As gadgets and services get smarter, they need more data, and face the hard problem of keeping it safe. Data privacy has become a huge problem for Google, Facebook, Amazon, and any company using artificial intelligence to power its services — and a major sticking point for lawmakers looking to regulate. Here’s all the news on data privacy and how it’s changing tech.
With the launch of Meta’s new AI agent that it says can handle your life for you, the social network exec posted this video highlighting how secure, private, and trustworthy Muse is, and that it will get even more secure in the future. Trust.
New hire deportation agents were issued phones equipped with ELITE (Enhanced Lead Identification and Targeting).
ELITE analyzes government data to create “confidence scores” for potential targets; it also maps their location.
On The Intercept, one anonymous ICE agent called the app “1984 shit:” “ELITE is used on illegal immigrants right now but can easily be used on Americans.”
The San Antonio Express-News reports that a request from Pflugerville, TX, resident Sam Aly found that hundreds of unauthorized agencies were searching the city’s Flock data, even though the company claims only two agencies were improperly included. The City Council canceled Flock’s contract last week and covered its cameras.
Aly:
Between February 16 and August 15, 2026, outside agencies searched Pflugerville’s camera data 1,597,918 times. 1.6 million searches in six months. 459 different agencies searched us. That works out to roughly 8,900 outside searches per day, every day. Our own police department ran 5,078 searches in the same period. So for every 1 search by Pflugerville PD, outside agencies ran 315.
The privacy-focused browser will now let users create decoy addresses to sign up for services. Brave will still forward messages from those services to your primary email, so you won’t miss out on important updates. But it adds a layer of protection, making it harder for big tech to track you.
As Patentlyze reports, the company filed a patent earlier this year for a “hardware privacy mute circuit” for “consumer devices, such as augmented reality devices,” like Meta’s smart glasses. The patent says the mute switch would “provide tamper-resistant privacy controls that cannot be compromised through software exploits.”
[United States Patent Application Publication]
YouTuber Benn Jordan got blocked from Flock’s “public safety” conference in Atlanta, but that didn’t stop him from seeing what was going on anyway.
The glasses “could unintentionally capture, record or transmit sensitive information, potentially compromising privacy and legal protections,” ICE acting director David Venturella said in a memo to staff, according to The New York Times. Staffers can’t wear the glasses in the “federal workspace.”
[The New York Times]
The company laid out its defense in the trial against a coalition of state AGs, previewing that it will call on their own public health officials to combat claims of social media addiction, and claiming that the states have pulled public statements out of context to claim it misled parents.
In an opening statement, California deputy AG Megan O’Neill accused Meta of doing “too little, too late” to curb teens’ problematic usage of Facebook and Instagram, while misleading the public. She also laid out the states allegations that Meta knew — but didn’t remove – many kids under 13 on its platforms.
Beginning at 11 AM Eastern, you can stream opening arguments in a trial where 29 attorneys general allege Meta harmed consumers through addictive design. Meta denies this, and warned damages could reach $1.4 trillion — nearing its market cap. The AGs say they’d likely be closer to $200 billion.
The US has one of the most advanced “smart” surveillance apparatuses in the world. So why does this administration insist on building environmentally destructive, physical walls?
The group says that while changes like more limited data retention is welcomed, the devil is in the details. “Transforming an exceptionally dangerous mass surveillance system into one that is fully protective of civil rights and civil liberties is a difficult, if not impossible task,” it writes.
[American Civil Liberties Union]
McDonald’s reportedly responded to a data request from Wired’s Reece Rogers with a 515-page file detailing his loyalty program data, like transactions and loyalty points. The company used that data to algorithmically predict Rogers’s next order, how much he would spend, and how likely he was to keep ordering from McDonald’s.
Its recent attempts to shore up privacy don’t seem to be convincing skeptics.
Both houses of France’s Parliament voted to approve a new law that could restrict under-15s from social media as soon as September 1st, while also banning cellphone use in high schools. Australia began restricting kids under 16 from social media last year, though a recent study found that many underage users can still access the platforms.
Leonardo Del Vecchio, president of Ray-Ban and chief strategy officer at EssilorLuxottica, posted these to his Instagram story. The first is a picture of an activist ad plastered over an actual Meta Glasses ad… and the second is Del Vecchio saying, “If we can’t laugh about it why should anyone trust us?”
Bart Butler on encryption, child safety, and why there’s no such thing as a backdoor for only the good guys.
Would a Big Tech tax for kid-focused nonprofit platforms be complicated? Sure. Where we’re headed is worse.
Over the weekend, the three-year deal for Flock Safety’s 138 pole-mounted surveillance cameras came to an end, as the LA Times reports the LAPD CIO says it ended the arrangement while working on a new contract that has “very clear terms” about who owns the data collected and what happens to it.
An unnamed spokesperson for Flock told media outlets that unspecified “misconceptions” led to the pause.
[Los Angeles Times]
That’s according to a report from Wired, which viewed a leaked database from the surveillance-heavy New York City venue that tracked celebrities’ race, gender identity, and sexual orientation. The list also assigned some stars a low to high “risk” level, with some labeled as “DO NOT HOST.”
DHS is accusing people of ‘doxing’ federal agents — and, a new lawsuit claims, trying to chill dissenting speech.
It will also block “most video ads” outside YouTube, according to a blog post. DuckDuckGo’s browser will switch on the feature by default across Windows, Mac, and iOS devices, while users on Android will have to enable it manually from the Settings menu.
The AI wearable surveillance state hinges on good intentions masking legitimate privacy concerns.
Precatuions for America250 and other major events are building up the surveillance state.
ICE has denied it maintains such a database, but Mother Jones lays out some shifty wording that suggests Trump administration officials are dodging the question — including a spontaneous mention of the known Terrorist Screening Dataset. Given that 15 Minnesota activists are facing federal charges, it sure sounds like DHS may be tracking protesters after all.
