October 2024 Privacy News Roundup
It was spooky month👻
Welcome back to another edition of my monthly news roundup. A variety of headlines were caught, but the biggest one was perhaps Session, a popular private messenger, moving its base from Australia to Switzerland after authorities came to an employee’s home. Without further ado, let’s get into it.
1.) Paris police chief backs keeping AI surveillance in place post-Olympics (September) - Link
2.) Introducing the Session Technology Foundation - Link / Additional Link
3.) Can police search your phone? Here are your legal rights - Link
4.) Hungary's push for chat control failed as Dutch secret service opposes client-side scanning! - Link
5.) ‘Chat control’: The EU’s controversial CSAM-scanning legal proposal explained - Link
6.) Internet Archive hacked, data breach impacts 31 million users - Link
7.) Windows 10 support ends in exactly one year, on October 14, 2025, here are your options - Link
8.) Lawsuit Argues Warrantless Use of Flock Surveillance Cameras Is Unconstitutional - Link / Additional Link
9.) Researchers Discover Severe Security Flaws in Major E2EE Cloud Storage Providers - Link
10.) AI + Mass Surveillance = Human Rights violations Made in Germany - Link
11.) College students used Meta’s smart glasses to dox people in real time - Link
12.) Telegram Confirms it Gave U.S. User Data to the Cops - Link
13.) Meta faces data retention limits on its EU ad business after top court ruling - Link
14.) 23andMe will retain your genetic information, even if you delete the account - Link
14.) Microsoft’s new “Copilot Vision” AI experiment can see what you browse - Link
15.) Microsoft's Phone Link app update brings AI-powered suggested replies to Windows 11 - Link
16.) uBlock Origin Lite maker ends Firefox support due to “hostile” dispute with Mozilla - Link
17.) Tuta unveils stand-alone calendar app with enhanced features and strong privacy measures - Link
18.) Say hello to the new official addy.io mobile apps - Link
19.) EFF to Fifth Circuit: Age Verification Laws Will Hurt More Than They Help - Link
20.) 5 Firefox-based, privacy-first web browsers that improve on the original - Link
21.) Salt Typhoon Hack Shows There's No Security Backdoor That's Only For The "Good Guys" - Link
22.) A new law in California protects consumers’ brain data. Some think it doesn’t go far enough. - Link
23.) US government considers historic break-up of Google in antitrust case - Link
24.) Many of Australia’s top car sellers are collecting and sharing driver data, Choice investigation finds - Link
25.) Groups v2: a better way to connect with friends and family on Session - Link
26.) Fidelity says data breach exposed personal data of 77,000 customers - Link
27.) Proton supports students in the US, UK, France, and Germany with discounts - Link
28.) Opt out: how to protect your baby’s photos on the internet - Link
29.) Google is preparing to let you run Linux apps on Android, just like Chrome OS - Link
30.) Should I Use My State’s Digital Driver’s License? - Link
31.) All donations to the Tor Project matched 1:1, now through Dec 31 - Link
32.) SEEK is training AI on user data, according to a little-noticed privacy policy update - Link
33.) Antitrust challenge to Facebook’s ‘superprofiling’ finally wraps in Germany — with Meta agreeing to data limits - Link
34.) Mullvad VPN: macOS sometimes leaks traffic after system updates - Link
35.) Civil Rights Commission Pans Face Recognition Technology - Link
36.) EFF to New York: Age Verification Threatens Everyone's Speech and Privacy - Link
37.) Threads will start showing others when you’re online by default - Link
38.) UN cybercrime treaty lead negotiator: US will suffer if it doesn’t vote yes - Link
39.) Launching Blacklight Query, a Tool to Scan Websites for Privacy at Scale - Link
40.) Deepfake lovers swindle victims out of $46M in Hong Kong AI scam - Link
41.) Startup can identify deepfake video in real time - Link
42.) Russia and Turkey ban Discord messaging app - Link
43.) Elon Musk’s X is changing its privacy policy to allow third parties to train AI on your posts - Link
44.) Developers Now Required to Share Phone Number and Address on EU App Store to Meet 'Trader' Requirement - Link
45.) Europe launches ‘gait recognition’ pilot program to monitor border crossings - Link
46.) Germany's Sovereign Tech Fund Has Invested Over $24.9M In Open-Source In Two Years - Link
47.) New law in Australia will require mandatory reporting of ransomware payments - Link
48.) Just Say No (and Do It Soon) - Link
49.) Let's fight encryption backdoors on Global Encryption Day! - Link
50.) Bitwarden users concerned over new SDK license clause and open-source commitment - Link / Additional Link
51.) Pokémon video game developer confirms its systems were breached by hackers - Link
52.) National Public Data files for bankruptcy, citing fallout from cyberattack - Link
53.) How Many U.S. Persons Does Section 702 Spy On? The ODNI Needs to Come Clean. - Link
54.) After concerns of handing Facebook taxpayer info, four companies found to have improperly shared data - Link
55.) U.S. Finally Restricts Sale Of Location Data To Foreign Adversaries, But We’re Still Too Corrupt To Pass A Basic Internet-Era Privacy Law - Link
56.) Microsoft-owned LinkedIn fined €310m by Irish Data Protection Commission - Link
57.) Location tracking of phones is out of control. Here’s how to fight back. - Link
58.) Norway to increase minimum age limit on social media to 15 to protect children - Link
59.) Pinterest tracks users without consent, alleges complaint - Link
60.) It’s Time to Enforce the DMA - Link
61.) UK revives plan to reform data protection rules with an eye on boosting the economy - Link
62.) Mullvad VPN integrates WireGuard with Shadowsocks & introduces DAITA for Android users - Link
63.) Worker surveillance must comply with credit reporting rules - Link
64.) Privacy setting increases online news reading by 54%, major European study reveals - Link
65.) The American Privacy Rights Act’s Hidden AI Ban - Link
66.) How to Make Your Venmo Information Private - Link
67.) Non-fitted devices in the Home Office’s surveillance arsenal: Investigating the technology behind GPS fingerprint scanners - Link
68.) Commerce Department IoT panel says car dealers should display privacy labels on vehicles - Link
If you have any other privacy related news that you saw in October, feel free to leave it in the comments.
Until Next Time and Happy Halloween!
Monique🎃