§ privacy
Privacy & Digital Rights
Surveillance, data protection, and how to keep ownership of your digital life.
19 ARTICLES
May 2026
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A Website Should Not Be Able to Watch Your SSD
FROST is a browser side channel that uses OPFS storage timing and SSD contention to infer what else is happening on your machine. It is not a catastrophe. It is a warning about how much power we keep handing to ordinary web pages.
7 min read
May 2026
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Meta Just Made 2 Billion Instagram Users' DMs Readable Again
On May 8, Meta quietly removed end-to-end encryption from Instagram DMs. The stated reason was low adoption. The timing — 11 days before the Take It Down Act takes effect — tells a different story.
10 min read
May 2026
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275 Million Students Just Had Their Data Stolen. They Never Had a Say.
ShinyHunters breached Instructure's Canvas platform for the second time in eight months. The stolen data includes student messages, names, and IDs across 9,000 schools — from a system students were required to use.
10 min read
Apr 2026
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MSG Spent $6 Million on Facial Recognition. Staff Used It to Build Files on Critics.
Madison Square Garden's biometric system has been used to preemptively enroll critics who never visited, eject a 9-year-old because of her mother's law firm, and compile an 18-page surveillance dossier on a trans woman. A lawsuit put the specifics on paper.
11 min read
Apr 2026
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Europe Pulled the Plug on Mass Message Scanning. The Proposal Isn't Dead.
The EU Parliament voted to let the legal basis for mass-scanning private messages expire. Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Snap were all operating under that safe harbor. It's the most significant institutional win for encrypted communications in years — and the pressure hasn't dissolved.
11 min read
Apr 2026
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New York's Budget Hides a Surveillance Mandate for Every 3D Printer
Buried in New York's 2026-2027 budget is a provision that would require every 3D printer sold in the state to run state-maintained censorware on every print job. California has its own version. This is not about guns.
10 min read
Apr 2026
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Google Promised It Would Warn You. Then ICE Asked.
Google handed a Cornell PhD student's data to ICE without notice — voluntarily, when no law required it. Congress votes on Section 702 in three days.
10 min read
Feb 2026
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Why Your Car Is a Privacy Nightmare in 2026 (And How to Opt Out in the EU)
Modern cars are essentially smartphones on wheels, collecting vast amounts of data. Here is what they track and how to use GDPR to fight back.
4 min read
Feb 2026
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Your Loan Application Is Now on the Dark Web
A wave of social engineering attacks is hitting fintech companies hard. Here's why they have so much of your data and how to limit your exposure.
7 min read
Feb 2026
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600,000 Customers Just Got Exposed — Here's How to Shop Online Without a Trace
The Canada Goose breach is a reminder that every online purchase creates a data trail. Here's how to minimize yours.
7 min read
Feb 2026
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The Add-ins Reading Your Email
That helpful browser extension or Outlook add-in might be harvesting everything you type. Here's how to audit what's watching you.
6 min read
Feb 2026
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Escaping the Algorithm: How to Make Social Media Less Addictive
The EU just ruled TikTok's design is illegally addictive. Here's how to reclaim your attention on every major platform.
7 min read
Feb 2026
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Why I Give Every Service a Different Email Address
Email aliases are the simplest way to limit your exposure when services inevitably get breached.
7 min read
Feb 2026
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What Happens to Your AI Chats
Your conversations with ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini aren't as private as you might think. Here's what each company does with your data and how to protect yourself.
8 min read
Jan 2026
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Your Dating App Data Just Got Leaked (Again)
What the Match Group breach means for your privacy, and how to protect yourself on dating apps.
6 min read
Jan 2026
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How to Disappear from Data Brokers
A practical guide to removing your personal information from data broker sites — with a focus on your GDPR rights.
6 min read
Jan 2026
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Your Phone Is Tracking You: Here's How to Stop It
A practical guide to reducing location tracking on your smartphone without throwing it in the ocean.
4 min read
Jan 2026
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VPNs: When You Actually Need One (And When You Don't)
Cutting through the marketing hype to explain what VPNs actually do and whether you need one.
7 min read
Jan 2026
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The Privacy Settings You're Ignoring on Social Media
Platform-by-platform guide to the settings that actually matter for your privacy.
7 min read
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