Facebook, Google, and other masters of the surveillance economy have bred a virulent mutation of capitalism, which explains why they aren’t interested in addressing their many scandals

WSJ reporter Katherine Bindley found that our ability to control Facebook ad tracking is limited and that much of what Facebook claims should come with lengthy footnotes.

WhatsApp has announced that it will start sharing your phone number with Facebook. The messaging service has updated its privacy policy to indicate the changes as well as other additions to the platform, such as WhatsApp Web, desktop clients, end-to-end encryption, and voice call service.

Privacy advocates have praised Vermont’s new data broker law, but acknowledge it does little to rein in a largely obscure and unregulated industry.

Thread by @jeremyburge: "For years Facebook claimed the adding a phone number for 2FA was only for security. Now it can be searched and theresable that. Facebook 2FA numbers are also shared with Instagram which prompts you 'is this your phone number? […]"