HeadFlash Privacy

From autonomous police drones to browser fingerprinting and EU message scanning, privacy is under siege on multiple fronts.

Sources:

• Hundreds of Drone-as-First-Responder Programs Could Soon Be Launched Across the Country | Electronic Frontier Foundation
• How to Stop Browser Fingerprinting, the Latest Method for Tracking Your Activity Across the Internet
• Should the EU scan your private messages with 'Chat Control'? Take our poll.
• Smart wearables challenge UK privacy laws through invisible surveillance
• Trump's new DOJ nominee wants to ban online porn and prosecute Big Tech

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New Jersey bans grocery surveillance pricing; Supreme Court requires warrants for geofence data; first US duress password prosecution.

Sources:

• New Jersey bans grocery stores from using shoppers' personal data to set prices • Jersey Vindicator
• Facebook Shadow Profiles Lawsuits | Non-User Health Data Collection?
• Georgia cops keep getting arrested for misusing Flock surveillance data
• TikTok risks a 6% fine as EU targets child safety failures
• Geofence Warrant Ruling Is a Big Victory for Personal Privacy
• US accuses American of allegedly wiping his phone using a 'duress' password during border search | TechCrunch
• Vanderbilt Health Worker's One Bad Click Sparks Patient Data Scare In Nashville
• Indonesia's Biometric SIM Drive Hits 10 Million, Targets 291 Million Existing Subscribers
• Sam Altman's Eye-Scanning ID Startup World Just Raised $52.5 Million, Even as Nvidia Chip Shortages Slow Its Rollout
• Pope's official prayer app commits cardinal sin, leaks 700K+ users' info
• Kill the Cookie Banner!
• Japan's Official Pokemon Card Stores to Require Facial Recognition for Entry and TCG Purchases - PokeBeach | PokéBeach
• CJEU blocks Sweden's GDPR exemption, reviving SEK 300,000 damages claim
• Quote of the day by ex-Google evangelist Vint Cerf: 'Privacy may actually be an anomaly' — putting our rights into perspective
• ‘Safeguard essential’: Supreme Court on withholding children’s Aadhaar details under APAAR scheme
• Pope's official prayer app commits cardinal sin, leaks 700K+ users' info

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LG bans residential proxies from smart TVs; EU renews CSAM scanning until 2028; Proton exposes ACR tracking; Google launches selfie video account recovery.

Sources:

• LG to Ban Residential Proxies from Smart TV Apps – Krebs on Security
• EU temporarily extends controversial chat-scanning regime until 2028 | Euronews
• Proton reveals how smart TVs track you and the escape situation is pretty grim
• You Can Now Recover Your Google Account With a Selfie Video - MacRumors

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From FBI location purchases to Flock's people lookup tool, this week's privacy landscape shifts underfoot.

Sources:

• FBI Director Confirms Bureau Buys Location Data on Americans, March 2026 | The Classified Record
• Truck Drivers Allegedly Ramming Flock Safety Cameras To Destroy Them - Gadget Review
• You Opened a Credit Card. ICE Now Knows Where You Live
• Trump's personnel agency says it will remove some identifying info as it sweeps up medical records
• License Plate Reader Company Flock Is Building a Massive People Lookup Tool, Leak Shows
• License Plate Reader Company Flock Is Building a Massive People Lookup Tool, Leak Shows

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OpenAI lost control of AI models; France bans social media for under-15s; Frontex unlawfully shared migrant data; and app risks for US troops.

Sources:

• OpenAI Models Escaped Containment and Hacked Hugging Face | WIRED
• La France interdit les réseaux sociaux aux moins de 15 ans, une première en Europe | Radio-Canada
• For years, the EU's border agency unlawfully transferred data on migrants and activists to Europol | International | EL PAÍS English
• AI Companies Are Buying Tons of Old Books Because They're Free of AI Slop
• Apps targeted at US troops contain Chinese and Russian code

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From EU biometric data sharing to Bangladesh's new surveillance law – today's top privacy stories.

Sources:

• The EU is about to sell our most sensitive data to the US for visa-free travel - European Digital Rights (EDRi)
• This Period-Tracking App Actually Keeps Your Data Private
• California Data Brokers Must Build a New Compliance Playbook
• Could the new gambling law threaten citizens' privacy?
• They Broke the Story on Flock Leaking Cops' License Plate Searches. Ask Them Anything.

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From Brussels to Texas, privacy battles escalate: AI access mandates, mass surveillance revelations, and wearable data risks.

Sources:

• EU Orders Google to Give Rival AI Apps the Same Android Access as Gemini
• LG TVs and monitors said to surveil users and install bloatware without asking
• ICE shared Medicaid data it wasn't supposed to have with Palantir
• Madison Square Garden sues media outlet over allegations of secret database tracking celebrity 'risk scores'
• Trump says China stole 220 million U.S. voter files in largest election-data breach
• Inside Pegasus: The evolution of the world's most notorious spyware system
• Meta Patents Technology to Detect Your Mood by Constantly Analyzing Your Tone of Voice
• San Francisco warns Apple and Google to stop profiting from AI nudify apps
• Why the EU's so-called Chat Control law has privacy experts up in arms
• How Texas Police Spent $4.5 Million on Four Chevy Tahoes
• Fitness Trackers Are a Subpoena Away: EFF Finds Only Apple Encrypts Health Data
• Burnham to scrap digital ID to focus on 'helping with cost of living'
• EU-Funded Herta Security Runs Banned Facial Recognition on 4,000 Indian Cameras

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Trump exposes massive voter data theft, Iran targets troops via ad tracking, Apple sued, period apps scrutinized, and Qantas gets a pass.

Sources:

• Trump reveals China stole voter registration data from 220M Americans
• Apple Sued Over Reported 'Hide My Email' Flaw - MacRumors
• Iran used ad tracking to hunt American soldiers: Report
• Period and Ovulation Apps Privacy Review 2026: Is Your Period Tracker Safe?

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23andMe settles for $18M, Samsung clarifies health data consent, OpenAI encrypts agent chats, and Indian nuclear plant data leaked.

Sources:

• States reach $18 million settlement with 23andMe
• Refusing Samsung Health AI training will not wipe your health history after all
• OpenAI's Codex now encrypts instructions between AI agents, leaving developers blind to internal delegation
• Kudankulam nuclear plant data breached, NPCIL says core systems untouched

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A look at surveillance nodes, LAPD's Flock negotiations, xAI's data leak, Google's AI training, and the data center boom.

Sources:

• You Know About Flock Cameras, Meet Nema Nodes: They Turn Streetlights Into A Surveillance Network
• LAPD renegotiating deal with Flock Safety to access company's license plate readers
• Grok Build was uploading entire Git repositories to xAI's cloud, including committed secrets
• Google is training AI on even more of your data now, unless you opt out - here's how
• New York Just Banned Large Data Centers—5 Numbers Explain Why the Backlash Is Spreading Nationwide

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