Analysis finds 16 smartphone apps, used as alternatives to ankle monitors in the US, allow access to wide swaths of information and are frequently unreliable (Electronic Frontier Foundation)

Bennett Cyphers / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
A profile of Fog Data Science, which purchases raw geolocation data collected by mobile apps and sells it to law enforcement agencies for a subscription fee  —  This article is part of EFF’s investigation of location data brokers and Fog Data Science.  Be sure to check out our issue page on Location Data Brokers.

Jim Brunner / The Seattle Times:
A Washington court rules Meta repeatedly violated the state’s campaign finance transparency law for political ads and must pay penalties yet to be determined  —  Meta, Facebook’s parent company, repeatedly and intentionally violated Washington campaign-ad transparency law and must pay penalties yet …

CNN:
After a package exploded at Northeastern University’s VR center, sources say it included a rambling note criticizing Mark Zuckerberg and VR  —  Authorities in Boston have launched an investigation after a package sent to Northeastern University exploded and injured a staff member Tuesday evening, officials said.

Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
Researchers find 75 apps on Google Play and 10 on Apple’s App Store that engaged in ad fraud, collectively had 13M installs, and have since been removed  —  Security researchers have discovered 75 applications on Google Play and another ten on Apple’s App Store engaged in ad fraud.

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Researchers detail Chaos, a new cross-platform malware that infected a wide range of Linux and Windows devices, including routers, FreeBSD boxes, and servers  —  Small office routers?  FreeBSD machines?  Enterprise servers?  Chaos infects them all.  —  Researchers have revealed a never …

Reuters:
An investigation finds thousands of iOS and Android apps, including from the CDC and US Army, used Russia-based tech company Pushwoosh’s code for notifications  —  Thousands of smartphone applications in Apple (AAPL.O) and Google’s (GOOGL.O) online stores contain computer code developed …