Four positive VPN stories in one week: Mullvad's new multihop modes, Obscura shipping on Windows, Apple quietly patching the iCloud Private Relay leak, and Firefox's free VPN rolling out to Android. Then it gets darker: Flock built an AI tool that turns license plates into names, addresses, and relatives. Meta settled for billions over harms to kids. Plus X sent cease-and-desists that took Nitter and XCancel offline, and the usual data breaches, threats, and FOSS+ updates.🔎 EasyOptOuts is the easy, affordable, and effective way to automatically remove your data from people search sites: https://easyoptouts.comThanks to the EasyOptOuts team for sponsoring Surveillance Report!🧡 SUPPORT TECHLOREBecome a Techlorian and keep this show growing: ★ Support this podcast ★ 🔗 SOURCES & LINKSView all sources here: https://techlore.tech/apple-fixed-a-leak-without-telling-anyone-plus-more-vpn-news-and-flocks-creepy-police-ai/⏱️ TIMESTAMPS(00:00) - WELCOME TO SURVEILLANCE REPORT (00:40) - HIGHLIGHT: 4 VPN UPDATES (06:20) - FLOCK'S CREEPY AI TOOL (11:15) - META'S SETTLEMENT (14:44) - OUR SPONSOR: EASYOPTOUTS (16:32) - X ATTACKS FRONTENDS (20:48) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: DATA BREACHES (23:02) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: THREATS (29:08) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: FOSS+ 🎥 VIDEOWatch on YouTube 📰 ABOUT SURVEILLANCE REPORTYour essential weekly tech news podcast covering the latest threats to security, privacy, and digital freedom. Hosted by Henry Fisher from Techlore.

Three cracks opened up in Apple's privacy story this week: iCloud Private Relay leaking real IP addresses through DNS prefetching, WebTransport, and passkeys; Hide My Email exposing real addresses in bounce logs; and an unprecedented wave of spyware notifications going out to targeted users. Also this week: 737 fake VPN extensions sitting in the Chrome Web Store, Edge phasing out Manifest V2, a judge giving Google one week to fix its anticompetitive Play Store flow, and France's top court blocking the under-15 social media ban on free expression grounds.Stop handing out your real email address. addy.io gives every site an alias that forwards to your normal inbox. Open source, self-hostable, with browser extensions and mobile apps. 🚀 Get started for free: https://addy.io/?utm_source=techloreIn this episode:Highlight: Three Apple flaws worth acting on today: Private Relay's IP leaks, the Hide My Email exposure, the macOS screen-sharing bug, and the spyware alert wave737 fake VPN extensions impersonating Proton, Nord, Surfshark and Cloudflare in the Chrome Web Store, with 500+ still live after cleanupA judge gives Google one week to fix its anticompetitive Play Store flow after EpicFrance's top court blocks the under-15 social media ban, citing freedom of expression and privacyData Breaches: CareCloud (3.7M patients), a LiteLLM supply chain attack leaking terabytes of credentials, 3.6M Azure records, RingCentral (1.6M), Sakura Internet, Clarity Check's exposed face database, the French tax authority, SafePal, Trezor, and Pokémon CenterThreats: the Evooo1Bot Linux router botnet, Comcast adding motion sensing to millions of routers, Google buying bankrupt Spirit Airlines' customer data to train AI, DDoS attacks on Threema, and a Copilot prompt-injection disclosureFOSS+: Tor Browser 15.0.20, Waterfox 6.7 "Supernova," a native ad blocker in Firefox for iOS, Startpage arriving in Firefox, Brave 1.93's GPU fingerprinting protections, Proton Mail Categories, Proton's AI Paper Trail tool, Ente's post-quantum work, Linux kernel 7.2, the Fairphone Gen 6 Plus landing in the US, SimpleX's equity crowdfunding, and Pine64 halting Linux device production🧡 SUPPORT TECHLOREBecome a Techlorian and keep this show growing: ★ Support this podcast ★ 🔗 SOURCES & LINKSView all sources here: https://techlore.tech/apples-private-relay-is-leaking-your-ip-plus-fake-vpn-extensions-frances-big-win/⏱️ TIMESTAMPS(00:00) - WELCOME TO SURVEILLANCE REPORT (00:38) - APPLE USERS SHOULD LISTEN UP (09:04) - IMPORTANT BROWSER PRIVACY UPDATES (13:34) - OUR SPONSOR: ADDY.IO (15:06) - GOOGLE FORCED TO BEHAVE (18:24) - A HUGE WIN IN FRANCE (22:26) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: DATA BREACHES (27:30) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: THREATS (32:30) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: FOSS+ 🎥 VIDEOWatch on YouTube 📰 ABOUT SURVEILLANCE REPORTYour essential weekly tech news podcast covering the latest threats to security, privacy, and digital freedom. Hosted by Henry Fisher from Techlore.

Signal just shipped its largest set of updates in years: A second phone can finally be a linked device, automatic key verification is rolling out alongside safety numbers, and there are commits hinting at registration without a phone number. I also cover Google hosting rival app stores in the Play Store after its Epic loss, a fake Wi-Fi network on a Delta flight, a Reuters poll showing most Americans want tighter social media oversight, and Meta joining the list of companies whose AI agents ran their own attacks.🔎 EasyOptOuts is the easy, affordable, and effective way to automatically remove your data from people search sites: https://easyoptouts.comThanks to the EasyOptOuts team for sponsoring Surveillance Report!In this episode:Highlight: Signal's largest updates in years: linked phones and tablets, automatic key verification, and speculative phone-number-free registrationFollowing its Epic loss, Google starts hosting rival app stores inside the Play Store, and charges $15,000 to be thereDelta investigates a fake Wi-Fi hotspot on a flight carrying DEF CON attendeesThree in five Americans favor stronger oversight of social media, and why the regulation on the table targets you instead of the companiesMeta's AI model hacked a company during a misconfigured test, and why this is a negligence story, not an AI storyData Breaches: Ceva Logistics rippling into Steam hardware customers, Framework via Metabase, LexisNexis, Levi Strauss, a Swiss government SharePoint breach, IVPN's Bitcoin payment server, and Suisun City shutting down City HallThreats: surveillance tech linking your phone to your license plate, a new unpatched Windows Defender privilege escalation, North Carolina Ports, why the passkey attack is mostly a nothingburger, and Chrome's device-bound session credentialsFOSS+: Bitwarden's annual audit, Session's Pro beta and protocol v2, Stingle Photos returning, Cape's Trail of Bits audit of disappearing call logs, addy.io's label and plan updates, the Pixel 11 lineup, and Linux desktop use hitting 22%🧡 SUPPORT TECHLOREBecome a Techlorian and keep this show growing: ★ Support this podcast ★ 🔗 SOURCES & LINKSView all sources here: https://techlore.tech/signals-biggest-update-in-years-plus-rival-app-stores-arrive-in-the-play-store/⏱️ TIMESTAMPS(00:00) - WELCOME TO SURVEILLANCE REPORT (00:57) - 3 BIG SIGNAL UPDATES (06:56) - GOOGLE PLAY THIRD-PARTY APP STORES (10:48) - 'MILE HIGH HACKERS' (12:08) - OUR SPONSOR: EASYOPTOUTS! (14:02) - COMMENTARY ON SOCIAL MEDIA BANS (18:04) - MORE ROGUE AI AGENT HACKING (21:54) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: DATA BREACHES (27:02) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: THREATS (32:42) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: FOSS+ 🎥 VIDEOWatch on YouTube 📰 ABOUT SURVEILLANCE REPORTYour essential weekly tech news podcast covering the latest threats to security, privacy, and digital freedom. Hosted by Henry Fisher from Techlore.

OpenAI's rogue AI agent turned out to have hacked more than Hugging Face, and the more details come out, the less impressive it seems. Then Anthropic came forward with its own disclosure: three companies accessed during testing, two of which had no idea. Plus Iran-linked hackers burrowing into dozens of US water and energy systems, an activist facing a felony for wiping his GrapheneOS phone at the border with a duress password, and thousands of private Claude chats and Artifacts turning up indexed on Google. An AI-heavy week, with the usual data breaches, threats, and FOSS+ updates.🗺️ The open-source answer to Google Timeline is finally here! Replay every route and light up every city you've visited on a map nobody else owns; self-host Dawarich free or grab the hosted version at https://dawarich.app/techlore/ with code TECHLORE for 20% off your first year.In this episode:Highlight: OpenAI's escaped agent, the Hugging Face breach, and Anthropic's own disclosureIran-linked hackers disrupting US water and energy providers, 30+ Minnesota communities hitAn activist charged with a felony after a GrapheneOS duress password wiped his phone at the border, plus what US v. Belmonte-Cardozo means for warrantless border searchesThousands of private Claude chats and Artifacts indexed by GoogleData Breaches: CareCloud's ~350,000-person silence, Brinks Home, Origin (4.8M), OnTrac, Chick-fil-A, Analog Devices, KT's $39M fineThreats: Breyer on Chat Control 1.0's return, Google's age verification API on the Play Store, JetBrains TeamCity RCE, Mythos killing the Hawk PQC candidate, Mysk's silent macOS executable replacementFOSS+: Proton Pass autofill (now working on iCloud.com), Tails, Thunderbird 153 "Meadow," Firefox's Nova UI, Collabora Online, Wine 11.14🧡 SUPPORT TECHLOREBecome a Techlorian and keep this show growing: ★ Support this podcast ★ 🔗 SOURCES & LINKSView all sources here: https://techlore.tech/openais-hacking-story-got-worse-plus-iran-in-us-water-systems-a-felony-for-wiping-a-phone/⏱️ TIMESTAMPS🎥 VIDEOWatch on YouTube 📰 ABOUT SURVEILLANCE REPORTYour essential weekly tech news podcast covering the latest threats to security, privacy, and digital freedom. Hosted by Henry Fisher from Techlore.

France has become the first country in Europe to ban social media for children under 15. Meanwhile there's real good news elsewhere: the UK's incoming PM dropped digital ID entirely, and California's Senate killed its browser-level age mandate and exempted open source operating systems.🔎 EasyOptOuts is the easy, affordable, and effective way to automatically remove your data from people search sites: https://easyoptouts.comThanks to the EasyOptOuts team for sponsoring Surveillance Report!In this episode:HIGHLIGHT: France's under-15 social media ban, the UK dropping digital ID, and California scaling back its age-gating lawA device dealers install in cars across the US that leaves them open to Bluetooth unlocking and disablingNew stats showing the majority of Chat Control reports are false alarms, and that investigations are largely targeting minors themselvesCourts forcing Apple and Google to open up: EU interoperability requirements upheld, and third-party app stores landing on Google PlayData Breaches: Suno (55M users), South Korea's diplomatic corps, Romania's entire land registry wiped, Ernst & Young, Estée Lauder, Chick-fil-A, and Coca-Cola's FairlifeThreats: wp2shell WordPress exploits, an Adobe Chrome extension exposing WhatsApp Web chats, a 7-Zip RCE, a critical Zoom account takeover, credit card data flowing to ICE, and period tracker Stardust sharing health data with an analytics firmFOSS+: Signal polls in DMs, Tor Browser 15.0.19, YubiKey 5.8, native containers in Firefox 153, Vivaldi 8.1, WhatsApp's first-party encrypted backups, Briar entering maintenance mode, the Mullvad donation controversy, and our Techlore Tools v2026.07 release🧡 SUPPORT TECHLOREBecome a Techlorian and keep this show growing: ★ Support this podcast ★ 🔗 SOURCES & LINKSView all sources here: https://techlore.tech/france-bans-under-15s-from-social-media-a-hidden-device-leaves-us-cars-hackable-and-courts-force-apple-and-google-open/⏱️ TIMESTAMPS(00:00) - WELCOME TO SURVEILLANCE REPORT (00:46) - FRANCE BANNING SOCIAL MEDIA + MORE (08:04) - A SCARY CAR EXPLOIT (12:42) - STATS ON CHAT CONTROL (15:16) - OUR SPONSOR: EASY OPT OUTS (16:40) - APPLE & GOOGLE OPENING UP (20:26) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: DATA BREACHES (24:18) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: THREATS (32:08) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: FOSS+ 🎥 VIDEOWatch on YouTube 📰 ABOUT SURVEILLANCE REPORTYour essential weekly tech news podcast covering the latest threats to security, privacy, and digital freedom. Hosted by Henry Fisher from Techlore.

This week's a double-week catch-up: the EU just greenlit Chat Control even after Parliament voted against it, Microsoft had a brutal stretch between a decade-old Secure Boot flaw and a Windows Defender zero-day, Texas's app-store age verification law cleared its Supreme Court hurdle while the KIDS Act moves through Congress, and LAPD just let its Flock license-plate contract expire. Plus a double-week Defense Bulletin with breaches, threats and open source news!🗺️ The open-source answer to Google Timeline is finally here! Replay every route and light up every city you've visited on a map nobody else owns; self-host Dawarich free or grab the hosted version at https://dawarich.app/techlore/ with code TECHLORE for 20% off your first year.This week's episode covers:Highlight: EU Parliament greenlights Chat Control 1.0 despite the vote against itMicrosoft's brutal week: Secure Boot broken for a decade, a Windows Defender zero-day, and Windows share dropping below 60%The age-verification wave: SCOTUS lets Texas's app-store law stand, the KIDS Act clears the HouseThe Flock resistance: LAPD lets its contract expire, National Week of Action against ALPRs coming August 16–22Defense Bulletin: breaches at KDDI, AssuranceAmerica, Accenture, Mount Royal University, Lidl, Xsolis, and DHS's HSIN platformFOSS+: GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, LineageOS, Brave containers, Organic Maps, Proton updates, Tuta migration, and more🧡 SUPPORT TECHLOREBecome a Techlorian and keep this show growing: ★ Support this podcast ★ 🔗 SOURCES & LINKSView all sources here: https://techlore.tech/eu-passes-chat-control-anyway-plus-microsofts-secure-boot-mess-the-flock-resistance/⏱️ TIMESTAMPS(00:00) - INTRO TO SURVEILLANCE REPORT (00:56) - CHAT CONTROL IS BACK (07:06) - MICROSOFT HAD A ROUGH WEEK (16:30) - AGE VERIFICATION IN THE US (19:52) - OUR SPONSOR: DAWARICH (21:40) - THE FLOCK RESISTANCE (23:26) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: DATA BREACHES (26:00) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: THREATS (29:12) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: FOSS+ 🎥 VIDEOWatch on YouTube 📰 ABOUT SURVEILLANCE REPORTYour essential weekly tech news podcast covering the latest threats to security, privacy, and digital freedom. Hosted by Henry Fisher from Techlore.

Apple is moving Hide My Email aliases to a new private.icloud.com subdomain, which makes it trivial for any app or website to spot a private email and block the signup. 🔎 EasyOptOuts is the easy, affordable, and effective way to automatically remove your data from people search sites: https://easyoptouts.comThanks to the EasyOptOuts team for sponsoring Surveillance Report!In This Episode:Google preparing to use IP addresses for ad measurement across the EEA, UK & Switzerland (Aug 3)Chrome moving to fully block MV2, the last uBlock Origin workarounds are going awayNew surveillance laws in Canada + a UK push to ban social media for under-16s (with the age-verification nightmare that follows)The Arch Linux AUR malware saga...1,500+ packages, two wavesFull Defense Bulletin: Texas (3M IDs), LastPass, FIFA's wide-open World Cup portal, and a stack of FOSS updates🧡 SUPPORT TECHLOREBecome a Techlorian and keep this show growing: ★ Support this podcast ★ 🔗 SOURCES & LINKSView all sources here: https://techlore.tech/apple-quietly-downgrades-hide-my-email-plus-chrome-kills-ublock-origin-googles-ip-tracking/⏱️ TIMESTAMPS(00:00) - WELCOME TO SURVEILLANCE REPORT (00:36) - APPLE WEAKENING HIDE MY EMAIL (06:26) - CHROME FORMALLY ENDING MV2 (09:12) - OUR SPONSOR: EASYOPTOUTS! (10:32) - UK & CANADA SURVEILLANCE (15:44) - MALWARE IN THE AUR (18:34) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: DATA BREACHES (21:40) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: THREATS (24:36) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: FOSS+ 🎥 VIDEOWatch on YouTube 📰 ABOUT SURVEILLANCE REPORTYour essential weekly tech news podcast covering the latest threats to security, privacy, and digital freedom. Hosted by Henry Fisher from Techlore.

Meta quietly embedded unreleased facial-recognition code, internally called "nametag" onto more than 50 million phones through its Meta AI app, then deleted it the day after Wired exposed it. This week I also get into Microsoft repos weaponized a second time to push credential-stealing malware to AI users, the UK's ultimatum to scan every device (and Signal's response), the FCC's push to kill burner phones...plus the usual breaches, threats, and a stacked week of FOSS+ updates.🗺️ The open-source answer to Google Timeline is finally here! Replay every route and light up every city you've visited on a map nobody else owns; self-host Dawarich free or grab the hosted version at https://dawarich.app/techlore/ with code TECHLORE for 20% off your first year.In this episode:Highlight: Meta's secret face-recognition code on 50M+ phonesMicrosoft repos weaponized a second time in weeks to push credential-stealing malware to AI usersThe UK's ultimatum to scan all content on all devices and Signal's one-page rebuttalTwo states, two directions: Massachusetts bans precise-location-data sales (146–0); Texas forces Apple/Google age verification (SB2420)The FCC's push to kill burner phones by making telecoms collect everyone's IDDefense Bulletin, Breaches: DentaQuest, UN World Food Programme (600K Gaza households), ServiceNow, SoFi, Dashlane (20 vaults, but Argon2-encrypted), Oxford, 20K Instagram accounts via Meta's AI, French govt messagingThreats: Chrome zero-day, WhatsApp/NSO, Microsoft "Nightmare Eclipse" 0-days, UniFi root bug, Gogs RCE, npm + PyPI supply-chain attacks, Hola browser cryptominer, OpenAI Lockdown Mode, Apple's auto-password-changer, license-plate readers adding AirPod/phone trackersFOSS+: Tails 7.8.1, Firefox Vulkan video + free VPN going unlimited, Nextcloud Hub 26, Proton Drive CLI for Linux, Futo Keyboard, Brave Origin, FSFE's public-money-public-code win, and Loupe (see what your apps can see)🧡 SUPPORT TECHLOREBecome a Techlorian and keep this show growing: ★ Support this podcast ★ 🔗 SOURCES & LINKSView all sources here: https://techlore.tech/meta-hid-face-recognition-code-on-50m-phones-the-uks-device-scanning-ultimatum-a-burner-phone-ban/⏱️ TIMESTAMPS(00:00) - WELCOME TO SURVEILLANCE REPORT (01:00) - META ADDING SNEAKY FACIAL RECOGNITION (05:42) - MICROSOFT HACKED TO PUSH MALWARE (08:38) - THE UK'S SURVEILLANCE ULTIMATUM (11:40) - OUR SPONSOR: DAWARICH! (13:20) - GOOD & BAD NEWS IN US STATES (16:42) - FCC BANNING PRIVATE NUMBERS (20:00) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: DATA BREACHES (24:15) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: THREATS (28:54) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: FOSS+ 🎥 VIDEOWatch on YouTube 📰 ABOUT SURVEILLANCE REPORTYour essential weekly tech news podcast covering the latest threats to security, privacy, and digital freedom. Hosted by Henry Fisher from Techlore.

Dashlane has confirmed hackers stole around 20 encrypted password vaults, and the company is being unusually quiet about how it happened. Plus the Pentagon admits US troops were tracked using commercial location data, Europe accelerates its move away from US tech, and hackers hijacked celebrity Instagram accounts by simply asking Meta's AI support chatbot.🔎 EasyOptOuts is the easy, affordable, and effective way to automatically remove your data from people search sites: https://easyoptouts.comThanks to the EasyOptOuts team for sponsoring Surveillance Report!In this episode:Highlight: Dashlane confirms stolen password vaults and the LastPass parallelsPentagon confirms US troops tracked via commercial location dataEurope pulls away from US tech: EU Parliament drops Google, Euro-Office launches with TutaHackers hijack celebrity Instagram accounts by tricking Meta's AI support chatbotDefense Bulletin: breaches at Carnival Cruise, Charter, 23andMe, Ultrahuman, and more. Threats: actively exploited Android zero-day, Red Hat npm packages backdoored, HTTP/2 Bomb DoS, Signal backup phishing, websites spying via SSD activity. FOSS+ Updates: Tor Browser 15.0.15, Mullvad Android audit, Proton Mail's Gmail bridge, Rocky Linux 10.2, openSUSE Tumbleweed, NixOS 26.05🧡 SUPPORT TECHLOREBecome a Techlorian and keep this show growing: ★ Support this podcast ★ 🔗 SOURCES & LINKSView all sources here: https://techlore.tech/dashlane-confirms-hackers-stole-password-vaults-pentagon-location-tracking-and-hackers-trick-metas-ai/⏱️ TIMESTAMPS(00:00) - WELCOME TO SURVEILLANCE REPORT (00:56) - DASHLANE LOSES CUSTOMER PASSWORD VAULTS (06:05) - MILITARY HIT BY THE SURVEILLANCE ECONOMY (12:55) - OUR SPONSOR: EASYOPTOUTS! (14:32) - EURO ACCELERATES AWAY FROM BIG TECH (20:00) - INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS HACKED WITH META'S AI (24:00) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: DATA BREACHES (27:06) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: THREATS (34:08) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: FOSS+ 🎥 VIDEOWatch on YouTube 📰 ABOUT SURVEILLANCE REPORTYour essential weekly tech news podcast covering the latest threats to security, privacy, and digital freedom. Hosted by Henry Fisher from Techlore.

A rare and genuine win against age verification with California following Colorado in exempting Linux and other open source operating systems from its Digital Age Assurance Act, directly because of community pressure. Plus AI cameras on tens of thousands of school buses being quietly repurposed for police access, a bipartisan amendment that could end nationwide automatic license plate reader programs, the open source supply chain under unprecedented attack, and a Trump Mobile data leak.In this episode:Highlight: Age verification laws are coming for everyone except open sourceBusPatrol AI school bus cameras now angling for police accessBipartisan amendment to end nationwide police license plate trackingDefense Bulletin: data breaches at Trump Mobile, 7-Eleven, Charter, plus a major GitHub/TanStack supply chain compromiseThreats: open source code poisoned at unprecedented scale, AI agents imperiled by critical vulnerability, Defender zero-days, Apex One zero-day, Linux kernel privilege escalation, Mullvad on exit-IP fingerprinting, Texas AG sues Meta over WhatsApp encryptionFOSS+ Updates: Tails 7.8, Firefox's new design, Tuta improvements, AltStore on-device sideloading, Vivaldi 8.0, Linux Mint / Rhino Linux / MX Linux / AlmaLinux updates🧡 SUPPORT TECHLOREBecome a Techlorian and keep this show growing: ★ Support this podcast ★ 🔗 SOURCES & LINKSView all sources here: https://techlore.tech/california-exempts-open-source-from-age-verification-plus-school-bus-surveillance-getting-out-of-control/⏱️ TIMESTAMPS(00:00) - WELCOME TO SURVEILLANCE REPORT (00:52) - HIGHLIGHT: CALIFORNIA & COLORADO EXEMPT LINUX (06:02) - THINK OF THE CHILDREN BUS SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM (10:22) - SUPPORT THE PODCAST (11:22) - LEFT AND RIGHT UNITE AGAINST ALPR (14:34) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: DATA BREACHES (18:34) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: THREATS (26:52) - DEFENSE BULLETIN: FOSS+ 🎥 VIDEOWatch on YouTube 📰 ABOUT SURVEILLANCE REPORTYour essential weekly tech news podcast covering the latest threats to security, privacy, and digital freedom. Hosted by Henry Fisher from Techlore.