mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06Our mission is to educate the public about privacy in digital communications and to develop tools that anyone can use. By embracing "privacy by design," we help make digital security and privacy more accessible to everyone. Help support our nonprofit mission-- become a member and get a hotspot with unlimited wifi or a phone with CalyxOS! https://members.calyxinstitute.org/enroll/membership
We've signed an open letter to Google to advocate against their mandatory Android developer registration program. Make your voice heard to keep Android open: https://keepandroidopen.org/
TeleGuard, an app downloaded more a million times, markets itself as a secure way to chat. However, the app uploads users’ private keys to the company’s server, and makes decryption of messages trivial. https://www.404media.co/a-secure-chat-apps-encryption-is-so-bad-it-is-meaningless/
A Tennessee grandmother spent nearly six months behind bars after artificial intelligence facial recognition software wrongly identified her as a suspect in a bank fraud case – in North Dakota – a state she says she had never even visited. https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/tennessee-grandmother-ai-arrest-error-north-dakota-b2938261.html
RE: https://mastodon.social/@flypig/115731062513471615
If you are going to #FOSDEM in 2026, stop by the FOSS on Mobile devroom!
A threat actor has leaked the entire source code of Sweden's E-Government platform, claiming it was obtained through a heavily compromised CGI Sverige AB infrastructure. CGI Sverige is the Swedish subsidiary of global IT services giant CGI Group and manages critical government digital services.The source code is being released for free with multiple backup download links, while citizen databases are sold separately.
https://darkwebinformer.com/full-source-code-of-swedens-e-government-platform-leaked-from-compromised-cgi-sverige-infrastructure/
RE: https://techhub.social/@keepandroidopen/116284674024214167
Mandatory developer registration is never a solution to platform security and user safety issues. Join us to #KeepAndroidOpen!
"A lot of the surveillance technology that’s coming for us in North America is framed as ‘battle tested’ in Palestine.” https://therealnews.com/ice-is-using-the-same-microsoft-tech-israel-uses-to-surveil-and-kill-palestinians
In June, journalist Mario Guevara was arrested while covering an anti-ICE protest in Georgia and locked up by the federal government for more than 100 days. But Mario is not the kind of ICE-criticizing reporter you might be picturing. He was a Trump-supporting, Republican-identifying, law-and-order-sympathizing immigration hawk, who knew ICE well and had covered them favorably for years. Why did the Trump administration still go after him?
https://www.kcrw.com/shows/question-everything/stories/why-did-ice-lock-up-this-pro-trump-reporter-part-one
She is paid to keep AI under control, but couldn’t control her own agent. Summer Yue, director of alignment at Meta Superintelligence Labs, posted screenshots Sunday of her AI agent, OpenClaw, going rogue and deleting her email inbox. https://sfstandard.com/2026/02/25/openclaw-goes-rogue/
Software engineer Scott Shambaugh rejected the code submission of an AI agent to matplotlib, a large FOSS Python library. The AI then retaliated by writing a 'hit piece' about him specifically. Shambaugh reflected, "When HR at my next job asks ChatGPT to review my application, will it find the post, sympathize with a fellow AI, and report back that I’m a prejudiced hypocrite? What if it actually did have dirt on me that an AI could leverage? What could it make me do?" https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/a-human-software-engineer-rejected-an-ai-agents-code-change-request-only-for-the-ai-agent-to-retaliate-by-publishing-an-angry-blog-about-him/
The abuse of spyware has been widespread in Europe and beyond. A recent court verdict in Greece revealed more details about the illegal wiretapping of politicians, journalists, business leaders, and senior military officials with a spyware called Predator made by Intellexa, a company that remains active despite sanctions by the U.S.. https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1296353/four-businesspeople-found-guilty-in-spyware-trial/
ICE is using smartwatches made by BI Inc to surveil pregnant women. The watches are not easily removable, even when removal is medically necessary. One woman was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, a complication that can cause significant swelling. Staff were worried her smartwatch would cut off her circulation. "She was in tears about it. She had this deep fear that ICE was going to come to the hospital and take her baby,” one of the staff said. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/10/ice-tracking-pregnant-women
Federal use of facial recognition and related tech has expanded into the monitoring of domestic protest activity, allowing federal agents to identify and track individuals even when those individuals are U.S. citizens engaged in lawful activity. https://www.biometricupdate.com/202602/ice-fbi-expand-facial-recognition-use-to-protest-investigations
Join our friends @coopcloud@social.coop for the next Co-op Cloud NYC Spring Lightning Talks! There will be short talks, live music & community dinner ✨ This Sunday 3/29, 4-6pm EDT https://social.coop/@coopcloud/116276429875492945
A police officer in Colorado used evidence from Flock cameras to wrongfully accuse an innocent woman for package theft, then yelled at her on the phone when she told him she had evidence that exonerated her. https://www.404media.co/cop-used-flock-to-wrongfully-accuse-a-woman-then-refused-to-look-at-evidence-that-exonerated-her-body-camera-shows/
Check out @calyxinstitute@mastodon.social devs' #FODSEM talk about HSM signing for FOSS projects: https://video.fosdem.org/2026/ub4132/AV8MA9-open-source-hsm-based-aosp-signing.av1.webm
The English-language edition of Wikipedia is blacklisting https://Archive.today after the controversial archive site was used to direct a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against a blog. As if DDoSing a blog wasn’t bad enough, the archive site also tampered with web snapshots. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/wikipedia-bans-archive-today-after-site-executed-ddos-and-altered-web-captures/
Join our grantee @stopsypingny for Power Down Surveillance today at 2pm EST. This session is a “101” for individuals, activists, and civil society groups eager to learn more about ICE’s surveillance tactics—and what local lawmakers must do to protect our privacy and civil rights. Register here: https://www.stopspying.org/events/2026/3/19/ice-surveillance-101
Come work with us! We are looking for an Executive Director to lead the organization's work to defend digital privacy, advance connectivity, and strive for a future for everyone to have the means to stay securely connected. Apply by March 20: https://calyx.org/news/2026/calyx-seeks-executive-director
📣 JOB ALERT: Executive Director at the Calyx Institute. We are seeking a visionary and collaborative leader with a commitment to a future where everyone has access to the resources and tools to remain securely connected. For details: https://calyx.org/news/2026/calyx-seeks-executive-director
Don't forget: CryptoHarlem's free event "Home-Run: Run Your Own Open Source AI" is today at 6pm at WeWork Harlem! Bring your own machine. This workshop is free but space is limited, RSVP ASAP at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/home-run-put-open-source-ai-on-your-own-machine-tickets-1982827107254
A hacker has exploited Anthropic's Claude chatbot to carry out attacks against Mexican government agencies.This resulted in the theft of 150GB of official government data, including taxpayer records, employee credentials and more. https://www.engadget.com/ai/hacker-used-anthropics-claude-chatbot-to-attack-multiple-government-agencies-in-mexico-171237255.html
Join our grantee Surveillance Technology Oversight Project for Power Down Surveillance on Wednesday, March 19th, 2026 at 2pm EST. This webinar will explore ICE’s rapidly expanding surveillance capabilities. Facilitated by S.T.O.P. Exec Director Michelle Dahl, this session is a “101” for individuals, activists, and civil society groups eager to learn more about ICE’s surveillance tactics—and what local lawmakers must do to protect our civil rights. Register here: https://www.stopspying.org/events/2026/3/19/ice-surveillance-101
Making informed choices about AI models. Join our colleagues at CryptoHarlem for "Home-Run: Run Your Own Open Source AI" on March 20th at 6pm at WeWork Harlem! Bring your own machine. This workshop is free but space is limited, RSVP ASAP at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/home-run-put-open-source-ai-on-your-own-machine-tickets-1982827107254
