AI does not need a free pass
EU governments agreed on plans to ease the rules on using personal data for AI under the Digital Omnibus proposal. noyb warns that this would let companies reuse years of data without consent. Data shared for one service should not become free training data for AI.
Meta’s Muse show why this matters. They collect data about people who never signed up by reading messages via other users. Researchers also found financial data and business secrets exposed in shared conversations. We need stronger protection against using private data to train AI, not less.
My surveillance is better than yours
Consumer Reports’ study says most cars share vehicle information alongside personal information and locations linking who you are and where you drive. This a mainstream problem for nearly every driver now as such data can get weaponized to track or monitor its drivers.
Meanwhile, the EU requires new cars to have driver-facing cameras to detect attention. Dutch intelligence warns that car cameras, microphones, and GPS can be used to spy on us. Norwegian troops found out the hard way as rental cars recorded their movements, routes, and military gate codes.
Countries pushing internet blocks
France asked telecom operators to prepare social media blocks ahead of recent protests. Operators declined as such blocks would not be limited to one neighborhood and that peaceful bystanders and citizens would also lose access.
Poland’s parliament has also approved a bill letting regulators order website blocks. In France, a blocking order is pushing privacy service Quad9 out of the country. As EFF warns, these tools can also censor political speech, threatening an open internet and democratic society.
A parallel society needs an economy. PriFi protects its participants.
Logos is a private-by-default stack: private consensus, anonymous messaging, censorship-resistant storage, and Basecamp to run it locally. Private finance for communities, outside the legacy system.
News
Targeted adverts delivered spyware without a click - Attackers used the online advertising system to reach journalists at Al Jazeera and infect their computers.
Palantir software processes reports from EU message scans - Reports from EU message scanning analyses them with Palantir software.
Canadian surveillance plans could push privacy tools abroad - Psiphon planning to leave Canada rather than add the proposed surveillance features.
Samsung TVs recognize what you watch - They can recognize what plays from a connected laptop or console and use your viewing habits to target adverts.
Denmark breach exposes 8.8 million people’s identity data - Attackers used a private company’s register to access names, addresses, and national ID numbers.
Proton responds to criticism of its AI push - After 404 Media reported staff concerns, it says it will share its AI rules, security checks, and internal tools.
Tor sets limits on its Mullvad relationship - Tor continues their work but pause joint promotion after concerns on Mullvad co-founder’s political donations.
Wins
Meta ordered to pay $25 billion over Facebook privacy claims - The company once again misled who could access their Facebook data for political campaigns.
NLnet funds 47 open-source projects - The Dutch nonprofit is backing people who build private messaging, payments, search tools, and open hardware.
Residents get their city to end its Flock contract - Residents in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, collected signatures to remove 15 number-plate cameras.
Fnac Darty fined €7 million for app tracking - Privacy group noyb brought the complaint over tracking without permission.
Apple lets users exclude apps from Siri AI - After EFF’s campaign, iOS now lets you block access to selected apps, including their screen content.
Tools
In the Open tools - Simple tools to work with your files, redact text and protect personal information, locally on your device.
Find Flock cameras near you - See where US cameras record car number plates, using a December 2025 map to help challenge surveillance in your area.
CleanYourTV puts TV owners back in control - As Samsung TVs get reverse engineered to expose their privacy horrors.
Privacy Badger comes to Safari on Mac - EFF’s free browser add-on that blocks companies from data collection and following you across the web.
Privacy Pools V2 is live - A privacy protocol that enables compliant, private transactions on Ethereum.
Resources
Explore private AI assistants - Learn who can access your messages, how history is protected, and which settings matter.
Firefox asks what happened to the internet - Old web memes return in a short campaign about tracking, unwanted AI, and how the web changed.
Find your forgotten online accounts - Check old emails, receipts, and saved passwords to find services that still hold your data and ask them to delete it.
Watch the DWeb Camp talks - Builders share ways to make private payments, keep data on your own devices, and connect without a central platform.
See how browser fingerprinting works - Try a demo that shows how websites recognise your browser from device details, even after you delete cookies.
Events
02 Nov 2026 - Web3Privacy Congress (Mumbai, India)
03 Nov 2026 - Devcon Privacy Hub (Mumbai, India)
05 Nov 2026 - Same Product, Different Price (Online)
05 Nov 2026 - Black Alps (Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland)
07 Dec 2026 - Workshop on Privacy-Preserving Technologies (Hong Kong)
27 Dec 2026 - Chaos Communication Congress 40C3 (Hamburg, Germany)
30 Jan 2027 - FOSDEM (Brussels, Belgium)