U.S. Privacy And World Privacy News
Hackers Claim To Have Compromised Data Broker Used By U.S. Government To Dodge Warrants
Telegram Hands Law Enforcement Data on Thousands of Users
https://www.pcmag.com/news/telegram-reports-huge-spike-in-data-sharing-with-law-enforcement
https://www.404media.co/telegram-hands-u-s-authorities-data-on-thousands-of-users/
Location data broker Gravy Analytics has been hacked
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/rcna187038
Data breach of a Gravy Analytics trove of location data threatens the privacy of millions
Experian Conducted ‘Sham Investigations’ Into Errors in Its Credit Reports
Take it from me: never, ever get a new phone number
"I figured that suddenly switching phone numbers would result in some headaches, but I didn't foresee how complicated it would actually become. From Lyft and Cash App to Instagram and Amazon, I suddenly had to jump through logistical hoops that varied from one platform to the next to verify my flesh-and-blood identity and regain access to my digital life. Confirming my identity became a part-time job. And as I learned the hard way, fellow human beings who could help me sort things out were hard to come by. In a SIM-swapping attack, a hacker can gain control of someone's phone number and wreak havoc on their lives. From their bank and social media accounts to credit cards stored in digital wallets like Apple Pay, the amount of access a cybercriminal can gain is staggering. It shows just how thoroughly our lives are tied to our phone numbers."
VP Harris announces ban on medical debt in American consumers’ credit reports
Online Behavioral Ads Fuel the Surveillance Industry
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/01/online-behavioral-ads-fuel-surveillance-industry-heres-how
Amazon Tool Lets Advertisers Verbally Create Targeted Audiences In Minutes
https://www.adweek.com/media/amazon-marketing-cloud-gen-ai-sql-generator/
Congressional Report Accuses Jordan, Musk Of Weaponizing Gov’t To Silence Critics
Meta to end fact checking as Silicon Valley prepares for Trump
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/07/nx-s1-5251151/meta-fact-checking-mark-zuckerberg-trump
https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/07/meta-drops-fact-checking-and-loosens-its-content-moderation-rules/
The Cost of Meta’s Now-Repudiated Censorship
The irony runs deep: private companies claiming independence while acting as extensions of state power. While tech platforms maintained the facade of private enterprise, their synchronized actions with government agencies revealed a more troubling reality: the emergence of exactly the kind of state-corporate fusion they were trying to prevent us from discussing. The censors won. They showed that with enough institutional power, they could break apart the social fabric that makes free discourse possible. Now that this infrastructure for suppression exists, it stands ready to be deployed again for whatever cause seems urgent enough. The absence of a public reckoning sends a chilling message: there is no line that cannot be crossed, no principle that cannot be ignored."
https://brownstone.org/articles/the-cost-of-facebooks-now-repudiated-censorship/
Meta Secretly Trained Its AI on a Notorious Piracy Database, Newly Unredacted Court Docs Reveal
https://www.wired.com/story/new-documents-unredacted-meta-copyright-ai-lawsuit/
Meta's new board includes UFC boss Dana White, a familiar figure in Trump's orbit
Elon Musk 'locks reporter from X' after article sheds light on Tesla owner's alleged alter ego Adrian Dittman
Report Shows that Two Auto-Braking Systems Can’t See People in Reflective Garb
Over 2.6M Tesla vehicles under investigation over self-driving feature
Jeff Bezos’ Media Companies Kiss Trump’s Ring…Again
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/01/jeff-bezos-media-companies-kiss-trumps-ringagain/
FIRE statement on legislative proposals to regulate AI
https://www.thefire.org/news/fire-statement-legislative-proposals-regulate-artificial-intelligence
DISGUSTED- Google Defeats Texas AG's Privacy Suit
https://www.fox4news.com/news/texas-has-no-jurisdiction-over-google-deceptive-practice-suit
Google must face cell phone privacy class action, possible trial
Google to Face Trial in Privacy On/Off Switch Class Action
Mozilla confirms existential threat from ban on Google default search deals
https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/internet-policy/google-remedies-browsers/
Microsoft uses Bing to trick people into thinking they’re on Google
https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/6/24337117/microsoft-bing-search-results-google-design-trick
Hackers are exploiting a new Ivanti VPN security bug
Samsung Announces Vision AI Platform, Partners with Microsoft and Google for Smart TV Features
The gambling industry uses AI to suck money from desperate Americans
"The ultimate goal: to harvest ever more money from gamblers, by profiling them, feeding them content and games personalized to their whims, and cajoling them to stay longer and make bigger bets. AI companies like SimpleBet (recently acquired by DraftKings for $195 million) have automated processes that allow the maximum number of possible micro bets to increase by an order of magnitude. No longer bottlenecked by the capabilities of human sportsbook odds calculators, every moment of a sports game can be turned into a wager. Won your bet that Lamar Jackson would throw on 2nd and 10? Why not bet again that he'll scramble for the first down on 3rd and 3?"
Edtech giant PowerSchool says hackers accessed personal data of students and teachers
Verizon settlement payments go out to customers in measly amounts
"On Tuesday, however, customers reported receiving payments that were well below the settlement's minimum of $15."
Peloton and other companies should stop charging secondhand ownership fees
If you were planning to buy a used Peloton bike to save some money, think again—the company imposes a hefty $95 fee on all secondhand sales. Peloton’s interference in a transaction it should have no role in is part of a troubling trend, where manufacturers refuse to detach themselves from our software-powered, internet-connected products even after we purchase them. Those companies can use that software to dictate what we can do with products we legally own. If Peloton can charge $95 for a product it does not own, what’s to stop them from deciding to charge twice that? Using that same faulty logic, a carmaker could claim its software requires an “onboarding” fee for a car it has already sold to you.
Here’s what you need to know about credit card defaults
https://apnews.com/article/credit-card-default-51f76dea3666e9b2d95156b47c8092cd
HORRIFYING- UnitedHealth Calls in Middle of Cancer Surgery to Question Necessity
https://www.commondreams.org/news/united-healthcare-surgery-coverage
Richmond University Medical Center data breach affected 700K people
Excelsior Orthopaedics data breach affected 360K people
USR Holdings fined $337K for data breach
Largest US addiction treatment provider BayMark Health Services data breach affected 75K people
State & Local Privacy News
ME- State Police overtime reaches record $8.5M
https://www.pressherald.com/2025/01/10/maine-state-police-overtime-reaches-record-8-5m/
ME- Domestic violence survivors protest Rep. Lucas Lanigan’s reelection
NH- University of New Hampshire Police Chief criticized for protest response to take job in Ayotte administration
MA- $584,072 reasons the State Police make taxpayers sick
https://howiecarrshow.com/584072-reasons-the-state-police-make-taxpayers-sick/
NY- Jericho police to install 20 license plate readers
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/politics/nassau-license-plate-readers-jewrrsnd
TN- Judge largely blocks porn site age verification law
IL- River Forest police to install 37 license plate readers
https://www.oakpark.com/2025/01/06/more-license-plate-reading-cameras-coming-to-river-forest/
IL- Old Dominion settles lawsuits over violations of state biometrics privacy law
CA- San Francisco Police Refuse to Say Where They've Placed 400 License Plate Readers
CA- EFF Goes to Court to Uncover Police Surveillance Tech
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/12/eff-goes-court-uncover-police-surveillance-tech-california
CA- Los Angeles Gave More Money to Cops While Cutting Fire Budgets. Now It’s Burning
https://theintercept.com/2025/01/08/la-police-budget-palisades-fires/
CA- LinkedIn Defeats Suit Over Info Collection From DMV About Drivers
WA- Seattle reports another nearly 20% increase in homeless students
World Privacy News
Human Rights and “Countering Terrorist Travel”
https://papersplease.org/wp/2025/01/06/human-rights-and-countering-terrorist-travel/
Gender ID not needed to purchase train tickets, says top EU court
We do not censor social media, EU says in response to Meta
https://www.reuters.com/technology/we-do-not-censor-social-media-eu-says-response-meta-2025-01-08/
The EU Fined Itself for Breaking Its Own Data Privacy Law
https://gizmodo.com/the-eu-fined-itself-for-breaking-its-own-data-privacy-law-2000547582
Sweden- Fingerprint Cards Licenses Iris Scanning Tech to Smart Eye
Austria- Data Protection Authority slammed by CJEU
https://noyb.eu/en/austrian-data-protection-authority-slammed-cjeu
Italy- Government Requires Biometric Fingerprinting for Long-Term Schengen Visas
Italy- Government's digital ID provider InfoCert data breach affected 5.5M people
UK- BBC Middle East Editor Exposed as CIA, Mossad Collaborator
https://www.mintpressnews.com/bbc-israel-coverage-raffi-berg-cia-mossad-links/288909/
UK- Emails expose ‘collaborative efforts’ between Israeli govt and Center for Countering Digital Hate
https://thegrayzone.com/2025/01/06/emails-israeli-govt-center-countering-digital-hate/
UK- DWP’s bank account spying plan is an attack on the poor
https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/dwp-bank-accounts-benefit-fraud-crackdown/
https://www.bigissue.com/opinion/dwp-labour-bank-account-spying/
SCT- BS WARNING: Police defend using Chinese-made Hikvision facial recognition CCTV cameras
Malaysia- Maxis to use facial recognition to ID customer cell phone accounts
https://startuprise.org/maxis-showcases-mobile-identity-solution/
South Korea- Government forcing foreign visitors to use digital IDs
India- The Post Office Savings Bank forces customers to use national digital ID to open accounts
Israel- Government Blocks UN Probe of Alleged Hamas Sex Crimes During October 7 Attack
https://www.commondreams.org/news/hamas-oct-7-rape
Iran- HORRIFYING: Executions of women hit highest level in 17 years
https://iranhumanrights.org/2024/12/women-being-sent-to-the-gallows-in-alarming-numbers-in-iran/
Nigeria- Privacy Nightmare: The National Identity Management Commission wants to add Iris scanning to national digital IDs
https://thesun.ng/nimc-targets-easier-data-sharing-less-burden-on-citizens/
Kenya- How the police hid murders of anti-government protesters
Ethiopia- Mandatory digital ID for banking policy goes into effect
https://www.capitalmarketethiopia.com/national-id-must-for-banking-ethiopia/
AU- NSW cop arrested for accessing police database without authorization
AU- Drake to work with AI companies to produce music
Canada- The Supreme Court of British Columbia dismissed a biased petition by Clearview AI
Canada- PM Trudeau Coasted on Progressive Vibes, But Served the Interests of Corporations