Sunday, December 27, 2020

All the privacy apps you should have downloaded in 2020

All the privacy apps you should have downloaded in 2020  Mashable – “In case there were any lingering doubts, 2020 swooped in hard to remind us all that life is now mediated through devices. The ongoing pandemic, the murder of George Floyd and resultant Black Lives Matters protests, and the still-in-progress attempt to overturn the will of the American people: We’ve navigated these public health and political upheavals, with varying degrees of success, through screens.  But simply because we’re more dependent on phones now than in years past doesn’t mean the contents of that digital-forward life is anyone’s business besides the person who’s living it. Thankfully, there are apps to help ensure that what should be private stays that way.  From messaging to web browsing to email, to open-source camera apps that watch for overzealous authorities pawing through your stuff, phones have the potential to be more than just surveillance-enabling tools. Below is a list of apps that you should have downloaded in 2020. Your privacy doesn’t need to be another casualty of a brutal year. These apps will help you protect it…”



CRS Insight, December 15, 2020. SolarWinds Attack—No Easy Fix: “On December 13, 2020, the cybersecurity firm FireEye published research that a malicious actor was exploiting a supply chain vulnerability in SolarWinds products to hack into government and private sector information technology (IT) networks. SolarWinds confirmed the security incident.The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an emergency directive requiring federal agencies to remove certain SolarWinds products from agency networks. Media initially reported that the U.S. Treasury and Commerce departments were susceptible to this attack; subsequent reports added additional agencies. The list of compromised agencies and companies is expected to expand. As private sector and government researchers continue investigating this incident,the cybersecurity community expects to learn more about the attack, the adversary, their targets, compromised data and systems, and ways to recover from the incident. This Insight provides an overview of the incident, federal response, and policy considerations.”


Those new service sector jobs: death witnesses(Canada)


Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Some UK Stores Are Using Facial Recognition to Track Shoppers Wired 

France Bans Use of Drones To Police Protests In Paris BBC

New York Halts Use of Facial Recognition in Schools ny.gov

Cellebrite’s New Solution for Decrypting the Signal App WayBack Machine

From dk:


The culture that is Dodge City


An NPR segment with Cardiff Garcia and me: after the Great Stagnation ends, what will be overrated and underrated?


Will there be a tobacco vaccine?


Kangaroos can ask (humans) for help


Vietnam as currency manipulator?


Jupiter and Saturn ‘Christmas Star’ to Coincide With Winter Solstice, Ursid Meteor Shower Newsweek


The financial system after Covid-19 Bank of International Settlements


Central banks to walk tightrope on communication in 2021 FT


At Banque Havilland, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Was Known as ‘The Boss’ Bloomberg


A tale of two SEC enforcement actions, Part 1 – GE and Luckin Coffee Francine McKenna, The Dig