Xiaofeng Wang is missing. Government censorship on Instagram and Facebook . . . from overseas! Siri recording lawsuit is settled. Google sued twice. Get ready for Journey Pass.
LinuxMint now has OEM support for LMDE.
Privacy: Lessons from what happened to Amir Makled.
Fail: Change Healthcare
Links
Democracy Now! interview with Amir Makled
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
ICE is watching your social media. So is Publicis Groupe. Clearview AI attempted to add arrest records to its database
Opsec: four lessons from the Yemen Signal chat incident. Alexa now sends all your requests to Amazon because AI. 23 And Me is going out of business; erase your data.
Fail: Heathrow Airport
Links:
Publicis Groupe bragging about what they know (YouTube)
California AG Rob Bonta on how to delete your 23 And Me data
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
CISA loses some funding; hilarity likely to ensue. EU looking for alternatives to Starlink for Ukraine’s use. AI being used to monitor students at school and fails miserably. Drones to monitor students on the way to and from school in Ramapo, NY. Drones to monitor . . . everybody . . . in Miami Beach.
New tool to detect cell site simulators. FindMy network can find any Bluetooth device. Honda fined by California for making it difficult for residents to claim their rights. Consumers’ Union petitions carmakers to knock it off.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Another small-town newspaper gets it first amendment rights violated. No more signal links on X. Ukraine likely to lose Starlink access. New York requires $15 broadband options; ISPs scared. Deflock sued by Flock; tells plaintiff to go flock themselves.
Please take care not to send rude emails to hr@opm.gov or any of its related email addresses.
Listener letter: Micky Metts.
Government requiring – or trying to require – backdoors in cryptographic products in UK, Sweden, US.
Opsec tip: How to shut off SafetyCore so it stops scanning your photos.
Pwn: US government. Fail: NY state government.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Your exercise bike is ratting you out. People-Tec have some makeup advice. Federal Cybersec reviews are not happening.
Links may change or disappear, so save everything locally.
Privacy news: Good news on 702 exemptions. GM agrees to stop spying for five years. Subarus can be tracked, locked, unlocked, started and stopped with very little info about the owner. Texas sues Allstate over tracking their clients. Amazon also sued over tracking. Cambridge Analytica knows too much about your guns.
Opsec tips: Use Signal or Jitsi for organizing, but more importantly, make sure you can trust everyone you invite into the chat.
Fail: Stellantis, NSA, and some scammer posing as the FCC.
Resources
Novel AI Camera Camouflage: Face Cloaking Without Full Disguise
Hacking Subaru: Tracking and Controlling Cars via the STARLINK Admin Panel
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Sorry, listeners, I’ve come down with a bad case of the flu, and my voice is shot. I will create episode 158 when I am better.
Major data broker pwnt. Stingrays at the DNC. Net neutrality is dead. EAS Misfires in Los Angeles.
Interview with Alex Marthews of Restore The Fourth. We talk about surveillance and laws to control it.
Opsec: Apple opts you into image analysis, and settles a lawsuit over Siri hearing too much. Cars record too much info, and so do ALPRs.
Pwns: US Treasury Department, Volkswagen.
Fail: Waymo
Links:
Mozilla Foundation’s analysis of cars and privacy
What happens without Net Neutrality
The four episodes where I spoke about data brokers selling your car’s location data: 146, 147, 148 and 150.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
This is the full interview with Alex Marthews of Restore the Fourth that appeared in Episode 157 in slightly abridged form.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Errata: At the end of the episode, I mentioned that Episode 157 will drop on January 15th. That date should be January 12th.
Senators write a stern letter to carmakers. Meta sues NSO group and wins. Using the DMCA as a censorship tool.
Focus: Resources for protecting your privacy (see below)
Opsec: Careless posting on Social Media
Fail: City of Albany, NY
Resources:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Site that tracks ALPRs. Target sued for collecting biometrics.
Eight telecoms pwnt by Chinese hackers. Pegasus spyware again. iVerify countermeasures for Pegasus. Data brokers tracking where they’re not supposed to. FBI says to use end-to-end encryption. No, really, they did. Choosing an app for that. What is “well-managed” encryption.
Listener letters: A brief primer on cell phone locks, and a promise to talk about it more.
I’m experimenting with Airplane mode; how that’s going.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download