Popular messaging app WeChat recently updated its privacy policy to let users know that it logs and shares private user information with the Chinese Government. While the latest update to WeChat’s privacy policy is no surprise, it does explicitly confirm what we’ve all assumed to be true all along.

The scope of data collection covers anything WeChat collects including identity information, credit card information, chat history, phone numbers, biometric information (voice, fingerprint, etc) and more. It would be safe to assume that all versions of WeChat is subjected to the same level of scrutiny.

WeChat’s new privacy policy complies with [...]

Welcome back to the second installment in our new series of VPN reviews. Last week we reviewed KeepSolid’s VPN Unlimited and this week we’ll be reviewing NordVPN.

NordVPN is a Panama-based VPN service founded back in 2012. The service is extremely well reviewed, has one of the largest selections of servers around the world and is reasonably priced, but should you sign up for the service? Let’s find out!

 

The Basics VPN Service NordVPN Servers 1085 Locations 61 Protocols L2TP, PPTP, OpenVPN TCP, OpenVPN UDP Maximum Devices 6 Auto-Connect Yes Kill-Switch Yes DNS Leak Protection Yes Logging Policy No [...]

For those who use the internet in any way, having a VPN service is essential. VPN services not only help protect your security online, but can also help you get around government censorship, geo-restricted content filters, and ISP traffic shaping.

As a part of a new series of VPN reviews, today we’ll be reviewing VPN Unlimited by KeepSolid. KeepSolid VPN Unlimited is a New York based VPN service with development teams in Ukraine founded back in 2013. The service is well reviewed, offers lots of servers around the globe, and is reasonably priced, but does it live up to its expectations? Let’s find out!

 

The Basics VPN [...]

In this day and age of hackers, government spying, and Nazi ISPs putting down arbitrary rules on who gets full speed to view which service, having a VPN service is by far one of the most important things to have for anyone on the internet.

While I’m sure we would all run VPNs if we had the choice, the problem with VPNs is that it costs money. At the end of the day, VPN provider needs to pay for bandwidth, servers and technicians to run the VPN server. While the costs for a decent VPN service are generally under $15 per month, paying for a VPN is a bit like paying for insurance. You just don’t really want to do it until it’s too late.

Lucky for [...]

Have you ever wondered why every time after your girlfriend uses your PC for just a couple minutes that somehow all the ads now try to convince you that Huggies diapers are far superior to Pampers? Well, the reason for this is because Google and other major search engines have sophisticated tracking mechanisms that track your online activity, logs your IP addresses, and even share the information with Government agencies such as the NSA.

For an idea of how comprehensive your search histories are, just simply check out your Google Activity Log and be impressed with just how much Google knows about you. It even rembers that search “you” made earlier [...]

Back in 2013, privacy and encryption was thrust into the forefront of mainstream news when NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, leaked a huge repository of classified materials to the press, revealing a lot of very unnerving information about the NSA’s global surveillance programs. Among what was revealed included the NSA’s capability to monitor the online activities of US citizens which include everything from browsing activity to phone calls to e-mails to text messages and much, much more.

While government spying may be worrisome, what should be even more worrisome is the fact that unencrypted transmissions can literally be deciphered by anyone [...]

Last week, Microsoft held a major event in Shanghai, China where the big news of the day was the release of the new Surface Pro. However, that’s not all that was revealed. During the event, Microsoft also revealed that they’re releasing Windows 10 China Government Edition, a custom version of Windows 10 designed specifically for the Chinese government.

The new version of the Windows 10 operating system was designed after two years of cooperation between Microsoft and the Chinese government. Based on Windows 10 Enterprise Edition, the Windows 10 China Government Edition allows additional functionality such as the ability to use your own encryption, [...]

Bose wireless headphones are great for music, but are they also great for spying on you as well? Apparently so.

According to a class action lawsuit complaint filed by Kyle Zak, Bose has been “secretly collecting, transmitting, and disclosing its customers’ private music and audio selections to third parties, including a data mining company”.

The lawsuit claims that user data is being collected through the “Bose Connect” mobile app, an optional mobile app which provides users with access to some exclusive features for owners of Bose headphones. However, the download seems to unlock more than just features for the user as it also [...]

Microsoft Gets Creative

With the Windows 10 Creator Update finally here, we thought it would be helpful to sum up some of the coolest features in this massive patch.

As its name suggests, Windows 10 Creator Update aims to boost Windows 10’s ability to make imagination come to life. When we speak of creators, our minds naturally gravitate towards graphics designers, videographers, and the like, but Creators stands for more than that. As multimedia and entertainment continues to evolve, so have different forms of creativity. With the expansion of gaming, VR, and 3D, creative mediums are more diverse than ever.

Of course, along with many of the new features [...]

Public faith in online privacy is at an all-time low, but with the Widnows 10 Creator’s Update, Microsoft is aiming to minimize its data collection and make things a little more transparent.

With the upcoming Creator’s update, Microsoft will integrate the privacy options as one of the main steps in the setup process. Earlier versions of Windows 10 has the settings somewhat hidden, requiring the user to go through the “advanced” setup option to disable some data collection options.

Microsoft has also reduced the amount of data it needs to collect for the its “Basic” diagnostic report, which is sent automatically when the [...]