Monday morning commute? Before you scan that QR code to pay for parking, ask yourself:

"Am I paying for a spot, or am I paying for a surveillance subscription?"

Your city ripped out the meters. Now you have to download an app that tracks your GPS, fingerprints your phone, and sells your plate data.

Start your week by reclaiming your privacy.

🎧 New Episode: Tagged in the City
🔗 ImpracticalPrivacy.com

#MondayMotivation #Commute #Privacy #Surveillance #ImpracticalPrivacy

Would love to hear from #privacy experts whether the SECURE Data Act and the GUARD Financial Data Act, which would preempt state privacy laws, are any good

Connecting your Wallet to a #Monero Node on your Local Network

https://theprivacydad.com/connecting-your-wallet-to-a-monero-node-on-your-local-network/

#crypto #cryptocurrency #privacy #anonymity #guide

#Matrix: Kicking off the nomination period for the 2026 Governing Board elections

https://matrix.org/blog/2026/05/election-nomination/

#privacy #FOSS #federation #cybersecurity

"Toyota built a $10 billion private utopia—what’s going on in there?"

"Woven City is a privacy nightmare but could be helpful to an OEM desperate to be more."

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/05/inside-toyotas-10b-private-utopia-big-ideas-few-people-cameras-everywhere/

#Privacy

New #blog post: Why I Hate #Samsung

#Ghost: https://ghost.thenewoil.org/why-i-hate-samsung/
#Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/why-i-hate-156620417

#privacy #cybersecurity #smartphone

We're trying out something new this month: #SimpleX's new "channels" feature. It will be used for project updates - new blog posts, videos, etc. Think of it like an RSS feed directly in your messenger, if you're a SimpleX user.

Note that chatting is not enabled. Communication is one-way.

https://smp16.simplex.im/c#5CmmKJY-M45ct3SX7d-0jcSzVyOTRwmefvPzPRXOMiQ

#privacy #cybersecurity

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A QR code to join my SimpleX Channel.

@vowe It was never about #ageverification!

It was about government having become impotent to regulate big tech. It was about the #neoliberal #ideology having invaded every nook & cranny of our lives. Even children have to serve the interests of shareholders in #BigTech companies, who won’t be held accountable for making their products safe for children.

Instead we hand over what remains of our #privacy to generate even more money & power for shareholders, disguised as care.. 🤮

Daily Digest | 4 May 2026

Your daily dose of Privacy, Data Protection, AI & Cybersecurity news.

5 stories you should not miss.

Read more: https://www.nicfab.eu/daily-digest/

#Privacy #AI #GDPR #Cybersecurity #TechLaw

Utah’s age verification law now factors in VPN use.
• Physical location overrides IP masking
• Websites still liable
• Potential rise in VPN blocking & data collection

Privacy vs compliance is getting tighter.
https://www.technadu.com/utahs-new-age-verification-law-takes-aim-at-vpn-use/627229/

#InfoSec #CyberSecurity #Privacy

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Utah’s New Age Verification Law Takes Aim at VPN Use

RE: https://chaos.social/@feliks/116512526193692922

For your upcoming event, your shop or your restaurant, privacy icon available on the ISO-7010 page of Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_7010
#Privacy #AIGlasses

Midori Browser becomes the first browser to launch a VPN alternative using Mesh technology, but decentralization, better privacy and better transparency, all of which are available but in version 11.7.1

https://astian.org/midori-en/performance-adblock-and-more-in-midori-11-7-1/

#privacy #tech #web #browser #midoribrowser #linux #wireguard #mesh #opensuse #fedora #debian #ubuntu #windows

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Midori 11.7.1 with VPN Mesh

If anyone has a recommendation for a personal accountant in Mass who doesn't use cloud-based tax software that imposes a terrible privacy policy on the end user, please feel free to share a recommendation.

To wit: https://www.getcanopy.com/privacy-policy/ . To their credit, at least the policy is legible, and clear about the many ways they'll (ab)use your info, as a client of their actual customer. And it's probably pretty typical. But that doesn't mean I can't look around for something better.

(Our family taxes are not that complicated,we could return to doing them ourselves, but we prefer to hire someone to do it). Sadly, I suspect that any online personal tax filing software will have a similar privacy policy and TOS.)

#Massachusetts #taxes #privacy

Here's what nobody talks about with parking apps: The chilling effect.

When you know your movements are logged, you change your behavior. You avoid certain neighborhoods. You reroute your commute. You second-guess where you park.

That's not convenience. That's a Panopticon. You become your own guard.

In ep24 we dig into how coerced surveillance reshapes how we move through cities and how to push back.

🔗 ImpracticalPrivacy.com

#Privacy #Psychology #Surveillance #Urbanism #DigitalRights

@Tutanota I suggest adding"❌ Suppression of Tor users (in my opinion by Tuta)"to the right side.

I tried to create an anonymous Tuta account when I was living in a dictatorship and I remember it didn't work.

I was using Tor because I didn't want to be abducted into a concentration camp (euphemistically called "jail") by the dictatorial regime in retaliation for legitimate and legal exercising of my human and constitutional right to free speech I was planning using that account.

I strongly suspect the reason it didn't work was because IMO Tuta was suppressing Tor users.

Due to this,my work in publishing public domain legal norms the regime was trying to hide,was greatly slowed down and made difficult.

When Tuta is writing like this,in my opinion it is hypocrisy.

The following hashtags may be unrelated or only remotely related to the topic of this post:

#hypocrisy #tuta #tutanota #tor #freespeech #freedomofspeech #dictatorship #anonymity #rejection #privacy #encryption #censorship

Please stop posting about how you're running a slop machine on your own hardware under the privacy hashtag!

The technology is built on massive privacy violations, no matter where it's running! If you claim that running your slop machine locally is privacy-friendly, your notion of who has a right to privacy is obviously limited to yourself!
--
#privacy #DataProtection #LLMs #SlopMachines #StopTheSlop #Slopposition

Signal is developing a standalone desktop app without requiring a smartphone for setup or use, based on recent open-source code changes. 🖥️
The update adds more desktop controls while keeping end-to-end encryption, improving device independence with a privacy-first design. 🔐

@signalapp

🔗 https://aboutsignal.com/news/signal-desktop-without-a-mobile-phone-standalone-version-in-development/

#TechNews #Signal #Messaging #Privacy #E2EE #Encryption #EndToEndEncryption #OpenSource #FOSS #Cybersecurity #Security #Data #Internet #Freedom #Software #Tech #Communication

Greece plans to require social media users to verify real identities, limiting anonymity to curb abuse and misinformation, raising privacy risks ⚖️
Officials say pseudonyms may remain but tied to real identities, highlighting tensions between state oversight, platform control, and user anonymity 🔐

🔗 https://www.euractiv.com/news/greece-to-ban-anonymity-on-social-media/

#TechNews #Greece #SocialMedia #Privacy #DigitalRights #Cybersecurity #Surveillance #FOSS #Security #Data #Internet #Freedom #Censorship #Regulation #Tech #Europe #EU #Greek

Turkey plans to ban unlicensed VPNs and require approved providers to log user activity and share data with authorities, restricting anonymous access. 🚫
VPN signups surged as users seek privacy tools amid blocks, highlighting tensions between state control, surveillance risks, and user autonomy online. 🔐

🔗 https://reclaimthenet.org/turkey-to-ban-anonymous-vpns

#TechNews #Turkey #VPN #Cybersecurity #Privacy #Surveillance #FOSS #Security #Data #Internet #Freedom #Censorship #Encryption #Tech #Europe #EU #Türkiye #Anonymity

Ubuntu will add opt-in AI features via Snaps in 26.10, including speech tools and automation, without a global disable switch, raising user control concerns. 🤖
Canonical says AI Snaps can be removed, but some users want AI-free builds or may switch to Linux Mint or Pop!_OS, citing privacy and autonomy risks. 🔐

🔗 https://www.theverge.com/tech/920723/linux-ubuntu-ai-features-ai-kill-switch

#TechNews #Ubuntu #Canonical #Linux #OpenSource #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Privacy #FOSS #Security #Transparency #Data #Software #Freedom #Computing #Tech

BleachBit is a free, open-source system cleaner that helps you remove cache, cookies, logs, and other junk files while protecting your privacy. It securely wipes data and frees up disk space without ads, telemetry, or hidden tracking.

Lightweight, transparent, and available on Linux and Windows, it gives you full control over what gets deleted and how your system is cleaned.

👉 https://digitalescapetools.com/tools/tool.html?id=bleachbit

#OpenSource #SelfHosting #Privacy #Homelab #DigitalMinimalism

AV2 is a next-gen open, royalty-free video codec aiming to beat AV1 with better compression and lower bandwidth for high-quality streaming.

Still in development, but built for 4K/8K and the future of video.

read more : https://digitalescapetools.com/2026/05/av2-video-codec-explained.html

#OpenSource #Privacy #Streaming #Video #Tech #DigitalMinimalism

Utah’s SB73 holds websites liable if users bypass age verification via VPNs, effective May 6, 2026. Law assumes sites can detect and locate VPN users—technically dubious. Critics say it undermines privacy and creates impossible compliance burdens. #privacy #ageverification

https://wesearch.press/s/utah-first-state-to-hold-websites-liable-for-users-who-mask-93d84bc8?utm_source=social&utm_medium=auto&utm_campaign=mastodon

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Utah to hold websites liable for users who mask their location with VPNs

Erzwungene „Grenzpartnerschaft“:
EU-Kommission will US-Behörden erlauben, politische Ansichten und „Herkunft“ abzufragen

‚Laut dem nun vorliegenden Entwurf eines Rahmenabkommens über eine „Grenzpartnerschaft“ mit der Trump-Administration dürfen US-Behörden in EU-Staaten nicht nur Gesichtsbilder, sondern auch Namen, Gesundheitsdaten oder sexuelle Orientierung in Polizeidatenbanken abfragen…..‘

https://netzpolitik.org/2026/erzwungene-grenzpartnerschaft-eu-kommission-will-us-behoerden-erlauben-politische-ansichten-und-herkunft-abzufragen/

#Netzpolitik #Datenschutz #Überwachung #Trump #EU #Privacy #US #Antireport

Canadian tech expert says social media ban won't work

https://mobilesyrup.com/2026/04/30/canadian-tech-expert-social-media-ban-problems/

> Prominent Canadian law professor Michael Geist says a social media ban would fail to protect kids while also posing risks to privacy and free expression for all Canadians.

#privacy #technology

Maryland bans surveillance pricing in grocery stores, becoming the first U.S. state to prohibit using customer data to adjust prices. The law targets discriminatory practices tied to loyalty programs. CO, CA, MA, IL, and NJ are weighing similar bills. #consumerrights #privacy

https://wesearch.press/s/maryland-becomes-the-first-us-state-to-ban-surveillance-pric-83112049?utm_source=social&utm_medium=auto&utm_campaign=mastodon

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Maryland becomes the first US state to ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores, as other states including CO, CA, MA, IL, and NJ consider similar bills (Sanya Mansoor/The Guardian)