U.S. Privacy And World Privacy News
Trump Threatens To Pull Endorsements From GOP Senators Opposing DOGE Cuts
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/07/10/congress/trump-rescissions-00448150
Republican's Blame Canada for Ruining Summer With Wildfire Smoke
https://gizmodo.com/u-s-lawmakers-blame-canada-for-ruining-summer-with-wildfire-smoke-2000628204
MAGA Silence: Measles cases reach highest point since the disease was eliminated in U.S. in 2000
DISGUSTED: Trump Judge Reverses Rule That Barred Medical Debt From Credit Reports
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5398381-joe-biden-medical-debt-reporting-rule-scrapped/
Who Goes MAGA?
With apologies to Dorothy Thompson, whose 1941 essay in Harper’s, “Who Goes Nazi?” remains a worthwhile read on the cultural archetypes of who is drawn to fascism, and who would never go down such a path. It felt like it could use a modern updating, however. Update: Just after I finished writing this, it occurred to me that there was no chance I was the first to think of doing this, so I did a search and sure enough, the writer Talia Lavin had the same idea months ago. Hers is closer stylistically to the original, but for reasons unknown to me, she took it down. Though you can still find it through the Wayback Machine.
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/08/who-goes-maga/
Trump launches Truth+ video streaming propaganda service
Vice President J.D. Vance Owns Investments in Companies Receiving Defense Contracts
https://readsludge.com/2025/07/10/vance-owns-investments-in-companies-receiving-defense-contracts/
Trump's deputy chief of staff unloaded Trump Media stock the day before tariff announcement
Trump appointees have ties to companies that stand to benefit from privatizing weather forecasts
Trump says Musk has gone ‘off the rails’ after announcing new political party
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/07/trump-takes-aim-at-elon-musk-for-forming-a-new-political-party-.html
Grok 4 seems to consult Elon Musk to answer controversial questions
Musk's ‘Improved’ Grok criticizes Democrats and Hollywood’s ‘Jewish Executives
‘Round Them Up’: Grok Praises Hitler as Musk’s AI Tool Goes Full Nazi
Grok AI to be available in Tesla vehicles next week
Linda Yaccarino quits as Twitter CEO after Nazi chatbot comments
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2gy3j9xq6o
IRS Says Churches Can Endorse Candidates
The Washington Post Makes It Easier For Powerful People And Companies To Undermine Its Reporting
13.3% of 4.7 Million "Suspicious Activity" Bank Transactions Were Recommended For Prosecution Last Year`
FinCEN’s report noted that 87.3 percent of the IRS’s criminal investigations recommended for prosecution “have a primary subject with a related [Bank Secrecy Act] filing.” Likewise, for the FBI, 40 percent of “organized crime drug enforcement program” investigations and 32 percent of “complex financial crime program” investigations were “linked” to Bank Secrecy Act reports.
https://www.cato.org/blog/reporting-fincens-suspicious-activity-again
FinCEN's 2024 “Year in Review” report
https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/shared/FinCEN-Infographic-Public-2025-508.pdf
Trump FCC Chair Accused of 'Political Theater' to Please Net Neutrality's Foes
https://www.commondreams.org/news/fcc-net-neutrality-rules
Google Agrees to Pay $3.5M For Sharing User's Period Tracking App Info.
Appeals court just canceled 'click to cancel.' How the ruling affects you
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/07/09/court-blocks-ftc-click-to-cancel-rule/84525314007/
The Tech Industry Handbook: How Big Tech Undermines Privacy Legislation
https://epic.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/25-06-The-Tech-Industry-Playbook-Report-3.pdf
"Book on Machine Learning Is Full of Made-Up Citations"
https://reason.com/volokh/2025/07/07/book-on-machine-learning-is-full-of-made-up-citations/
Jack Dorsey’s New Private Messenger App Doesn’t Need an Internet Connection
"The service sounds vaguely like Amazon’s Sidewalk project (which similarly used mesh networks to power IoT devices), and which we advised against using back in 2020. According to Dorsey, his messenger—called Bitchat—allows for decentralized, private communication, in such a way that does not require internet infrastructure."
The World’s Most Common Passwords (123456)
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-worlds-most-common-passwords/
ATM company Bitcoin Depot data breach affected 27K people
"Bitcoin Depot said in its notice to customers that the breach involved their name, phone number, driver’s license number and could have also included addresses, birth dates and emails."
https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-depot-discloses-data-breach-27k-customers
CA Supreme Court Denies Ford's Bid to Compel Arbitration in Warranty Cases
http://www.metnews.com/articles/2025/fordcases_070725.htm
https://www4.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S279969.PDF
Focus Healthcare Partners claims it isn't obligated to help continuing-care retirees get their life savings back
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data breach affected 103K people
Behavioral Healthcare Fined $225K for HIPPA violations
https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/ocr-hipaa-racap-deer-oaks.html
California Cancer Associates for Research and Excellence data breach
State & Local Privacy News
The head of the CA Privacy Protection Agency on the future of data privacy regulation (data brokers)
"The fundamental issue is that there are just hundreds, if not thousands, of data brokers out there that do not have a direct relationship with the actual consumer, whose business model is to collect and sell information, specifically personal information, about people and they do it at such a large scale. Consumers would literally have to spend hundreds of hours of their own time to make deletion requests to each and every one of those [brokers to have their information removed from the web]," Thomas Kemp aid.
https://therecord.media/california-privacy-protection-agency-tom-kemp-interview
State AI moratorium could return despite removal from ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’
VT- DISGUSTED: Commission meant to oversee sexual misconduct in prison sunsets quietly
https://vtdigger.org/2025/07/07/commission-meant-to-oversee-sexual-misconduct-in-prison-sunsets-quietly/
NH- Resident unable to return from Canada after being stopped at border
"The legal U.S. resident who is a Canadian national said he was denied entry at the border in Maine this weekend. He said he was held for three hours with two of his five children and turned back to Canada over old misdemeanor offenses tied to marijuana and a suspended license from 2004 and 2007."
https://www.wmur.com/article/exclusive-nh-resident-canada-border-7825/65340546
MA- State Police Sgt. who investigated Karen Read transferred out of DA’s office
MA- Boston Police Commissioner taking heat for remarks on Karen Read case
“These questions were peppered at him at a fast rate, and he rolls his eyes, he makes faces … He was making this like it was a joke,” Retired NYPD detective Ron Licciardi said.
MA- Defendants without attorneys begin to be released as work stoppage continues
MA- Families Urge Court to Reverse Ruling Over Unconstitutional Conditions for Special Education Services
MA- Trump Wants Harvard To Hand Over Info on Over 10K International Students
CT- AG Fines TicketNetwork $85K Over Faulty Privacy Disclosures
VA- EFF Tells Court That Constitutional Privacy Protections Forbid Cops from Finding out Everyone Who Searched for a Keyword
IL- Pharma Logistics fined $75K for using fingerprint scanners
https://www.claimdepot.com/settlements/pharma-logistics-settlement
MS- Why Courts Must Produce Public Defense Plans
"The state supreme court justice’s letter follows previous reporting by The Marshall Project, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal and ProPublica, which found in 2023 that almost all courts in the state were ignoring a rule enacted in 2017 that required judges to develop public defense plans and submit them to the state Supreme Court."
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2025/07/02/mississippi-public-defense-county-plans
MO- Republican governor defies voters, repeals paid sick leave
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5396237-missouri-paid-sick-leave-law/
ND- WTF? State law protects Bayer from Roundup lawsuits
https://pirg.org/updates/new-north-dakota-law-protects-bayer-from-roundup-lawsuits
ID- DISGUSTED- AG Office Forces Schools To Take Down ‘Everyone Is Welcome’ Signs For Being ‘Political’
TX- ICE Is Already $1 Billion Over Budget and Residents Are Paying the Price
https://www.aclutx.org/en/news/ice-already-1-billion-over-budget-and-texans-are-paying-price
TX- Reporter arrested as he covers Jeff Davis County budget meeting
https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/11/west-texas-publisher-david-flash-jeff-davis-county-arrest/
TX- AG Paxton drops appeal over $6.7M whistleblowers reporting him to the FBI for bribery
https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/03/ken-paxton-attorney-general-whistleblowers-appeal/
TX- ACLU, Partners Argue The Governor's Social Media Law Violates First Amendment
CA- San Francisco Public Defender Slams DA for Costly and Wasteful Prosecutions
CA- Sheriff Who Ran As A Reformer Is Facing Removal From Office
World Privacy News
The State of Freedom Around the World in 2025
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-state-of-freedom-around-the-world-in-2025/
Israeli military is using grenade-firing drones to bomb Palestinian civilians
“The Israeli military has weaponized a fleet of Chinese-manufactured commercial drones to attack Palestinians in parts of Gaza that it seeks to depopulate, an investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call can reveal. According to interviews with seven soldiers and officers who served in the Strip, these drones are operated manually by troops on the ground, and are frequently used to bomb Palestinian civilians — including children — in an effort to force them to leave their homes or prevent them from returning to evacuated areas.”
https://www.972mag.com/drones-grenades-gaza-chinese-autel/
'Now I Understand Why Israel Is Denying Journalists Access to the Appalling Scene in Gaza'
Israel Defense Minister Unveils Plan For A "Humanitarian City" In Gaza Ruins
The UN is using facial recognition kiosks to ID African refugees
https://www.unhcr.org/blogs/lisa-transforming-refugee-verification-through-self-service/
South African Minister Tables R11 Billion Budget to Create National Digital ID Program
Frontex launches “Travel to Europe” facial recognition app
https://etias.com/articles/frontex-launches-ees-app-for-faster-borders
https://www.frontex.europa.eu/what-we-do/etias-ees/travel-to-europe-app/
China’s digital IDs will allow the government to spy on at least 1.1 billion people
Under the new scheme people obtain a digital ID by submitting a raft of personal information, including scans of their faces, to the police via an app. They can then use it to register for and log into other apps or websites. A pilot went live a year ago and 6m people signed up. Currently voluntary, it may not remain so. Officials and state-run media are pressing citizens to sign up in the name of “information security”. China’s 1.1billion internet users are in their sights.
French government's IN Groupe purchases IDEMIA Smart Identity
EU chief faces no-confidence vote over Covid vaccine deal
https://www.courthousenews.com/eu-chief-faces-no-confidence-vote-over-covid-vaccine-deal/
Google Faces EU Antitrust Complaint Over AI Search Summaries
EU throws down gauntlet to Big Tech over AI risks
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-artificial-intelligence-laws-big-tech-grok-transparency/
TikTok recruits senior UK privacy regulator as it battles fines
https://therecord.media/tiktok-uk-stephen-bonner-ico
Apple appeals $500M EU fine for breach of Big Tech rules
https://www.politico.eu/article/apple-appeals-eu-fine-for-breach-of-big-tech-rules/
EU Nexus Mods to use age verification (facial recognition)
https://www.nexusmods.com/news/15319
G-Knot launches finger vein digital wallet
A system for embedding invisible digital information in printed documents has been created (MIT)
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1090172
Russia- Government puts Ukrainian lawyer and journalist on wanted list
https://zona.media/news/2025/07/04/polozov
Germany- World pauses operations as company overhauls iris-scanning stations
https://www.dlnews.com/articles/web3/altman-crypto-venture-world-pauses-iris-scanning-in-germany/
UK- The Government’s Potentially Terrifying Criminal Justice “Reforms” (Jury-Free Trials)
https://off-guardian.org/2025/07/11/explained-the-uks-potentially-terrifying-criminal-justice-reforms/
UK- Police arrest scores of supporters of newly banned Palestinian protest group
UK- Police facial recognition cameras helps make 1,000 arrests
UK- BS Warning: Facial scanning cuts crime at a low cost, Met Police say
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdx5528xrzko
UK- Bedfordshire Police to use facial recognition CCTV cameras to ID residents
UK- Transport for London wants to use facial recognition to ID passengers
UK- Secretive Department for Work and Pensions Welfare Algorithms Put Millions’ Rights at Risk
"Around one million people were profiled by the Universal Credit Advances machine learning model last year, which is riddled with algorithmic bias.The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) ongoing rollout of high-tech algorithmic tools, which its own assessments have found to be riddled with bias, is alarming. This becomes even more concerning when the DWP is hiding behind a wall of secrecy and refuses to disclose key information that would allow affected individuals and the public to understand how automation is used to affect their lives, and the risks of bias and to privacy involved."
https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Suspicion-By-Design.pdf
IRL- The Department of Social Protection appeals fine, claims using facial recognition to ID citizens is legal
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41666780.html
IRL- ICCL Calls on Department of Social Protection to Drop Appeal of Facial Recognition Fine
IRL- Government Resists EU Pressure to Enact “Hate Speech” Laws
https://lawliberty.org/the-speech-battle-on-the-emerald-isle/
China- Rights Advocacy Groups Call for Investigation Into Government's Repression of Lawyers
Hong Kong- Government to install facial recognition at Huanggang Border
South Korea- Ex-president allegedly attempted to mislead foreign media to justify martial law
South Korea- Suprema and Verkada work together to expand employee facial recognition
https://www.supremainc.com/en/about/news-detail.asp?iBOARD_CONT_NO=7703&News_Type=Releases
Iran- How the government tracks down dissident soldiers in other countries
Afghanistan- ICC issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over women's rights violations
UAE- Flydubai to use facial recognition to ID pilots and crew
Sudan- The Committee to Protect Journalists urges government to release journalists
AU- Privacy experts raise the alarm about mandatory CCTV surveillance cameras in childcare centers
Canada- The Democracy Fund sounds the alarm over new censorship bill
https://www.thedemocracyfund.ca/tdf_expresses_concern_about_possible_new_censorship_bill
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank wants countries to create national digital IDs