February 2024 Round Up of Privacy News

Happy Leap Day

Design created by Monique

Since it's leap year, we are given an extra day in February. To celebrate a day that happens every four years, I decided to do a February roundup of privacy-related news that was reported throughout the month as a bonus newsletter. Enjoy!

1.) European Court of Human Rights bans weakening of end-to-end encryption:

https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/15/echr_backdoor_encryption/

https://www.eureporter.co/world/human-rights-category/european-court-of-human-rights-echr/2024/02/14/european-court-of-human-rights-bans-weakening-of-secure-end-to-endencryption-the-end-of-eus-chat-control-csar-mass-surveillance-plans/

2.) IOS notifications collects data on you:

https://discuss.techlore.tech/t/ios-notification-loophole-lets-apps-collect-data-about-you/7201

3.) Skiff is bought by Notion:

https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/09/notion-acquires-privacy-focused-productivity-platform-skiff/

4.) Proton Mail could be banned in India:

https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/16/india-may-block-proton-mail/

5.) Reddit selling user data to AI:

https://news.itsfoss.com/reddit-selling-user-content/

6.) Usernames are coming to Signal:

https://www.wired.com/story/signal-launches-usersnames-phone-number-privacy/

https://discuss.techlore.tech/t/keep-your-phone-number-private-with-signal-usernames/7339

7.) Express VPN been leaking DNS requests:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/expressvpn-bug-has-been-leaking-some-dns-requests-for-years/

8.) DuckDuckGo offers encrypted syncing:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/02/duckduckgos-browser-adds-encrypted-privacy-minded-syncing-and-backup/

9.) Apple is now supporting post-quantum encryption:

https://alternativeto.net/news/2024/2/apple-is-introducing-a-groundbreaking-post-quantum-cryptographic-protocol-for-imessage/

10.) Bitwarden offers auto-fill to protect from phishing:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/bitwardens-new-auto-fill-option-adds-phishing-resistance/

11.) Avast fined for selling consumer data:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/02/avast-ordered-to-stop-selling-browsing-data-from-its-browsing-privacy-apps/

12.) Proton upgrades their free plan:

https://proton.me/support/more-free-storage-existing-users

13.) Nevada sues to prevent children accessing end-to-end encryption:

https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/26/nevada_meta_encryption/

14.) Data breaches down globally, but not for the U.S.

https://www.techspot.com/news/102040-number-data-breaches-falls-globally-triples-us.html

15.) 1Password expands security with aquisition

https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/20/1password-expands-its-endpoint-security-offerings-with-kolide-acquisition/

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If you have any other privacy related news that you saw this month, feel free to leave them in the comments!

Until Next Time,

Monique 📰

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