data privacy4 articles
I Asked 100 Companies For My Data. Several Deleted It Instead.
When a journalist filed over 100 data access requests under the California Consumer Privacy Act, they encountered widespread non-compliance, with some companies — like Crunchbase and BeenVerified — deleting their data instead of providing it, despite explicit instructions not to. Others, like Cash App, effectively refused to process requests through channels their own privacy policies listed as valid options. Consumer advocates and legal experts argue these failures highlight how current frameworks place too much burden on individuals and that stronger "data minimization" rules — limiting what companies can collect in the first place — would better protect consumers.
Military Apps Riddled With Chinese and Russian Code, Study Finds
A study by researchers from Purdue University, West Point, and Florida International University found that over one in eight apps marketed to US military personnel contain code from companies in adversarial nations, including China and Russia, potentially enabling foreign governments to track troop movements and locations. Nearly two-thirds of the 220+ examined apps included third-party tracking software, with roughly 7 percent carrying code from Pentagon-designated adversaries, and 40 percent collected more data than disclosed in their store listings. Despite growing evidence of real-world threats — including a US Central Command acknowledgement that adversaries have exploited commercial location data to target troops in the Middle East — service members receive little institutional guidance on app privacy, and neither major app store discloses the national origin of code running inside apps.
Meta's Apps Hoover Up Three Times More User Data Than Apple's, Study Claims
A study by VPN provider Surfshark found that Meta's apps are the most data-hungry among major tech companies, collecting an average of 25 out of 35 possible data types, compared to just seven or eight for Apple and Microsoft apps. Google was also a significant offender, accounting for 29 of the 40 most data-collecting apps examined. The research, based on developer-submitted privacy disclosures in Apple's App Store rather than independent observation, analysed 171 iOS apps across Meta, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon.
Privacy Groups to FTC: Don't Let Musk Wriggle Out of Twitter's Data Order
Privacy advocates and 15 organizations have urged the FTC to reject X's petition to terminate the agency's oversight order, warning that Elon Musk's platform poses a "serious risk to Americans' privacy." X had argued the order was unnecessary due to the company's rebrand and restructuring, and that GDPR compliance made FTC audits redundant. Advocates countered that X's data practices — including training its Grok AI on user posts without meaningful consent, a major data breach, and ongoing privacy controversies — demonstrate the need for *greater* FTC scrutiny, not less.