Hacker News with Generative AI: Privacy

Your phone isn't secretly listening to you, but the truth is more disturbing (newatlas.com)
Perhaps one of the most pervasive longstanding technology conspiracy theories is that your smartphone is constantly listening in on your private conversations.

Privacy, Technology, Conspiracy Theories, Smartphones

71 points by zeech 9 hours ago | 55 comments

Finding Things the Government Might Know About You (nytimes.com)
Two reporters spent over a month compiling and analyzing information about the reams of data the U.S. government collects about Americans.

Privacy, Government Surveillance, Data Collection, Journalism

50 points by anticorporate 12 hours ago | 15 comments

DOGE is building a master database for immigration enforcement, sources say (lite.cnn.com)
Staffers from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency are building a master database to speed-up immigration enforcement and deportations by combining sensitive data from across the federal government, multiple sources familiar with the plans tell CNN.

Immigration, Government, Data, Privacy, Technology

25 points by f38zf5vdt 14 hours ago | 8 comments

Why am I searched every time I go to Australia? (wordpress.com)
The Australian Border Force won’t stop searching me and my personal devices when I visit Australia.

Travel, Privacy, Australia, Border Security

16 points by jasondavies 14 hours ago | 13 comments

Privacy folks – what's your take on using LLMs at work? (ycombinator.com)
Hey everyone! :wave: I’m building a product called Privacy AI, and I’m trying to learn how people think about data privacy when using AI tools at work — especially in industries like finance, healthcare, or anywhere with sensitive data.

Privacy, Artificial Intelligence, Data Security, Finance, Healthcare

13 points by adeebaslam 23 hours ago | 20 comments

Assassin's Creed dev faces GDPR complaint for forcing single-player game online (theregister.com)
Collecting data from solo players is a Far Cry from being necessary, says noyb

Privacy, Gaming, GDPR, Assassin's Creed

4 points by baud147258 1 day ago | 0 comments

RFK Jr. Set to Launch Disease Registry Tracking Autistic People (newrepublic.com)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is using private medical records to create a registry of people with autism in the United States.

Privacy, Autism, Health

59 points by colinprince 1 day ago | 35 comments

Perplexity CEO says browser will track everything users do online to sell ads (techcrunch.com)
Perplexity CEO says its browser will track everything users do online to sell ‘hyper personalized’ ads

Privacy, Advertising, Browsers, Data Collection

34 points by healsdata 1 day ago | 3 comments

Cookiecrumbler: Automatically detect cookie consent notices (github.com/brave)
Cookiecrumbler automatically detects cookie consent notices on Web pages. It's intended to help with both detection of cookie consent notices that we don't currently block, and to identify webcompat reports as being related to cookie consent notice blocking.

Web Development, Privacy, Browser Extensions, Open Source

3 points by LorenDB 2 days ago | 0 comments

An Employee Surveillance Company Leaked over 21M Screenshots Online (gizmodo.com)
With the refinement of digital tools, companies are subjecting their employees to increasing levels of surveillance — and increasing risks. Now, the security of thousands of employees and their parents companies is at risk after real-time images of their computers were leaked by an employee surveillance app.

Privacy, Security, Employee Surveillance, Data Leaks

8 points by rntn 2 days ago | 0 comments

Privacy concerns mount as Dutch intelligence continues to share data with U.S. (nltimes.nl)
Despite growing concerns about privacy and data protection, Dutch intelligence services AIVD and MIVD reportedly continue to share sensitive datasets with their U.S. counterparts, including data on Dutch citizens.

Privacy, Data Sharing, Intelligence Agencies, Netherlands, United States

12 points by nickslaughter02 2 days ago | 1 comments

Blue Shield says it shared health info on up to 4.7M patients with Google Ads (theregister.com)
US health insurance giant Blue Shield of California handed sensitive health information belonging to as many as 4.7 million members to Google's advertising empire, likely without these individuals' knowledge or consent.

Health Data, Privacy, Google Ads, Healthcare, Data Breaches

23 points by Bender 2 days ago | 2 comments

Wife of wrongly deported Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia doxxed by government (independent.co.uk)
The wife of a wrongly deported Salvadoran father living in Maryland was moved to a safe house after Donald Trump’s administration posted a court document that included her address on social media.

Immigration, Government, Privacy, Social Media

24 points by ColinWright 2 days ago | 2 comments

'Fighting crime blindfolded': Europe is coming after encryption (politico.eu)

Encryption, Privacy, Europe, Crime, Law Enforcement

17 points by c420 2 days ago | 6 comments

What I wish I knew about privacy sooner (nordictimes.com)
The military pact NATO has entered into an agreement with the American tech company Palantir to introduce the AI-powered system Maven Smart System (MSS) in its military operations.

Privacy, Military, Artificial Intelligence, Technology

15 points by walterbell 2 days ago | 12 comments

Show HN: Colanode, open-source and local-first Slack and Notion alternative (github.com/colanode)
Colanode is an all-in-one platform for easy collaboration, built to prioritize your data privacy and control.

Open Source, Collaboration Tools, Privacy, Slack Alternatives

136 points by hakanshehu 2 days ago | 45 comments

Like to play alone? Ubisoft is still watching you (noyb.eu)
Today, noyb filed a complaint against the French video game developer and publisher Ubisoft (known for Assassins Creed, Far Cry, Prince of Persia). The company forces its customers to connect to the internet every time they launch a single player game.

Privacy, Gaming, Ubisoft

49 points by robin_reala 2 days ago | 3 comments

Issue Spotlight: The rise of surveillance pricing [pdf] (ftc.gov)

Surveillance, Pricing, Privacy, Government, Consumer Protection

6 points by 1vuio0pswjnm7 2 days ago | 0 comments

WhatsApp defends 'optional' AI tool that cannot be turned off (bbc.com)
WhatsApp says its new AI feature embedded in the messaging service is "entirely optional" - despite the fact it cannot be removed from the app.

Artificial Intelligence, Privacy, WhatsApp, Messaging Apps, Technology

31 points by bishopsmother 3 days ago | 7 comments

5th Circuit Lets AT&T Off the Hook for Major Location Data Privacy Violations (techdirt.com)
For decades, major wireless carriers AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile collected vast troves of sensitive user location and movement data, then sold access to any random nitwit with two nickels to rub together.

Privacy, Telecommunications, Lawsuits, Data Security, Location Tracking

12 points by hn_acker 3 days ago | 1 comments

Vizio Shows What Happens When U.S. Fascism and TV Enshittification Meet (techdirt.com)
We’ve noted for years how the “smart” TV sector is at the forefront of enshittification. It’s a sector full of companies that have doubled down on annoying ads and surveillance to the detriment of the customer. And while absolutely fixated on monetizing consumer surveillance data, it routinely fails to put anywhere close to the same attention on consumer privacy, resulting in a lot of scandal.

Politics, Consumer Rights, Privacy, Television, Surveillance

11 points by type0 3 days ago | 1 comments

Google is scrapping its planned changes for third-party cookies in Chrome (theverge.com)
Google’s plan to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome is officially over.

Google, Cookies, Chrome, Privacy, Technology

7 points by thunderbong 3 days ago | 1 comments

Google won't ditch third-party cookies in Chrome after all (arstechnica.com)
Google drops plans for a one-click prompt to disable tracking cookies.

Google, Cookies, Privacy, Web Browsing, Technology

129 points by jnord 3 days ago | 78 comments

I Fell in Love with Kagi (podfeet.com)
I’ve been advocating the follow the money philosophy for over a decade now — your data, and hence you privacy, are valuable, so you need to choose carefully who you entrust them to, and the best way to figure out who is and who isn’t trustworthy is to understand how they pay their bills.

Privacy, Search Engines, Business Models

18 points by speckx 4 days ago | 0 comments

Google will keep cookies and skip opt-out option in Chrome (privacysandbox.com)
The goal of the Privacy Sandbox initiative is to develop new ways to strengthen online privacy while ensuring a sustainable, ad-supported internet.

Privacy, Google Chrome, Advertising, Web Development, Cookies

38 points by thm 4 days ago | 12 comments

RFK Jr.'s autism study to amass medical records of many Americans (cbsnews.com)
The National Institutes of Health is amassing private medical records from a number of federal and commercial databases to give to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new effort to study autism, the NIH's top official said Monday.

Health, Science, Autism, Privacy

20 points by cruzcampo 4 days ago | 3 comments

Bluesky Has an Impersonator Problem (technologyreview.com)
Like many others, I recently fled the social media platform X for Bluesky. In the process, I started following many of the people I followed on X. On Thanksgiving, I was delighted to see a private message from a fellow AI reporter, Will Knight from Wired. Or at least that’s who I thought I was talking to. I became suspicious when the person claiming to be Knight mentioned being from Miami, when Knight is, in fact, from the UK.

Social Media, Identity Verification, Privacy

6 points by gnabgib 4 days ago | 0 comments

I Live 400 Yards From Mark Zuckerberg’s Massive Data Center [video] (youtube.com)

Data Centers, Privacy, Social Media, Technology, Real Estate

8 points by modinfo 4 days ago | 2 comments

Court Permanently Enjoins Ohio's Segregate-and-Suppress/Parental Consent Law (ericgoldman.org)
Ohio enacted a segregate-and-suppress law that requires regulated websites to obtain parental consent before minors can access certain site features.

Law, Ohio, Privacy, Children, Internet

8 points by hn_acker 4 days ago | 2 comments

Why the FTC vs. Meta Trial Matters: Competition Gaps and Civil Liberties (eff.org)
We’re in the midst of a long-overdue resurgence in antitrust litigation. In the past 12 months alone, there have been three landmark rulings against Google/Alphabet (in search, advertising, and payments). Then there’s the long-running FTC v. Meta case, which went to trial last week. Plenty of people are cheering these cases on, seeing them as a victories over the tech broligarchy (who doesn’t love to see a broligarch get their comeuppance?).

Antitrust, Competition, Privacy, Technology, Law

5 points by hn_acker 4 days ago | 1 comments