Advocates say it's too easy to abuse automated license plate reader technology.
A new book explores just how much we're being monitored—and how to fight back.

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Advocates say it's too easy to abuse automated license plate reader technology.
A new book explores just how much we're being monitored—and how to fight back.
I don’t consume those types of “how to look high class”/“what rich people do” content because they’re often ridiculous. But the one exception I have is how rich people use the internet/social media. They know something we don’t.
And when I say rich I’m not talking about influencers and celebrities. Anybody that makes their living being seen on a screen doesn’t count. I’m talking about old money and billionaires. They know something about data and privacy. There is something prudent about making yourself invisible and unreachable to strangers in a world that overshares. For working class people, I think being more private online is a form of protection in an increasingly powerful surveillance culture.
This setting exists and YOU should have it enabled!
(settings ---> visibility)
I just now saw a post on Instagram saying Firefox has changed its Terms of Service to allow the selling of your data. The post has become popular, gaining almost 15k likes.
I looked it up, as I know how misleading Instagram posts are and found this article from today:
● Some quotes from the article-
'A new clause appeared in Firefox’s terms of use. "When you upload or input information through Firefox, you hereby grant us a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use that information to help you navigate, experience, and interact with online content as you indicate with your use of Firefox," the term read.'
● Response from FireFox:
"We need a license to allow us to make some of the basic functionality of Firefox possible," Mozilla said in a blog post on the incident. "Without it, we couldn’t use information typed into Firefox, for example. It does NOT give us ownership of your data or a right to use it for anything other than what is described in the Privacy Notice."
FireFox also said, "[They] wipe any personal data related to the user."
I personally will still use FireFox as I do enjoy it and have extensions that help prevent data collection, but did want to share in case others may be weary with this and/or have not actually looked up the response from FireFox. They've already received heavy backlash, so there's no need to rag on them and said "The change was poorly worded and confusing"
TOR is a very good option if you would like to switch from FireFox altogether.
I also use DuckDuckGo as my main search engine, which helps some with preventing data sharing.
Overall, it is your choice to take this how you will, but anything is better than Google.
to all artists and everyone following me (just in case) please turn this ON !!!
where to find the setting: account settings > Visibility
for desktop/browser: account > select blog > Blog settings (in lower right , above mass post editor) — it should be there when you scroll down !
Sharing Brains
Brain imaging resource of data collected from individuals genetically inheriting predisposition to Alzheimer's disease provides insight into the onset in the much larger population who develop the disease sporadically and into brain ageing generally
Read the published research paper here
Image from work by Nicole S. McKay and colleagues
The Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Published in Nature Neuroscience, July 2023
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Senior doctors call on colleagues not to share personal data, in effort to buy time to raise awareness of plans
!Important!
NHS Digital is planning to give out everyone in the UK’s medical records, including some identifiable information, to third parties on the 1st of July.
This data includes information on “your sex, ethnicity and sexual orientation” and “clinical codes and data about diagnoses, symptoms, observations, test results, medications, allergies, immunisations, referrals and recalls, and appointments, including information about your physical, mental and sexual health” (quotes from the NHS Digital website). The data will also include coded identifying information, such as your postcode, which is deliberately de-codable in case you need to be identified (e.g. by your own doctor). The guardian article above mentions that critics of NHS Digital’s plan have said that this anonymisation via encoding “can be easily reversed“.
The Guardian article says that the data “will be made available to the private sector and other researchers”, the NHS Digital website says that the data can be used by any organisations who “[show that they] have a legal basis to use the data and that it will be used safely, securely and appropriately” and who have been approved by the Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data (IGARD).
Currently the only way to not have your data shared is to opt-out by filling in a form available on the NHS Digital website and returning it to your doctors surgery (by post or email) by the 23rd of June.
The complete lack of any publicity means that most people have no idea that their sensitve data is going to be shared with outside organisations, without their explicit consent. If you know people in the UK, please let them know about this!