MidnightBSD has updated its license to ban users in regions mandating OS-level age verification, starting with Brazil (March 2026) and California (January 2027) 🌍.

The open-source BSD project cites privacy and legal risks, warning that more areas like Colorado and New York could follow 🔒.

🔗 https://itsfoss.com/news/midnightbsd-age-verification/

#TechNews #MidnightBSD #BSD #OpenSource #Privacy #Security #FOSS #Regulation #Compliance #UserRights #Freedom #Software #Internet #Policy #Innovation #DigitalRights

Linux and BSD distributions are taking varied approaches to new U.S. age verification laws requiring OS‑level age attestation during setup 🧩.

Ubuntu and Fedora are planning privacy‑respecting local APIs, while MidnightBSD and Adenix reject compliance, citing risks to open‑source freedom and user privacy 🔒.

🔗 https://itsfoss.com/news/distros-response-age-verification-laws/

#TechNews #Linux #BSD #OpenSource #Privacy #Security #Regulation #Compliance #Software #Freedom #FOSS #Ubuntu #Fedora #System76 #UserRights #AgeVerification #US

The #FSF doesn't usually sue for copyright infringement, but when we do, we settle for #freedom: https://u.fsf.org/4at

Anthropic is in court arguing the U.S. government can’t force it to weaken AI guardrails so the Pentagon can use its models for mass surveillance ⚖️

EFF and others back Anthropic, saying compelled code changes for AI monitoring violate the First Amendment and turbocharge already unchecked surveillance 🛡️

@eff

🔗 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/03/government-must-not-force-companies-participate-ai-powered-surveillance

#TechNews #Privacy #Anthropic #Pentagon #Surveillance #AI #CivilLiberties #MassSurveillance #DigitalRights #BigTech #Government #Security #US #Freedom #EFF

California’s AB 1043 forces all OS vendors—including Linux distros and SteamOS—to send apps real-time “age bracket” signals starting 2027. 🧩

Sold as self-reported child safety, but makes OS an age oracle for developers, hitting privacy and open platforms hard. 🛡️

🔗 https://www.tomshardware.com/software/operating-systems/california-introduces-age-verification-law

#TechNews #Privacy #Government #Surveillance #AgeVerification #Linux #SteamOS #BigTech #Children #Safety #Data #Security #DigitalRights #OS #Regulation #Freedom #Cybersecurity #California #OpenSource

Motorola partners with GrapheneOS at MWC 2026 to bring the de-Googled, privacy-hardened OS to future phones beyond Pixel exclusivity. 🔒

Ends Google's hardware monopoly for serious privacy users, with joint work on security features and pre-installed GrapheneOS devices expected 2027. 📱

@GrapheneOS

🔗 https://itsfoss.com/news/motorola-grapheneos-team-up/

#TechNews #Privacy #GrapheneOS #Motorola #Android #Google #DeGoogle #Security #OpenSource #Smartphones #Pixel #MWC #Linux #FOSS #Data #Freedom #Mobile #Security

Governments are pushing OS-level age checks that broadcast an “age signal” to apps, starting with laws like California’s Digital Age Assurance Act. 🧩

Marketed as child safety, but risks normalizing ID scans, expanding surveillance, and repeating Discord-style verification failures. 🛡️

🔗 https://itsfoss.com/age-verification-protection-tool-or-surveillance

#TechNews #Privacy #Government #Surveillance #BigTech #AgeVerification #Children #Safety #Data #Security #DigitalRights #Apps #OS #Regulation #Freedom #Cybersecurity #California

Sharing this Proton guide on how to protect your privacy at protests — from burner/“clean” phones and Faraday bags to encrypted apps, metadata scrubbing, and masking against AI facial recognition. 🛡️

Worth a read if you’re worried about surveillance at demonstrations. 🎭

@protonprivacy

🔗 https://proton.me/blog/how-to-protect-privacy-at-protests

#TechNews #Privacy #Protest #Surveillance #Cybersecurity #DigitalRights #Encryption #Security #FacialRecognition #DataBrokers #VPN #Signal #Biometrics #Rights #Freedom #War #Activism

Dr. Richard M. Stallman will discuss some practical steps you can take to preserve our collective #freedom at his talk on Monday, March 9, 2026 at 17:00 CET in the Aula at the #OST campus in Rapperswil-Jona: https://u.fsf.org/4ak

"The class was less about dancing than about confronting ourselves—confronting a freedom that felt both thrilling and forbidden."

Arash Dabestani for Guernica: https://www.guernicamag.com/who-can-i-dance-with/

#Longreads #Essay #Iran #Tehran #California #Dance #Dancing #Movement #Blind #Blindness #Disability #Freedom

RE: https://mastodon.social/@RonSupportsYou/116148481433206749

Socialists are kinder to corporations than Trump is. The corporation is being punished for not allowing Trump to use its product for mass surveillance.
#CivilLiberties #privacy #freedom

In part 9 of 13 discussions with Claude about the parables of the two valleys, the topic is David Graeber (and Wenrow's) evolution of domination.
👉https://philosophics.blog/2026/02/28/comrade-claude-9-david-graeber/?utm_source=masto
As usual, with a touch of Foucault.
#philosophy #blog #podcast #graeber #critique #power # ##subjugation #contracts #Locke #modernity #freedom #control

Yup. #TikTok is actively surveilling us and remains tangled with a foreign adversary (China). #Anthropic is getting banned by the government for refusing to actively surveil us. That... is disturbing. If you care about #privacy and #freedom, let your favorite politicians know we actually appreciate tech companies that take anti-surveillance stands. #AI #DepartmentOfWar #DoD https://x.com/Scholars_Stage/status/2027529280092074056

Anthropic rejects Pentagon’s revised AI deal, saying terms still risk enabling mass surveillance or autonomous weapons. ⚖️

The $200M contract would make Claude the first AI model in classified defense networks—now stalled over ethical limits and state control. 🧭

🔗 https://edition.cnn.com/2026/02/26/tech/anthropic-rejects-pentagon-offer

#TechNews #AI #Ethics #Privacy #Accountability #Defense #Policy #Anthropic #Security #Transparency #BigTech #Surveillance #Freedom #Governance #Innovation #Pentagon #US #USA #Trump #Weapons #Claude

Le Guin and Zamyatin follow Foucault in my exploration of the parable of the two valleys with Claude, part 8 of 13.

👉https://philosophics.blog/2026/02/27/comrade-claude-8-le-guin/?utm_source=masto

We explore how speculative fiction often anticipates complex philosophical theories and the prescience of 'We'.

#philosophy #politics #psychology #society #humancondition #blog #podcast #power #freedom #books #parable #speculativefiction #tyranny #ussr #foucault #leguin

I ask Claude how Michel Foucault might consider the parable of the 2 valleys.

👉 https://philosophics.blog/2026/02/26/comrade-claude-7-foucault/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social

I also realise that I lose at least an hour a day just managing my blog posts and social media, as I'd regained that time recently due to spotty internet connectivity owing to a snowstorm in New England.

#philosophy #psychology #Foucault #power #politics #parable #ai #claudeai #blog #podcast #institutions #selfregulation #metaphor #panopticon #truth #society #language #freedom #change

EU’s Chat Control law is in the final stretch: countries dropped plans for mandatory mass scanning and explicit encryption backdoors, but “voluntary” scanning and broad risk rules remain on the table 📡

Age checks could tie private chats to IDs or face data, sidelining anonymous, secure communication for many people 🔒

@edri

🔗 https://edri.org/our-work/chat-control-is-in-the-final-stretch-but-it-could-be-a-marathon-not-a-sprint/

#TechNews #Privacy #Security #Encryption #Surveillance #AgeVerification #EU #Europe #BigTech #AI #DataProtection #HumanRights #Freedom #Internet

“Nothing to hide” is a dangerous myth: it turns a fundamental right into a moral test and ignores how data is stored, combined, and used to judge or manipulate us over time 🔍

Privacy isn’t about hiding crimes, it’s about keeping control of our lives in a world of profiling, data brokers, shifting laws, and client‑side scanning 🔒

#Privacy #Security #Surveillance #DataProtection #DigitalRights #BigTech #AI #Tracking #Profiling #Cybersecurity #Freedom #HumanRights #NothingToHide #OpenSource #FOSS

Session’s co‑founder Kee Jefferys says users don’t need to quit WhatsApp entirely — privacy tools should offer choice, not replacement. 🧭
He stresses that private messaging must be accessible, optional, and free from data harvesting. 🔐

@session

🔗 https://itsfoss.com/news/session-co-founder-interview/

#TechNews #Privacy #Messaging #Security #Encryption #OpenSource #FOSS #Decentralization #Data #Freedom #Innovation #Apps #Session #WhatsApp #Messaging

Privacy is fascinating AND very important, but I've learned it can be part of something much bigger."

https://techlore.tv/w/2MeBGX2Gj7Rb7YahYrFLnS

#privacy #peerTube #freedom

Nineteen civil society groups warn Switzerland’s plan to expand data retention would mean mass, long-term metadata storage and decryption support from online services, with major privacy and rights implications 🕵️

They urge the government to drop blanket retention and align with top EU human rights standards instead ⚖️

🔗 https://edri.org/our-work/open-letter-civil-society-concerned-about-extensive-and-indiscriminate-data-retention-regime-in-switzerland/

#TechNews #Privacy #Surveillance #Switzerland #Data #HumanRights #EU #Security #Freedom #DigitalRights #Law #Policy #Society #Accountability #Government

The Paradox of the State. Claude and I continue our dialogue about the parable of the Two Valleys, effectively invoking Hobbes and Rousseau.

https://philosophics.blog/2026/02/07/comrade-claude-4-libertarians-and-anarchists/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social

#philosophy #politics #democracy #property #freedom #liberty #authority #violence #power #protection #police #authroity #blog #podcast #claudeai #ai #justice #choices

UK Lords vote to ban VPNs for under-18s to enforce online age checks 📵
Sees privacy tools as evasion of child safety rules under Online Safety Act; now heads to Commons for review ⚖️
Raises questions about balancing child protection with fundamental user rights to privacy and anonymity 🔍

🔗 https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/vpns/uk-lords-vote-to-ban-vpns-for-children-as-pressure-on-the-privacy-tools-increases

#TechNews #Privacy #VPN #Security #Regulation #Data #BigTech #UserRights #DigitalRights #Censorship #Freedom #Policy #Safety #Cybersecurity #OnlineFreedom #UK #UnitedKingdom

Signal founder Moxie Marlinspike launches Confer, an end-to-end encrypted AI assistant. 🔒
Cloud-based models ensure only users access unscrambled data, blocking corporate surveillance of prompts and chats. ⚖️

This counters Big Tech's data extraction for ads and training, bolstering user rights. 📊

@signalapp

🔗 https://time.com/7346534/signal-confer-ai-moxie-marlinspike/

#TechNews #AI #Privacy #Encryption #Security #BigTech #Data #UserRights #AIethics #Cybersecurity #Innovation #Freedom #DigitalRights #OnlineSafety

ESCAPE CORPORATE WEB 🛸

https://mobilohm.gitlab.io/

#webdev #degoogle #freedom #opensource

Telegram adds passkey support for secure, phishing-resistant logins across devices, replacing SMS verification codes. 🔐
Phone number requirement persists, raising ongoing privacy concerns around KYC compliance and account linking. 📱

🔗 https://www.privacyguides.org/news/2026/01/07/telegram-adds-passkey-support-still-requires-phone-number/

#TechNews #Privacy #Security #Passkeys #Telegram #Data #Encryption #Rights #Accountability #DigitalRights #Messaging #Tech #FIDO #Cybersecurity #Freedom #Signal #Chat #KYC

Hackers are developing open-source tools like OUI-SPY and crowdsourced maps (deflock.me, alpr.watch) to detect and counter ICE's automated license plate readers and surveillance cameras. 🔍
These counter-surveillance efforts aim to protect communities from mass tracking, though legal risks remain. ⚖️

@eff

🔗 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/how-hackers-are-fighting-back-against-ice

#TechNews #Privacy #Surveillance #Data #Security #Rights #OpenSource #Policy #DigitalRights #Tech #Ethics #Freedom #Hackers #Hacking #ICE #USA #US #Trump #DonaldTrump