A video: “TR Every Banned Operating System in History Explained in 9 Minutes”

  Key Insights by Merlin AI Tails OS: Privacy and Surveillance Concerns – Tails OS is designed for maximum privacy, erasing all digital traces after each session, making it appealing to journalists and whistleblowers. – Several governments banned Tails due to its ability to make user activity untraceable, posing a challenge to surveillance efforts. – … Read more

EFF presents: The Breachies 2025- The Worst, Weirdest, Most Impactful Data Breaches of the Year

I created a table from their page, but here is the source! Award Name Recipient Breach Details Date Say Something Without Saying Anything Mixpanel Analytics SDK used by apps like Ring and PornHub; breached user data from many apps (exact scope unclear); OpenAI dropped them. eff​ November 2025 We Still Told You So Discord Age … Read more

Possible Risks of online Age Verification

EFF recently listed 10 dangers of Age Verification.  Governments and corporations increasingly mandate users to undergo types of age verification. Online age verification can protect children from some harms, but it also introduces significant risks around privacy, security, surveillance, discrimination, and free expression.scientificamerican+1 Here are the major risk points:  ​ Privacy and data security Most robust … Read more

Journalism agenda: “CNN and the NYT Are Deliberately Obscuring Who Perpetrated the Afghan Hospital Attack…

CNN and the NYT Are Deliberately Obscuring Who Perpetrated the Afghan Hospital Attack The Intercept by Glenn Greenwald Much of the world spent the last 48 hours expressing revulsion at the U.S. airstrike on a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. It was quite clear early on that the perpetrator of the attack was the U.S., and many … Read more

Cyberculture agenda: It looks like France wants to emulate NSA type surveillance…

Edward Snowden joins Twitter and immediately throws shade at the NSA  The Next Web by Amanda Connolly Whistleblower Edward Snowden has officially come out of the shadows and joined Twitter using the handle @Snowden, which was verified within two hours of joining. Facing Sweeping Surveillance Bill, French Public Falls Between Alarm and Indifference  Global Voices Online by … Read more

Cyberculture agenda: RIP, Caspar Bowden… Hacking Team revelations… Reddit woes…

Hacking Team Shows the World How Not to Stockpile Exploits  Wired Top Stories by Kim Zetter Zero-day exploits are like gold to hackers. Keep them all in one place and you’re asking to get robbed. Caspar Bowden: NSA Hearing LIBE European Parliament, 24 September 2013  open Democracy News Analysis – by Caspar Bowden As a tribute to … Read more

Cyberculture agenda: Thanks to partially Snowden, “The NSA is no longer authorized to spy on US citizens

The NSA is no longer authorized to spy on US citizens — for now  The Next Web by Abhimanyu Ghoshal The US Senate failed to pass legislation extending legal authority of the country’s spy agencies — including the National Security Agency (NSA) — to collect data on American citizens’ communications on Sunday, reports Reuters. Senator Rand … Read more

HRW Campaign: Turkey: Strike Down Abusive Internet Measures

Turkey: Strike Down Abusive Internet Measures hrw.org – Sep 15 – The retention of metadata by the Telecom Directorate is deeply worrying because it gives the body the direct capacity to conduct surveillance on people’s internet use. The Turkish government very publicly champions the privacy rights of politicians… Related articles Turkey: Strike Down Abusive Internet … Read more

Cyberculture roundup: “BitTorrent Launches ?NSA-proof? Serverless Messenger App…

  BitTorrent Launches ?NSA-proof? Serverless Messenger App Over the past months the revelations of Edward Snowden have dominated the news. Internet privacy suddenly became a mainstream topic and all the negative news has increased the demand for encrypted and secure communications. How Can Somebody Who Loves Culture Possibly Defend The Copyright Monopoly? One of the most perplexing … Read more

Pew Report on Teens and Mobile Apps Privacy; Best of Ballmer… a Cyberculture roundup…

  Best of Ballmer: The products and moments that marked the tenure of Microsoft?s CEO Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced today that he will be stepping down from his position within the next 12 months. The change was somewhat unexpected and poses questions not only about his successor, but how the company should change and … Read more

Snowden drama today. Diplomatic row between US and Russia… and a Cyberculture roundup…

Morning Brief: Diplomatic Row Over Snowden Continues as Putin Refuses Extradition Diplomatic Row Over Snowden Continues as Putin Refuses Extradition     White House urges Russia to expel Snowden without delay The White House urged Russia to expel former government contractor Edward Snowden ‘without delay,’ as Kremlin opted out handing him over to the U.S. … Read more

Pew Report: Teens still use Facebook and know about privacy settings… A Cyberculture roundup…

Teens, Social Media, and Privacy: New Survey Findings from Pew and the Berkman Center Teens are sharing more information about themselves on social media sites than they have in the past, but they are also taking a variety of technical and non-technical steps to manage the privacy of that information. Despite taking these privacy-protective actions, … Read more

“Anyone Can Be Found on Social Media in 12 Hours…”How Facebook Teams Up With Data Brokers to Show You Targeted Ads

Anyone Can Be Found on Social Media in 12 Hours from Mashable! by MIT Technology Review The Disconcerting Details: How Facebook Teams Up With Data Brokers to Show You Targeted Ads from EFF.org Updates by Kurt Opsahl and Rainey Reitman Recently, we published a blog post that described how to opt out of seeing ads … Read more

Zero Knowledge Foundation: The Fine Print of Privacy

Eurosphere roundup: Google faces European privacy probe… Headscarf debate in France… Cyprus…

Google faces European privacy probe from BBC News | Europe | World Edition Six European data protection bodies are to launch coordinated investigations into Google’s privacy policy   Islamic headscarf debate rekindled in France from BBC News | Europe | World Edition Court ruling tests power of French secularism Slovenia dismisses Cyprus comparisons from FT.com … Read more