Privacy technologies

Privacy technologies

We live in a time where privacy is something we actually have to work to enjoy. Achieving a level of privacy we once had takes work, and you need to start thinking beyond a single desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone -- all the way to your LAN. Before I scare you all off, understand that this starts on the desktop and extends to the LAN. By beefing up both your devices and your network, you'll achieve a level of privacy that you wouldn't otherwise have.

Mobile Fortify, now used by United States immigration agents in towns and cities across the US, is not designed to reliably identify people in the streets and was deployed without the scrutiny that has historically governed the rollout of technologies that impact people's privacy, according to records reviewed by WIRED. The Department of Homeland Security launched Mobile Fortify in the spring of 2025 to "determine or verify" the identities of individuals stopped or detained by DHS officers during federal operations, records show.

Whenever I hear about consumer data tracking, my half-century-old brain dredges up that Hall and Oates hit called "Private Eyes" with the refrain "they're watching you." I don't mean to incite Big Brother paranoia; I know I'm not being spied on everywhere I go, especially not in the seclusion of my home. But while using streaming devices, you can almost guarantee that your entertainment and advertisement preferences are being tracked.

Global Privacy Control is a browser-level signal that allows users to express-prior to any interaction with a website-their decision to opt out of the sale or sharing of their personal data. To meet these evolving legal requirements, Axeptio now integrates GPC signal detection and processing through a new feature available for projects using a CCPA banner, a prerequisite for remaining compliant in the United States.

Catch up quick: Researchers reported last month that bondu, an AI-powered conversational toy company, inadvertently exposed children's chat transcripts and personal data through a publicly accessible portal. Bondu, which allows parents to check their children's conversations, said it took down the exposed portal and relaunched it the next day with authentication measures, according to Wired. Driving the news: New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan, the ranking member of the Senate's Joint Economic Committee, is now asking bondu to explain how the exposure occurred.

Earlier this month, Joseph Thacker's neighbor mentioned to him that she'd preordered a couple of stuffed dinosaur toys for her children. She'd chosen the toys, called Bondus, because they offered an AI chat feature that lets children talk to the toy like a kind of machine-learning-enabled imaginary friend. But she knew Thacker, a security researcher, had done work on AI risks for kids, and she was curious about his thoughts.

In video comments, the U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said, "Make no mistake, under President Trump's leadership and this administration, you have the right to worship freely and safely. And if I haven't been clear already, if you violate that sacred right, we are coming after you." So people have a First Amendment right to worship that DOJ will protect, but journalists suddenly have no First Amendment right to report on issues of public interest and concern? We disagree.

Your iPhone might soon stop telling your wireless carrier exactly where you're standing, and law enforcement won't like it. Apple this week began rolling out a privacy feature that lets users blur their location data before it reaches cellular networks, limiting what carriers can see to just your general neighborhood instead of your precise street address. The move comes as phone companies face mounting scrutiny over how location data gets shared with authorities and targeted by hackers.

Get ready for a peaceful internet experience thanks to the AdGuard Family Plan. This tool lets you browse seamlessly by blocking all types of ads, so you can enjoy your time online with no distractions or frustrations. Not only will AdGuard provide more than your average , but it will also protect your privacy by blocking trackers, hiding your data, and stopping malware, phishing sites, and cyberattacks in their tracks.

can conceal online activity that local or national governments deem illegal - up to and including, say, circumventing ID checks for age verification. Consumers aren't helped by the sheer amount of duds sold in app stores right next to the best VPNs, especially when they're purposefully exploiting moments that have people rushing to shore up their online anonymity. If you've almost decided to start using a VPN, you may be wondering if the services you're looking at are actually safe.

AI in search is hard to avoid these days. Google's AI Overviews are everywhere (even in your inbox), and Microsoft has incorporated a Copilot chat option on Bing.com. Results are mixed, and hallucinations are still a problem. Large language models can help you dig deeper into a topic by asking follow-up questions, but on DuckDuckGo, it's clear that web users aren't interested.