Apple Fined $116 Million Over App Privacy Prompts
Apple has been fined $116 million by Italy’s antitrust regulator over the “excessively burdensome” privacy rules it imposes on third-party apps. From a report: The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) says that Apple abused its dominant app store market position by burdening developers with “disproportionate” terms around data collection that exceed privacy law requirements, c … ⌘ Read more

The phone situation
I need to write something about this or I’ll burst.

I have a new phone. It’s an old iPhone SE 2022. Yes, I know. Evil,
evil Apple. Won’t someone please think of the privacy issues? Right,
well, Apple has at least better reputation about these things than
Google does, but we’ll come to that.

It feels like I’m betraying the FLOSS cause. I feel horrible, although
probably not just because of this.

Let’s recap:

• My main phone has been a de-googled (not even microG) Fairphone 4
  with CalyxOS. CalyxOS … ⌘ Read more

Flock Executive Says Their Camera Helped Find Shooting Suspect, Addresses Privacy Concerns
During a search for the Brown shoogin suspect, a law enforcement press conference included a request for “Ring camera footage from residents and businesses near Brown University,” according to local news reports.

But in the end it was Flock cameras according to an article in Gizmodo, after a Redd … ⌘ Read more

Firefox Survey Finds Only 16% Feel In Control of Their Privacy Choices Online
Choosing your browser “is one of the most important digital decisions you can make, shaping how you experience the web, protect your data, and express yourself online,” says the Firefox blog. They’ve urged readers to “take a stand for independence and control in your digital life.”

But they also recently polled 8,000 adu … ⌘ Read more

‘End-To-End Encrypted’ Smart Toilet Camera Is Not Actually End-To-End Encrypted
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Earlier this year, home goods maker Kohler launched a smart camera called the Dekoda that attaches to your toilet bowl, takes pictures of it, and analyzes the images to advise you on your gut health. Anticipating privacy fears, Kohler said on its website that the Dekod … ⌘ Read more

India Pulls Its Preinstalled iPhone App Demand
India has withdrawn its order requiring Apple and other smartphone makers to preinstall the government’s Sanchar Saathi app after public backlash and privacy concerns. AppleInsider reports: On November 28, the India Ministry of Communication issued a secret directive to Apple and other smartphone manufacturers, requiring the preinstallation of a government-backed app. Less than a we … ⌘ Read more

‘Big Brother cannot watch us’: Indian government phone app plan sparks outrage
New Delhi wants a government app installed on all of the country’s mobile phones, but opposition MPs and privacy advocates have voiced concerns about surveillance. ⌘ Read more

Poland Probes Apple Again Over App Tracking Transparency Rules
Poland has launched a new antitrust investigation into Apple’s App Tracking Transparency rules, questioning whether Apple misled users about privacy while giving its own apps a competitive advantage over third-party developers. AppleInsider reports: On November 25, Poland’s UOKiK has started another investigation into App Tracking Transparency, and w … ⌘ Read more

Arduino’s New Terms of Service Worries Hobbyists Ahead of Qualcomm Acquisition
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Some members of the maker community are distraught about Arduino’s new terms of service (ToS), saying that the added rules put the company’s open source DNA at risk. Arduino updated its ToS and privacy policy this month, which is about a month after Qualcomm ann … ⌘ Read more

Mozilla Says It’s Finally Done With Two-Faced Onerep
Mozilla is officially ending its partnership with Onerep after more than a year of controversy over the company’s founder secretly running people-search and data-broker sites. Monitor Plus will be discontinued by December 2025, existing subscribers will receive prorated refunds, and Mozilla says it will focus on privacy tools it fully controls. KrebsOnSecurity reports: I … ⌘ Read more

Mexico Partially Lifts Longstanding Website Ban On Tor Network
Mexico has finally lifted its long-running Tor ban for the main government portal, allowing privacy-focused users, journalists, and activists to access gob.mx again after more than a decade of blocking. That said, the open data portal and the former Tor-compatible whistleblower system remain inaccessible. CyberInsider reports: The development follows … ⌘ Read more

NetChoice Sues Virginia To Block Its One-Hour Social Media Limit For Kids
NetChoice is suing Virginia to block a new law that limits kids under 16 to one hour of daily social media use unless parents approve more time, arguing the rule violates the First Amendment and introduces serious privacy risks through mandatory age-verification. The Verge reports: In addition to restricting access to legal speech … ⌘ Read more

Could Firefox Be the Browser That Protects the Privacy of AI Users?
Tech entrepreneur/blogger Anil Dash has been critical of AI browsers like ChatGPT Atlas. (He’s written that Atlas “substitutes its own AI-generated content for the web, but it looks like it’s showing you the web,” while its prompt-based/command-line interface resembles a clunky text adventure, and it’s true purpose seems to be ingesting more … ⌘ Read more

Proton Might Recycle Abandoned Email Addresses
BrianFagioli writes: Popular privacy firm Proton is floating a plan on Reddit that should unsettle anyone who values privacy, writes Nerds.xyz. The company is considering recycling abandoned email addresses that were originally created by bots a decade ago. These addresses were never used, yet many of them are extremely common names that have silently collected misdirected emails, pa … ⌘ Read more

Hack Club has been handling children’s data for 4 years without a privacy policy
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Fighting the New York Times’ invasion of user privacy
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Google Is Introducing Its Own Version of Apple’s Private AI Cloud Compute
Google has unveiled Private AI Compute, a cloud platform designed to deliver advanced AI capabilities while preserving user privacy. As The Verge notes, the feature is “virtually identical to Apple’s Private Cloud Compute.” From the report: Many Google products run AI features like translation, audio summaries, and chatbot assist … ⌘ Read more

Critics Call Proposed Changes To Landmark EU Privacy Law ‘Death By a Thousand Cuts’
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Privacy activists say proposed changes to Europe’s landmark privacy law, including making it easier for Big Tech to harvest Europeans’ personal data for AI training, would flout EU case law and gut the legislation. The changes proposed by the European Commission … ⌘ Read more

Unesco Adopts Global Standards On ‘Wild West’ Field of Neurotechnology
Unesco has adopted the first global ethical standards for neurotechnology, defining “neural data” and outlining more than 100 recommendations aimed at safeguarding mental privacy. “There is no control,” said Unesco’s chief of bioethics, Dafna Feinholz. “We have to inform the people about the risks, the potential benefits, the alterna … ⌘ Read more

Double congrats, @thecanine@twtxt.net! \o/

I’m not a fan of the gemtext limits. This being only a single page (which probably doesn’t get updated a whole lot), the efforts of having two dedicates files are not all that big, or so I’d at least naively imagine.

I always recommend checking the W3C validator results, even though I’m very guilty of not doing that myself. It just doesn’t occur to me in the heat of the moment. I reckon if I were writing HTML on a more regular basis, I would pick up on making that a real habit. Anyway, your HTML being generated, you probably can’t address the findings, though. So, might not be even worth the time heading over to the validator.

From a privacy point of view, personally, I would definitely host the CSS myself. Other than that, nice link collection. :-)

Gemini Starts Rolling Out On Android Auto
Gemini is (finally) rolling out on Android Auto, replacing Google Assistant while keeping “Hey Google,” adding Gemini Live (“let’s talk live”), message auto-translation, and new privacy toggles. “One feature lost between Assistant and Gemini, though, is the ability to use nicknames for contacts,” notes 9to5Google. From the report: Over the past 24 hours, Google has quietly started the rollou … ⌘ Read more

Thoughts/Opinions on Cap 🤔

The modern, open-source CAPTCHA

Lightweight, self-hosted, privacy-friendly, and designed to put you first. Switch from reCAPTCHA in minutes.

Linux 6.18 Lands Electronic Privacy Screen Hotkey Handling For Some Dell Laptops
Merged yesterday to the mainline Linux 6.18 development kernel were the latest round of x86 platform driver fixes. Mostly some small fixes but standing out is electronic privacy screen hotkey support for some Dell laptops… ⌘ Read more

Policy, privacy and post-quantum: anonymous credentials for everyone
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Python Software Foundation has bigger spine than big tech
Back in January 2025, the Python Software Foundation applied for a $1.5 million grant from the US government’s National Science Foundation, under the Safety, Security, and Privacy of Open Source Ecosystems program, to address structural vulnerabilities in Python and PyPI. After a lot of paperwork, their application was approved, but upon receiving the contractual agreement, the Python Software Foundation decided to b … ⌘ Read more

Firefox Security & Privacy Newsletter 2025 Q3
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Canada’s Privacy Watchdog Not Consulted on Bill C-8, Enabling Secret Internet & Phone Shutdowns ⌘ Read more

I noticed Google put out this article: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/09/lets-talk-security-answering-your-top.html it’s very current day Google, but the comments under the YouTube video are pretty on point and I saw a few familiar faces there. There is also, unexpectedly, ways to contact Google.

First a form for “teachers, students, and hobbyists”, that I filled politely, as someone who falls under their hobbyist category. It can be filled both anonymously, or with an e-mail attached, to be contacted by them (I chose the second option).

Also a general feedback and questions form, that I was not as polite in and used to send them the following message:

I have already provided some feedback, in the teacher, student and hobbyists form/questionaire, as well as an open letter I’ve recently sent to the European Commission digital markets act team, as I do believe your proposal might not even be legal, given the fact it puts privacy-focused alternative app stores at risk (https://f-droid.org/cs/2025/09/29/google-developer-registration-decree.html) and it was proposed this early, after Google lost in court to Epic Games, over similar monopoly concerns. Why should we trust Google to be the only authority for all developer signatures, right after the European courts labeled it a gatekeeper?

Assuming this gets passed, despite justified developer backlash and at best questionable legality, can you give us any guarantees, this will not be used to target legal malware-free mods, or user privacy enhancing patchers, like the ones used for applying the ReVanced patches? I have made a few mods myself, but I am in no way associated with the ReVanced team. I just share many peoples concerns, Google Chrome has been conveniently stripped of its manifest v2 support, that made many privacy protecting extensions possible and now you’re conveniently asking for the government IDs, of all the developers, who maintain these kinds of privacy protections (be it patches, or alternative open-source apps) on Android.

Citizen Protest Halts Chat Control
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German government comes out against Chat Control
https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/citizen-protest-halts-chat-…

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45506143

Points: 505

# Comments: 158 ⌘ Read more

My open letter, to the European Commission digital markets act team:

Hello,

I am joining other developers, concerned about Googles new plan, to approve every app and effectively destroy most of the competing 3rd party stores this way. The biggest one of these alternative stores, most known for their focus on user and developer privacy, already states, this would make it impossible for them to operate: https://f-droid.org/cs/2025/09/29/google-developer-registration-decree.html
Even communities like the XDA forum, where new developers are often introduced to the world of Android development, would likely be strongly impacted, as making, publishing and installing Android apps is made less accessible.

I am not just writing on their behalf, I run a small website myself (https://thecanine.ueuo.com/), that both provides legal modifications, for some android apps - for example adding an amoled dark theme, to the most popular XMPP chat client for Android, or increasing one of Androids keyboard apps height. This all comes after Googles previous changes to the Android operating system, that prevent users from installing old apps (old to Google, can mean only a couple of months, without an update - https://developer.android.com/google/play/requirements/target-sdk and the target version gets increased every year). I rely on apps developed by a single developer, even for things like making the pixel art presented on my website and sideloading as a way to make these apps work, before developers can catch up to Google’s new requirements - if Google is allowed to slowly kill these options, us digital artists will soon lose the tools we need to create digital art.

UUIDv47 = v4 privacy + v7 performance
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Dutch judge to Facebook: stop secretly disregarding your users’ settings
And here we have yet another case of the EU’s consumer protection legislation working in our favour. Dutch privacy and consumer rights organisation Bits of Freedom sued Facebook over the company’s little trick of disregarding a user’s settings under a variety of circumstances, such as when a user opts for a chronological, non-profiled timeline, only to have Facebook reset itself to the pro … ⌘ Read more

Bunny.net (previously BunnyCDN) keeps doing great things (like this free European non-logging JS CDN), but it would be even better if they also replaced the Disqus comments in their blog with a more privacy-friendly alternative. ⌘ Read more

Oh man, if the EU actually rolled out this horribd idea called ChatControl that actually threatens the security and privacy of secure e2e encrypted messaging like Signal™, fuck me, I’m out 🤦‍♂️ I’ll just rage quit the IT industry and become a luddite. I’m out.

It was nice to start a walk in the woods with sunshine. The last times it was all soupy. It was quite windy, autumn is certainly here. Soon, the leaves will begin to turn. https://lyse.isobeef.org/waldspaziergang-2025-09-11/

We use all the Microsoft programs at work - Teams and Outlook especially.

After all kinds of technical problems with Teams, that sometimes go unresolved for over a year, Microsoft shifted their priorities away from fixing things and towards adding an annoying AI Copilot button, that just takes up space and all it does, is loads the website in Teams, so I disabled it. Soon they just add it back, but in a different row of icons, therefore it’s now a different button, you have to disable (I think they added yet another one, to the Teams, on my work phone and I had to disabled that too). Not too long after, the desktop one just enabled itself, because of “an error” and I can disable it, but doing so activates a popup, that begs you to turn it back on, every once in a while. You can’t disable the popup and can only click “Yes” or “Not now” on it. I still keep it disabled, out of principle, but yesterday I noticed yet another Copilot button, this time in the top right corner of my Outlook and this one cannot be disabled, on the business version of Outlook and even on the personal one, it’s only possible to do it through hidden privacy settings, by prohibiting the program from connecting to Microsoft servers, for extra “features”.

There’s people complaining about it online, so it’s clear nobody really wants it, but at this point Microsofts position is that you will have at least one useless AI button on your screen, at any given time, and you will be happy. And yes, their AI sucks and if I absolutely have to use AI for something, there’s already 2 better options, we have access to, at work.

It frustrates me that people who refuse to deal with Google, Apple or Microsoft for reasons of privacy or freedom are seen as the weird ones. The level of tracking, surveillance, advertising, hedonism, and societal fear being imposed on us is not normal. Those who reject the modern digital dystopia are not being radical or extreme; they’re trying to return to what should be normal.

@movq@www.uninformativ.de Thanks, it’s mostly following the Louis Rossmann thing https://youtu.be/2_Dtmpe9qaQ - a symbol of protest, against the rapid enshitification the Internet is facing, accelerated to the extreme, during this year. It has reached a point where something really has to be done about it all. Obviously not just everyone changing their profile pictures, but also cataloguing all the consumer rights violations, invasion of privacy, censorship,… to shove it in the face of as many government officials, as possible.

@movq@www.uninformativ.de That’s an interesting idea. For privacy, I’d just omit the Referer altogether. But maybe this helps talking to misconfigured HTTP servers that reject requests without such a header. No clue.

@lyse@lyse.isobeef.org Hm, I don’t think so, the requested page was a Linux-specific post. 🤔 I sometimes wonder if privacy-oriented browsers might do this on purpose, to create garbage data? 🤔 No idea.

👋 Hello @douglasdop@we.loveprivacy.club, welcome to We.Love.Privacy.Club, a Yarn.social Pod! To get started you may want to check out the pod’s Discover feed to find users to follow and interact with. To follow new users, use the ⨁ Follow button on their profile page or use the Follow form and enter a Twtxt URL. You may also find other feeds of interest via Feeds. Welcome! 🤗

👋 Hello @douglasdop@we.loveprivacy.club, welcome to We.Love.Privacy.Club, a Yarn.social Pod! To get started you may want to check out the pod’s Discover feed to find users to follow and interact with. To follow new users, use the ⨁ Follow button on their profile page or use the Follow form and enter a Twtxt URL. You may also find other feeds of interest via Feeds. Welcome! 🤗

How to Enable iCloud Private Relay on Mac
iCloud Private Relay is a fantastic privacy feature that is part of the iCloud+ subscription that helps to protect your internet activity and browsing by obfuscating your IP address (via using a temporary IP address) and encrypting your DNS lookups, so that third parties can’t see what websites you’re visiting. The end result is that … Read More ⌘ Read more

How to Enable iCloud Private Relay on Mac
iCloud Private Relay is a fantastic privacy feature that is part of the iCloud+ subscription that helps to protect your internet activity and browsing by obfuscating your IP address (via using a temporary IP address) and encrypting your DNS lookups, so that third parties can’t see what websites you’re visiting. The end result is that … Read More ⌘ Read more

Signal uses Windows’ DRM to counter Recall snooping
Microsoft’s Recall feature, which takes screenshots of the contents of your screen every few seconds, saves them, and then runs text and image recognition to extract information from them, has had a rocky start. Even now that it’s out there and Microsoft deems it ready for everyone to use, it has huge security and privacy gaps, and one of them is that applications that contain sensitive information, such as the Windows Signal app … ⌘ Read more

Where is “Hide My Email” on iPhone & iPad?
The “Hide My Email” feature on iPhone is incredibly useful, allowing you to create random unique email addresses that forward to your real email address inbox. This feature can help protect your privacy by allowing you to sign up for apps or services without sharing your real email address, while enhancing security from phishing attempts, … Read More ⌘ Read more

Where is “Hide My Email” on iPhone & iPad?
The “Hide My Email” feature on iPhone is incredibly useful, allowing you to create random unique email addresses that forward to your real email address inbox. This feature can help protect your privacy by allowing you to sign up for apps or services without sharing your real email address, while enhancing security from phishing attempts, … Read More ⌘ Read more

Firefox Security Privacy Newsletter 2025 Q1
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Microsoft unveils the new Start menu for Windows 11 users
I think one of the more controversial parts of Windows 11 – aside from its system requirements, privacy issues, crapware, and “AI” nonsense – is its Start menu. I’ve heard so many complaints about how it’s organised, its performance, the lack of customisation, and so on. Microsoft heard those complaints, and has unveiled the new Start menu that’ll be shipping to Windows 11 soon – and I have to say, there’s a ton of g … ⌘ Read more