Privacy
Shapiro’s AI Chatbot Plan Opens the Door to ID-Gated, Surveilled Conversations
Pennsylvania’s governor is using one rogue chatbot to justify putting a digital checkpoint in front of every AI conversation in the state.
Europol Ran Secret Data Platforms on Millions of Innocents
The agency tasked with protecting Europe’s data built a secret two-petabyte surveillance machine that its own privacy officer couldn’t account for.
Anonymous Canadian Sues DHS to Stop Google From Revealing His Identity Over Critical Posts
The US government is using a 96-year-old customs fraud statute to hunt down a Canadian over tweets.
Meta Will Fight Ofcom Over the Math, Just Not the Censorship
The company that could most credibly challenge Britain’s online speech regime is instead asking a London court to please use a different revenue column.
Google Broke reCAPTCHA for De-Googled Android Users
The company that decides whether you’re a bot now also requires you run its software to prove otherwise.
MembersBrave Now Has a Stripped Down Option — Here’s Who Should Care
It’s a surprisingly coherent product, but whether you actually need it depends entirely on which kind of privacy user you are.
The FCC Wants Your ID Before You Get a Phone Number
The FCC just proposed fixing your robocall problem by building the kind of phone-user registry that privacy advocates have spent decades trying to prevent.
France Moves to Break Encrypted Messaging
France’s parliament just endorsed the one idea every cryptographer on earth has already debunked and they’re calling it a compromise.
New Mexico’s Meta Trial Opens with Judge Wary of State’s Broad Surveillance Demands
A single state judge is being asked to build the surveillance infrastructure that Congress won’t vote on and he already sounds skeptical.
EU Targets VPNs in EU Age Verification Push
Brussels wants to close the VPN loophole, even as it insists its official age verification app remains a mere suggestion.
Travel Booking Giant to Buy Biometrics Firm for €1.2 Billion, Linking Face Scans Across Journeys
The €1.2 billion deal hands one vendor the biometric thread that links your boarding pass, your passport, and your hotel key card.
MembersThe Browser Habits That Secretly Raise Your Airfare, and the Ones That Don’t
Twenty years of privacy advice gets a stress test against the booking infrastructure built to turn your hesitation into a higher fare.