privacy

What Are the Security Risks Associated with Face-Altering App Voilà AI Artist?

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Are there data security risks associated with the face-altering app Voilà AI Artist that turns selfies into Pixar-style animated characters? Yes, but they do not appear to be as severe as the last wave of discussions on the internet claims them to be.

Security risks associated with data collection are inherent in many applications. Though the company that operates Voilà AI Artist Cartoon Photo collects data from individual users, it is not yet known to what extent these pose security risks that are unique from other data-collecting applications.

~ Madison Dapcevich

However, it is still important to follow best practices when it comes to online sharing: don’t share personal information that can lead to identity theft, like answers to questions often used to change passwords for bank accounts; always check privacy settings of your social media accounts, keep all your devices secure; and always take half a second to think whether what you are about to share could cause problems in the long run.

5 Reasons You Need a Custom Email Address for Your Small Business

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First impressions are crucial in business. However, you may be missing out on an easy way to improve yours with a custom email address. While an email client like Gmail or Yahoo may seem to be an easy solution to your business email needs, free accounts lack the professionalism of a custom email address.


Ellice
5 Reasons You Need a Custom Email Address for Your Small Business

If you are not a DreamHost customer, just skip to the actual reasons to have a custom email address for your business:

  1. Custom Email Addresses Build Credibility
  2. Professional Email Is a Cost-Effective Marketing Tool
  3. You Can Standardize Company Emails
  4. Custom Emails Can Help Maintain Security
  5. Branded Emails Can Help You Stay Out of Subscribers’ Spam Folders

Ellice keeps the explanation for each reason short and to the point, so if you think a generic email address will do, give this article a read.

Facebook Users Still Don’t Know How Facebook Works

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Pew researchers called up almost a thousand Americans and asked them if they knew about the list of “traits and interests” that Facebook keeps for almost all active users. The company provides users easy access to it – you can see your own list here – yet 74 percent of respondents to the survey said they did not know about the list’s existence.

Furthermore, 51 percent of those surveyed said they were “not comfortable with Facebook compiling this information.”

Facebook Didn’t Sell Your Data; It Gave It Away

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More accurately, they shared your personal data with Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, Microsoft, and other companies in exchange for even more data about you.

The New York Times has once again gotten its hands on a cache of documents from inside Facebook, this time detailing data-sharing arrangements between the company and other corporations, which had “more intrusive access to users’ personal data than [Facebook] has disclosed” for most of the past decade, the article revealed.

Face your GDPR fears with this enlightening infographics

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GDPR is a bit of an annoyance if you’re an ordinary individual, but it’ll at least mean more control over the data that companies hold on you. If you’re running a business, though, even if it’s just a small operation, you need to be GDPR-compliant.

So if you want to sleep better tonight, you’ll need some easy to digest information about GDPR and what you need to do about it. Thankfully the European Commission has produced the excellent infographics that covers everything you need to know, and Creative Bloq added some helpful thoughts too.

Facebook explains when and why it peeps at your account

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Venture Beat reached out to Facebook to find out when, exactly, employees can access a user’s account without entering their login credentials.

A Facebook spokesperson sent this answer:

We have rigorous administrative, physical, and technical controls in place to restrict employee access to user data. Our controls have been evaluated by independent third parties and confirmed multiple times by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner’s Office as part of their audit of our practices.

Access is tiered and limited by job function, and designated employees may only access the amount of information that’s necessary to carry out their job responsibilities, such as responding to bug reports or account support inquiries. Two separate systems are in place to detect suspicious patterns of behavior, and these systems produce reports once per week which are reviewed by two independent security teams.

We have a zero tolerance approach to abuse, and improper behavior results in termination.