Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast

Agents of Misfortune


Listen Later

The latest craze with artificial intelligence is agentic AI – exhibited most recently in the viral AI project called ClawdBot… or Moltbot… or OpenClaw. (The name has changed two times in less than a week.) You download this software, give it access to your AI chatbot accounts, and then give it full and complete access to your computer and online accounts. Why? So you can have an all-powerful assistant who can do real things in the real world as if they were you! What could go wrong?

In other news: a new lawsuit claims Meta can read all your WhatsApp messages; an AI toy exposed chat transcripts of their toddler owners; another AI app leaks millions of private conversations; TikTok’s new terms of service are very scary; the US wants visitors to fork over tons of personal info; UK officials were hit by Volt Typhoon; the UK wants to increase facial recognition in public places; the FBI failed to unlock journalist’s iPhone with Lockdown Mode enabled; Google adds cool anti-theft features; CA town disables Flock cameras; Google cripples home proxy network; and Firefox adds one toggle to disable AI features.

Article Links
  1. WhatsApp Encryption, a Lawsuit, and a Lot of Noise https://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2026/02/02/whatsapp-encryption-a-lawsuit-and-a-lot-of-noise/
  2. An AI Toy Exposed 50,000 Logs of Its Chats With Kids to Anyone With a Gmail Account https://www.wired.com/story/an-ai-toy-exposed-50000-logs-of-its-chats-with-kids-to-anyone-with-a-gmail-account/
  3. Massive AI Chat App Leaked Millions of Users Private Conversations https://www.404media.co/massive-ai-chat-app-leaked-millions-of-users-private-conversations/
  4. TikTok’s New Terms of Service Has Raised Alarm Bells https://lifehacker.com/tech/tiktoks-new-ownership-tos-concerns
  5. The Trump Administration wants your DNA and social media https://www.privacyinternational.org/news-analysis/5713/trump-administration-wants-your-dna-and-social-media
  6. Hackers suspected of spying on UK officials’ calls for years https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/27/chinalinked_hackers_accused_of_yearslong/
  7. Police to get 40 new live facial recognition vans and AI help in sweeping reforms https://news.sky.com/story/facial-recognition-technology-to-be-rolled-out-nationally-and-police-will-get-ai-support-13499172
  8. FBI Couldn’t Get into WaPo Reporter’s iPhone Because It Had Lockdown Mode Enabled https://www.404media.co/fbi-couldnt-get-into-wapo-reporters-iphone-because-it-had-lockdown-mode-enabled/
  9. Google Just Updated These Android Theft Protection Features https://lifehacker.com/tech/google-just-updated-these-android-theft-protection-features
  10. California city turns off Flock cameras after company shared data without authorization https://therecord.media/california-city-turns-off-flock-cameras-unauthorized-sharing
  11. Google cripples IPIDEA proxy network abused by crims https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/29/google_ipidea_crime_network/
  12. Mozilla Adds One-Click Option to Disable Generative AI Features in Firefox https://thehackernews.com/2026/02/mozilla-adds-one-click-option-to.html
  13. Tip of the Week: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/agents-of-misfortune/ 
  14. Further Info
    • TikTok’s Real Privacy Risks: https://internetsafetylabs.org/blog/research/tiktoks-real-privacy-risks/ 
    • Private TikTok viewer: https://sticktock.com/ 
    • EFF’s Atlas of Surveillance: https://www.atlasofsurveillance.org/ 
    • DeFlock: https://deflock.org/ 
    • My book: https://fdsd.me/book 
    • My newsletter: https://fdsd.me/newsletter 
    • Support our mission! https://fdsd.me/support 
    • Give the gift of privacy and security: https://fdsd.me/coupons 
    • Get your Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons Merch! https://fdsd.me/merch 
    • Table of Contents
      • 0:00:07: Intro
      • 0:00:51: News rundown
      • 0:02:51: WhatsApp encryption questioned
      • 0:11:34: AI toy’s logs exposed
      • 0:16:17: AI app leaks user data
      • 0:19:27: TikTok gets worse for privacy
      • 0:23:52: US demands more visitor data
      • 0:30:41: UK hit by Salt Typhoon
      • 0:33:47: UK proposes more mass surveillance
      • 0:36:51: Lockdown Mode protects WaPo journalist iPhone
      • 0:43:03: New Android anti-theft features
      • 0:45:54: CA town shuts down Flock
      • 0:49:07: Google hobbles bad proxy network
      • 0:52:33: Firefox AI kill switch
      • 0:55:18: Tip of the Week
      • 1:02:08: Wrap-up
      • 1:02:21: Patron podcast preview
      • 1:02:30: Looking ahead
      • ...more
        View all episodesView all episodes
        Download on the App Store

        Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons PodcastBy Carey Parker

        • 4.9
        • 4.9
        • 4.9
        • 4.9
        • 4.9

        4.9

        64 ratings


        More shows like Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast

        View all
        Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

        Hidden Brain

        43,524 Listeners

        Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

        Global News Podcast

        7,724 Listeners

        Hacked by Hacked

        Hacked

        188 Listeners

        This Week in Tech (Audio) by TWiT

        This Week in Tech (Audio)

        3,055 Listeners

        Security Now (Audio) by TWiT

        Security Now (Audio)

        2,008 Listeners

        The Daily by The New York Times

        The Daily

        112,988 Listeners

        Darknet Diaries by Jack Rhysider

        Darknet Diaries

        8,093 Listeners

        FT News Briefing by Financial Times

        FT News Briefing

        643 Listeners

        Techlore Surveillance Report by Techlore

        Techlore Surveillance Report

        110 Listeners

        Hard Fork by The New York Times

        Hard Fork

        5,553 Listeners

        The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

        The Ezra Klein Show

        16,447 Listeners

        Closed Network Privacy Podcast by Simon Walsh

        Closed Network Privacy Podcast

        20 Listeners

        Watchman Privacy by Gabriel Custodiet

        Watchman Privacy

        75 Listeners

        The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart by Comedy Central

        The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart

        10,904 Listeners

        The 404 Media Podcast by 404 Media

        The 404 Media Podcast

        400 Listeners