Privacy

Meta says its new AI feature won't be used for targeted ads, but experts still have concerns. When people upload personal photos or videos—even if they agree to it—it's unclear how long that data is kept or who can see it. Since the processing happens in the cloud, there are risks, especially with things like facial recognition and hidden details such as time or location.

Even if it's not used for ads, this kind of data could still end up in training datasets or be used to build user profiles. It's a bit like handing your photo album to an algorithm that quietly learns your habits, preferences, and patterns over time.

Last month, Meta began to train its AI models using public data shared by adults across its platforms in the European Union after it received approval from the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC). The company suspended the use of generative AI tools in Brazil in July 2024 in response to privacy concerns raised by the government.

WhatsApp introduced a feature called Message Summaries. It is powered by Meta AI.

Why would one need this? The Meta-owned messaging app explains that sometimes users may have too many chats to catch up with, and if you want to do so quickly, the new feature will help.

Message Summaries uses Meta's Private Processing, a technology which was introduced in May 2025. Private Processing uses certain optional Meta AI features to process messages off-device in a confidential and secure environment. WhatsApp says that this process is so secure that not even Meta or WhatsApp can read or access your personal messages.

Sure, we may occasionally have to deal with long group chats that we may have missed. But, I'm not sure if the answer to this is AI-powered summaries. It could be useful in a pinch, but the fact is an AI may not be able to determine what is important to you, and what isn't. There's a good chance that some crucial information could be overlooked by the bot. If you want to use the summarization tool when you're in a hurry, that's cool, but I would advise checking your messages when you have the time.

Message Summaries are currently rolling out to users in the U.S., specifically for users in the English language. WhatsApp says it will bring the feature to more languages and countries later this year.

Google is making a change to Gemini, which will allow it to access WhatsApp and other content by default. Imagine that, both Gemini and Meta AI can access your WhatsApp. Don't forget, WhatsApp has ads now.

Would you allow AI to access your private conversations?

Psylo, which bills itself as a new kind of private web browser, debuted last Tuesday in Apple's App Store, one day ahead of a report warning about the widespread use of browser fingerprinting for ad tracking and targeting.

It was a fortuitous coincidence.

Psylo for iOS and iPadOS was created by Mysk, a Canada-based app biz run by software developers and security researchers Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk.

"Psylo stands out as it is the only WebKit-based iOS browser that truly isolates tabs," Tommy Mysk told The Register. "It's not only about separate storage and cookies. Psylo goes beyond that.

"This is why we call tabs 'silos.' It applies unique anti-fingerprinting measures per silo, such as canvas randomization. This way two Psylo tabs opening the same website would appear as though they originated on two different devices to the opened website."

ps : I've never tried anything like this, although it sounds plausible. If you still use social media like facebook, instagram, tiktok or google account. They can still track you, even you use different IP in each browser tab. So make sure you don't use social media, google, or microsoft account

Like it or not, artificial intelligence has become part of daily life. Many devices — including electric razors and toothbrushes — have become AI-powered," using machine learning algorithms to track how a person uses the device, how the device is working in real time, and provide feedback. From asking questions to an AI assistant like ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot to monitoring a daily fitness routine with a smartwatch, many people use an AI system or tool every day.

While AI tools and technologies can make life easier, they also raise important questions about data privacy. These systems often collect large amounts of data, sometimes without people even realizing their data is being collected. The information can then be used to identify personal habits and preferences, and even predict future behaviors by drawing inferences from the aggregated data.

An assistant professor of cybersecurity at West Virginia University, studies how emerging technologies and different types of AI systems manage personal data and how we can build more secure and privacy-preserving systems for the future.

British police forces have signed contracts with a controversial US tech giant to buy AI-powered software that uses data about an individual’s race, sex life, health and political beliefs, it can be revealed.

An internal police memo obtained by The i Paper and Liberty Investigates confirms an intention to “nationally” apply the “Nectar” intelligence system, currently deployed as a pilot by the Bedfordshire force after being developed with Silicon Valley data analysis group Palantir Technologies.

The document, obtained under freedom of information rules, shows how the Palantir system is designed to bring together dozens of existing law enforcement databases into a single computing platform to draw up detailed profiles of suspects, as well as collate information on victims of crime, witnesses, and vulnerable individuals including children.

The State Department had temporarily paused issuing visas for foreign students at the end of May while it came up with the new social media guidance and it will now resume taking appointments.

"The enhanced social media vetting will ensure we are properly screening every single person attempting to visit our country," a senior State Department official said.

US consular officers will conduct a conduct a "comprehensive and thorough vetting of all student and exchange visitor applicants," the official said.

Extensive passenger data has been sold to the US Government by major airline companies including Delta, United Airlines, and American Airlines, new documents reveal.

US travellers' domestic flight records, including their names, full itineraries, and financial details were sold to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

CBP is a part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). They said they acquired the data to track people of interest's air travel.

The documents, obtained by 404 Media, showed that passenger information was sold through a data broker that major airlines including Delta, American Airlines and United Airlines collectively own.

A sophisticated tracking method employed by Meta (Facebook) and Yandex that potentially affected billions of Android users through covert web-to-app communications via localhost sockets.

The technique allowed native Android apps, including Facebook and Instagram, to silently receive browser metadata, cookies, and commands from Meta Pixel scripts embedded on thousands of websites, effectively linking mobile browsing sessions to user identities and bypassing standard privacy protections.

TLDR: Automakers want a piece of the data harvesting pie. But don't worry they assure us it's just to improve their products. You know, like the infotainment they're building, that they wouldn't need to build if they kept phone integration.

A London woman has made a data complaint after discovering she had been put on a facial recognition camera watchlist at a Home Bargains store after a dispute over 39p worth of paracetamol.

She learned of her entry on a database of banned customers when a member of staff at the store in Grove Farm retail park in Chadwell Heath asked her to leave and directed her attention to a Facewatch sign.

Facewatch is a facial recognition system used by retailers to identify and deter shoplifters by analysing CCTV footage and comparing faces against a private database of known offenders. It triggers an alert to staff when a match is made by the software.

The Apple and Google app stores continue to offer private browsing apps that are surreptitiously owned by Chinese companies, more than six weeks after they were identified in a Tech Transparency Project report. Apple and Google may also be profiting from these apps, which put Americans’ privacy and U.S. national security at risk, TTP found.

The apps are virtual private networks (VPNs), which promise to mask a user’s identity as they browse the internet. But Chinese-owned VPNs raise serious privacy and security concerns for Americans because Chinese companies can be forced to share user data with the Chinese government under the country’s national security laws. VPNs have access to particularly sensitive user data since they see all of a person’s web activity.

TTP’s April 1 report found that more than 20 of the top 100 free VPNs in the U.S. Apple App Store in 2024 showed evidence of Chinese ownership. None of these apps clearly disclosed their Chinese ties, and some obscured their origins behind layers of shell companies. Several of the apps were linked to Qihoo 360, a Chinese cybersecurity firm that has been sanctioned by the U.S. over its ties to China’s People’s Liberation Army, TTP found.

I know this might be more tightly knit to encryption but I do not think it is entirely irrelevant for this community.

Question is in the title.