#privacy

news.slashdot.org

'Grok Build' Coding Tool Open Sourced This Week, Promises to Respect Zero Data Retention - Slashdot

Elon Musk confirmed SpaceX has open sourced the Grok Build CLI this week, reports The Register, "just days after researchers caught the AI tool scooping up users' entire repositories and uploading them to company-controlled cloud storage." That discovery had "gathered so much negative attention th...

sinarproject.org

Malaysia: The Cybercrimes Bill 2026 is a threat to freedom of expression and the right to privacy

ARTICLE 19, the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), and Sinar Project are concerned about the threat posed by the Malaysian Cybercrimes Bill 2026 to the right to freedom of expression online, as well as to media, journalists and human rights defenders. Although Malaysia is a signatory to the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime, the current Bill does little to meet the Convention’s human rights safeguards and procedural guarantees. Importantly, Article 6 of the Cybercrime Convention makes clear that States Parties to the Convention shall ensure that the implementation of their obligations under this Convention is consistent with their obligations under international human rights law. The Malaysian Cybercrimes Bill fails to provide human rights safeguards or to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, especially freedom of expression and the right to privacy.

techcrunch.com

Federal employees can download TikTok on their work phones again | TechCrunch

The Department of Justice says that federal employees can now download TikTok on their government devices.

werd.io

People are transcribing your conversations without asking. That puts you at risk.

Apps like Granola make it easy to transcribe conversations without asking for consent. Those transcripts are a subpoena honeypot.

werd.io

People are transcribing your conversations without asking. That puts you at risk.

Apps like Granola make it easy to transcribe conversations without asking for consent. Those transcripts are a subpoena honeypot.

techradar.com

'The death of privacy online' — Proton launches interactive map to show age verification laws are spreading fast

The VPN provider has always maintained that these laws mark the end of online privacy

eff.org

Victory! Flock Ends Rollout of Audio “Distress Detection” of Human Voices

Reversing course, Flock Safety—the surveillance technology vendor most known for its extensive network of automated license plate readers—has announced that it will end a pilot for its acoustic gunshot detection devices to identify signs of “human distress.”In October 2025, EFF warned the public...

404media.co

ICE to Pay Thomson Reuters $125 Million to Find ‘Voter Fraud’

A new procurement record says ICE wants access to personal data, including names, Social Security numbers, and ethnicity, to investigate in part what the agency calls “voters fraud.” It also plans to use the data to investigate immigration fraud.

eff.org

How the Watch Dogs Video Game Series Mirrored and Predicted Real-World Digital Rights Issues

When Ubisoft's Watch Dogs 2 was released in 2016, it was a headtrip for those of us working on digital-rights issues in the Bay Area. The game's missions often felt like they were ripped from the pages of EFF's Deeplinks blog.

bleepingcomputer.com

Ernst & Young discloses data breach after support system hack

Ernst & Young is notifying customers of a data breach caused by the compromise of a third-party support ticket system used by its IT personnel.

wired.com

San Francisco Demands Apple and Google Delete AI ‘Nudify’ Apps From App Stores

The City Attorney’s Office sent the tech giants cease-and-desist letters this week telling them to stop profiting from 13 “face-swap” apps that are overwhelmingly used to target women and girls.

adguard.com

Meta AI glasses are bringing the “Glasshole” era back

Meta AI glasses have revived concerns about covert recording and the erosion of consent in public spaces. The backlash points to a broader problem: what happens to privacy when cameras become almost indistinguishable from ordinary eyewear?

techcrunch.com

Period tracker Stardust shares users' health data with analytics firm, says Mozilla research | TechCrunch

One period tracker app tested by Mozilla was 'squeaky clean,' while another app was seen sharing users' health data with an analytics company, underscoring vast differences in user privacy among these apps.

schneier.com

Protecting Privacy in an AI Era - Schneier on Security

Daniel Solove argues in the Wall Street Journal (alternate link) that giving people control of their personal data is not an effective way to regulate privacy in this era. Instead, we need to hold companies accountable for their actions, similar to what we do with food and drug companies. Measures such as rigorous data minimization, fiduciary duties, liability for negligent or reckless technological design, liability for algorithms that cause harm, and multi-stakeholder review of technologies will be far more effective. Paper.

bleepingcomputer.com

23andMe to pay $18 million in new genetics data breach settlement

Genetic testing company 23andMe has agreed to pay $18 million to settle claims from a coalition of 43 attorneys general that it failed to protect customers' genetic data.

404media.co

How Cops Use Flock to Track People, Not Cars

Cops have used Flock's FreeForm search feature to look for people with tattoos and wearing specific sport shirts, and searches sometimes include the target's race, according to data reviewed by 404 Media.

theguardian.com

Smart glasses are deeply creepy. Why are celebrities like Kylie Jenner endorsing them?

Meta touts safety features – but for women, the dangers of these recording devices are obvious

youtube.com

DO NOT BUY: LG’s Spyware TVs, Monitors, and Wiretapping Concerns

Sponsor: Antec Vortex View 360 on Amazon https://geni.us/SqFNcLG recently forced upon us an app install loaded with McAfee adware through a Windows update. W...

youtube.com

DO NOT BUY: LG’s Spyware TVs, Monitors, and Wiretapping Concerns

Sponsor: Antec Vortex View 360 on Amazon https://geni.us/SqFNcLG recently forced upon us an app install loaded with McAfee adware through a Windows update. W...

wired.com

Here’s the Truth About Whether Meta’s NameTag Face Recognition Tech ‘Exists’

Since WIRED reported on Meta’s NameTag face recognition system, company executives have made confusing and conflicting remarks about its very existence.

eff.org

Most Smart Watches, Rings, and Bands Lack Basic Transparency Reports and Key Privacy Features

Oura Rings, Garmin GPS fitness watches, Apple Watches, Whoop bands—every year, more and more tech devices are promising to monitor our health and fitness, guide us toward healthier living, and provide useful health metrics to take to our doctors. But few of these tools provide the sorts of privacy and security promises we demand from all technology, let alone tech that captures personal health data.

eff.org

California Steps Back From Dangerous Expansion of its Age-Gating Law

The California legislature has stepped back from a plan that would have expanded its age-gating law, removing language that could have compounded serious threats to users’ speech, privacy and security just to browse the internet. A.B. 1856, authored by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, will now move forward through the legislature without its most problematic pieces.

briarproject.org

Briar is in maintenance mode - Briar

This is a quick update about the status of Briar. Short version: the project is still active but we’re only making essential security updates and bugfixes for now. Long version: For several years we’ve been trying to find solutions to some of the longstanding issues with Briar, such as high battery usage and unreliable background operation on Android, missing features like account backup and file attachments, and a difficult user experience for adding contacts and communicating offline.

proton.me

How ISPs track your online activity | Proton

Learn what your ISP can see, how internet providers track you, and the steps you can take to protect your privacy.

youtube.com

What Age Assurance means for the future of digital rights, online safety and the internet at large

In collaboration with Open Rights Group, Open Net Korea, Stop Killing Games, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Index on Censorship, this event brings toget...

youtube.com

What Age Assurance means for the future of digital rights, online safety and the internet at large

In collaboration with Open Rights Group, Open Net Korea, Stop Killing Games, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Index on Censorship, this event brings toget...

pixelunion.eu

Why it's time to leave Google Photos | PixelUnion - Free your photos from American tech platforms

Google Photos is cheap and convenient, but you pay with your privacy. We lay out the risks and show why a European alternative is worth it.

privacyguides.org

Age Verification Wants Your Face, and Your Privacy

Age verification laws forcing platforms to restrict access to content online have been multiplying in recent years. The problem is, implementing such measure necessarily requires identifying each user accessing this content, one way or another. This is bad news for your privacy.

streamyard.com

Android 17 Is Looking Great for Privacy & Security

Google recently announced upcoming features for Android 17 which features new privacy & security upgrades, Signal is adding warnings to protect against phishing attacks, Windows Bitlocker has been broken by a new zero-day and more! Join us for This Week In Privacy #53

eff.org

🚫 Don't Let Congress Age-Gate the Internet | EFFector 38.13

The effort to age gate the internet is back in Washington—and now it has a new name. Recently passed by the House of Representatives, the KIDS Act is a sprawling package of proposals to control what we can see and say online. Supporters claim the KIDS Act is needed to protect minors online. But if...

theguardian.com

The social media ban sceptic: are we getting it wrong on kids, tech and mental health?

Psychologist Candice Odgers has studied adolescent mental health for 25 years. She fears the current debate around smartphones obscures some of the biggest issues facing teenagers – from the impact of Covid to the health of their adult caregivers

youtube.com

Privacy Guides

Massive organizations are monitoring your online activities. Privacy Guides is your central privacy and security resource to protect yourself online. Privacy Guides is a socially motivated website that provides information for protecting your data security and privacy. We are a non-profit project operated by our team members and hundreds of volunteer contributors. "Privacy Guides" and the "Privacy Guides" logo are trademarks of the MAGIC Privacy Guides Fund, part of MAGIC Grants, a 501(c)(3) charity.

techspot.com

LibreWolf

LibreWolf is designed to increase protection against tracking and fingerprinting techniques, while also including a few security improvements.

blog.torproject.org

New Release: Tor Browser 15.0.18 | Tor Project

Tor Browser 15.0.18 is now available from the Tor Browser download page and also from our distribution directory.

zeltser.com

Security of Third-Party Keyboard Apps on Mobile Devices

Keyboard apps offer better predictions, voice transcription, and AI-powered writing, all requiring users to send what they type to remote servers. Mobile OS vendors set the rules but can't enforce what developers do with that data.

zeltser.com

Security of Third-Party Keyboard Apps on Mobile Devices

Keyboard apps offer better predictions, voice transcription, and AI-powered writing, all requiring users to send what they type to remote servers. Mobile OS vendors set the rules but can't enforce what developers do with that data.

blog.mozilla.org

Over The Edge 2.0: what independent researchers found about browser choice on Windows | The Mozilla Blog

Two years ago Mozilla asked two leading experts on deceptive design, Dr. Harry Brignull and Cennydd Bowles, to look at how Microsoft was treating people wh

nerds.xyz

Cloudflare Precursor watches your mouse and keyboard to decide if you are human

Cloudflare Precursor uses session-long behavioral monitoring to detect bots by studying mouse movement, typing cadence, scrolling, and page activity.

404media.co

LAPD Regularly Pulled Over Innocent People Because License Plate Readers Flagged Their Cars As Stolen

The Los Angeles Police Department let its Flock contract expire over the weekend in part because it was regularly "investigating" and surveilling innocent people.

mediafaro.org

The EU relaxes its replaceable batttery rules for smart glasses after US pressure.

Smart glasses are in European regulators’ and lawmakers’ crosshairs over privacy and surveillance concerns. But the bloc’s batteries regulation also held up the EU rollout of Meta’s latest model in …

techcrunch.com

LAPD lets contract with surveillance giant Flock expire, citing 'serious concerns' over civil liberties and privacy | TechCrunch

The LAPD, one of Flock's biggest government customers, is ending its contract with the company citing civil liberties concerns.

bleepingcomputer.com

Lidl discloses online shop breach after service provider hack

German discount supermarket chain Lidl notified customers in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands that attackers stole their personal information in a breach at a service provider.

wired.com

A Leak of San Francisco Police Drone Footage Exposes the New Reality of Urban Surveillance

The SFPD’s exposure of hours of videos from drone platform Skydio reveals how broadly it’s watching the city from above—and how the results can spill online.

wired.com

Meta Contractors Posed as Teens to Prompt Rival Chatbots About Suicide, Sex, and Drugs

Hundreds of contractors working on a project for Meta pretended to be kids in order to see how other chatbots like Gemini and ChatGPT would respond to high-risk subjects, WIRED found.

theguardian.com

Alarm over launch of facial recognition in UK shops that instantly alerts police

Civil liberties groups say Facewatch system in stores such as Sainsbury’s and B&M is ‘dangerous escalation’

proton.me

Age Verification: Track global and US legislation | Proton

Learn about the spread of age verification laws across the world.

proton.me

Age Verification: Track global and US legislation | Proton

Learn about the spread of age verification laws across the world.

blog.cloudflare.com

Introducing Precursor: detecting agentic behavior with continuous client-side signals

Precursor, our new continuous behavioral validation engine for bot management, offers visibility into how humans and bots actually interact across the full user journey. By turning session-level behavior into bot detection signals, it identifies advanced automation with higher precision — while reducing friction for legitimate users.

blog.cloudflare.com

Introducing Precursor: detecting agentic behavior with continuous client-side signals

Precursor, our new continuous behavioral validation engine for bot management, offers visibility into how humans and bots actually interact across the full user journey. By turning session-level behavior into bot detection signals, it identifies advanced automation with higher precision — while reducing friction for legitimate users.

wired.com

Meta Contractors Posed as Teens to Prompt Rival Chatbots About Suicide, Sex, and Drugs

Hundreds of contractors working on a project for Meta pretended to be kids in order to see how other chatbots like Gemini and ChatGPT would respond to high-risk subjects, WIRED found.

yro.slashdot.org

EFF Celebrates 36th Anniversary, Says 'We Need You in the Fight' - Slashdot

"We need you in the fight," says the American legal expert in privacy, surveillance, AI, and Internet freedom of speech who became the EFF's new executive director in March. As EFF celebrates the anniversary of its founding 1990, "Each headline is different, but they tell one story: Many of the th...

yro.slashdot.org

How Flock Cameras Wrongly Tracked a Journalist for Days, Then Sent Police to Arrest Him - Slashdot

"Are you armed?!" the police officer screamed. "Get out of the car!" A writer for the car-news site The Drive describes how "a technological chain linking surveillance cameras, AI, and law enforcement... led to me and my wife being surrounded by police, hands on their guns, in a Kohl's parking lot ...

techcrunch.com

Meta removes controversial AI feature on Instagram after backlash | TechCrunch

"Our intent was to provide a useful creative tool and to give people control over whether their public content could be referenced in this way," the company said in a blog post. "We've heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it's no longer available."

arstechnica.com

Increased drone surveillance of illegal July 4th fireworks led to $100K fine

More police and firefighters use drones to catch and deter illegal fireworks.

discuss.privacyguides.net

Itsme will require facial recognition in Belgium from 2027 - Bytes Europe

A link to a link. 🫠 Translation. "Itsme mandates facial recognition in Belgium from 2027 - update Belgian users of itsme will only be able to create an account using facial recognition starting in 2027, HLN reports. The creators aim to combat fraud in this way. Itsme has 8 million Belgian users and has also been available in the Netherlands since last month. The itsme measure is part of a plan intended to make banking safer in Belgium. HLN reports that as a result, only the owne...

schneier.com

AI Surveillance and Social Progress - Schneier on Security

In the near future, AI-powered surveillance systems will be able to track everything we do in public, and much of what we do in private. And if we do something wrong—shoplift, litter, jaywalk, you name it—the system will notice, retain it, tie it to your official government record, communicate that fact to you, and provide real-time alerts to any relevant authorities… and maybe also to the general public. Think of these systems as automated speed cameras, but on steroids. Only they’ll enforce not just speed limits, but any other rule you can imagine. And you won’t receive a ticket weeks later by mail; you’ll be informed about and fined for your violation immediately...

proton.me

How to turn off Face ID on iPhone | Proton

Is Face ID safe and should you turn it off? Learn how to turn off Face ID, when you should do it, and why you might want to.

privacyguides.org

Apple Patches App Privacy Issue, Many More Left Unaddressed for Now

Apple fixed an app fingerprinting issue in iOS 27 Developer Beta 3, an early preview of the next major version of iOS, making it a bit harder for apps to fingerprint you.

bleepingcomputer.com

OpenMandriva Linux says contributor tried to sabotage the project

The OpenMandriva Linux project announced that it was the target of an attempted act of internal sabotage after a dispute among contributors.

eff.org

The House Passed The KIDS Act—The Senate Should Reject It 

Last week, the House voted on the KIDS Act, a disjointed package of legislation that seeks to control Americans’ web browsing and private messaging. The package combines a revised version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), with several other internet bills, study bills, reporting requirements,...

eff.org

"We Want Texans to Know Their Rights": Q&A with Mayday Health on the Impact of Surveillance on Abortion Care

Last May, EFF reported that a sheriff’s office in Texas searched data from more than 83,000 automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras to track down a woman suspected of self-managing an abortion. ALPRs are promoted as tools for keeping communities safe by finding missing persons and locating...

deflock.org

DeFlock

Find license plate readers (LPRs) near you.

nerds.xyz

Google hands Open Health Stack to the Linux Foundation

Google is moving Open Health Stack to the Linux Foundation, where the open source healthcare platform will be developed under vendor-neutral governance with support from a $3 million Google.org grant.

streamyard.com

Did Apple Add A Keylogger to the App Store?

A security researcher has discovered that the iOS App Store saves all keystrokes and ties it to your Apple ID - raising privacy concerns, yet another cop is using Automated License Plate Readers to stalker their ex-partner, and all cars in the EU might require a camera aimed at your face! Join us for This Week In Privacy #61.

deflock.org

DeFlock

Find license plate readers (LPRs) near you.

proton.me

What are the worst spyware apps — and how do you spot them? | Proton

Spyware apps are designed to go undetected. Here are the 3 worst spy app types, how to detect them, and how to protect your device.

wired.com

A Majority of European Lawmakers Voted Against Letting Big Tech Read Our Messages. They’re Going to Anyway

Companies will once again be allowed to scan citizens’ personal texts, emails, and social media messages to find child abuse material online.

darmstadt.social

Andreas Albrecht (@Datterich@darmstadt.social)

Für alle, die die Verletzung ihrer Privatsphäre und den Eingriff in ihre Freiheitsrechte durch 'Smart Glasses' nicht tolerieren und der unentdeckten Überwachung in der Öffentlichkeit etwas entgegensetzen möchten: Es gibt eine App für Euch: https://apt.izzysoft.de/packages/ch.pocketpc.nearbyglasses Ist ein Nutzer in der Öffentlichkeit "erwischt", könntet Ihr z.B. seine Personalien feststellen lassen, um später gegen ihn vorzugehen und ihn _beispielsweise_ darauf verklagen, Eure personenbezogenen Daten löschen zu lassen.

themarkup.org

Kaiser nurses say surveillance of them is undermining healthcare – The Markup

Call center nurses at Kaiser Permanente said workplace surveillance tools and AI prioritize speed and cost savings over quality and safety.

wired.com

Madison Square Garden Kept a List of Gay Celebrities

An MSG database tracked and categorized hundreds of celebs, famous Knicks superfans, and even some of Taylor Swift’s wedding guests. Labels included “LGBTQIA,” “DO NOT HOST,” and low to high “risk.”

theverge.com

Meta’s glasses will turn off the camera if you tamper with the privacy light

Meta has tried to discourage tampering with the LED.

bleepingcomputer.com

Mount Royal University confirms breach as hackers claim attack

Mount Royal University in Calgary says hackers stole and then deleted data from its file storage systems after breaching the university's network.

linuxiac.com

Windows Drops Under 60% in Global Desktop OS Share for the First Time in Years

StatCounter’s June 2026 report shows Linux at one of its strongest recent positions, while Windows falls to 56.55%.

bleepingcomputer.com

Hackers exploit Roundcube flaw to spy on academic researchers

A China-linked threat cluster has been exploiting vulnerable Roundcube servers at U.S. and Canadian universities to steal credentials and deploy backdoor malware.

404media.co

Meta Patents AI Device That Tracks Your Emotions, Watches You Take Your Meds

Imagine a wearable device that records every moment of your day and makes suggestions based on your mood.

techcrunch.com

Another massive data breach exposed millions of driver's license numbers | TechCrunch

The cyberattack targeting a U.S. insurance giant is the largest known breach of driver's license numbers so far in 2026.

proton.me

How to stop Meta from tracking you: A privacy checklist | Proton

Meta tracks far more than your Facebook activity. Here's how to limit its surveillance across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads.

spreadprivacy.com

Watch YouTube Without Ads on the DuckDuckGo Browser

DuckDuckGo now blocks most video ads, including on YouTube! Try it on desktop or mobile today.

matrix.org

Matrix v1.19 release

Matrix, the open protocol for secure decentralised communications

bleepingcomputer.com

Telco giant KDDI says data breach affects over 12 million people

Japanese telecommunications giant KDDI says that millions of people had their email addresses and passwords exposed after attackers breached an email platform used by five internet service providers (ISPs) in the country.

propublica.org

A Puerto Rico Government Agency Exposed 1 Million Social Security Numbers

A cybersecurity loophole in an official government mapping service left private data easily accessible, Centro de Periodismo Investigativo and ProPublica learned.

wired.com

Meta Now Lets Anyone Use Your Instagram Photos in AI Images—Unless You Opt Out

As part of Meta’s Muse Image model rollout, Instagram users with public accounts need to opt out to block AI generations of their content.

theregister.com

Microsoft flips Windows Backup to on by default unless you're in the EU

Everyone else must opt out manually if they don't fancy settings data shipped off-device

techcrunch.com

Hacked, leaked, and held for ransom: The worst breaches of 2026 so far | TechCrunch

From a massive DOGE data breach and the hacking of critical energy and water systems to the hack of an FBI surveillance system, here are the most damaging security incidents and data breaches of 2026.

bleepingcomputer.com

Hidden backdoor in Tenda router firmware grants admin access

A hidden authentication backdoor has been found in multiple Tenda router firmware versions, potentially allowing an attacker to gain administrative access to the device's web management panel.

404media.co

Cops Say Waymo Snitched on Teens for Allegedly Drinking and Shooting a Toy Gun

The San Mateo Police Department posted on Facebook: “Parents do you know where your teens are? Waymo does!"

proton.me

What is spyware, and how do you protect yourself? | Proton

What is spyware? Everyone's a target, not just journalists and dissidents. Learn the four types, who they target, and how to protect yourself.

tuta.com

Tuta One-Click Migration is now in closed beta! | Tuta

Switching to Tuta Mail is only getting easier! Soon you’ll be able to automatically migrate old external mailboxes, like Gmail or Outlook, into Tuta Mail thanks to One-Click Migration. And that’s not all - keep reading to discover what’s new, improved, and coming soon.

cnn.com

Supreme Court allows Texas to require age verification for mobile apps | CNN Politics

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed Texas to enforce a law that requires mobile app stores to verify the age of users and obtain parental consent for minors attempting to install programs on their phones.

techcrunch.com

If you use Google, you're training its AI. Here's how to opt out. | TechCrunch

Consider this a belated PSA: A recent change to Google’s privacy settings is allowing the company to store more of your data, including media such as “images, files, and audio and video recordings,” to improve its AI models.

techcrunch.com

Canadian spy agency says it hacked drug traffickers, extremists, and a ransomware gang last year | TechCrunch

The hacking operations disclosed in a Canadian spy agency's annual report underscores some pressing national security threats facing the country and its top allies.

wired.com

ICE’s Internal Watchdog Is Now Investigating Online Critics

The Office of Professional Responsibility has opened more than 100 cases over what ICE officials call “incidents of doxing and threats” against ICE employees.

404media.co

Footage Shows Cop Stalking Woman He Met on a TV Set After Surveilling Her With a License Plate Reader

A Florida police officer met a woman on a TV set, surveilled her for weeks, stalked her, and nearly caused a head-on collision while chasing her to pull her over.

futurism.com

US Air Force Engineer Charged With Sawing Down Flock Surveillance Cameras Receives Thousands of Dollars from Supporters Across the Country

Anti-flock activist Jeffrey Sovern has nearly doubled his legal defense goal, raising over $15,000 from 400 supporters across the country.

tomshardware.com

Windows 11 identifier code used to track Scattered Spider perp after Microsoft shared info with FBI — 19-year-old US-Estonian hacker arrested over alleged ties to infamous extortion group

DOJ claims the group stole over $100 million across various attacks.

github.com

GitHub - nullsink/nullsink: Privacy-first, account-less metered proxy for frontier models. No account, no IP, no request logs.

Privacy-first, account-less metered proxy for frontier models. No account, no IP, no request logs. - nullsink/nullsink

github.com

GitHub - nullsink/nullsink: Privacy-first, account-less metered proxy for frontier models. No account, no IP, no request logs.

Privacy-first, account-less metered proxy for frontier models. No account, no IP, no request logs. - nullsink/nullsink

tech.slashdot.org

GoDaddy Warns India's Crackdown on Fake Site Registrars Could Upend Internet Privacy Everywhere - Slashdot

"The internet is filled with fakes," writes Gizmodo. "A court in India is setting out to address the problem by requiring more transparency from domain registrars to make it easier to crack down on fraud. And while the intentions might be good, Reuters is reporting that major American domain regist...

news.slashdot.org

FSF Shares Update on 'LibrePhone' and New Automated Site Monitoring Tool - Slashdot

At the end of 2025, the FSF launched LibrePhone project, which is working to "better understand and reverse-engineer the nonfree blobs used by a great majority of (if not all) system on a chip designs available today." The FSF's summer newsletter shares this update: We started with researching th...

discuss.privacyguides.net

Reminder: EU Presidency to revive expired and dismissed Chat Control 1.0 as early as next week, final CC2.0 trilogue done

Not an expert on the matter, but I’ll leave the English post by Dr. Patrick Breyer (former MEP, Pirates) here. Apparently, it is tried to urgently process this as well as an adoption as early as next week (when some MEPs are already on vacation, I read). Here is another article from Politico: What you can do: Contact your MEPs to oppose this and not falter to illegitimate vote repetition, warning them about the implications of the system, and telling them about better means. You could e...

dropsitenews.com

A Third Party Breached The Intercept’s Signal Tip Line and Has Been Soliciting Whistleblowers

The news outlet changed its tip line this week, but has not informed potential sources or the public of the breach.

schneier.com

Flock Cameras Can Surveil Cars Without License Plates - Schneier on Security

This is from a 2024 company presentation: Officers can also tap into data showing a car’s decals, bumper stickers, back and top racks—along with temporary and unique state tags. Flock calls it a “Vehicle Fingerprint” and it’s touted as a way for law enforcement officials to get more information “even when you don’t have full plate information,” the company’s presentation shows. The company gives police officers the ability to search that data as well, to “build stronger cases with less information upfront.” That includes being able to locate multiple vehicles law enforcement officials believe are moving together and what Flock calls a “multi geo search.”...

wired.com

EU Politicians Investigated Pegasus Spyware. Then It Ended Up on One of Their Phones

“It is a direct attack on the rule of law,” says one European Parliament member of the new findings from Citizen Lab.

ghost.thenewoil.org

On Privacy & Freedom

It's the time of year in America where we pause to appreciate our freedom. In this post, I examine how privacy enables freedom and why we must protect it.

streamyard.com

CalyxOS Is Officially Back!

CalyxOS is officially back with a stable release, A researcher has discovered Apple's Hide My Email feature can originating email addresses, the US Supreme Court has gutted the governments ability to use geofence warrants, and more! Join us for This Week In Privacy #60.

eff.org

LGBT Q&A: How Can I Wipe Online Data That Points To My Queer Identity?

This Pride, we’re answering all your digital rights questions in season two of our initiative, LGBT Q&A. You Asked: Is there a way for me to wipe data about me online that could point to my queer identity?

eff.org

EFF and Allies: X’s FTC Petition to Waive Privacy Violation Order Should be Rejected

Strong safeguards on our information require eagle-eyed oversight when that data is abused and misused for profiteering ventures. X’s actions not only showed us this in the past, but continue to do so in the present day.

bleepingcomputer.com

Medtronic notifies customers impacted by ShinyHunters data breach

Healthcare device firm Medtronic is notifying affected customers about a data breach that exposed their personal data to an unauthorized third party.

techcrunch.com

WhatsApp usernames are already raising impersonation red flags | TechCrunch

Meta says usernames improve privacy, but critics question whether its safeguards can prevent impersonation.

f-droid.org

What We Talk About When We Talk About Malware | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

If you are running Android 8 or higher, a virus has been installed on your device and is silently awaiting remote activation. Over the past few months, devic...

bleepingcomputer.com

Kubota says hackers had month-long access to network systems

Kubota North America Corporation disclosed that hackers had access to some of its network systems for more than a month earlier this year.

404media.co

Scientists Asked AI to Impersonate 112 Public Figures. What Happened Next Is a ‘Dire’ Warning

Researchers discovered that people found AI impersonators to be more authentic, coherent, and relevant than the real politicians, raising alarm bells around the potential for public deception.

privacyguides.org

Google Wants to Scan Your Hand for its reCAPTCHA

Google's reCAPTCHA service will start asking for camera permission to scan your hand in different positions to determine if you're human.

tails.net

Tails - Tails 7.9.1

adexchanger.com

Papa Johns Can Predict When Your Fridge Is Empty | AdExchanger

Papa Johns tapped NBCUniversal, Instacart and the dentsu-owned media agency Carat for help reaching consumers when they’re low on groceries.

404media.co

Apple ‘Hide My Email’ Vulnerability Reveals Peoples’ Real Email Addresses

”Hide My Email users deserve to know that it may be possible for attackers to discover their hidden email addresses,” the person who reported the issue said.

cryptomator.org

Summer Sale: Cryptomator at half price – only until July 7th!

Get Cryptomator during the Summer Sale for just 14.99 € and protect your cloud data—whether you’re on the go, working with a team, or watching the World Cup.

cryptomator.org

Cryptomator for Android: Freemium Now Available

Cryptomator for Android is now available as freemium: try it for free and upgrade to the full version whenever you need to.

arstechnica.com

Reddit will require you to log in to use old.reddit.com

Logged-out Old Reddit access is “significant source of abusive scraping."

discuss.privacyguides.net

The KIDS Act has passed the house

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/7757 Votes: https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2026228 Your rep: Find Your Representative | house.gov

blog.torproject.org

Arti 2.5.0 released: Stable Counter Galois Onion | Tor Project

Arti 2.5.0 is released and ready for download.

blog.notesnook.com

Notesnook v3.4.0

Inbox API, deep links, improved desktop security, ColorNote & Upnote importers, and more

bleepingcomputer.com

Fake Perplexity extension on Chrome Web Store tracked searches

A malicious extension in the Chrome Web Store is masquerading as the Perplexity AI answer engine, intercepting search traffic and collecting browsing information.

proton.me

Lumo 2.0: The most powerful private AI | Proton

Introducing the new Lumo 2.0, the private AI assistant with advanced reasoning, image generation, deep web search, and long-term memory.

themarkup.org

Californians can protect their personal data with one click. Help us test if it works – The Markup

A new state tool lets you tell data brokers to stop tracking you. Will they comply? Help us investigate.

schneier.com

The Realities of AI Video Surveillance - Schneier on Security

The Financial Times has a good article on how AI is changing the capabilities of video surveillance, with information from both Israel/Iran and Russia. I wrote about this sort of thing a few years ago, how AI enables mass spying in the way that computers and networks enabled mass surveillance. The interesting development in the article is that AI allows people to ask natural language questions about video footage to AIs—and AIs can answer them. In contrast with older tools restricted to a few dozen preset searches, these new tools allow an almost unlimited range of enquiries by enabling language-based searches on video...

bleepingcomputer.com

Insurance giant Aflac discloses data breach after subsidiary hack

American insurance giant Aflac has disclosed a new data breach after attackers breached its Japan subsidiary's systems and stole personal and bank account information of 4.38 million customers.

bleepingcomputer.com

Microsoft adds smarter bot protection to Teams meetings

Microsoft has introduced a new Teams admin policy that allows organizers to prevent third-party bots from joining meetings without approval.

eff.org

LGBT Q&A: What Data Are Companies in the UK Collecting When Verifying My Age?

This Pride, we’re answering all your digital rights questions in season two of our initiative, LGBT Q...

bleepingcomputer.com

Nissan discloses employee data breach linked to Oracle zero-day attacks

Nissan is warning that it suffered a data breach affecting current and former employees after threat actors exploited an Oracle PeopleSoft vulnerability in data theft attacks previously linked to the ShinyHunters extortion group.

bleepingcomputer.com

NAIC says public data stolen in ShinyHunters' PeopleSoft breach

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) says the ShinyHunters extortion group stole only publicly available data, outdated logs, and configuration files after breaching its systems by exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in an Oracle PeopleSoft server.

arstechnica.com

Supreme Court ruling guts government’s use of geofence warrants

SCOTUS falls short of deeming geofence warrants unconstitutional, though.

eff.org

EFF to Gov. Pritzker: Veto Illinois’ HB 5511

The Illinois legislature recently passed House Bill 5511, which imposes a sweeping, device-level age-gating framework across nearly all internet-enabled hardware, operating systems, and online services. H.B. 5511 is a massive privacy and free speech nightmare. That’s why we sent a letter to formally urge Governor J.B. Pritzker to veto the bill.

bleepingcomputer.com

WhatsApp rolls out usernames to help users hide their phone number

WhatsApp is finally allowing users to reserve usernames, a privacy feature that lets them hide their phone numbers from people not in their contact list.

adguard.com

Nine things you do every day that endanger privacy | AdGuard

There are many things that we do so often that we don’t even think twice about how they negatively affect our privacy. We selected nine of them to cover in this TechTok.

wired.com

Top Google Security Staff Warn Search Data Could Be Hacked if EU Rules Change

Europe’s pro-competition proposals could see Google Search and Android systems opened up. The company claims there are serious privacy flaws.

blog.torproject.org

New Release: Tor Browser 15.0.17 | Tor Project

Tor Browser 15.0.17 is now available from the Tor Browser download page and also from our distribution directory.

apnews.com

ATF cancels phone tracking contract after lawmakers raise concerns

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has canceled its contract for a surveillance tool that allows warrantless tracking of mobile devices.

bleepingcomputer.com

Data breach exposes up to 14.2 million email logins at six ISPs

Japanese telecommunications operator KDDI Corporation disclosed a data breach where threat actors gained access to one of its email systems used by five other internet service providers (ISPs) in the country.

boston.com

Framingham police will not renew Flock Safety contract after months of resident opposition

The decision follows weeks of advocacy from residents who raised concerns about privacy, surveillance, and data sharing.

bleepingcomputer.com

FBI: Russian hackers now target Signal backup recovery keys

The FBI and CISA are warning that a phishing campaign targeting Signal users tied to Russian intelligence services has evolved to steal Signal Backup Recovery Keys, allowing attackers to access victims' historical messages.

arstechnica.com

Russian citizens told "switch to Android" after Apple blocks key Russian apps

Russian government lashes out at Apple's "bizarre" decisions.

eff.org

EFF to Grindr: This Pride Month, Put Safety and Privacy Over Profits

This Pride month, we’re calling on the dating app Grindr to prioritize LGBTQ+ user safety by making privacy the default across its platform. That means no more sharing personal data with advertisers or training AI on private information without users’ opt-in consent.

techcrunch.com

Xprize founder says 'humans behave better when they’re being watched' | TechCrunch

Peter Diamandis is the latest tech executive to argue that global surveillance will make the world a better place, following Larry Ellison's comments in 2024.

wired.com

The Pentagon Is Looking Into the Dialog Data Exposure for Unmasking National Security Officials

Exposed records from the private group included the personal information of a senior White House intelligence official and an active-duty special operations officer.

eff.org

Hate “The Algorithm?” RSS Is One of the Tools You’ve Been Looking For

Since at least the moment Facebook introduced (and apologized for) its News Feed, “the algorithm” has been shorthand for the ways the tech giants control what we see and when we see it. In the age of enshittification, there is a push to reclaim our feeds and networks. Good news: there’s a tool that’s been around for decades that can help wrangle many of your feeds into something manageable: Really Simple Syndication, more commonly known as RSS.

eff.org

Lawmakers Must Act Now to Prevent Armed Police Drones

This is not science fiction. It’s not premature. If towns, cities, states, or the federal government want to act to reign in the emergence of armed police drones and robots, we have precious little time. In the absence of substantial regulation around when and how domestic law enforcement in the...

eff.org

We Can Still Stop California’s 3D Printer Surveillance Scheme

Ignoring EFF’s warnings about the dangers and impossibility of implementing a new mandate for 3D print surveillance software, the California State Assembly has signed off on legislation to do just that. In the process, legislators amended the bill to make it even more confusing, while failing to address the risks to privacy, speech, and consumer rights. We must renew our call on legislators to drop this bill as it heads to the state senate, and protect the tools of creators in the state.

cambridgeanalytica.org

Nearly a million passports just exposed on the public internet—and anyone could access them with a simple URL

Nearly one million passports and driver's licenses from multiple countries were left unprotected online with zero password protection. Here's what happened.

heise.de

Cars are too connected: Polestar withdraws from the US market

Extensive networking for data collection proves to be Polestar's downfall. The Chinese automaker must leave the US market.

privacyguides.org

DOJ Stopped From Requiring Apple and Google to Hand Over the Data of 100,000 People

A court has determined that the US DOJ cannot force Apple and Google to hand over the information of around 100,000 users of the EZ Lynk app.

bleepingcomputer.com

Poland busts SIM-swapping gang tied to millions in crypto theft

Authorities in Poland have arrested four members of an organized cybercrime group accused of breaching telecommunications partners and hijacking email accounts to carry out SIM-swapping attacks.

streamyard.com

No News is Good News? Q&A Episode

It's a quiet news week, so we're diving into questions from the community and discussing a few less interesting stories. Join us for This Week In Privacy #59

eff.org

EFF, TEDIC and CEJIL Challenge Secrecy in the Use of Face Recognition in Paraguay

Seeking transparency and accountability in Paraguay’s use of facial recognition, EFF, the Association of Technology, Education, Development, Research, Communication (TEDIC), and the Centre for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights...

eff.org

Four Years After Dobbs, Anti-Abortion Lawmakers Keep Coming for Online Speech

This week marks four years since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade’s constitutional protections for people seeking abortion care. Anniversaries are a moment to take stock, and over the last four years, EFF has seen firsthand how digital rights and reproductive...

techcrunch.com

Polymarket says hackers stole users' funds | TechCrunch

The prediction market giant Polymarket said it's refunding users who had funds stolen due to a third-party breach.

eff.org

The FCC’s Spam Call Proposal Is Just a Data Collection Scheme

The Federal Communications Commission wants to require telecommunications providers to collect vast amounts of personal information from every person who wants a phone number in the name of combatting scam and spam calls. This plan will fail to combat the deluge of unwanted calls people in the...

techcrunch.com

Hacked Klue says criminals are deleting stolen customer data, but now other hackers are making threats | TechCrunch

Market research company Klue told customers that it believes the hacking group that stole their data is now deleting it. The company, however, warned about a second group of hackers wanting ransom.

politico.eu

President vs Parliament: Metsola overrides MEPs in bid to force through child abuse law

The European Parliament president’s power play is “without precedent,” diplomats wrote in a note seen by POLITICO.

eff.org

Are Your Local Police Using Flock Safety ALPRs to Scan for Immigrants?

When a car passes an automated license plate reader (ALPR), its plate is captured and instantly compared against a list of vehicles that police are actively looking for or that police have identified for real-time surveillance. These are called “hotlists,” and EFF has learned that one used by...

proton.me

How to disable Microsoft Edge: Step-by-step guide | Proton

Microsoft Edge runs in the background even when you don't use it. Here's how to stop and remove it on Windows 10 and 11.

techcrunch.com

Cellebrite said it cut off Russia, but Russia used its tools anyway | TechCrunch

Security researchers found evidence that Russian authorities hacked the iPhone of a political opponent using a phone-unlocking device made by Cellebrite, even after the company said it would stop selling to Putin’s government.

wired.com

British Police Built a Sprawling Crime-Prediction Machine. Some Results Couldn’t Be Trusted

As UK police embrace the AI revolution, a WIRED investigation reveals the messy inside story of one region’s experiment with predictive analytics.

eff.org

The KIDS Act Would Require Age Checks To Get Online

Buried inside the KIDS Act are provisions that will push online services to verify all users’ ages, require government-directed moderation policies for online speech, and even create new rules about private and encrypted communications. While supporters continue to claim this bill protects minors online, its requirements come at the expense of privacy, free expression, and the ability of people of all ages to use the internet without revealing sensitive data.

bleepingcomputer.com

Google releases new privacy controls for activity history, personalization

Google is rolling out new privacy controls for Search services and Google Play, giving you more control over saved history and personalized recommendations.

bleepingcomputer.com

DraftKings hacker 'Snoopy' sentenced to 18 months in prison

A 21-year-old using the alias "Snoopy" was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in hacking DraftKings accounts in the November 2022 cyberattack.

privacyinternational.org

Collateral Damage: Claude Mythos and the Privacy Risks of AI

Since the emergence of generative AI, public debate has largely focused on misinformation, copyright and productivity. Far less attention has been paid to what increasingly capable AI systems may mean for privacy and data protection.

404media.co

The Trump Administration’s New Census Data Rules Are a Policy Disaster

The new policy, which forbids "noise infusion" as a technique for anonymizing data, will "handcuff" the Census Bureau and limit what information becomes public, data experts say.

wired.com

White House app auto-downloads to government phones, can't be uninstalled

“It’s shooting pure unadulterated propaganda into our veins,” says one worker.

404media.co

How Hackers Broke into Madison Square Garden

Hackers stole more than 45GB of data from Madison Square Garden, including data related to “talent” and the Knicks. Clues in the data point to how the hackers got in.

privacyguides.org

Meta's Keystroke-Logging Employee AI Training Program on Pause After Internal Data Leak

According to Business Insider, n internal program at Meta to train AI on employees' data is on pause after an internal leak exposing keystrokes, private conversations, and transcriptions.

bleepingcomputer.com

Tata Electronics confirms cyberattack as hackers leak data

Tata Electronics has confirmed in a statement to BleepingComputer that it was the target of a cyberattack that impacted parts of its IT infrastructure.