[ DuckDuckGo Privacy Weekly ] For Jul 30, 2020

• Covering your webcam can stop hackers from spying on you in one way, but our friends at Mozilla point out that this privacy tactic must be done in tandem with several others (e.g. setting strong passwords) to effectively protect yourself online. [mozilla.org]
• An audit of the social network shows that Facebook isn't taking issues around hate speech, bias, polarization, and diversity seriously enough. [vox.com]
• A comprehensive account from Thorin Klosowski on how facial recognition works (plus its history and future), and steps to protect yourself from the invasive, largely unregulated tech on your devices (including home surveillance) and sites/apps you use. [nytimes.com]
• Can websites ditch creepy ads and still make money? Dutch broadcaster NPO saw their revenue increase after switching to contextual ads rather than ones that track users. A report by Brave shows this was more than a short-lived bump, even during a pandemic. [techcrunch.com]
• "Ring promises to offer a feeling of safety to its users. The definition of safety here is not unanimous though. There have been reports of racial profiling on the app, with the great majority of people being reported as 'Suspicious' being people of color." [privacyinternational.org]
• California resident? CCPA became legally enforceable on July 1, giving you access to and the right to delete data collected by businesses online and the ability to opt-out of the sale of your personal info. Here's how to exercise your rights. [sfchronicle.com]

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