This Week in Privacy
This Week in Privacy
Privacy Guides
A weekly live podcast from Privacy Guides - We cover updates on what we’re working on, privacy news from around the industry, and anything our community wants to share. Privacy Guides is a non-profit, impartial organization that is focused on delivering the best online privacy advice and building a strong privacy community.
Mullvad’s Co-owner Made A Controversial Donation
Mullvad's Co-owner Daniel Berntsson has made a large political donation from Mullvad's profits, leading people to cancel their service, Apple has fixed a vulnerability in Hide-My-Email and an explosion of surveillance towers are coming to the US border costing over $1 billion US dollars. Join us for This Week In Privacy #63 (00:00) - Intro (00:35) - Start of podcast (02:39) - Mullvad Donation Controversy (34:46) - An Explosion of Surveillance Towers is Coming to U.S. Borders, Costing Over $1 Billion (45:14) - Forum updates: Is there space for another private messaging app (54:20) - Site updates (01:02:34) - The Fourth Circuit Says Border Agents Can Search Your Phone By Hand, No Suspicion Required (01:14:03) - Forum updates: Leave FCC Comment, Deadline Tomorrow (01:23:43) - OpenAI Models Escaped Containment and Hacked Hugging Face (01:32:22) - Forum updates: Is there a point in supporting projects? (01:41:58) - Apple Fixes Hide My Email Vulnerability After 404 Media Coverage (01:56:54) - Outro ★ Support this podcast ★
Jul 24
1 hr 58 min
Windows 0 Day Exploit Situation Is Wild
Microsoft just fixed a record number of vulnerabilities this patch Tuesday, but a 0 day exploit dropped right after leaving them scrambling, the Los Angeles Police Department just let it's contract expire with Flock, citing 'serious concerns' over privacy and Cloudflare is rolling out a creepy bot detection system that watches your keyboard and mouse movements. Join us for this Week In Privacy #62! (00:00) - Intro (00:40) - Start of podcast (01:04) - Windows 0-day drops the same day Microsoft releases record number of patches (17:00) - Microsoft Restores Player's 25-Year-Old Account With Son's Baby Photos After Nuking It Due to Hacker (25:49) - LAPD lets contract with surveillance giant Flock expire, citing 'serious concerns' over civil liberties and privacy (37:33) - Site updates (41:06) - Cloudflare Precursor watches your mouse and keyboard to decide if you are human (49:25) - Your Period Data Should Be Private (01:05:58) - Forum updates (01:12:26) - Q&A (01:42:16) - Outro ★ Support this podcast ★
Jul 17
1 hr 43 min
Did Apple Add A Keylogger to the App Store?
A security researcher has discovered that the iOS App Store saves all keystrokes and ties it to your Apple ID - raising privacy concerns, yet another cop is using Automated License Plate Readers to stalker someone, and all cars in the EU might require a camera aimed at your face! Join us for This Week In Privacy #61. (00:00) - Intro (00:36) - Start of podcast (01:03) - Apple adds keylogger to iOS App Store for targeted advertising (10:17) - A Third Party Breached The Intercept's Signal Tip Line and Has Been Soliciting Whistleblowers (21:16) - Footage Shows Cop Stalking Woman He Met on a TV Set After Surveilling Her With a License Plate Reader (36:15) - Site updates (41:14) - ICE's Internal Watchdog Is Now Investigating Online Critics (54:01) - All Cars Sold in the EU Now Require a Camera Aimed at Your Face. It's Still Not Clear Where That Data Goes (01:04:34) - Forum updates (01:23:21) - Q&A (01:25:50) - Outro ★ Support this podcast ★
Jul 10
1 hr 27 min
CalyxOS Is Officially Back!
CalyxOS is officially back with a stable release, A researcher has discovered Apple's Hide My Email feature can originating email addresses, the US Supreme Court has gutted the governments ability to use geofence warrants, and more! Join us for This Week In Privacy #60. (00:00) - Intro (00:39) - Start of podcast (01:10) - CalyxOS is back - release 7.2.2.0 with full maintenance support (18:24) - Apple 'Hide My Email' Vulnerability Reveals People's Real Email Addresses (26:55) - Supreme Court ruling guts government's use of geofence warrants (34:28) - Site updates (40:14) - WhatsApp usernames are already raising impersonation red flags (50:54) - Woman Surprised When Flock Surveillance Tower Appears in Her Yard Without Warning (56:54) - Forum updates (01:15:15) - Q&A (01:29:40) - Outro ★ Support this podcast ★
Jul 3
1 hr 31 min
No News is Good News? Q&A Episode
It's a quiet news week, so we're diving into questions from the community and discussing a few less interesting stories. Join us for This Week In Privacy #59 (00:00) - Intro (00:39) - Start of podcast (01:27) - Are there privacy advantages to desktop OS's vs GrapheneOS (06:50) - Announcing Mozilla.org (19:15) - Following user outcry, AMD reinstates memory encryption in consumer CPUs (32:07) - Site updates (38:00) - Are there any KeepAndroidOpen.org updates? (51:49) - White House app auto-downloads to government phones, can't be uninstalled (01:03:57) - 50% of LG and Samsung smart TV apps embed residential proxies (01:18:50) - Forum updates (01:28:42) - Outro ★ Support this podcast ★
Jun 26
1 hr 30 min
Android 17 for GrapheneOS is here! (sort of...)
Android 17 has officially launched and GrapheneOS has just announced an experimental build with a stable release coming soon (update Jun 19: delayed...), the United States controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act has expired but spying will continue till March 2027, AMD has striped hardware cryptography from it's consumer CPUs and more! Join us for This Week In Privacy #58 (00:00) - Intro (00:39) - Start of podcast (01:13) - Android 17 Launched, What New Privacy/Security Features Does it Bring? (17:32) - (Canadian) Liberals dismiss 'tinfoil hat' privacy fears as lawful access bill passes (28:37) - Controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act spying law expires tonight. The spying will continue. (50:13) - Site updates (54:58) - If the FCC Bans Burner Phones, It Could Be a Privacy Nightmare (01:27:54) - UK to ban social media for kids under 16, may impose overnight curfews (01:39:20) - Forum updates (01:55:35) - Q&A (02:03:06) - Outro ★ Support this podcast ★
Jun 19
2 hr 4 min
License Plate Readers Are Framing Innocent People
Automated license readers by Flock have tied a person who was miles away to a violent crime effectively framing them, the state of Massachusetts in the US has passed a privacy bill to stop the sale of precise location data and more! Join us for This Week In Privacy #57. (00:00) - Intro (00:49) - Start of podcast (01:14) - A flock license plate reader linked a San Diego man to a violent crime. He was five miles away. (19:42) - WhatsApp says it caught new spyware attacks linked to NSO Group in violation of court order (27:30) - Massachusetts votes to pass new privacy rights bill that bans sale of precise location data (42:39) - Site updates (51:50) - New apple feature automatically changes your compromised passwords (58:17) - Signal, DuckDuckGo among firms weighing Canada exit over lawful access bill (01:09:18) - Over 400 Arch Linux packages compromised to push rootkit, infostealer (01:17:29) - Forum updates (01:27:42) - Q&A (01:45:55) - Outro ★ Support this podcast ★
Jun 12
1 hr 47 min
GTA V Cheaters Just Got Exposed!
GTA V cheat service Atlas Menu just got hacked exposing thousands of gamers as cheaters, Microsoft is under fire for threatening a security researcher who disclosed vulnerabilities, hackers are using Meta's AI chatbot to seize control of Instagram accounts and more! Join us for This Week In Privacy #56.0:00 Intro0:43 Start of podcast1:47 Grand Theft Auto V cheat service gets hacked, exposing thousands of gamers18:08 Microsoft under fire for threatening security researcher with criminal investigation33:49 Site updates43:38 Hackers used Meta's AI Support Bot to Seize Instagram Accounts58:29 Meta Silenty Added Face-Recognition Code for Its Smart Glasses to Millions of Phones1:16:21 Dashlane explains how attackers managed to download encrypted password vaults1:34:45 Forum updates2:13:46 Q&A2:25:08 Outro (00:00) - Intro (00:43) - Start of podcast (01:47) - Grand Theft Auto V cheat service gets hacked, exposing thousands of gamers (18:08) - Microsoft under fire for threatening security researcher with criminal investigation (33:49) - Site updates (43:38) - Hackers used Meta's AI Support Bot to Seize Instagram Accounts (58:29) - Meta Silenty Added Face-Recognition Code for Its Smart Glasses to Millions of Phones (01:16:21) - Dashlane explains how attackers managed to download encrypted password vaults (01:34:45) - Forum updates (02:13:46) - Q&A (02:25:08) - Outro ★ Support this podcast ★
Jun 6
2 hr 26 min
GrapheneOS is Taking Accessibility Seriously!
GrapheneOS has announced the public release for it's speech synthesis service, which is open source and created in house by the GrapheneOS team, meanwhile in America, California is moving to exempt Linux from it's age verification laws, a company is putting AI cameras in school buses across the United States, and more! Join us for This Week In Privacy #55. (00:00) - Intro (00:45) - Start of podcast (01:18) - Initial release of GrapheneOS Spech Services for text-to-speech (14:23) - Identifying People Using Wi-Fi Routers (28:46) - Site updates (39:49) - California moves to exempt Linux from its upcoming age-verification law after backlash (01:03:12) - Funding F-Droid and Internet Freedom (01:15:23) - Perfect randomness realized for the first time (01:20:12) - Forum updates (01:59:05) - Q&A (02:29:25) - Outro ★ Support this podcast ★
May 30
2 hr 30 min
Google's Smart Glasses Are A Privacy Disaster
Google has announced Android XR it's new smart glasses platform, we'll dive into why this is such a threat to your privacy and why this announcement is so significant, Join us for This Week In Privacy #54! (00:00) - Intro (00:43) - Start of podcast (01:11) - Google smart glasses are coming this fall (27:52) - The FBI Wants to Buy Nationwide Access to License Plate Readers (41:54) - Researchers Wanted Preschool Teachers to Wear Cameras to Train AI (56:41) - Site updates (01:04:28) - Discord rolls out end-to-end encryption on voice, video calls (01:30:37) - Poland urges officials to ditch Signal for state-run messaging apps (01:52:02) - Forum updates (02:06:24) - Q&A (02:30:28) - Outro ★ Support this podcast ★
May 23
2 hr 32 min
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