Big news: Deutsche Welle has launched DW Access, an Android app that delivers independent news where it's needed most: in regions under information lockdown.

Key features:

➡️ No app store needed (share via link, messenger, bluetooth)

➡️ Offline mode

➡️ Built-in VPN protection

➡️ Zero personal data collected

More info (and download options) over here: corporate.dw.com/en/dw-access-…

#PressFreedom #AntiCensorship #DigitalRights #DWAccess

DW Access: New app counters global censorship

DW Access is a lightweight app designed to ensure access to independent information in regions where digital freedom is under threat. It provides users with a secure way to reach DW content even under severe censorship.

^{Deutsche Welle}

What the actual f...k? How does a multibillion dollar company like #Meta not mitigate against this kind of historic data leak???

"3.5 Billion Accounts: Complete #WhatsApp Directory Retrieved and Evaluated"
heise.de/en/news/3-5-Billion-A…

#DigitalRights #privacy #DataProtection #DigitalSecurity

3.5 Billion Accounts: Complete WhatsApp Directory Retrieved and Evaluated

Vienna researchers retrieved all WhatsApp numbers. The 3.5 billion profiles represent the largest data leak in history—and it's worse than you might think.

^{Daniel AJ Sokolov (heise online)}

Saying No and refusing to use unethical tools and platforms can be a powerful way to protest.

Do not minimize the power you have by refusing to participate.

#Privacy #NoAI #DigitalRights #HumanRights

"Remember when you thought age verification laws couldn't get any worse? Well, lawmakers in Wisconsin, Michigan, and beyond are about to blow you away.

It's unfortunately no longer enough to force websites to check your government-issued ID before you can access certain content, because politicians have now discovered that people are using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to protect their privacy and bypass these invasive laws. Their solution? Entirely ban the use of VPNs.

Yes, really.

As of this writing, Wisconsin lawmakers are escalating their war on privacy by targeting VPNs in the name of “protecting children” in A.B. 105/S.B. 130. It’s an age verification bill that requires all websites distributing material that could conceivably be deemed “sexual content” to both implement an age verification system and also to block the access of users connected via VPN. The bill seeks to broadly expand the definition of materials that are “harmful to minors” beyond the type of speech that states can prohibit minors from accessing—potentially encompassing things like depictions and discussions of human anatomy, sexuality, and reproduction.

This follows a notable pattern: As we’ve explained previously, lawmakers, prosecutors, and activists in conservative states have worked for years to aggressively expand the definition of “harmful to minors” to censor a broad swath of content: diverse educational materials, sex education resources, art, and even award-winning literature."

eff.org/deeplinks/2025/11/lawm…

#VPNs #AgeVerification #CyberSecurity #Privacy #DigitalRights

Lawmakers Want to Ban VPNs—And They Have No Idea What They're Doing

It's unfortunately no longer enough to force websites to check your government-issued ID before you can access certain content, because politicians have now discovered that people are using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to protect their privacy and…

^{Electronic Frontier Foundation}

I hate that I can basically recycle my posts about Chat Control every month or so. These lobbyists are extremely motivated.

Let's show them that we are
even more motivated than them to protect privacy rights, human rights, and democracy! ✊🔒

You know what you have to do:
👉 fightchatcontrol.eu/

• Recent news:
"Just before a decisive meeting in Brussels, digital rights expert and former Member of the European Parliament Dr. Patrick Breyer is sounding the alarm. Using a “deceptive sleight of hand,” a mandatory and expanded Chat Control is being pushed through the back door, in a form even more intrusive than the originally rejected plan. The legislative package could be greenlit tomorrow in a closed-door EU working group session."

#ChatControl #Privacy #HumanRights #DigitalRights #Democracy #EUpol

CHAT CONTROL 2.0 THROUGH THE BACK DOOR – Breyer warns: "The EU is playing us for fools – now they’re scanning our texts and banning teens!"

^{Patrick Breyer}

Do you think there are enough organizations specifically dedicated to defending privacy rights?

#Privacy #PrivacyRights #DigitalRights #HumanRights #Activism

• Definitely not enough, we need more (65%, 162 votes)
• Not enough (22%, 55 votes)
• There are enough (3%, 9 votes)
• There are many already (4%, 12 votes)
• There are too many (0%, 0 votes)
• Other (explain) (3%, 8 votes)

I used the LINE messenger for the very first time the other day. Downloaded from the official source, my goal was simple: a single, private chat with one person, which LINE claims is protected by End-to-End Encryption (E2EE).

Our "conversation" was minimal – mostly just test messages. One single contact.

A few days later, I log in to find my account has been temporarily (for how long? =)) blocked.

This raises a cognitive dissonance for me:

Promise vs. Reality: We're told E2EE means no one, not even the company, can read our chats. If that's true, on what basis was I blocked? I have to assume it's related to something in the chat, because I literally did nothing else in the app. But if it is E2EE, how could they know? Does this mean E2EE is just a marketing buzzword and monitoring is happening anyway? I'd genuinely like to know what the real factors are.

Absolute Opacity: This is the real issue. I received zero explanation. No email, no warning, not even a vague hint at which policy I "violated." And look, I'll be the first to admit I didn't read the 100-page Terms of Service – who does? But that's not the point. Even if I did technically violate some obscure rule, the core problem is the total lack of transparency. I was left with no idea, not even a guess, as to what happened. This opaque, black-box process is the real problem.

This situation is deeply concerning. What if I lived in a country like Japan, where LINE is the default, essential messenger? I'd just be cut off from my digital life without cause or appeal. And if this happens on LINE, what stops WhatsApp from doing the same? (And let's not even talk about Telegram, which is 100% cringe and a lost cause for privacy anyway).

My takeaway: To be honest, I went into this as an experiment, and this incident 100% confirmed my expectations.

This isn't just a LINE problem. We see it constantly from Big Tech like Meta and Google. They ban users, often with no explanation, because they have the full legal right to do so. We all agreed to this when we blindly clicked "accept" on their Terms of Service.

This is exactly why my advice is this: you must factor in this risk with all commercial messengers. When you use any private, centralized platform, you have to accept the fact that you can be denied service at any time, for any reason, and they don't even have to tell you why. That is the price of admission we all paid.

The promise of a "private chat" apparently doesn't include the guarantee of access to the platform itself.

#privacy #E2EE #LINE #messengers #transparency #BigTech #Meta #Google #ban #DigitalRights #PlatformRisk #ToS #experiment #FuckTelegram

Chat Control is one of the most important issue for human rights and democracy in the West right now.

There is little time left to fight back!🚨

❓If you don't know what it is: read this article

🇪🇺 If you are in the EU: Contact your MEPs NOW

🇪🇺 If you already contacted your MEPs: Contact your local media TODAY to ask them to report and inform on the dangers of Chat Control.

🌎 If you are not European: Spread the word! Talk about it on social media. Contact your local media. Contact your representatives to share your concerns about similar proposals and the loss of privacy rights. This would affect you too!

This is an urgent matter. We cannot let the West slip in this authoritarian dystopia.
We must stop Chat Control ✊🛑

#ChatControl #Privacy #HumanRights #Democracy #DigitalRights #EUpol #UKpol #USpol #CanPoli

Chat Control Must Be Stopped, Act Now!

Chat Control is back to undermine everyone's privacy. There's an important deadline this Friday on September 12th. We must act now to stop it!

^{Privacy Guides}

🔐 Tuta Mail introduces key verification to strengthen end-to-end encryption and defend against MITM attacks 👥
Users can now verify contacts’ public keys via QR code or manual comparison.
If skipped, Tuta defaults to TOFU (Trust On First Use) for seamless encryption 🧩

@Tutanota
🔗 tuta.com/blog/key-verification

#Encryption #CyberSecurity #Privacy #Tuta #Tutanota #TutaMail #EmailSecurity #OpenSource #FOSS #E2EE #PGP #Email #Mail #TechNews #DataProtection #Crypto #DigitalRights #OnlinePrivacy

Tuta introduces key verification | Tuta

Key verification makes your encrypted mailbox even more secure, enabling you to prevent monster-in-the-middle attacks.

^Tuta

Update: This piece is getting some interesting pushback from parents who think I'm being alarmist about AI toys over on my other social platforms.

On the other side of that, I'm hearing so many people taking the usual "AI BAAAAD" stance, some of those people thinking I agree with them simply because I took a hardliner stance in this post.

For clarification: I'm not anti-AI. I use these tools daily for my research and writing as well as accessibility aids to offset some of the disadvantages I face due to my blindness. I study AI from the computer scientist perspective and am studying to be an elementary teacher precisely because I see AI's educational potential. I'm not even entirely against the idea of AI companionship, if it's framed right.

What actually bothers me is the business model. When Moxie robots suddenly "died" last year because the company went under, kids had to grieve their artificial friend. Parents got a scripted letter to explain why their $799 companion stopped talking which provided little comfort to kids who experienced digital abandonment. Trust me, the videos I've seen of kids crying because their beloved friend unexpectedly died over night is truly heartbreaking.

That's no glitch, that's what happens when you outsource childhood relationships to venture capital that only cares about investment returns.

The real question isn't whether AI toys are inherently bad. It's whether we're okay with corporations experimenting on our kids' emotional development while claiming it's "age-appropriate play."

What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments.

open.substack.com/pub/kaylielf…

#AIToys #ChildPrivacy #ChildDevelopment #DigitalRights #TechEthics #SurveillanceCapitalism #COPPA #DataPrivacy #ChildSafety #TechRegulation #DigitalLiteracy #ParentingInTheDigitalAge #EdTech #CorporateAccountability #TechCriticism #EthicalTech

AI toys promise magical childhood experiences, but they're collecting our children's deepest secrets for corporate profit. 🧸🤖

How Six Decades of Cultural Conditioning Primed Us for the AI Childhood We Didn't Know We Were Asking For

^{Kaylie L. Fox (Kaylie’s Substack)}

In 2010, #AaronSwartz downloaded 70 GB of articles from JSTOR. He faced a $1 million fine and 35 years in prison
➡️ Aaron took his own life in 2013.

#Meta illegally downloaded over 80 terabytes of books from LibGen, Anna's Archive, and Z-library to train its #AI models
➡️ facing no consequences.

Information is power, knowledge is power.

Beware and fight against those who want to keep you ignorant, unaware, and misinformed.

#digitalrights #openknowledge #opendata #privacy

📣 Attention all custom ROM users and advocates for digital rights! 📣

Google's Play Integrity is limiting access to certain functionalities and applications for those using custom operating systems. This is a direct attack on the open-source community and a step towards further consolidating Google's monopoly in the mobile ecosystem.

The European Commission is aware of the situation, but has deemed it a low priority: europarl.europa.eu/doceo/docum…

It's time for us to take action and show Google and the EU how much we care about this issue! 💥

Sign the petition now to stop Google from limiting access to custom ROMs: change.org/p/stop-google-from-…

#StopGoogleMonopoly #CustomROMs #DigitalRights #OpenSource #PlayIntegrity #Google #deGoogle #privacy #right2repair #rightorepair #r2r #EU

Let's unite and fight for our right to use and develop custom operating systems! 💪

Happy birthday to ARPANET, the forerunner of the modern internet! 53 years ago, the first message was sent over this pioneering network, paving the way for a world of interconnection and innovation.

As a tech enthusiast, I am constantly amazed by the ways the internet has transformed our lives, allowing us to communicate, learn and share ideas across boundaries and borders. From social media to e-commerce, from telemedicine to remote work, the internet has become an essential part of our daily routines, enabling us to connect with others and access a wealth of information at our fingertips.

#ARPANET #InternetAnniversary #Transhumanism #TechInnovation
#InternetHistory #Networking #DigitalRevolution #Innovation #Communication #Cyberculture #OnlineCommunity #TechHerstory #NetNeutrality #OpenSource #Decentralization #DataPrivacy #Cybersecurity #DigitalRights #Accessibility #Inclusion #SocialImpact #DigitalTransformation #FutureTech #TechOptimism #InternetOfThings #AI

🔗 ethw.org/Milestones:Birthplace…

Stop confusing publicly available with public domain.

These are not the same, at all.

If you are confused about it, read this: plagiarism.org/blog/2018/02/27…

#Copyright #AI #GenAI #GenerativeAI #DigitalRights #Privacy

1/8 Yesterday, @edri
member @LaQuadrature
pled at the @EUCourtPress
against the French system that puts the internet under #MassSurveillance to fight against the sharing of copyrighted content. The #CJUEHadopi case is important for several #DigitalRights debates at the EU level.

twitter.com/edri/status/154465…

It may be hard for policymakers to imagine but yes there are people who care about politics & volunteer their spare time to come to Brussels & talk to them.

Many of them are part of the @edri community & have been working on #DigitalRights since long before #BigTech has been around.

As interesting as Georg Riekeles' recount of #BigTech lobbying in Brussels is, it's very sad to see him paddle the myth of "well-organised citizens' groups" & #DigitalRights orgs allegedly orchestrated by #Google in the context of the EU #Copyright Directive.

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…