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WhatsApp's privacy features make it a hotbed for COVID-19 hoaxes

Mar 23, 2020
The app is impossible to search for conspiracy theories in order to stop their spread.
Pro-Trump extremists are joining smaller, private messaging groups on encrypted messaging apps. It might be a good thing, because then the virality of disinformation is contained, but it can also be a bad thing if law enforcement can't see their next move.
Stan Honda/AFP via Getty Images

What would a "privacy-focused" Facebook look like?

Mar 7, 2019
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has laid out a new vision for the company.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images

Tech trends to watch in 2017

Dec 22, 2016
Encryption, voice commands and 'intelligent things' will be big in the new year.
The Amazon Echo Dot uses voice activated technology. 
Flickr/Guillermo Fernandes

Encryption apps see growth after election

Nov 16, 2016
Signal, which features end-to-end encryption, has seen 400 percent growth since the election.
Signal uses end-to-end encryption so that no one can read your messages.
Open Whisper Systems

Google Chrome is going to crack the whip on unprotected websites

Nov 4, 2016
The Google Chrome security team is getting tough on websites that are not encrypted. Those are the ones without the HTTPS at the beginning of its URL. Anyone looking at what you’re doing online on that site can capture all of your information, including important user names and passwords. Most of the pages desktop users […]
Google says it will start marking unsecure websites in January.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Unlocking iPhones spells money, and lots of it

Mar 29, 2016
Unlocking smartphones could be a nice money-maker for encryption companies.

NAND mirroring could be key to unlocking terrorist's phone

Mar 23, 2016
'Groundhog Day' helps explain the new method the government may be using to hack into the device.
NAND mirroring can grant a user unlimited tries at guessing a phone's passcode.
Wikipedia

For public good, not for profit.

The FBI may not need Apple's help to unlock an iPhone after all

Mar 22, 2016
Johns Hopkins professor Matthew Green broke the encryption on the iMessage system.

Encryption spreads as Apple battles the FBI

Mar 14, 2016
Companies are beefing up protections for users to better compete for our business
rotesters demonstrate outside the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters building in Washington, DC, February 23, 2016, objecting to the US government attempt to put a backdoor into the Apple iPhone. 
PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images

Apple scores legal victory in New York

Mar 1, 2016
A federal judge in New York didn't buy a government argument to open up an iPhone.