Techlore Surveillance Report

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.

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.

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 Surveillance Report covers the dangerous reality that social media bans ARE age verification, India's push for even more invasive phone surveillance, a massive vulnerability actively exploited against major companies, the EU's new proposal to gut GDPR protections, Petco's escalating security disasters, border agents charging people for protecting their data, and more! Support Techlore: https://techlore.tech/support Timestamps Sources 00:00 Welcome to Surveillance Report 00:40 Highlight: Australia's Social Media Ban 08:06 Vulnerability Hitting Countless Sites 09:52 India's Surveillance Tech Continues 13:30 Support Techlore! 14:50 EU's Digital Omnibus 19:56 Petco's Data Breach(es) Saga 23:20 Man Arrested for Wiping Phone? 27:20 Defense Bulletin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.