cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/35231913

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/36575333

Main Page.

• Full Report- 33 Pages.
• Highlights 1 Page.
• Accessible PDF-28 pages.

Property technology broadly refers to the use of software, digital platforms, and other digital tools used in the housing market. Property owners and renters use these technologies for functions including advertising, touring, leasing, and financial management of rental housing. These tools may incorporate computer algorithms and artificial intelligence.

Selected Property Technology Tools Used in Rental Housing

Property technology tools used for advertising, tenant screening, rent-setting, and facial recognition have both benefits and risks. For example, facial recognition technology can enhance safety, according to three industry associations and all 10 of the public housing agencies in GAO's review. However, these tools also may pose risks related to transparency, discriminatory outcomes, and privacy. For instance, potential renters may struggle to understand, and owners to explain, the basis for screening decisions made by algorithms. Facial recognition systems also might misidentify individuals from certain demographic groups, and property owners might use surveillance information without renter consent, according to advocacy groups GAO interviewed.

The four federal agencies took several actions to address these risks. To combat alleged misleading and discriminatory advertising on rental platforms, agencies pursued legal action and obtained settlements requiring changes to advertising practices and improved compliance with the Fair Housing Act. They also took enforcement actions against tenant screening companies for using inaccurate or outdated data.

However, all 10 public housing agencies stated public housing agencies would benefit from additional direction on use of facial recognition technology. The Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) current guidance to these agencies is high-level and does not provide specific direction on key operational issues, such as managing privacy risks or sharing data with law enforcement. More detailed written direction could provide public housing agencies additional clarity on the use of facial recognition technology and better address tenant privacy concerns.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/50665455

cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/33877538

A court filing states that a government order against Apple would give it the capability to access communications and metadata of customers using the iCloud service anywhere in the world

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/36487769

Comments

• Lobsters.

I hope this question is OK to ask?

I've seen SurfShark get a lot of hate from privacy communities both on here an Reddit, and I'm wondering what makes it so bad in people's eyes. I'm asking as I currnet user of the service who is weighing up his options as my sub will be up soon.

Thanks.

So, my old Pixel Watch 2 broke and now I'm looking for a replacement, and in the time since I got the Pixel Watch 2 I've started to care more about privacy, open source, repairability, longevity, etc. So I've been looking at two smartwatch replacements, the PineTime, and the CMF Watch Pro 3. I like the idea and values of the PineTime, but I like the aesthetic of the CMF watch more. I can't find any resources on how the privacy of CMF/Nothing is though, so, which of the two would you recommend?

(I mainly use my smartwatch for notifications, checking time/weather)

I have a pixel 6, so I have ~1 year of security updates left.

I would like my next phone to use a data-only sim card/esim.

Now I still need my current number, and am okay with paying for it in addition to a data-only plan. What I would like is to leave the pixel 6 at home 24/7, and have a way of forwarding notifications to the new phone.

I am self-hosting many things, including ntfy, so if the phone could send an SMS to ntfy that would be amazing.

Are there any apps that do this? It doesn't have to just forward SMS, but all notifications would also work.

Should I even bother? Just leave it at home and check the SMS whenever I can? (Benefit of forcing people to use Signal)

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/36285037

Full PDF report.

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/36111319

EFF: Atlas of Surveillance.

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/36109840

Photo by Sora Shimazaki

by Nikita Biryukov, New Jersey Monitor
August 19, 2025

Police did not act improperly when an officer gained access to the phone of an individual detained for kidnapping, sex assault, and other serious charges after watching the man enter his cellphone passcode and committing it to memory, a New Jersey appeals court ruled Tuesday.

Tyrone Ellison, who was arrested and convicted after kidnapping a minor with substance abuse issues from a Newark hospital, had no reasonable expectation of privacy when he unlocked his phone while in police custody and under the supervision of a detective, the court ruled.

“There was no violation of defendant’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination where defendant voluntarily requested his cell phone, was not compelled to provide the passcode and voluntarily entered the passcode in the officer’s presence,” the judges wrote.

Police could not leave Ellison unattended with his phone without risking him deleting evidence, the ruling adds.

The judges said prior case law that found an arrestee maintained a reasonable expectation of privacy when making a call from a police station without being told that call may be monitored or recorded does not apply to Ellison’s case.

Ellison, the judges wrote, was aware of the detective’s presence when entering his passcode, did not attempt to conceal his password, and was not stopped from concealing his passcode from police.

“There was no deception or trickery used to obtain defendant’s passcode. Nor did the police orchestrate the situation to induce defendant to reveal the passcode,” the court wrote.

In effect, Ellison’s expectation of privacy vanished when he chose to unlock his phone in the presence of police, the court found.

A divided New Jersey Supreme Court in 2020 ruled in Andrews v. New Jersey that while the Fifth Amendment presumptively protects individuals’ passcodes, they can be compelled to reveal them under the foregone conclusion exception to the amendment. That exception allows the compelled disclosure of documents and passcodes as long as authorities know they exist and the individual subject to the warrant knows and possesses them.

Tuesday’s ruling says another doctrine that allows authorities to use improperly obtained information if it would have inevitably come into their possession through proper channels would have allowed police to use the passcode even if it was initially obtained improperly.

Police obtained a communications data warrant to search the phone and could have obtained an order to compel Ellison to disclose his passcode, the judges wrote.

“Once the passcode was compelled, law enforcement would have been able to access the contents of the phone,” the judges wrote.

The New Jersey Office of the Public Defender represented Ellison. Alison Perrone, deputy of the office’s appellate section, called the ruling concerning and said her office will ask the New Jersey Supreme Court to review the case.

“The ability of law enforcement to observe and later use a person’s private phone passcode while in custody presents serious questions about constitutional rights in the digital era,” Perrone said in a statement.

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New Jersey Monitor is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Jersey Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Terrence T. McDonald for questions: info@newjerseymonitor.com.

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I dont like what samsung is doing and it seems like their gallery app is likely stealing all my photo data to train ai. Whats a good foss alternative and how can I disable all that shit?

Fuck samsung. Getting rid of this phone soon.

cross-posted from: https://lemmybefree.net/post/1243814

Hi! I'm looking for a privacy respecting Android tablet.

I ruled out the google tablet due to it being too expensive with an LCD screen

I would prefer a nice OLED screen if possible (or similar), and preferably cheap. Must be able to stream HEVC encoded videos (not 10 years old hardware), and preferably more (VP9, AV1, for future proofing)

The main use will be to watch content (movies, series, videos) from YouTube and Jellyfin, and sometimes some other apps if they're not enforcing the Play Integrity API

So far I've searched some OS and I'm considering LineageOS or /e/OS, with /e/OS looking better in terms of privacy. Don't want google to track everywhere I go and everything I do.

Any recommendations for good cheap hardware with bootloader unlocking, and recommendations for a good Android ROM?

I’ve already got a ton of ‘em but I’m always on the lookout for more. What are your favorite lesser-known DNS blocklists?

So we know the UK, France, Sweden and Australia all have “pondered out loud” about getting platforms like Signal to allow backdoors into encrypted calls and messages.

This creates a sense of safety about these platforms being secure, because governments want to come after them.

Here’s a tinfoil hat take: Five Eyes is significantly reducing inter cooperation. The non-fascist parts of the alliance don’t want to share with the obvious authoritarian, but the authoritarian one used to share the fruits of their established backdoors with them, and now they don’t.

Note that the US isn’t asking signal for a backdoor. Why? Back in 2015-2016 (last years of Obama), Apple had a loud and visible feud with the FBI. Since the authoritarian came to power, this all disappeared from the media. Interestingly, 10 years have gone by since that moment, every single aspect of our lives has become more surveilled, and somehow the US govt has stopped trying to get into phones? *While the CEO is making hand deliveries of 24 karat gold bars to the Oval Office?

TLDR; I think a safe assumption that they are in our devices by now. Fundamentally people misunderstand encryption. Encryption is only as strong as the weakest link. If your signal chats are unencrypted for consumption on your device, then that’s when the unencrypted content can be captured.

For the longest time, Apple stored your iCloud backups encrypted. Looked good in marketing materials, until they casually admitted the decryption key is stored in the same cloud.

Combine this with ICE capturing citizens without due process. If you have a vanilla smart device, you’re doing the surveillance for them. /tinfoilhat