Privacy

An EFF analysis of millions of Flock Safety ALPR searches reveals law enforcement using crime-fighting surveillance tools for school residency fraud checks, employment background investigations, and noise complaints — with no warrant required.

The FTC settled for $930,000 total after CMG and two partners falsely claimed their 'Active Listening' service captured real-time smart-device voice data to deliver hyper-local ads — it was actually resold email lists.

Democratic senators led by Markey and Merkley warn a $7.5M DHS smart glasses proposal would let ICE agents covertly identify people in public using facial recognition.

The FTC settled its 2022 lawsuit against Kochava and subsidiary Collective Data Solutions, barring the companies from selling precise location data without affirmative express consent in the most significant U.S. enforcement action against a location data broker.

Governor Wes Moore signed HB 895 on April 28, prohibiting large food retailers and delivery apps from using personal data to set individualized prices, but consumer advocates say loopholes and a 45-day cure period weaken the bill.

ICE's acting director confirmed in an April letter that the agency deploys Paragon's zero-click Graphite spyware against fentanyl suspects, months after the same tool was linked to attacks on European journalists and civil society members.

The Commission says its new age-verification app is ready for deployment, but researchers and privacy advocates are already flagging security and platform-dependence concerns.

The Federal Trade Commission's March 30 consent order would permanently prohibit OkCupid and Match Group from misrepresenting their data practices after sharing nearly 3 million user photos with facial recognition firm Clarifai in 2014, but levies no civil penalty and no privacy program obligations.

The warrantless surveillance program authorized under FISA Section 702 is set to expire on April 20, with Congress divided between a clean reauthorization backed by the White House and reform proposals that would require warrants for searches of Americans' communications.

Spain's MiDNI app gained mandatory legal acceptance on April 2, positioning the country among the first EU member states with a fully operational national digital ID as the bloc's December 2026 EUDI wallet deadline approaches with uneven progress.

At least nine bills across six states have been introduced in 2026 to regulate the collection of brain and nervous system data, as consumer neurotechnology devices proliferate and the federal MIND Act awaits action in Congress.

Angela Lipps spent nearly six months in jail after Clearview AI flagged her for bank fraud in a state she had never visited, even as Tennessee Highway Patrol considers a million-dollar contract with the same company.