Lock and Code

In the late 2010s, a group of sheriffs out of Pasco County, Florida, believed they could predict crime. The Sheriff’s Department there had piloted a program called “Intelligence-Led Policing” and the…

If there’s one thing that scam hunter Julie-Anne Kearns wants everyone to know, it is that no one is immune from a scam. And she would know—she fell for one last year.

For years now, Kearns has made a…

The internet is cracking apart. It’s exactly what some politicians want.

In June, a Texas law that requires age verification on certain websites withstood a legal challenge brought all the way to the …

For decades, digital rights activists, technologists, and cybersecurity experts have worried about what would happen if the US government secretly broke into people’s encrypted communications.

The wei…

“Health” isn’t the first feature that most anyone thinks about when trying out a new technology, but a recent spate of news is forcing the issue when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI).

In June,…

There’s a unique counter response to romance scammers.

Her name is Becky Holmes.

Holmes, an expert and author on romance scams, has spent years responding to nearly every romance scammer who lands a me…

Complex problems often assume complex solutions, but recent observations about increased levels of anxiety and depression, increased reports of loneliness, and lower rates of in-person friendships fo…

There’s an easy way to find out what Facebook knows about you—you just have to ask.

In 2020, the social media giant launched an online portal that allows all users to access their historical data and …

There’s a problem in class today, and the second largest school district in the United States is trying to solve it.

After looking at the growing body of research that has associated increased smartph…

“Heidi” is a 36-year-old, San Francisco-born, divorced activist who is lonely, outspoken, and active on social media. “Jason” is a shy, bilingual teenager whose parents immigrated from Ecuador who li…

If you don’t know about the newly created US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), there’s a strong chance they already know about you.

Created on January 20 by US President Donald Trump through…

It has probably happened to you before.

You and a friend are talking—not texting, not DMing, not FaceTiming—but talking, physically face-to-face, about, say, an upcoming vacation, a new music festival…

Google Chrome is, by far, the most popular web browser in the world.

According to several metrics, Chrome accounts for anywhere between 52% and 66% of the current global market share for web browser u…

Something’s not right in the world of location data.

In January, a location data broker named Gravy Analytics was hacked, with the alleged cybercriminal behind the attack posting an enormous amount of…

Insurance pricing in America makes a lot of sense so long as you’re one of the insurance companies. Drivers are charged more for traveling long distances, having low credit, owning a two-seater inste…

In February 2024, a 14-year-old boy from Orlando, Florida, committed suicide after confessing his love to the one figure who absorbed nearly all of his time—an AI chatbot.

For months, Sewell Seltzer I…

It’s Data Privacy Week right now, and that means, for the most part, that you’re going to see a lot of well-intentioned but clumsy information online about how to protect your data privacy. You’ll se…

The era of artificial intelligence everything is here, and with it, come everyday surprises into exactly where the next AI tools might pop up.

There are major corporations pushing customer support fun…

You can see it on X. You can see on Instagram. It’s flooding community pages on Facebook and filling up channels on YouTube. It’s called “AI slop” and it’s the fastest, laziest way to drive engagemen…

Privacy is many things for many people.

For the teenager suffering from a bad breakup, privacy is the ability to stop sharing her location and to block her ex on social media. For the political dissid…