WikiLeaks successor DDoSecrets has amassed a controversial new collection of corporate secrets and is sharing them in the name of transparency.

>"Can social media users ever hope to escape Facebook’s gravity well? Hong Kong’s MeWe craze offers revealing clues."

>"An adage of international relations holds that great powers have no permanent friends or allies, only permanent interests. (The original quote, from a 19th-century English statesman known as Lord…"

"The reality is quite simple. Your behavior is your personal currency — that is, unless you’re willing to pay. Our own mental models of experience and perception of value exchange are complex.

Not being on WeChat means not being able to participate in many aspects of modern life in China, but because of the concerns over privacy, surveillance and censorship, some people are still willing to make the personal and professional _...Read More_

"The US military is conducting wide-area surveillance tests across six midwest states using experimental high-altitude balloons, documentsfiled with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reveal."

More on the Chinese social point system. " Punishment for dishonesty, or some form thereof, is woven into the DNA of the social credit scheme, which seeks to rank citizens according to their trustworthiness, taking into account whether they _...Read More_

With all the current concerns about Faceapp this article suggests its not the scandal everyone thinks. It's good to see a wider discussion on privacy though.

I’m experiencing this as a series of insightful, well researched and frightening articles. “Companies and governments are gaining new powers to follow people across the internet and around the world, and even to peer into their genomes. _...Read More_

“Although the database has been deleted by Microsoft, it is still available to researchers and companies that had previously downloaded it. Mr Harvey said it was still being shared on open-source websites.”

It seems like SIM-jacking/swapping is a growing problem. Now I understand the importance of my wireless account’s PIN code I can never seem to remember 🙄

very very very very dark

“The goal here is instilling fear — fear that their surveillance technology can see into every corner of your life,” said Wang Lixiong

“We can forgive your politics and focus on your technical contributions as long as you don’t do something unforgivable, like speaking to the press.” 👈 Parting advice given to a departing Google employee.

Interesting proposal to emphasize data ownership and compensate users for their data. This is something Jaron Lanier has been arguing for also. But I’m skeptical this can lead to practical changes or actual money in people’s pockets. We _...Read More_