Alfred Ng

Reporter

Alfred Ng is an enterprise reporter in Brooklyn covering privacy and surveillance. He’s interested in stories that highlight technology’s side effects and how they can be addressed.

Before The Markup, he was a senior reporter for CNET, covering cybersecurity and privacy, and a reporter for the New York Daily News, covering police and crime. His reporting demonstrated how technology’s claims to reduce crime were unfounded, both in neighborhoods and in schools using facial recognition.

alfred@themarkup.org @alfredwkng

A picture of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

Ask The Markup

What Is Congress’s Plan to Crack Down on Big Tech?

A group of bipartisan lawmakers hopes to pass antitrust legislation that takes aim at tech giants buying out competition and hoarding data

July 13, 2021 08:00 ET

Surveillance camera boat casting a net that looks like a facial recognition scan.

Privacy

This Manual for a Popular Facial Recognition Tool Shows Just How Much the Software Tracks People

One school using the software saw that a student’s face was captured more than 1,000 times during the week

July 6, 2021 08:00 ET

Citizen Browser

After Repeatedly Promising Not to, Facebook Keeps Recommending Political Groups to Its Users

The company announced the policy as a way to stop spreading divisive content

June 24, 2021 08:00 ET

An illustration of three plastic cups with balls underneath, two which read NO and one with reads YES. A cursor icon rests in the corner waiting to make a selection to answer the question, "Are you sure you want to cancel your membership?"

Dark Patterns that Mislead Consumers Are All Over the Internet

Think you can tell a dark pattern from an ethically designed prompt? Take our quiz to find out

June 3, 2021 10:00 ET

Image of Senator Mazie Hirono, Democrat of Hawaii, speaking at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on April 10, 2019

Citizen Browser

Senator Calls Facebook Response on Discriminatory Ads“Inadequate”

The exchange followed a Markup report showing Facebook allowed targeting by age for financialservices

May 24, 2021 13:30 ET

Photo of the Facebook HQ sign in Menlo Park, California

Citizen Browser

Facebook Pledges to Remove Discriminatory Credit and Loan Ads Discovered by The Markup

The Markup’s Citizen Browser project found four companies targeting ads for financial products to specific age groups—a violation of Facebook policy and, potentially, civil rights laws

May 4, 2021 08:00 ET

An illustration of a wall of credit cards that is dividing a group of people

Citizen Browser

Credit Card Ads Were Targeted by Age, Violating Facebook’s Anti-DiscriminationPolicy

Such ads, along with other age-targeted financial product ads, may violate civil rights laws, attorneys say

April 29, 2021 08:00 ET

An illustration of a "red string" investigation" board but with the string making up the shape of an unlocked padlock

Privacy

Google Promised Its Contact Tracing App Was Completely Private—But It Wasn’t

Researchers say hundreds of preinstalled apps can access a log found on Android devices where sensitive contact tracing information is stored

April 27, 2021 08:00 ET

An illustration of a data broker putting money into a capitol hill styled hat

Privacy

The Little-Known Data Broker Industry Is Spending Big Bucks LobbyingCongress

Data brokers’ millions of dollars in lobbying spending in 2020 rivaled that of some Big Tech firms

April 1, 2021 08:00 ET

Image of a phone screen with a sample opt-out message

Ask The Markup

What’s Up with the Apple App Store’s PrivacyChanges?

The upcoming policy shift isn’t an end to data tracking, but experts say it’s a strong start

March 16, 2021 08:00 ET

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