An Explosion of #Surveillance Towers is Coming to U.S. Borders, Costing Over $1 Billion

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/07/explosion-surveillance-towers-coming-us-borders-costing-over-1-billion

#border #DHS #privacy #politics

#US #police now armed with Israeli spy vans simulating mobile phone towers

https://cybernews.com/privacy/us-police-israeli-spy-vans-falconet-cognyte/

#privacy #Israel #FalcoNet #Cognyte #IMSIcatcher #surveillance

** when you meet someone and they ask you for a way to keep in contact **

Centralized chat solutions that require phone numbers to work will never give you the digital independence and #privacy you deserve

#ArcaneChat #decentralization #android #Europe #European #whatsapp #signal #telegram #facebookmessenger #messenger #digitalindependence #family #encryption

Bitwarden is a free, open-source password manager. Unlimited passwords, unlimited devices, end-to-end encrypted so Bitwarden itself can't read your vault. The code is public and independently audited. Reused passwords are how most account breaches start. #Bitwarden #passwords #privacy #indigoprivacy

The scariest thing about new #AgeVerification laws being introduced in Europe (France, I was expecting more from you) is to see the positive reactions of my family members, who have fallen hook, line and sinker for the arguments discussed in the media. "It's to protect the children!" No it isn't.

I'm sending this superb article by the @eff to all of them:
🔗: https://www.eff.org/issues/age-verification

Now is the time to #resist and speak up and educate those around us ✊ #privacy

"For weeks, Verona, Wisconsin tried to get Flock to remove the three automated license plate cameras that its city council had voted to stop using. Flock told city employees not to remove the cameras, and a Flock employee told city officials that they were unsure whether the cameras could be remotely disabled, which led the town to decide to put black plastic trash bags over them until Flock eventually removed the cameras itself, according to emails obtained using a public records request by 404 Media.

The emails give insight into the process cities face while deFlocking themselves after voting not to renew a contract with the AI surveillance company. As we’ve previously reported, multiple cities around the country have decided to put black trash bags over their Flock cameras while they wait for them to be removed; this is in part because, until the cameras are physically removed by Flock, cities are unsure whether they have the legal right to remove the cameras themselves and are not sure whether they can disable their recording operations. The emails show Verona city officials telling each other that they had made multiple requests to Flock to have the cameras removed, and show a work order from Flock in which the cameras were set to have maintenance performed on them rather than being removed."

https://www.404media.co/flock-objects-to-our-removing-their-equipment-emails-reveal-why-a-town-put-bags-over-its-flock-cameras

#USA #Surveillance #ALPRs #Flock #Privacy #DataProtection #PoliceState

#MIT to Become Hotbed of #AI Video #Surveillance

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/07/mit-to-become-hotbed-of-ai-video-surveillance.html

#privacy #education #university

Yesterday, CCIA partnered with @NetChoice, @SIIA,@ProgressChamber, and @actonline on a letter to the @HouseCommerce committee regarding today’s hearing touching on the App Store Freedom Act (ASFA). As a coalition we are concerned that ASFA would introduce significant cybersecurity vulnerabilities and undermine user #Privacy that far outweigh the alleged benefits to competition supporters claim will flow from this legislation.

This is a great list of tips for improving your Signal privacy from @yaelwrites.

I found this part especially meaningful:

“Turning off biometrics makes it annoying to use your phone…If that’s you, remember that both Android and iOS have a quick lockout that forces a passcode and disables biometrics until you re-enter it: on iPhone, hold the side + volume button until the power-off screen appears, then cancel; on most Androids, hold power and tap Lockdown.”

https://blog.yaelwrites.com/how-to-keep-the-feds-out-of-your-signal-messages

#Signal #Privacy #InfoSec #OpSec

New Release: #Tor Browser 15.0.19

https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-15019/

#privacy #cybersecurity #anonymity #FOSS

For those looking to manage multiple users on a Windows 11 machine, creating a local user account is a great way to ensure privacy and organization. Each account functions as an independent environment. Our tutorial breaks down how to set this up easily. #Windows #Privacy #UserManagement #Tech https://geekrewind.com/how-to-add-a-new-user-to-windows-11/

#EstéeLauder discloses #DataBreach via #Oracle #EBusiness flaw

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/est-e-lauder-discloses-data-breach-via-oracle-e-business-flaw/

#EsteeLauder #privacy #cybersecurity

DA: #Cop covered #bodycam to snap nude prisoners on his #iPhone—but other cams caught him

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/07/cop-charged-with-covering-bodycam-to-photograph-naked-prisoners/

#privacy #police

Protect Your #Privacy with #California's #DROP Tool

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/07/what-you-need-know-about-californias-drop-tool

#DataBroker

At least 53 cities have ended their contracts with the company so far.

The post Flock Is in Serious Trouble After Massive Backlash appeared first on Futurism.

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Flock Is in Serious Trouble After Massive Backlash

DHS plans to nearly triple the number of surveillance towers along U.S. borders, from the current 830 to 2,300 by 2034, at a cost of $1 billion (likely a lot more with overruns).

Will utilize AI-based systems with radar, thermal infrared and optical systems to track targets over long distances, incl residential neighborhoods spying on homes on both sides of the border./

Check out their handy interactive map to see all the surveillance equipment in your neighborhood: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/03/cbp-expanding-its-surveillance-tower-program-us-mexico-border-and-were-mapping-it

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/07/explosion-surveillance-towers-coming-us-borders-costing-over-1-billion

#surveillance #ice #dhs #fascism #policestate #privacy

How should I deal with websites that don’t respect my browser’s privacy settings? Preventing me from reading an article because I’ve enabled my tracker and ad blockers in Vivaldi—and then pressuring me to disable them—is unacceptable. That will only lead me to avoid such sites.

I certainly won’t compromise my privacy just because a corporation wants me to. If advertising is the only way they can make money, something is fundamentally wrong with them.

@techcrunch_official @Vivaldi #privacy #ads #adblocker #it #technology #tech #browser #web

How to disable #OneDrive: A complete #guide

https://proton.me/blog/how-to-disable-onedrive

#Windows #privacy #Microsoft

There is no single blueprint for global control. There does not need to be.

Digital ID, CBDCs, health surveillance, AI governance, pathogen monitoring and neurotechnology are being built separately—but increasingly operate through compatible infrastructure.

This evidence-graded dossier maps the system, the funding and the safeguards still missing.

Read: https://thomaster.substack.com/p/the-global-governance-infrastructure

#DigitalID #CBDC #Surveillance #Privacy #AI #DigitalRights #WHO #Neurotechnology

For the past three decades, #BigTech have been secretly, continuously, systematically tracking all aspects of our personal lives, and they have been exploiting that data to extract more and more profits. To the delight of many technology fanciers, all these nefarious acts are now #AI powered. It is only during this period of exploration that IT had its first billionaire.

We Americans have tacitly accepted this invasive surveillance, in exchange for essential modern goods and services, like toilets that flush automatically after shitting and shit-posting on social media in the wee small hour of the morning. So long as the two parties involved have the “meeting of the minds”, this process counts as a “fair exchange” under law.

It is now evident that our federal #government is using those same #surveillance technologies and procedures to monitor, control, manipulate, and oppress us. Regardless of our nonchalance, this process is "government overreach" in violation of our constitutional rights to privacy.

Why so dramatic a difference between these two forms of privacy violation that employ the same technologies and procedures?

• The first form of privacy violation is a private act that induces us to waste our time and money, individually and collectively.
• The second form of privacy violation is a governmental action that erodes our individual #freedom and our collective #democracy.

But we #American citizens are equally unperturbed by both forms of #privacy violation.

Hackers stole ‘significant’ amount of data from tech firm relied on by thousands of US hospitals and pharmacies

https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/20/hackers-stole-significant-amount-of-data-from-tech-firm-relied-on-by-thousands-of-us-hospitals-and-pharmacies/

#Craneware #DataBreach #privacy #cybersecurity #healthcare #hospital #pharmacy

Kudu is a free, open-source system cleaner and privacy tool for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

It removes temporary files, browser caches, leftover app data, and includes disk analysis, startup management, secure file deletion, malware scanning, and privacy controls, all without ads or telemetry.

More details: https://digitalescapetools.com/tools/tool.html?id=kudu

#OpenSource #Privacy #SystemCleaner #Windows #Linux #macOS #FOSS

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Screenshot of the Kudu tool page showing the orange Kudu logo above the title "Kudu." The description reads: "Free, open-source system cleaner & security scanner for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Reclaim disk space. Remove malware. Take back your privacy. All in one app." Badges indicate approximately 1.1k GitHub stars, version 1.45.0, 1.3 million downloads, MIT license, support for Windows, macOS, and Linux, and a failing build status.

MIT researchers have cut the cost of quantum codebreaking, fixing a memory problem that kept it impractical for decades. Google responded by moving its post-quantum deadline up to 2029. That’s 33 months.

This matters now, not in 2029. Encrypted traffic captured today can be stored and decrypted the moment the hardware exists. Harvest now, decrypt later.

Zerion has shipped post-quantum encryption on every single message, not just at the handshake, since 2.0.

zerion.chat

#privacy #postquantum

Reminder of how dire our digital privacy situation has become...

TikTok can spy on you even if you don’t have an account.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260210-tiktok-is-tracking-you-even-if-you-dont-use-the-app-heres-how-to-stop-it

Collecting personal data just to resell it should be outlawed in my opinion.

But combine this with data brokers, ChatControl’s recent vote, and the global push for age verification through 'trusted private third parties', all while data theft is at an all-time high, and you start wondering if we aren’t attending a clown show with very real consequences.

#Privacy #TikTok #ChatControl #DataBroker #AgeVerification

As France follows Australia in banning social media use for the under-15s the key will be the form & practice of the state-approved age-verification process mandated from January.

Here, the debate on such a social media ban (supported by Keir Starmer) has been the age-verification process' invasion of privacy & its data requirement(s).

The Q. is: can France find a way to meet such objections, or merely ride roughshod over them?

#SocialMedia #politics #privacy
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq56l9p4y93o

Home solar panel monitoring systems collect real-time energy generation and consumption data transmitted to manufacturer clouds and shared with utility partners.

#privacy #smarthome #IoT #indigoprivacy

https://infosec.exchange/users/briankrebs/statuses/116960969908967244

#tv #privacy #security

Some people in #Europe try to get away from #WhatsApp but fail short then just moving to #Signal, it runs on #Amazon servers and fuels millions of dollars into them every year

if you really want digital independence you need something that is decentralized and you can host yourself, something that can't be taken away form you

ideally something that doesn't require phone numbers

#European #digitalindependence #decentralization #privacy #ArcaneChat #family

I am very tired of all the tech companies embracing dystopian surveillance, overhyped AI, authoritarianism and fascism.

Which tech company do you know that hasn't?

Edit: Please keep the focus in replies on reporting on positive solutions and organizations for others to discover.
And if you wish to debate with each other, then please remove my handle from it (because this creates a lot of notifications in my phone 🫣), thanks! 🙏

#Tech #DigitalRights #HumanRights #NoAI #Privacy #Surveillance #Fascism

#HuggingFace confirms breach affected internal datasets and credentials, urges users to take action

https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/20/hugging-face-confirms-breach-affected-internal-datasets-and-credentials-urges-users-to-take-action/

#DataBreach #AI #cybersecurity #privacy

On #Flock License Plate Tracking Cameras

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/07/on-flock-license-plate-tracking-cameras.html

#ALPR #privacy #surveillance #police

#Reminder Privacy groups and major privacy tech firms urged UK ministers to “hands off” VPNs, warning that age-gating could weaken security while barely stopping teens from dodging social media bans. Mozilla, Proton, Tor and others back an open letter. 🔒📡 #VPN #Privacy #OnlineSafety https://www.theregister.com/networks/2026/07/14/hands-off-our-vpns-privacy-groups-tell-uk-ministers/5271070

'#GrokBuild' Coding Tool Open Sourced This Week, Promises to Respect Zero Data Retention

https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/07/19/034258/grok-build-coding-tool-open-sourced-this-week-promises-to-respect-zero-data-retention

#AI #Grok #privacy #cybersecurity

#UK's #Burnham drops #DigitalID scheme to prioritise cost of living, say allies

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/next-uk-prime-minister-andy-burnham-drops-digital-id-scheme-2026-07-18/

#privacy #politics

#Malaysia: The #CybercrimesBill 2026 is a threat to freedom of expression and the right to #privacy

https://sinarproject.org/projects/safeguarding-our-information-ecosystem/malaysia-the-cybercrimes-bill-2026-is-a-threat-to-freedom-of-expression-and-the-right-to-privacy

#politics

Federal employees can download #TikTok on their work phones again

https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/18/federal-employees-can-download-tiktok-on-their-work-phones-again/

#cybersecurity #privacy

If we want to keep a civilized society with democracy and human rights, we must all work much harder to denormalize the surveillance that has been banalized and implemented everywhere around us.

#Privacy #Democracy #NormalizedSurveillance

UniClipboard is an open-source clipboard sync tool for securely sharing text, images, and files across your devices.

It uses end-to-end encryption, works on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, and doesn't require a cloud account.

More details: https://digitalescapetools.com/tools/tool.html?id=uniclipboard

#OpenSource #Privacy #Productivity #Clipboard #Windows #Linux #macOS #Android #iOS

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Screenshot of the UniClipboard project page in dark mode. The page lists support for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android (LAN), and iOS (LAN), along with badges for the AGPL-3.0 license, version 0.20.0-alpha.2, and 68% code coverage. The description explains that UniClipboard is a privacy-first, cross-device clipboard synchronization tool that securely syncs text, images, and files using end-to-end encryption, ensuring only the user's devices can decrypt the data. A preview image at the bottom shows the application's dark-themed interface with a searchable clipboard history, file previews, categories, and synchronization features.

"The US’s excessive demands for travellers’ profiling and surveillance in order to stay in its Visa Waiver Programme are nothing less than blackmail. The EU accepting the terms of this power struggle is extremely worrying for the rights of Europeans and any third country nationals registered in European databases.

The scheme implies systematic transfers of biometric data and other highly sensitive and subjective “indications of risk” based on European national databases to the US government, which has shown a blatant disregard for basic human rights in its harsh and inhumane treatment of migrants and visitors. In that regard, the draft text does nothing to protect from discrimination based on political opinions, which is worrying because the US is already cracking down political dissent, including its unlawful practice of screening travellers’ social media profiles. The sharing of individual risk assessments to supposedly protect “public security and public order” under the EBSP could further target opposition to the Trump administration, support to transgender people’s rights or protests against the genocide in Gaza expressed (publicly) on social media, with potentially significant impacts, including detention at the borders.

Furthermore it is very difficult to know the terms of the negotiations as the talks are shrouded in secrecy. However, in May 2026, EDRi member Statewatch leaked a “revised version” of the draft Framework Agreement, revealing the direction the future deal has taken."

https://edri.org/our-work/the-eu-is-about-to-sell-our-most-sensitive-data-to-the-us-for-visa-free-travel/

#EU #USA #Surveillance #Biometrics #Privacy #DataProtection

Firefox 153 is now available with new privacy, productivity, and media improvements.

Highlights:

• Extensions now require explicit permission to access local files.

• HDR video playback support on Windows.

• Built-in PDF merging and editing.

• One-click QR code sharing.

• Experimental JPEG XL image support.

Read more: https://digitalescapetools.com/2026/07/firefox-153-hdr-video-pdf-merging-qr-sharing.html

#Firefox #Mozilla #Privacy #OpenSource #WebBrowser

Australia Considers Targeting VPNs Following Age Verification Failure

With the failure of age verification in Australia, the eSafety regulator is eyeing VPNs as a new target.

https://www.freezenet.ca/australia-considers-targeting-vpns-following-age-verification-failure/

#Censorship #News #Privacy #Security #AgeVerification #Australia #eSafety #VPN

This is creepy. This morning I went to a diner I've never been to and ordered a buffalo chicken wrap. Just now I see on my homescreen the Photos app widget present a picture of a buffalo chicken wrap I took 4 years ago. #iOS #iPhone #privacy

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Screenshot of my Home Screen

#KapeTechnologies plc (ex‑Crossrider) is a UK‑Israeli firm tied to Teddy Sagi, with #VPN and cybersecurity brands like #Webselenese #IntegoAntivirus #ExpressVPN, #CyberGhost, and #PIA. Critics link its roots to Israel’s Unit 8200 and surveillance pipelines—so some call for a #Boycott. 🌍🛡️🛰️ https://irbak-action.com/company/453ca578-d616-45de-8971-d16bca765818 #Privacy #Cybersecurity #Boycott

🕵️‍♀️ Mozilla’s latest privacy study on 6 period-tracking apps found big differences in data collection and tracking. Euki led with a perfect 10/10 (local-only health data, no account). Stardust ranked last (extensive third-party sharing). #Privacy #DigitalHealth https://cyberinsider.com/mozilla-study-ranks-euki-as-the-most-private-period-tracker/

Your #data. But their database? There are no meaningful #privacy rules for political parties in 🇨🇦! They can collect detailed information about you without the basic privacy protections you deserve!

💥 Check the NEW voter privacy action for MPs and take action:
https://openmedia.org/voter-privacy-2026-mtd

#cdnpoli