April 2025 Privacy News Roundup
News
Welcome returnees and newcomers to another edition of my monthly privacy news roundup. A lot of headlines this month, so make sure you check them all out.
⭐Notable Substack Reads
✨April 2025 Posts from The Privacy Cloud🔐☁️
EU Issues US-bound Staff With Burner Phones Over Spying Fears - Link / Similar Link
Europe proposes backdoors in encrypted platforms under new security strategy - Link / Additional Link
Europe’s GDPR privacy law is headed for red tape bonfire within ‘weeks’ - Link
EU Possibly Emerging As One Of The Greatest Threats To Privacy - Link
The US border surveillance expansion has global implications - Link
Florida’s New Social Media Bill Says the Quiet Part Out Loud and Demands an Encryption Backdoor - Link
Congress Passes TAKE IT DOWN Act Despite Major Flaws - Link
"A dangerous approach" – Experts urge the Swedish Parliament to reject the encryption backdoor law - Link
Federal workers fear Musk’s ‘efficiency’ agency is using AI to spy on them: ‘They are omnipresent’ - Link
UK creating ‘murder prediction’ tool to identify people most likely to kill - Link
💡Privacy tip: Make sure you share privacy information with others, online and offline. That way, the flow of information will reach different channels and more people will be aware of their privacy rights.
Massive Expansion of Italy's Piracy Shield Underway - Link
Gmail unveils end-to-end encrypted messages. Only thing is: It’s not true E2EE. - Link
How Differential Privacy Works - Link
noyb takes Swedish tax authority to court for selling people’s personal data - Link
How to identify a phishing attack - Link
Activists warn Police Commission about ICE access to LAPD data on immigrants - Link
DOGE Has Access to Sensitive Labor Department Data on Immigrants and Farm Workers - Link
The AI Tools CBP Is Using to Scan Social Media - Link
Apple details how it plans to improve its AI models by privately analyzing user data - Link
Privacy on the Map: How States Are Fighting Location Surveillance - Link
Boarding passes and check-in could be scrapped in air travel shake-up - Link
Funding of CVE Program - Link / Additional Link
Meta AI will soon train on EU users’ data - Link
Google must stop favoring Search and Chrome on Android in Japan - Link
Three US states seek to ban sale of location data - Link
Bankrupt Genetic Data: Minimizing and Privacy-Protecting Data from the Start - Link
This ‘College Protester’ Isn’t Real. It’s an AI-Powered Undercover Bot for Cops - Link
How AI is aiding Trump's immigration crackdown - Link
The rise of surveillance during protests: a threat to fair trial rights - Link
LAPD Publishes Crime Footage It Got From a Waymo Driverless Car - Link
This Is Palantir’s Justification for Building ICE’s Master Database - Link
Researchers claim breakthrough in fight against AI’s frustrating security hole - Link
France: How the “war on drugs” is turbo-charging surveillance powers - Link
Judge Rules Blanket Search of Cell Tower Data Unconstitutional - Link
ChatGPT is referring to users by their names unprompted, and some find it ‘creepy’ - Link
Regrets: Actors who sold AI avatars stuck in Black Mirror-esque dystopia - Link
What Should the US Do About Salt Typhoon? - Link
HHS Systems Are in Danger of Collapsing, Workers Say - Link
Perplexity CEO says its browser will track everything users do online to sell ‘hyper personalized’ ads - Link
Thieves took their iPhones. Apple won’t give their digital lives back. - Link
Privacy Pass: The New Protocol for Private Authentication - Link
Phone searches when crossing U.S. border - Link / Additional Link / Another Link
Elon Musk Cuts Funding for Internet Archive - Link
She felt like she was being watched. Then she found a hidden camera in her bathroom - Link
Google is in more danger than ever of being broken up - Link
Discord Begins Testing Facial Scans for Age Verification - Link
Privacy is possible – even when it feels out of reach - Link
Employee monitoring app leaks 21 million screenshots in real time - Link
Commission slams Apple and Meta for breaching the Digital Markets Act, doesn’t stick the landing with fines - Link
The government wants you to get paid not to use Google search - Link
IRS-ICE Immigrant Data Sharing Agreement Betrays Data Privacy and Taxpayers’ Trust - Link
Calyx Institute: A Case Study in Grassroots Innovation - Link
Share any privacy-related news you discovered this month in the comments.
Until Next Time,
Monique
P.S. I am taking a little break from The Privacy Cloud. Newsletters will resume on May 21st.
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