a crucial tool for Venezuelans protesting widespread hunger and political oppression under dictator Nicolás […]
Personal privacy seems to be dying in India as the country moves to increased censorship by the government. Sadly, this trend is occurring worldwide, including here. According to an article by Vindu Goel in the New York Times: “India’s government has proposed giving itself vast new powers to suppress internet content, igniting a heated battle with global technology giants and prompting comparisons to censorship in China. “Under the proposed rules, […]
“The very capacity for a citizen to engage with truth is under attack,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada tells press freedom event. The very interesting article and video about freedom of the press may be found on the CBC web site at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-press-freedom-sunday-1.4901226.
Two postgraduate students in California have put together an unusual database. It has information on every school shooting in the U.S. over the past 50 years. One of the database creators, David Riedman, says his site allows you to search 16 different categories, ranging from suicides to fights. He calls his database a good tool for school administrators building budgets and making plans for school security. You can learn more […]
If Hurricane Florence is coming to your area, you need to download Zello in your smartphone. Details may be found in an article by Avery Hartmans in the Business Insider web site at: https://read.bi/2OgeBFG. Also, see the earlier articles about Zello published here in the PrivacyBlog by starting at: https://privacyblog.com/?s=zello.
“The privacy of the voting booth?” There’s not much privacy there. The nation’s top voting machine maker has admitted in a letter to a federal lawmaker that the company installed remote-access software on election-management systems it sold over a period of six years, raising questions about the security of those systems and the integrity of elections that were conducted with them. In a letter sent to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) […]
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