Danish Minister of Justice and chief architect of the current Chat Control proposal, Peter Hummelgaard: “We must break with the totally erroneous perception that it is everyone’s civil liberty to communicate on encrypted messaging services.” Share your thoughts via https://fightchatcontrol.eu/, or to jm@jm.dk directly. Source: https://www.ft.dk/samling/20231/almdel/REU/spm/1426/index.htm In the answers he cites “but we must protect Read more about Default title[…]

The Swiss government could soon require service providers with more than 5,000 users to collect government-issued identification, retain subscriber data for six months and, in many cases, disable encryption. The proposal, which is not subject to parliamentary approval, has alarmed privacy and digital-freedoms advocates worldwide because of how it will destroy anonymity online, including for Read more about Swiss government may disable privacy tech, stoking fears of mass surveillance[…]

The company behind the Proton Mail email service, Proton, describes itself as a “neutral and safe haven for your personal data, committed to defending your freedom.” But last month, Proton disabled email accounts belonging to journalists reporting on security breaches of various South Korean government computer systems following a complaint by an unspecified cybersecurity agency. Read more about Proton Mail Suspended Journalist Accounts at Request of some Cybersecurity Agency without any process[…]

Please follow this link to the questionnaire and help save our future – otherwise total surveillance like never seen before will strip you of every privacy and later fundamental rights you have as a EU citizen ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Information The previous data retention law was declared illegal in 2014 by CJEU (EU’s highest court) for being Read more about We beat Chat Control but the fight isn’t over – another surveillance law that mandates companies to save user data for Europol is making its way right now and there is less than 24 hours to give the EU feedback![…]

A new report suggests that the UK’s age verification measures may be having unforeseen knock-on effects on web traffic, with the real winners being sites that flout the law entirely. […] Sure, there are ways around this if you’d rather not feed your personal data to a platform’s third-party age verification vendor. However, sites are Read more about Age verification legislation is tanking traffic to sites that comply, and rewarding those that don’t[…]

While some American officials continue to attack strong encryption as an enabler of child abuse and other crimes, a key European court has upheld it as fundamental to the basic right to privacy. […] While some American officials continue to attack strong encryption as an enabler of child abuse and other crimes, a key European Read more about Europol wants to keep all data forever for law  enforcement, says unnamed(!) official. E.U. Court of Human Rights backed encryption as basic to privacy rights in 2024 and now Big Brother Chat Control is on the agenda again (EU consultation feedback link at end)[…]

The EU wants to save all your data, or as much as possible for as long as possible. To insult the victims of crime, they say that they want to do this to fight crime. How do you feel about the EU being turned into a surveillance society? Leave your voice in the link below. Read more about The EU wants to know what you think about it keeping all your data for *cough* crime stuff.[…]

“The Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia Andrej Plenkovic, at yesterday’s press conference, accused the opposition of upheld the proposal of a regulation of the European Parliament and the Council on the establishment of rules for the prevention and combating sexual abuse of children COM (2022) 209, which is (unpopularly referred to as ‘chat Read more about Croatians suddenly realise that EU CSAM rules include hidden pervasive chat control surveillance, turning the EU into Big Brother – dissaprove massively.[…]

Google will soon verify the identities of developers who distribute Android apps outside the Play Store. Developers must submit their information to a new Android Developer Console, increasing their accountability for their apps. Rolling out in phases from September 2026, these new verification requirements are aimed at protecting users from malware by making it harder Read more about Google wants to verify all developers’ identities, including those not on the play store in massive data grab[…]

Australia’s University of Melbourne last year used Wi-Fi location data to identify student protestors. The University used Wi-Fi to identify students who participated in July 2024 sit-in protest. As described in a report [PDF] into the matter by the state of Victoria’s Office of the Information Commissioner, the University directed protestors to leave the building Read more about Uni of Melbourne used Wi-Fi location data to ID protestors[…]

[…] Identity‑proofing creates a privacy bottleneck. Somewhere, an identity provider must verify you. Even if it later mints an unlinkable token, that provider is the weak link—and in regulated systems it will not be allowed to “just delete” your information. As Bellovin puts it: Regulation implies the ability for governments to audit the regulated entities’ Read more about Privacy‑Preserving Age Verification Falls Apart On Contact With Reality[…]

[…] when politicians are demanding that technologists NERD HARDER! to realize their cherished impossibilities. That’s just happened, and in relation to one of the scariest, most destructive NERD HARDER! tech policies ever to be assayed (a stiff competition). I’m talking about the UK Online Safety Act, which imposes a duty on websites to verify the Read more about Pluralistic: “Privacy preserving age verification” is bullshit[…]

Privacy groups report a surge in UK police facial recognition scans of databases secretly stocked with passport photos lacking parliamentary oversight. Big Brother Watch says the UK government has allowed images from the country’s passport and immigration databases to be made available to facial recognition systems, without informing the public or parliament. The group claims Read more about UK passport database images used in facial recognition scans[…]

A controversial European Union proposal dubbed “Chat Control” is regaining momentum, with 19 out of 27 EU member states reportedly backing the measure. The plan would mandate that messaging platforms, including WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram, must scan every message, photo and video sent by users starting in October, even if end-to-end encryption is in place, Read more about EU Chat Control Plan Gains Support Again, Threatens Encryption, mass surveillance, age verification[…]

Meta lost a major privacy trial on Friday, with a jury in San Francisco ruling that the Menlo Park giant had eavesdropped on the users of the popular period-tracking app Flo. The plaintiff’s lawyers who sued Meta are calling this a “landmark” victory — the tech company contends that the jury got it all wrong. The case Read more about Meta eavesdropped on period-tracker app’s users, SF jury rules[…]

[…]the real kicker is what content is now being gatekept behind invasive age verification systems. Users in the UK now need to submit a selfie or government ID to access: Reddit communities about stopping drinking and smoking, periods, craft beers, and sexual assault support, not to mention documentation of war Spotify for music videos tagged Read more about Didn’t Take Long To Reveal The UK’s Online Safety Act Is Exactly The Privacy-Crushing Failure Everyone Warned About[…]

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: It’s a strange glimpse into the human mind: If you filter search results on Google, Bing, and other search engines to only include URLs from the domain “https://chatgpt.com/share,” you can find strangers’ conversations with ChatGPT. Sometimes, these shared conversation links are pretty dull — people ask for Read more about Public ChatGPT Queries Are Getting Indexed By Google and Other Search Engines (update: fixed!)[…]