HeadFlash Privacy

From a quiet ban on census privacy tools to a landmark ruling on AI chats, this edition covers five critical privacy developments.

Sources:

• Right-Wing Groups Just Got a Big Win on the Census
• Surprise, Surprise: More Evidence That What You Say To Your Chatbot Isn't Always Private
• Why careful people still end up on data broker sites
• First American sued by homeowners over its property database
• Criminals scamming billions from Medicare using fake AI voices, hacking data — all without setting foot in the USA

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From thermal satellites to gunshot detectors, this week's privacy news reveals growing tensions between tech capabilities and civil liberties.

Sources:

• This UK Satellite's Thermal Camera Raises Major Privacy Concerns
• Patreon Blocks Crawlers From Stealing Creators' Work for AI Training
• New Google Tags Will Tell You When an Ad Was Made or Altered Using AI
• LAPD suspends use of Flock surveillance cameras over privacy issues
• Meta Patent: AI That Tracks Your Emotions Over Time
• Is the government listening? Gunshot detectors spark backlash
• EDPB blocks AI firms from using consent as an excuse to scrape
• Meta kills Muse Image feature that let anyone generate AI photos of Instagram users without consent
• Google may use your photos and voice to train AI
• Meta blocks camera on AI glasses if LED light is destroyed
• Taboola turns 7 million DeeperDive users into ad inventory for any chatbot

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EU parliament approves suspicionless message scanning until 2028; EDPB issues strict blockchain guidelines; Puerto Rico exposes 1M SSNs; Meta pauses keystroke tracking; artists confront AI data scraping.

Sources:

• EU Parliament greenlights Chat Control 1.0 – Breyer: “Our children lose out” – Patrick Breyer
• EU Finalizes GDPR Blockchain Rules: Encrypted Data Is Still Personal Data
• A Puerto Rico government agency exposed 1M Social Security numbers
• Meta CTO says employee-tracking data landed ‘where it wasn’t supposed to go’
• Their music may have trained AI. No one asked them either way

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Supreme Court ruling ends FTC independence, EU votes on message scanning, and Transsion phones leak telemetry to China.

Sources:

• We tracked our blackmailer to a village in Nigeria and showed up with cameras (and a machine gun).
• EU to extend temporary message-scanning regime to detect child sexual abuse online | Euronews
• TikTok is tracking you, even if you don't use the app. Here's how to stop it
• Supreme Court Ends FTC Independence, Opening US Data Privacy Enforcement Gap
• 1-in-2 phones sold in Africa exfiltrate telemetry to China - NowSecure
• This Massive Data Breach Compromised Nearly 7 Million Driver's Licenses

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Supreme Court lets Texas enforce app age verification; Europol faces complaint over shadow IT; Google expands Search data for AI; Scattered Spider hacker arrested.

Sources:

• Supreme Court declines to block Texas age-verification law for app downloads | AP News
• Windows 11 identifier code used to track Scattered Spider perp after Microsoft shared info with FBI — 19-year-old US-Estonian hacker arrested over alleged ties to infamous extortion group | Tom's Hardware
• Complaint urges ban on ‘unlawful’ Europol processing of personal data | Computer Weekly
• Is Google using your searches to train its AI? Here's how to opt out
• Hilton, LinkedIn, PNC Bank, Wells Fargo face class actions over alleged pixel tracking, privacy violations

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Reno police sued over facial ID arrests; Connecticut enacts child privacy law; Google changes IP tracking; Microsoft device ID revealed.

Sources:

• “Lawsuit: Reno police made thousands of unlawful arrests using facial ID”
• “Attorney General Tong: New Connecticut Online Privacy Protections for Children Now in Effect”
• “The Best Private Messaging App Isn’t WhatsApp or Signal, It’s Delta Chat”
• “Google's update on IP tracking has crossed a new line — here's why a VPN is more crucial than ever”
• “A Hacker's Arrest Reveals Microsoft Can Track Users Via a Windows Device ID”

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Noyb challenges EU-US data framework after Supreme Court ruling; China's AI companion law takes effect; UK agencies urge parents to stop sharing kids' photos.

Sources:

• Parents warned not to publicly share children’s images amid AI abuse risks - BBC News
• Govt orders Apple, Google to remove 7 Chinese apps
• Data protection rules slow LLM rollout in Europe, study says
• EU-US Data Privacy Framework Under Threat After Supreme Court Ruling
• Alibaba bans Claude Code after Anthropic is caught tracking Chinese users with hidden code
• France to ditch Palantir’s AI data tools in favour of domestic provider | France | The Guardian
• China AI Companion Law Arrives July 15: Doubao and Qwen Agent Data Will Be Deleted
• The Telegram 'A-P-P-P': Privacy, Piracy, and Pornography
• Flock's A.I.-enabled street cameras see backlash across the country
• Cleveland Voted to Kill Its Flock Camera Network. They Have REMAINED ON, With Police Still Using Them - Gadget Review
• ‘One of the worst things to happen to childhood’: Parents concerned Roblox will slip through gaps in online safety crackdown
• Tools to keep your kids safe on social media have 'critical' flaws, study finds. So is there any hope of protecting them?
• I switched to an open-source notes app for 2 weeks, and I wish I had done it sooner
• WhatsApp's username feature has re-ignited India’s debate over online message traceability

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Spain blacklists Palantir, EU eyes social media ban for kids, New Jersey targets surveillance pricing, and Signal tip line breach.

Sources:

• Spain Orders Blacklist of US Tech Giant Palantir From Public and Private Companies
• Just a moment...
• New Jersey Becomes Latest State to Pass Law Against Surveillance Pricing
• Gay dating app Goose accused of using AI models to drum up interest
• Shared Message — A Third Party Breached The Intercept's Signal Tip Line and Has Been Soliciting Whistleblowers
• Tesla Said the Crash Data Was Missing. A Hacker Found It Anyway.

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This week: Apple's Hide My Email still leaks real addresses, Connecticut protects brainwaves, and a US firm dives for a laptop in China.

Sources:

• Apple ‘Hide My Email’ Vulnerability Reveals Peoples’ Real Email Addresses
• Connecticut Classifies Brain Data as Sensitive Starting July 1: New Rights for EEG Wearable Users
• CA to share driver license data despite immigration fears - CalMatters
• Alameda County extends Flock Safety contract amid worries over surveillance network
• Hidden code in Claude Code secretly flagged Chinese users
• US-based ‘Amazon of South Korea’ forced to recover laptop from bottom of Chinese river in bizarre data privacy clampdown: report

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Reddit locks old.reddit behind login, White House sites hide analytics, Illinois targets AI deepfake bullies, and Schrems strikes again.

Sources:

• Reddit will require you to log in to use old.reddit.com - Ars Technica
• Trump's White House Allegedly Rebuilt Federal Websites Quietly With Hidden Visitor Tracking Tools | IBTimes UK
• Hate “The Algorithm?” RSS Is One of the Tools You’ve Been Looking For | Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Illinois Schools Brace For AI Deepfake Bullies With New Legal Crackdown
• Schrems preps new privacy challenge to EU-US data deal

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