#privacy

#privacy

For months, the federal government has faltered in its attempt to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the bipartisan bill signed by President Donald Trump that mandated the full release of the Justice Department's enormous trove of documents and media related to its investigation of Jeffrey Epstein. The Trump administration blew past the congressionally mandated deadline and is staggering its Epstein releases, dropping millions of pages in batches that have included some problematic redactions along with the expected disturbing revelations.

No doubt a response to the extreme digital connectivity of the world, but small and secret hotels have never felt more appealing than right now. The ultimate antidote to the 'see and be seen' scene. Extreme exclusivity is the name of the game here - where there's no waiting times for check-in, no scrounging around for a sun lounger, and staff greet you like family.

In this new season, I'm asking how the Trump White House is rewriting the rules of U.S. politics, and talking to Americans whose lives have been changed as a result. Today's episode examines the destruction of the civil service: the removal of professionals, and their replacement with loyalists. I've seen this kind of transformation before, in other failing democracies. Everyone suffers from the degradation of public services.

Google's pockets are about $200 million lighter than they were coming into this week after the company agreed to two separate settlements for two separate class action lawsuits that accused the company of violating user privacy. $135 million will be paid in a case that alleged Google collected user cellular data without permission, and $68 million will go to put to bed a case that claimed Google allowed its Google Assistant to record private conversations without permission.

On a recent two-week trip to Japan with my fiancé - six cities, six hotels - every stay was gorgeous and perfectly appointed. We wanted for nothing. Except, in most cases, a proper bathroom door. Instead, we spent the better part of two weeks making accidental eye contact through frosted glass and translucent panels while one of us was otherwise occupied. A design choice, apparently. A test of intimacy, definitely.

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.

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.

While we are waiting for the final decision from Judge Leonie Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia, I want to present some thoughts on the least resolved of the case's many issues, the hard parts the judge will be pondering. Actually, one hard part: trust. But I need to tell you a little about the case to make the trust issue clear.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is asking companies to provide information about "commercial Big Data and Ad Tech" products that would "directly support investigations activities," according to a request for information posted on Friday in the Federal Register, the US government's official journal for agency notices, rulemaking, and other public filings. The posting says that ICE is "working with increasing volumes of criminal, civil, and regulatory, administrative documentation from numerous internal and external sources."

You should do nothing. Absolutely nothing. Seeing as your childhood best friend's husband couldn't be bothered to hide his meds from his relatively new roommate - that would be you - we can safely assume he isn't hiding them from his husband. So, you can rest assured your childhood best friend knows what's up and you don't have a duty to warn him.

Microsoft is under scrutiny after it emerged that the company shared encryption keys with US law enforcement, an uncommon move that has alarmed privacy experts and reignited the debate over who truly controls encrypted data. According to Forbes staffer Thomas Brewster, Microsoft provided the FBI with BitLocker recovery keys that allowed investigators to unlock data on three encrypted laptops. The request came through a valid search warrant issued in a federal investigation in Guam into alleged fraud in the island's COVID-19 unemployment assistance program.

A federal judge has voided a Department of Justice (DOJ) subpoena requiring Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C. to hand over private information on young patients receiving gender-affirming care (GAC). The ruling is just the latest roadblock in the DOJ's quest to end GAC for trans youth; however, the hospital stopped offering GAC last July in response to the current presidential administration's threats to defund institutions that offer such care.

Google is Watching/Listening: By using these features, you agree that Google can record and monitor a sample of your calls, texts, and chats. They do this to check the quality of their ad programs. Take it or Leave it: If you don't agree to being recorded, you aren't allowed to use the "Communication Features" (like click-to-call or click-to-message ads). You Are Responsible for Warning People: You must tell your employees, agents, or anyone answering these communications that they are being recorded.

The FreedomBox project, kicked off by original FSF legal boffin Eben Moglen, aims to make it easy to run your own private server, and get your files, photos, email, and other data out of the enfolding pseudopodia of giant cloud providers (mostly based in the USA) and into your own home. You can buy hardware with the software preinstalled, or download installation media, but there's another and maybe more appealing option: one of Debian's built-in Blends.

I do not want AI in my web browser. I just don't. I also don't want companies collecting information about me, or sponsored content and product integrations. All those bits make me want to pull my hair out. I like my privacy and want to browse, you know, the old-fashioned way. I do use AI (on occasion), but only locally-installed AI and only for specific purposes (such as learning Python or researching a topic when I don't want to use a standard search engine).

True to its name, Ramble can take your meandering, unstructured speech and turn it into organized tasks. The app will also capture other details you mention, like project deadlines, priorities, duration, and assignees. The idea is that people often think of things they need to do while on the go, but taking out their phone to jot down a note or create a reminder can be challenging.

We're diving into these data breaches and more with our latest EFFector newsletter. Since 1990, EFFector has been your guide to understanding the intersection of technology, civil liberties, and the law. This latest issue tracks U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) surveillance spending spree, explains how hackers are countering ICE's surveillance, and invites you to our free livestream covering online age verification mandates.