Archives: News
Archive of News from WirelessEd, in reverse chronological order.
- Headlines | iPhone security no match for NSO spyware. Pegasus,the NSO’s signature surveillance tool, can collect emails, call records, social media posts, user passwords, contact lists, pictures, videos, sound recordings and browsing histories, according to…
- Headlines | 5 tricks to lower your Internet bill. Here are five tricks I learned from Internet service providers and consumer advocates. Try to switch providers. Check the website BroadbandNow to find all the…
- Headlines | 36 states sue Google over how it manages its Play Store. Thirty-six states, including Utah, New York, North Carolina and Tennessee, as well as the District of Columbia filed an antitrust lawsuit targeting Google’s app store. …
- Headlines | How Big Tech created a data ‘treasure trove’ for police. When U.S. law enforcement officials need to cast a wide net for information, they’re increasingly turning to the vast digital ponds of personal data created…
- Headlines | Want a job? Employers say: Talk to the computer. A day after her interview for a part-time job at Target last year, Dana Anthony got an email informing her she didn’t make the cut.…
- Headlines | Rural areas need broadband to get workers. Rural areas have complained for years that slow, unreliable or simply unavailable internet access is restricting their economic growth. But the pandemic has given new…
- Headlines | Verizon is using a government discount to force you onto a new data plan. The government has a new program to help Americans pay their Internet bills. Unfortunately, companies like Verizon are twisting it into an opportunity for an…
- Headlines | The government wants to pay your Internet bill for a few months. The Emergency Broadband Benefit, or EBB, was launched to help a surprisingly wide range of people hit economically by the coronavirus pandemic. It can pay…
- Headlines | How to apply for a $50 discount on your broadband bill. The Emergency Broadband Benefit provides a discount of up to $50 a month toward broadband service for eligible households and up to $75 a month…
- Headlines | How big tech got so big: Hundreds of acquisitions. Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google gobbled up their competition to become behemoths of the tech industry, which has drawn attention from Congressional leaders and critics…
- Headlines | Tech firms like Facebook, Neurable want to link your brain to computers. Already, brain tech allows players to manipulate avatars in video games by concentrating on parts of the screen. And Facebook last month revealed plans to…
- Headlines | Facebook calls for data portability; expands info users can transfer off service. Facebook announced Monday it’s expanding a tool that allows users to transfer their data to other services. The social media giant will now enable users…
- Headlines | Wall Street banks brace for digital dollars as next big disruptive force. Wall Street is warming up to the idea that the next big disruptive force on the horizon is central bank digital currencies, even though the…
- News Video | We’ve reached a global tipping point for reining in tech. Around the world, governments are moving simultaneously to limit the power of tech companies with an urgency and breadth that no single industry had experienced…
- Headlines | Facebook leak exposes personal data on half a billion users. Telephone numbers were just the top layer of what was stolen. Security researcher Alon Gal detailed that a person’s Facebook ID, full name, location, past…
- Headlines | CFPB’s new team has a message for banks it regulates: We’re back. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is already sending a message that it’s getting tougher. On-site examinations are up, banking executives tell consultants. Big banks aren’t…
- Headlines | AT&T’s new arbitration clause isn’t doing you any favors. Go ahead and agree to AT&T’s new arbitration clause if you want (or if you have no choice). But don’t think the company is doing…
- Headlines | Social Security imposters use fake badges to fool victims. The Social Security Administration warns that phone scammers are creating “fake versions” of identification badges. “The scammers will text or email photos of the fake…
- Headlines | Coronavirus relief could net you $50 toward your broadband bill. A new bill, The Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act, set to be introduced Thursday in the U.S. House and Senate, devotes more than $94 billion…
- Headlines | Amazon’s new rotating, follow-you camera is useful—and invasive. The covid-19 Zoom boom has turned us into camera operators. Making sure everyone’s face can be seen in the videoconference is a daily struggle. Along…
- Headlines | Government agencies increasingly are accessing private information. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have tapped a private database containing hundreds of millions of phone, water, electricity and other utility records while…
- Headlines | California can enforce its internet equal access law. A federal judge ruled that California can for the first time enforce its tough net neutrality law, clearing the way for the state to ban…
- Headlines | Civil rights groups ask Biden to oppose facial recognition. The American Civil Liberties Union and more than 40 other groups urged President Biden in a letter to freeze federal use of facial recognition and…
- Headlines | How the GameStop frenzy sabotaged a bid to ‘democratize’ finance. The episode with Robinhood Financial has unearthed a growing sentiment on the left: “Fintech” is just a fancy word for everything they already hate about…
- Headlines | Lacking a Lifeline: How help to pay low-income Americans’ phone bills failed. The coronavirus has reinforced the Internet as the fabric of modern American life, a luxury-turned-necessity for a generation now forced to work, learn and communicate…
- Headlines | Tips on how to master the vaccine-appointment website. Starting this week, there will be even more places you need to look for appointments online. Pharmacy chains including CVS and Walgreens are beginning to…
- Headlines | Consumer protection agency investigating Venmo. The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau is investigating money transfer app Venmo over the way it handles collections, a new regulatory filing shows. First reported by…
- Headlines | Apple’s new privacy ‘nutrition labels.’ Many were false.. You go to your iPhone’s App Store to download a game. Under a new “App Privacy” label added last month, there’s a blue check mark,…
- Headlines | Pressure builds to revive net neutrality rules. For more than two decades, Democrats and Republicans have warred over net neutrality, the idea that Internet providers should treat all Web traffic equally. At…
- Press Releases | New debt collection rule is a mixed bag for consumer rights. Bad news: New debt collection rule permits unlimited electronic access to consumers. Good news: It may eliminate "debt parking" by forcing debt collectors to reach…
- Headlines | Black Americans suffered the most under Trump-era CFPB, study finds. The paper, from two Boston College researchers, tracked consumer complaints, and the follow-ups recorded by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Their findings show that in…
- Headlines | Consumer bureau director resigns at Biden’s request. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Kathy Kraninger resigned at the request of the newly sworn-in President Biden, clearing the way for his nominee to…
- Headlines | Biden choices for CFPB, SEC pivot to robust enforcement. President-elect Joe Biden is set to nominate Rohit Chopra, the former student loan ombudsman for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to lead the consumer finance…
- Headlines | Millions flock to Telegram and Signal apps. Over the past week, tens of millions of people have downloaded Signal and Telegram, making them the two hottest apps in the world. Signal allows…
- Headlines | Ford is researching tech for bikes, e-scooters to ‘talk’ to cars. If bicycles and e-scooters could “talk” to cars on the road, riders would be safer — at least in theory. That’s the idea behind a…
- Headlines | Supreme Court limits abortion pill access (during a pandemic). The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday granted a Trump administration request to reinstate restrictions for patients seeking to obtain a drug used to terminate early…
- Headlines | Citing ‘censorship,’ internet provider blocks Facebook, Twitter. A North Idaho internet provider, Your T1 WIFI, confirmed it is blocking Facebook and Twitter from its WIFI service for some customers due to censorship…
- Headlines | Millions to get Internet access rebates under new stimulus plan. A massive coronavirus aid package approved by Congress late Monday sets aside $7 billion to help Americans connect to high-speed Internet and pay their monthly bills, marking…
- Headlines | How will the Biden administration treat FinTech companies?. Regulation and governance have not kept up with the FinTech explosion domestically or globally. The challenges for US regulators are well chronicled. How will the…
- Headlines | Zoom to lift time limit on free calls during Christmas holiday. Zoom has a gift for families this holiday season. The video conferencing platform will drop its 40-minute time limit on calls from free accounts starting…
- Headlines | Should you upgrade to a 5G phone?. In the ads, 5G means blazing fast speeds—download a movie in mere seconds!—and more reliable service. The wireless carriers all have maps showing how many…
- Headlines | State, federal authorities to file antitrust lawsuits against Facebook. The filings from more than 40 attorneys general and the U.S. government will allege the tech giant engaged in unlawful tactics to buy or kill…
- Headlines | Fix bad WiFi without spending a dime. Our five-step guide will help you speed up your Internet connection and eliminate wireless ‘dead zones’ while you’re stuck at home.
- Headlines | Biden has the power to make the CFPB more aggressive thanks to Trump. Analysts expect the CFPB under Biden to follow a similar model to what the agency pursued under Obama and Cordray in terms of calling out…
- Headlines | Four online safety myths that parents should know. Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, children are spending more time online than ever before, chatting on gaming platforms, posting selfies on Instagram and making TikTok videos for…
- Headlines | How private Is my pay app?. Virtual peer-to-peer payments are the currency of the pandemic. Pay apps say they need access to certain personal information, including names, Social Security, and bank…
- Headlines | Biden faces economic mess and plans emergency cleanup. The Democratic president-elect pledged to begin repair work immediately. On a newly launched website — buildbackbetter.com — he said he will move to provide emergency…
- Headlines | FCC forces T-Mobile to pay $200 million fine for Sprint’s fraud. T-Mobile has agreed to pay a $200 million fine to resolve an investigation into subsidiary Sprint, which was caught taking millions of dollars in government…
- Headlines | How to make sense of your (dozens of) credit scores. Businesses pay Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to provide them with your credit scores—based on your credit history—to decide whether you're a good credit risk. But…
- Headlines | Recession’s silver lining: Households are doing better than expected. Despite the pandemic’s economic devastation, which has tipped millions of people into unemployment, many American households are in relatively good shape. Since April, consumer savings…
2021
July
19
14
08
June
22
15
May
18
17
13
06
03
April
28
20
08
March
25
22
15
12
01
February
27
25
18
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14
11
08
January
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28
21
18
14
13
12
2020
December
23
22
17
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01
November
27
25
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October
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