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Privacy

As gadgets and services get smarter, they need more data, and face the hard problem of keeping it safe. Data privacy has become a huge problem for Google, Facebook, Amazon, and any company using artificial intelligence to power its services — and a major sticking point for lawmakers looking to regulate. Here's all the news on data privacy and how it's changing tech.

ACLU sues for records on facial recognition at the border

Vermont attorney general is suing Clearview AI over its controversial facial recognition app

Google location data turned a random biker into a burglary suspect

Grindr has been sold by its Chinese owner after the US expressed security concerns

How to stop Spectrum junk mail

Congress postponed a vote to extend Patriot Act surveillance programs

Slickwraps apologizes to customers after comically bad data breach

Google is indexing WhatsApp group chat links, making even private groups discoverable

Google is cracking down on Android apps that track your location in the background

Facebook will now pay you for your voice recordings

Google sued by New Mexico attorney general for collecting student data through Chromebooks

Ring cameras can help you spy on your neighbors, but they haven’t really helped police

Google removes alleged spying app ToTok from the Play Store for a second time

Facebook Dating misses European launch for Valentine’s Day over regulatory dispute

Kirsten Gillibrand outlines new Data Protection Agency to take on Big Tech

Google’s Nest will force customers to use two-factor authentication

Amazon’s Ring now lets you snitch on your neighbor’s good deeds, too

This girls-only app uses AI to screen a user’s gender — what could go wrong?

Homeland Security reportedly bought phone location data to track people at the border

Facebook and LinkedIn are latest to demand Clearview stop scraping images for facial recognition tech

Wacom tablets are sharing your app usage with Google Analytics

Apple reportedly patches Catalina bug that showed unencrypted snippets of encrypted emails

YouTube demands Clearview AI stop scraping its videos for facial recognition database

Alphabet’s Jigsaw unveils a tool to help journalists spot deepfakes and manipulated images

You might be able to get up to $100 from the settlement for Yahoo’s data breaches

Messenger Kids now lets parents see child’s chat histories and recent images

Google admits it sent private videos in Google Photos to strangers

Twitter briefly took over a parody account and gave it to the school it mocked

Why Amazon is tracking every time you tap your Kindle

Antivirus company shuts down its data-harvesting arm after getting caught red-handed

Facebook to pay $550 million to settle privacy lawsuit over facial recognition tech

Google’s tearjerker Super Bowl ad is sad and creepy