TORONTO (AP) — Canada introduced legislation on Wednesday that could bar children younger than 16 from having social media accounts unless the companies show they can make their platforms safe. Canada is joining a growing global effort to tighten safety protections. Canadian government officials said social media platforms can obtain an exemption if they have…
A beautician who doxxed and blackmailed a married finance director after having a brief affair with him has been sentenced to four years and four months in prison, with the Hong Kong judge condemning her exposure of the affair online and demand for HK$2.6 million (US$332,000) in payouts as “despicable”. Deputy District Judge Ivy Chui…
Hong Kong police have arrested an employee of a systems maintenance contractor hired by the Hospital Authority on suspicion of stealing the personal data of more than 56,000 patients and 1,000 staff members. The arrest of a 30-year-old local man came just days after the authority reported on Saturday a suspected data leak involving patients…
A global investigation involving Hong Kong authorities has found that more websites and mobile apps designed for children are collecting personal data – ranging from phone numbers to addresses – than they did 10 years ago. The 2025 Global Privacy Enforcement Network Sweep, which included the participation of Hong Kong’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner…
Adidas has apologised and said it will conduct a comprehensive review of its fitting rooms to better protect customer privacy, after a woman complained that a staff member and other patrons opened the curtain while she was inside one at a store in Hong Kong. The sportswear giant said on Friday in a social media…
A hotel guest in central China died after the staff held on to life-saving medicine for five hours without delivering it, sparking heated online debate over the hotel’s responsibility. The 51-year-old man, surnamed Hu, was found dead in his room at a Yeste Hotel in Wuhan, Hubei province, on November 20. Hu’s death confused his…
Phia, an AI shopping agent co-founded by Bill Gates’ daughter Phoebe Gates, has been collecting more than just users’ fashion preferences through its desktop browser extension. Four cybersecurity researchers told Fortune that the company’s browser extension, which is aimed at simplifying price comparisons for users, has been capturing a concerning amount of users’ information. In…
Apple on Thursday introduced a new set of App Review Guidelines for developers, which now specifically state that apps must disclose and obtain users’ permission before sharing personal data with third-party AI. The change comes ahead of the iPhone maker’s plan to introduce its own AI-upgraded version of Siri in 2026. That update will see…
When Keir Starmer was in India last month, an assertion from him got all of the UK worked up. Britain could learn from Aadhaar, he said. For a country that has spent decades sneering at India’s bureaucratic mess, here was the British Prime Minister suggesting that India’s digital identity system might be a model worth…
When people sign up for a dating site like Tinder, they don’t expect their profiles and personal information to be searchable — especially by a scorned lover, or worse. But that’s what popular apps like Cheaterbuster or CheatEye seem to be doing under the guise of being able to “catch cheaters.” Last week, 404 Media…