Updated 1/22/24 We’re happy to report that the ScorecardResearch tracker has been removed from the PBSKids.org website. We appreciate PBS removing this cross-site tracker. Updated 11/29/23 As a non-profit, independent product safety testing organization, Internet...
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ComScore Cross-Site Tracker Found in PBSKIDS.org
Jan 22, 2024 | Research
Updated 1/22/24 We’re happy to report that the ScorecardResearch tracker has been removed from the PBSKids.org website. We...
Another School District Hacked
Nov 16, 2023 | Research
Two of the districts covered in our 2022 benchmark find themselves victims of recent data breaches at the hands of the same entity,...
42 States vs. Meta: Schools are Unwitting “Pushers” – 91% of Schools Have Facebook Accounts
Oct 26, 2023 | Research
Prompted by the news of this lawsuit, we tallied how many of the schools in our 2022 EdTech benchmark had Facebook, Instagram or...
We are monitoring and buying dangling domains to keep people and businesses safer online
Jul 7, 2022 | Research
Dangling domains present massive ongoing safety harm to people, businesses, governments, and institutions. We observed the unique harms of dangling domains during our K12 edtech research last year, and decided to act to raise the issue and encourage others to do the same.
What if people could send legally binding Information Sharing Agreements to businesses
Jun 14, 2022 | Research
The Research Project Part of our work at Internet Safety Labs is to assess the practicalities of safer technology for the mutual...
FBI releases 2021 Cybercrime Report highlighting magnitude of Business Email Compromise (BEC) risks
Apr 14, 2022 | Research
Dangling domains dangerously threaten more and more people each day, including students and parents at K-12 schools.
People Don’t Understand the Purpose of Privacy Policies and Terms of Service – New Research Published
Jan 24, 2022 | Research
Any visit to a website, app download, purchase of a digital service, or use of new software involves legal policies. People typically encounter both a privacy policy and Terms of Use or Terms of Service (TOS/TOU) policy. But do they understand what functions these two types of policies serve? It seems they don’t.
What is Respectful Use of Location Information? New Me2BA Research Published
Nov 22, 2021 | Research
As we’ve been performing independent product audits over the past year and a half, we received some push-back on our passing criteria related to the automatic translation of IP address to geographic location. Vendors felt that automatically calculating the user’s geographical location was, in fact, a benefit. However, in our specification, that behavior will receive a failing score. At an impasse, we decided to conduct some validation testing with Me-s.
Dangling Domain From SDK Installed in 150+ Apple Apps Putting Kids, Families and Crypto Traders at Risk
Oct 7, 2021 | Research
Over the past month, the Me2B Alliance product testing team has been investigating something we refer to as “dangling domains” and the risks they pose to people, especially children and families.
A “dangling domain” refers to any URL/domain previously owned by a legitimate organization or business, but which has been either abandoned due to the business shutting down, or due to a mistake where the organization or business forgets to renew their own domain.
Flash Guide #10: Data Flow & the Invisible Parallel Dataverse
Sep 1, 2021 | Research
The reality of online data flows is nothing like what we expect. Our personal data flows do not start light and increase with time and trust. Instead, a firehose of personal information is released – and shared with a host of unseen third parties – as soon as we open an app or website. Me2BA’s Respectful Tech Specification V.1 is largely focused on testing for these invisible parallel dataverse data flows.
Flash Guide #9: The 10 Attributes of Respectful Me2B Commitments
Sep 1, 2021 | Research
The Me2B Respectful Tech Specification measures technology behavior against 10 attributes that respectful Me2B Commitments should possess. These attributes represent how technology should treat us and our data at every step along the Me2B Relationship Lifecycle.
Flash Guide #8: Digital Me2B Commitments & Deals
Sep 1, 2021 | Research
Over the course of the digital Me2B Lifecycle, individual “Me-s” (Data Subjects) will have the choice of deepening the relationship through a series of Me2B Commitments with the online vendor, “B” (Data Controller). This guide provides examples of common Commitments and Deals, and shows how they map to the stages of a Me2B Lifecycle. It also reflects social norms for being anonymous, recognized, or known at each stage.