Google is being sued for allegedly planting secret cookies on 5.4 million iPhone users

A campaigning group is suing Google on behalf of 5.4 million people over allegations that the company harvested personal information from iPhone users. 

"Google You Owe Us", led by ex-Which?director Richard Lloyd, claims Google illegally collected personal data from 5.4 million individuals in the UK between June 2011 and February 2012.

Using the so-called "Safari Workaround," Google allegedly placed cookies that tracked iPhones' internet browsing history, which the company then used to sell ads. 

The group believes those affected are eligible for compensation for violation of trust.

Lloyd told the FT he expected each claimant to receive "several hundred pounds" should the case be successful. 

The lawsuit is a type of collective action called "representative action," meaning the claim is brought on by one individual on behalf of those affected, who can opt out if they want (the group's FAQ sectionincludes a link to a form for people who do not wish to be part of the claim).

"Those affected do not have to pay any legal fees, conduct any research or (at this stage) contact any lawyers," the group said in a statement. "They are already part of the claim and will be updated on the progress of the claim through the website and social media."

A court date is expected to be set for early spring 2018. It's the first representative action of this kind in the UK against a major tech company that is centred on the alleged mass misuse of personal data, according to FT. 

Lloyd said: 

“I believe that what Google did was quite simply against the law. Their actions have affected millions, and we’ll be asking the courts to remedy this major breach of trust. 

Through this action, we will send a strong message to Google and other tech giants in Silicon Valley that we’re not afraid to fight back if our laws are broken.

In all my years speaking up for consumers, I’ve rarely seen such a massive abuse of trust where so many people have no way to seek redress on their own. That’s why I’ve taken on one of the biggest fights of my life in representing this legal action, which is the first case of its kind in the UK against a major tech company for misusing our valuable personal data.

I want to spread the word about our claim. Google owes all of those affected fairness, trust and money. By joining together, we can show Google that they can’t get away with taking our data without our consent, and that no matter how large and powerful they are, nobody is above the law.”

Google said in a statement: "This is not new — we have defended similar cases before. We don't believe it has any merit and we will contest it."

Google launches 'Datally', a smart app that saves mobile data

Google has unveiled its latest product, Datally, a smart and simple Android app that helps smartphone users understand, control and save mobile data.

Datally, which works on all smartphones running Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and higher, is available for download on the Google Play Store.

It was developed to help solve one of the biggest concerns of smartphone users around the world – data usage.

The company said: “During extensive user research around the world, we found that many smartphone users worry about running out of data, especially the new generation of internet users known as the ‘Next Billion Users’.

“Not only are they constantly thinking about data balances, but they do not understand where their data is going, nor do they feel like they can control allocating data to the apps they really care about.”

The app will empower users to manage their data more effectively on their smartphones through four key features:

Data Saver

Apps frequently use data in the background for updating content and information. Datally’s Data Saver feature lets users control data on an app-by-app basis, so that data only goes to apps they care about.

Data Saver bubble

Once Data Saver is turned on, Datally’s Data Saver bubble will appear when a user goes into an app. Whenever that app uses data, the Data Saver bubble will show the current rate of data usage, and users can easily choose to block that app’s data use if things start to get out of control. The Data Saver bubble is like a speedometer for mobile data.

Personalized alerts

Datally alerts users when apps start consuming a lot of data, and it allows them to see how much data they’ve used on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

Wi-Fi finder

There are times when users want to use more data than they have on their mobile plans, such as when they want to watch HD videos. Public Wi-Fi is an important access point for high-bandwidth connectivity. Datally’s Find Wi-Fi feature reveals the networks nearby, rated by the Datally community. Once connected, users can rate the Wi-Fi networks based on their own experience.

“For the last few years, our Next Billion Users team has been doing a lot of research on the ground in fast-growing Internet countries like Nigeria. We have found that data is a major constraint for the next billion users”, said Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor, Google Nigeria Country Director.

“Introducing Datally into the Nigerian smartphone market will help users understand how to control their mobile data better.

“Google tested Datally in the Philippines for most of 2017, and the insights from the product test there shaped the final app. The user research showed that people testing the app saved up to 30% of their mobile data, depending on the way they used Datally.”

Apple Accidentally Made Your Mac Hilariously Easy To Hack By Anyone

Computer updates are supposed to shore up your system's defences and make your most important files and documents (videos of cats failing to jump off things) impenetrable to would-be hackers and criminals.

But nobody told Apple. In the company's latest version of OS High Sierra, the tech giants have accidentally included a massive security flaw that makes hacking your system hilariously simple.

You see, if you've downloaded the update then anyone can log into your Mac by just typing 'root' into the username field.

Apple are working on a fix, but have said in a statement: "We are working on a software update to address this issue. In the meantime, setting a root password prevents unauthorized access to your Mac. To enable the Root User and set a password, please follow the instructions here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204012. If a Root User is already enabled, to ensure a blank password is not set, please follow the instructions from the 'Change the root password' section."

The only good to come of this is that we can all pretend to be early-noughties hackers on our friends' computers. Just remember to mention the word "mainframe" a lot and clack pointlessly at the keyboard for a few minutes before you login.

Now you can play YouTube videos right inside WhatsApp

What's This?

With WhatsApp, you can finally watch videos with your friends.

The messaging platform has rolled out a new update to its iOS app that will allow users to play YouTube videos within the app itself, Hindustan Times reports.  

Now, when you receive a YouTube link and click on it, the video will play in WhatsApp. Before, the video would open in the YouTube app or a browser.

You can also keep playing the video while you navigate to another chat, with a feature that WhatsApp refers to as "picture-in-picture." 

The feature is not yet enabled, but WhatsApp news website WABetaInfobelieves it will begin working tonight (though it's unclear where it got the timeframe info).

Though this update is small, it has the potential to fix an all-too-common annoyance for many users. You can now watch videos alongside your friends, rather than having to pause your conversation, possibly getting pulled down a YouTube autoplay hole as more videos get cued up. 

WhatsApp is also testing a feature that will allow you to mute videos in chats, in case your friends start pranking you with Rebecca Black videos.

This type of integration with third-party apps is new for the traditionally bare-bones user experience of WhatsApp. Will the Facebook-owned service heading down the same path as its cousin, Facebook Messenger, and become a more immersive, integrated user experience? This could be the first step.

Google confirms tracking android users even with location services turned off 

Google says it has been tracking the location of android users with the addresses of local phone masts, even when location services were turned off and the sim cards removed.

According to a recent Quartz investigation, Google has maintained this since the beginning of 2017.

“Since the beginning of 2017, Android phones have been collecting the addresses of nearby cellular towers—even when location services are disabled—and sending that data back to Google,” the report read.

“The result is that Google, the unit of Alphabet behind Android, has access to data about individuals’ locations and their movements that go far beyond a reasonable consumer expectation of privacy.”

When contacted, a Google spokesperson confirmed the development saying the information was not stored.

“In January of this year, we began looking into using Cell ID codes as an additional signal to further improve the speed and performance of message delivery.

“However, we never incorporated Cell ID into our network sync system, so that data was immediately discarded, and we updated it to no longer request Cell ID.”

The spokesperson also promised that android phones would no longer send cellular tower location data to Google by the end of November.

Although the section of Google’s privacy policy that covers location sharing says the company will collect location information from devices that use its services, it does not explain whether it will collect such information from Android devices when location services are off.

“When you use Google services, we may collect and process information about your actual location. We use various technologies to determine location, including IP address, GPS, and other sensors that may, for example, provide Google with information on nearby devices, Wi-Fi access points and cell tower,” a part of the policy reads.

Location services are used for apps like Google Maps and checking-in location information on apps like Facebook and Instagram.

Google also allows advertisers target users in specific areas using location data.

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Galaxy X Phone Mistakenly Leaked

After the launch of f Apple's iPhone X, Samsung seems to come out with something similar in name. The South Korean company "mistakenly" revealed the Galaxy X phone on their website support page.

Both the But The support page and the NRRA certification reference model number SM-G888N0, which is the Korean model of the phone. While the support page doesn’t reveal any specifications about the phone itself (save for the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi certifications, and one from the South Korean NNRA), it does confirm that Samsung is plotting something X
As for the launch date and availability, nothing was revealed but it could coincide with January’s CES 2018.

But let's not mistake the Galaxy X with the Foldable Galaxy X Glass smartphone from same company. More information on this phone will be revealed as time goes on.

Millions of devices in London, including baby monitors and webcams, can be hacked right now

London has millions of exposed devices online, a cybersecurity firm has warned

London has more than 2.5 million exposed electronic devices including routers, webcams, medical equipment, personal baby monitors and company databases, new research suggests.

Using Shodan, a search engine for internet-of-things (IoT) devices, security firm Trend Micro said in a report released today (28 November) that the UK capital had one of the highest numbers of exposed devices at risk of hacking and cybercrime. It was matched by Berlin.

An analysis entitled Cities Exposed has warned that tech-savvy criminals use Shodan to scan for so-called "cyber assets" left visible to the public and then use any available tricks to target them.

Connected devices which are not adequately protected can leak personal data or even be held to ransom.

"Despite their prevalence as tech and business hubs, it is concerning that people in these capitals are not extending this knowledge into their security practices," said Trend Micro researcher Rik Ferguson.

"The number of exposed devices is likely just the tip of the iceberg, as anyone breaching these could potentially gain access to entire networks."

After London, Manchester has a high risk ratio with around 320,000 exposed devices. Glasgow has 160,000 devices at risk.

Experts found that the UK had more than 5,000 exposed webcams which "attackers could use for surveillance or stealing and publishing live video feeds from compromised devices".

The Trend Micro report reads: "Connected devices are an integral part of our daily lives. Device security should ideally not affect availability and be transparent to a user.

"There is no one-size-fits-all cybersecurity solution for connected devices.

"In addition to [general guidelines] users must be able to rely on device manufacturers to enable strong security out of the box. Ultimately, we may need to rely on security by obscurity — hiding our devices among billions of other connected devices online to avoid getting compromised."

Hackers have used webcams to spy on children and exposed devices have been exploited to build vast computer botnets to launch distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.

To avoid being compromised, web users are advised to use strong, unique passwords on all devices.