A fraudulent Google Chrome extension has allegedly stolen as much 1.4 million XRP from users this month alone. In a series of tweets published on March 24, the research team “xrplorer forensics” claimed that fake Ledger Live extensions are being used to collect user backup passphrases: “They are advertised in Google searches and use Google Docs for collecting data. Accounts are being emptied and we have seen more than 200K XRP being stolen the past month alone.” Revising this initial figure, xrplorer forensics later amended its estimate to “close to 1.4M.” The fraudulent extension is still available on Google Store …

Governments are now considering tracking online user data as a way to fight the rapid spread of COVID-19. As a result, the question of personal data privacy is increasingly becoming a subject of discussion within the crypto community. On March 17, the Washington Post reported that the United States government was in talks with internet giants like Facebook and Google about using smartphone location data to combat COVID-19. One highlighted tactic includes tracking whether people are self-isolating in a way that successfully stems the outbreak, as has already occured in Israel, China, and Iran. In recent years, leaders in the …

On March 16, Brave, a privacy-oriented web browser, filed a formal complaint against Google with the Irish General Data Protection Regulation enforcer — since the multinational tech conglomerate’s European headquarters are located in Dublin. According to Brave, Google has been quite irresponsible with how it has been collecting and sharing the personal data of its users. Brave’s chief policy and industry relations officer Johnny Ryan went as far as saying that owing to Google’s dubious operational policies, the multimedia giant has created a “free for all” data warehouse that is not only being abused quite blatantly but is also in …

Back in the 2000s, when I worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), I was the director of technology and innovation. Part of that role was not only helping the company and some of our clients with tech innovation projects, but it was looking out five years, 10 years, 15 years and thinking about what technology was emerging and what it might mean for our industry. And so, all along the way, I’ve had a real interest in identifying things that are interesting that maybe a lot of people weren’t paying attention to yet. One was the role of speech recognition. I was …

Coinbase Card users owning supported Android phones can now avoid using the physical card. Through an integration with Google Pay announced on March 17, the card can be emulated by a mobile phone. The Coinbase Card connects a holder’s cryptocurrency balance on the exchange, which is then used for spending crypto via an instant conversion to fiat. The card can only be issued to residents of the European Union and European Economic Area, as well as the United Kingdom. Once issued, the card can be used anywhere Visa is supported. Google Pay emulates the physical card for offline purchases by …

Earlier today, March 16, Brave filed a formal complaint against Google with the lead General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enforcer in Europe. In a February Cointelegraph interview, Dr. Johnny Ryan, Brave’s chief policy and industry relations officer, explained that Google is abusing its power by sharing user data collected by dozens of its distinct services, creating a “free for all” data warehouse. According to Ryan, this was a clear violation of the GDPR. Aggravated with the situation and the lack of enforcement against the giant, Ryan promised to take Google to court if things don’t change for the better. Complaint …

In another bout of censorship, YouTube has deleted two videos form two separate crypto channels. Ivan on Tech, a crypto programmer, tweeted that YouTube deleted one of his videos on March 9. The Moon, a technical analyst and news reporter, said the content platform deleted one of his compositions on March 10. YouTube banned many accounts in 2019 Numerous crypto YouTubers suffered bans and strikes near the end of 2019, including Chris Dunn, Crypto Beadles and Altcoin Daily. Chris Dunn noted that YouTube banned his channel for “harmful or dangerous content” and the “sale of regulated goods.” Responding to The …

The cryptocurrency-powered internet browser Brave seems to be gaining in popularity, surpassing four million daily users. Brendan Eich, the co-founder and chief executive of Brave and former CEO of Mozilla, recently tweeted that Brave also has 12.2 million monthly users. As such, roughly 30% of Brave’s monthly users utilize the browser daily. Brave has also seen a steady increase in the number of its publishers — with nearly 447,000 publishers currently participating in the Brave network. Over 50% of Brave publishers operate on YouTube Over half of Brave’s publishers operate on YouTube with 268,600 — up 560% from 40,390 one …

Curiously, the search term “bitcoin coronavirus” has overtaken “bitcoin halving” on Google Trends. The odd search term is seeing the most traffic from Europe. Research indicates that Austria, Switzerland, and Ireland comprise the three jurisdictions that produce the most searches for “bitcoin coronavirus.” 12-Month Search Trends for “Bitcoin halving” and “Bitcoin coronavirus”: Google Singapore, Germany, Australia, and Canada are also producing significant traffic for the keyword, while the United States ranks 13th. Interest in ‘Bitcoin halving’ outpaces ‘ETH 2.0’ Interest in the Bitcoin’s upcoming halving is significantly dwarfing queries for Ethereum’s (ETH) upcoming ETH 2.0 revamp. 12-Month Search Trends for …

It has been nearly seven years since Edward Snowden blew the whistle on highly classified global surveillance programs, inciting a national conversation about privacy in the digital age. One of these revelations was that the NSA had access to the email content of Google users and the ability to map anyone’s cell phone location. It’s now been two years since the Cambridge Analytica scandal came to light, revealing that the company had harvested Facebook user data and used it to manipulate for the United States presidential election. In 2018, Facebook also admitted that it let Netflix and Spotify access users’ …

Major cryptocurrency hardware wallet supplier Ledger has warned its users about another phishing attack trying to steal their crypto — this one using a Google Chrome extension. In a March 5 tweet, the French crypto company specified that there is a fake extension on Google Chrome browser that attempts to steal users’ crypto by asking them to enter their 24-word recovery phrase to access their wallet. Ledger Live gets removed from the Chrome Web Store The phishing attack was reported by Catalin Cimpanu, a cybersecurity reporter at business technology news website ZDNet on March 4. According to Cimpanu, the malicious …

A petition taking aim at Google for censoring cryptocurrency-related content across its platforms is gaining traction on Twitter. #ForkGoogle’s memorandum accuses Google and its subsidiary YouTube of waging “campaigns of suppression against Bitcoin and blockchain industry for years.” The post seeks to inspire a coming together of blockchain companies and stakeholders to push back against Google's censorship. Google’s silent war on crypto The memorandum accuses Google of censoring cryptocurrency content through a variety of means — including blocking ad campaigns and removing apps related to crypto from Google Play and deleting or restricting access to information about cryptocurrencies. The post …