[ DuckDuckGo Privacy Weekly ] For Aug 5, 2021

• Inside TikTok's Highly Secretive Algorithm [wsj.com]
  "TikTok only needs one important piece of information to figure out what you want: the amount of time you linger over a piece of content. Every second you hesitate or rewatch, the app is tracking you."
• QR Codes Are Here to Stay. So Is the Tracking They Allow. [nytimes.com]
  QR codes grew in prevalence during the last 18-months, and privacy experts are concerned, reports Erin Woo. "People don’t understand that when you use a QR code, it inserts the entire apparatus of online tracking between you and your meal."
• The Hacker Who Spent a Year Reclaiming His Face From Clearview AI [codastory.com]
  A German hacker spent a year reclaiming his face from Clearview AI — a huge database of identified faces trawled from the internet. The difficulty he endured lead him to create a campaign to ban biometric mass surveillance.
• The Nightmare of Our Snooping Phones [nytimes.com]
  "This is about a structural failure that allows real-time data on Americans’ movements to exist in the first place and to be used without our knowledge or true consent." — Shira Ovide on location data.
• Future AI Toys Could Be Smarter Than Parents, but a Lot Less Protective [cnbc.com]
  Buyer beware. Mikaela Cohen reports on how AI toys can put children's data privacy at risk, including:
  • Recording conversations with kids and parents
  • Creating profiles on kids
  • Sharing the data with third-party companies
• The Assault on Our Privacy Is Being Conducted in Private [nytimes.com]
  "Tech companies have exploited for far too long users’ and lawmakers’ indifference to a market devised by them that optimizes for ever-greater data collection..." Greg Bensinger on the "regulatory apathy" surrounding privacy.

And finally…

• DuckDuckGo Launches New Email Protection Service to Remove Trackers [theverge.com]
  ICYMI: 70% of emails contain creepy trackers — DuckDuckGo Email Protection is here to help. Sign up for the private waitlist for the beta version through the settings menu in our mobile app.

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