23andMe Holding Co. (“23andMe” or the “Company”) (OTC: MEHCQ), a leading human genetics and biotechnology company, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of 23andMe to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Regeneron”) (NASDAQ: REGN), a leading U.S.-based, NASDAQ-listed biotechnology company that invents, develops and commercializes life-transforming medicines for people with serious Read more about Regeneron to Acquire all 23andMe genetic data for $256m[…]

New Orleans’ police force secretly used constant facial recognition to seek out suspects for two years. An investigation by The Washington Post discovered that the city’s police department was using facial recognition technology on a privately owned camera network to continually look for suspects. This application seems to violate a city ordinance passed in 2022 Read more about New Orleans police secretly used facial recognition on over 200 live camera feeds[…]

If there’s one thing the Federal Bureau of Investigation does well, it’s mass surveillance. Several years ago, then attorney general William Barr established an internal office to curb the FBI’s abuse of one controversial surveillance law. But recently, the FBI’s long-time hater (and, ironically, current director) Kash Patel shut down the watchdog group with no Read more about FBI Director Kash Patel Abruptly Closes Internal Watchdog Office Overseeing Surveillance Compliance[…]

The Russian government has introduced a new law that makes installing a tracking app mandatory for all foreign nationals in the Moscow region. The new proposal was announced by the chairman of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, who presented it as a measure to tackle migrant crimes. “The adopted mechanism will allow, using modern technologies, Read more about Russia to enforce location tracking app on all foreigners in Moscow[…]

[…] “For years, Google secretly tracked people’s movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry through their products and services. I fought back and won.” The agreement settles several claims Texas made against the search giant in 2022 related to geolocation, incognito searches and biometric data. The state argued Google was “unlawfully tracking Read more about Google will pay Texas $1.4B to settle claims the company collected users’ data without permission[…]

A U.S. senator introduced a bill on Friday that would direct the Commerce Department to require location verification mechanisms for export-controlled AI chips, in an effort to curb China’s access to advanced semiconductor technology. Called the “Chip Security Act,” the bill calls for AI chips under export regulations, and products containing those chips, to be Read more about US senator introduces bill calling for location-tracking on AI chips to limit China access[…]

Three Democratic senators are sounding the alarm over brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies’ ability to collect — and potentially sell — our neural data. In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Maria Cantwell (D-IN), and Ed Markey (D-MA) called for an investigation into neurotechnology companies’ handling of user data, and Read more about Neurotech companies are selling your brain data, senators warn[…]

A surveillance tool meant to keep tabs on employees is leaking millions of real-time screenshots onto the open web. Your boss watching your screen isn’t the end of the story. Everyone else might be watching, too. Researchers at Cybernews have uncovered a major privacy breach involving WorkComposer, a workplace surveillance app used by over 200,000 Read more about Employee monitoring app exposes 21M work screens​ to internet[…]

[…]Yale New Haven Health (YNHHS), a massive nonprofit healthcare network in Connecticut. Hackers stole the data of more than 5.5 million individuals during an attack in March 2025. […] According to a public notice on the YNHHS website, the organization discovered “unusual activity” on its system on March 8, 2025, which was later identified as Read more about A Data Breach at Yale New Haven Health Compromised 5.5 Million Patients’ Information[…]

CEO Aravind Srinivas said this week on the TBPN podcast that one reason Perplexity is building its own browser is to collect data on everything users do outside of its own app. This so it can sell premium ads. “That’s kind of one of the other reasons we wanted to build a browser, is we Read more about Perplexity CEO says its browser will track everything users do online to sell ‘hyper personalized’ ads[…]

Blue Shield of California shared the protected health information of 4.7 million individuals with Google over a nearly three-year period, a data breach that impacts the majority of its nearly 6 million members, according to reporting from Bleeping Computer. This isn’t the only large data breach to affect a healthcare organization the last year alone. Read more about Blue Shield of California Exposed the Data of 4.7 Million People to Google for targeted advertising[…]

Discord has begun requiring some users in the United Kingdom and Australia to verify their age through a facial scan before being permitted to access sensitive content. The chat app’s new process has been described as an “experiment,” and comes in response to laws passed in those countries that place guardrails on youth access to Read more about Discord Wants Your Face: Begins Testing Facial Scans for Age Verification[…]

LG TVs will soon leverage an AI model built for showing advertisements that more closely align with viewers’ personal beliefs and emotions. The company plans to incorporate a partner company’s AI tech into its TV software in order to interpret psychological factors impacting a viewer, such as personal interests, personality traits, and lifestyle choices. The Read more about Your TV is watching you better: LG TVs’ integrated ads get more personal with tech that analyzes viewer emotions[…]

Apple Inc. will begin analyzing data on customers’ devices in a bid to improve its artificial intelligence platform, a move designed to safeguard user information while still helping it catch up with AI rivals. Today, Apple typically trains AI models using synthetic data — information that’s meant to mimic real-world inputs without any personal details. Read more about Apple to Spy on User Emails and other Data on Devices to Bolster AI Technology[…]

A court has blocked a British government attempt to keep secret a legal case over its demand to access Apple Inc. user data in a victory for privacy advocates. The UK Investigatory Powers Tribunal, a special court that handles cases related to government surveillance, said the authorities’ efforts were a “fundamental interference with the principle Read more about UK Effort to Keep Apple Encryption Fight Secret Is Blocked[…]

T-Mobile sells a little-known GPS service called SyncUP, which allows users who are parents to monitor the locations of their children. This week, an apparent glitch in the service’s system obscured the locations of users’ own children while sending them detailed information and the locations of other, random children. 404 Media first reported on the Read more about T-Mobile SyncUP Bug Reveals Names, Images, and Locations of Random Children[…]

[…]Your TV wants your data The TV business traditionally included three distinct entities. There’s the hardware, namely the TV itself; the entertainment, like movies and shows; and the ads, usually just commercials that interrupt your movies and shows. In the streaming era, tech companies want to control all three, a setup also known as vertical Read more about Your TV is watching you watch and selling that data[…]

In a moment of clarity after initially moving forward a deeply flawed piece of legislation, the French National Assembly has done the right thing: it rejected a dangerous proposal that would have gutted end-to-end encryption in the name of fighting drug trafficking. Despite heavy pressure from the Interior Ministry, lawmakers voted Thursday night (article in Read more about A Win for human rights: France Rejects Backdoor Mandate[…]

China’s Cyberspace Administration and Ministry of Public Security has outlawed the use of facial recognition without consent. The two orgs last Friday published new rules on facial recognition and an explainer that spell out how orgs that want to use facial recognition must first conduct a “personal information protection impact assessment” that considers whether using Read more about China bans facial recognition without consent and in all public places. And it needs to be encrypted.[…]

23andMe has capped off a challenging few years by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today. Given the uncertainty around the future of the DNA testing company and what will happen to all of the genetic data it has collected, now is a critical time for customers to protect their privacy. California Attorney General Rob Bonta Read more about 23andMe files for bankruptcy: How to delete your data before it’s sold off[…]

Even by Amazon standards, this is extraordinarily sleazy: starting March 28, each Amazon Echo device will cease processing audio on-device and instead upload all the audio it captures to Amazon’s cloud for processing, even if you have previously opted out of cloud-based processing: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/everything-you-say-to-your-echo-will-be-sent-to-amazon-starting-on-march-28/ It’s easy to flap your hands at this bit of thievery Read more about Amazon annihilates Alexa privacy settings, turns on continuous, nonconsensual audio uploading[…]

process called Android System SafetyCore – which arrived in a recent update for devices running Android 9 and later. It scans a user’s photo library for explicit images and displays content warnings before viewing them. Google says “the classification of content runs exclusively on your device and the results aren’t shared with Google.” Naturally, it will Read more about How to stop Android from scanning your phone pictures for content and interpreting them[…]