The most dangerous thing they ever caught

from here and here

They may have caught it but they didn't stop it. They don't stop much, after all.

Risky Superspreading Aerosols

from here and here (image source)

Thanks to Lisa Sass for tweeting this image of some place I definitely wouldn't want to be. It doesn't seem like there are any masks at all. I'm sure they've all been vaccinated, but that's only a single layer of defense and I'd expect security practitioners to know better than to rely on a single layer of defense, especially when the stakes are so high.

What could possibly go wrong?

from here and here (source article)

So now that COVID-19 tests are Bluetooth enabled (with all the consequences that come with that), when you get a positive result you have to wonder - Are you sick, or is your device sick? 

In case you weren't already sick of crypto

from here

I can't resist a good pun. Or a bad one, apparently.

If you don't want to be tracked, here's two cans and a string

found on Izismile

It's actually quite interesting how concerned people are with the prospect of being tracked by a vaccine that can save their lives, while not caring about being tracked by a phone they play Candy Crush on. One wonders how many of their heads would explode if you forced them to acknowledge the difference.

Can't wait for Apple's face mask ID technology

found on Reddit

I don't actually have high hopes that anyone will be able to come up with face recognition that can identify you through a mask (heck, that much coverage could foil even human-based face recognition), but if anyone could do it, I suspect it would be Apple. 

Maybe I should click on all the things

from here

While it's true that a COVID-themed phishing test is exactly what criminals would do, it's also true that this is exactly how you create disgruntled workers who sabotage operations, either through negligence or malicious action. West Midland Trains needs to learn how to read the room and keep their employees on their side.

Other apps can peek at you(r data)

from here and here (source article)

Don't look now, but a company that has been violating your privacy for decades has failed to keep their special one-time promise to protect your privacy with respect to COVID-19 (and didn't even take it seriously until reporters got involved).

We kinda should have seen this coming. It's not like they have a lot of experience protecting your privacy.

Thanks to Vesselin Bontchev for basically coming up with the idea for this meme.

Antivirus face mask

Product Page

This meme just keeps evolving. I've seen photos of people wearing an actual antivirus CD as a mask. I've seen cartoon versions of those photos. I've seen those cartoons printed on masks and shirts and mugs, and now we have a face mask that looks like an antivirus CD. 

The unintended costs of mass surveillance

from here

So Singapore is letting police access contact tracing data and people are concerned, and perhaps rightfully so. Over and over again, governments have proven they can't be trusted not to use the data they collect for purposes other than the data was intended. The United States exemplifies this and as a result they are unlikely to ever be able to do meaningful contact tracing because people don't trust that the data won't be used for other purposes - and that lack of trust is costing lives. There are other factors also costing lives, but even without those factors, contact tracing would still be a problem and without contact tracing it's impossible to get ahead of an outbreak.

I wonder what they do for dental

from here

I suppose the hackers that stole the data could sell it and monetize it that way, but haven't the companies making these vaccines already committed to not gouging customers in this particular case? How much profit can be made by 3rd parties if 1st parties are already forgoing most of theirs?

How to make face recognition "work" with masks

found on Ebaum's World

I like to think this might actually fool facial recognition systems. Not to the extent that they'll think you're the Tiger King or anything, but at least enough to think they see a face, and if it's not your real face then all the better. 

Privacy is good for your health

found on Acid Cow

Hopefully the dividers stay even after COVID-19 is gone, because privacy will always need protecting.

Just tell the authorities it's to block COVID19

found on Izismile

This is the perfect time to develop and test biometric surveillance busting tech, and to make it become mainstream. You might want to do something about creating a fabric-based seal around the bottom, though.

Though I couldn't find that image anywhere else, I did happen to stumble across a story that appears to be about the same technology.

Because unsuspecting victims aren't looking for "Free Hugs" during a pandemic

found on Memedroid

The bad guys are always adapting so we have to keep on our toes too.

What could possibly go wrong?

from here and here

I imagine Alexei Navalny would advise against accepting vaccines from these particular strangers.

Never mind the fact that "free" is often used to lure in unsuspecting victims for all sorts of scams and  the fact that a vaccine for something no one else has a vaccine for yet meets the criteria for too good to be true. This is a nation that has a reputation for poisoning people.

How quickly we forget the lessons of Snowden

found on Reddit

Virtually every one of those people who are afraid of microchips in vaccines is carrying a cell phone around with them that tracks their location at all times, even if they turn off location services. To a certain extent that was known about even before Snowden, but the documents he leaked expanded our knowledge about that.

Like an ankle monitor in your pocket

from here

I can't get over how carceral the policies about this college's mandatory tracking app are. It really does seem like the students are being voluntold to submit to house arrest at the college, and the app is a technical control that helps enforce that.

I understand there are concerns about COVID-19 and re-opening the school, but there are more privacy-friendly ways, and heck maybe it would be better if the school didn't re-open and went online instead.

I am curious what the school administration would do if a student said they didn't have a phone. Would they buy the student a phone? Probably not. They want the features of an ankle monitoring without having to pay for the hardware or infrastructure so they offload that cost onto the students. It's like the gig economy (exploitative as that is) but for hardware.

Firewall Enabled Face Mask

Product Page

Keep it enabled when you're out and about. You don't want anything slipping through your defenses.

FaceRec Got Rekt

from here and here

You may have rightfully suspected this was the case, but now there's an actual study that finds that face recognition doesn't work so well when you cover your face (and the more you cover the worse it gets), which everyone should be doing right now to protect against the spread of COVID-19. That should really interfere with the use of face recognition in surveillance.