Privacy
Instagram will notify parents if teens repeatedly search suicide or self-harm content
Instagram said it would notify parents if their teenager repeatedly searches for terms related to suicide or self-harm within a short period, as pressure grows for governments to follow Australia's ban on the use of social media for under 16s.
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Russia breaks VPN defenses, fines Alphabet’s Google for app violations
Those who want out of Russia’s information space might be stuck. The country’s court has fined Alphabet's Google over 22 million roubles ($288,000) for distributing VPN (virtual private network) services on the Google Play app store, state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday.
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UK fines porn site $1.83M: “adult sites must deploy robust age checks to protect children from seeing porn”
British media regulator Ofcom has issued a fine of $1.83M million to porn company 8579 LLC for failing to implement age verification checks on its adult websites. On top of that, the company has been fined £50,000 for ignoring an information request.
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UK slaps Reddit with $20m fine for age verification and privacy breaches, warns other platforms to “take note”
The Information Commissioner’s Office has fined Reddit £14.5m pounds (almost $20m dollars) after finding the platform relied on easily bypassed age checks and unlawfully processed children’s data.
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Tech firms ordered to remove intimate images within 48 hours: no woman should wait any longer
Tech companies in the UK are now required to take images of non-consensual intimacy offline within 48 hours.
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West Virginia blames Apple for shielding child predators: “greatest platform for distributing child porn”
The US State of West Virginia is suing Apple for failing to detect and report child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on users’ iCloud accounts.
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Firm that verifies mugshots for ChatGPT and Roblox feeds US surveillance apparatus with 269 distinct checks
Every selfie or ID you upload to ChatGPT, Roblox, LinkedIn, and many other sites for verification is handled by a San Francisco firm called Persona. A massive leak has exposed its other side – a platform capable of feeding the US government with 269 sophisticated surveillance checks on millions of users worldwide.
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“I was tired of being tracked:” French dad’s “de-Googled” Android alternative OS nears 80,000 users
/e/OS, a privacy-focused mobile operating system created by an open source advocate and former Linux Mandrake founder is drawing steady interest from users looking to reduce their reliance on big tech ecosystems.
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Spain sends prosecutors after X, Meta and TikTok over AI abuse claims
The Spanish government has ordered prosecutors to investigate social media platforms X, Meta and TikTok for allegedly spreading AI-generated child sexual abuse material, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Tuesday.
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UK weighs VPN ban for children
The UK government will consider age-restricting or limiting children’s use of virtual private networks (VPNs) as part of its efforts to strengthen safety online, but critics warn it could put the country in the same league as North Korea.
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Beyond Discord: how age verification is changing the architecture of the internet
As more countries plan to age-gate social media for under-16s, the debate over age verification is no longer about whether it’s coming, but what kind of internet it will create. Some experts warn that we’re sleepwalking our way into an architecture we’ve considered little about.
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Doorbell surveillance backlash intensifies after Ring scraps Flock deal, FBI retrieves ‘inactive’ Nest footage
FBI retrieval of footage from an “inactive” Nest doorbell and Ring’s decision to scrap a Flock partnership are intensifying America’s doorbell surveillance debate.
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Europe may roll back some of its strict privacy rules
The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) are concerned that the Digital Omnibus goes far beyond a technical amendment of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Instead, the European supervisors feel it will affect individuals’ fundamental rights.
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Security experts warn Discord age checks create "identity honey pot" as teens find bypasses
Red teamers warn that Discord’s push toward stricter safety controls is colliding with a familiar truth: when platforms build barriers, users look for ways around them, and attackers look for ways in.
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You may now remove your ID from Google search results, but will it disappear from the web?
Google Search users in the United States can now find and request that search results containing government-issued IDs be removed.
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More than half of Denmark’s municipalities warned over Google data violations
The Danish privacy regulator Datatilsynet has reprimanded 51 Danish municipalities for using Google’s products in primary schools.
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The hypersonic race heats up: German startup hits Mach 6, challenges Russia
Hypersonica, a German defense and aerospace company, claims to have launched a missile prototype capable of reaching speeds exceeding Mach 6 and covering a distance of over 300 kilometers.
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Google and Shein pay up: French data watchdog hands out €486M in fines
Last year, the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), France’s data protection authority, imposed 83 sanctions on companies for violating Europe’s privacy laws, accumulating €486,839,500.
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Germany weighs social media ban, warning media literacy can’t keep up
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrat Union is considering limiting access to social media platforms for children under the age of 16, senior party members said, as a global movement towards tighter restrictions gathers pace.
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Ten Dutch municipalities fined for illegally processing sensitive information about Muslim communities
The Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) has issued fines, totaling €250,000, to ten municipalities for collecting and processing sensitive information about Muslim residents without their consent or knowledge.
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