Personal Privacy News Roundup - April 2025
Noteworthy Digital and Internet Privacy News From April 2025
Welcome to everyone.
For our new subscribers, this is our eagerly anticipated monthly news and notes roundup for all things personal privacy. We’ll even touch on some related cybersecurity issues to round things out.
Enjoy!
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This post is organized by the following categories:
The above is now a clickable table of contents, so feel free to jump around to the sections you want to read. As always, feel free to drop a story in the comments that we overlooked.
Secrets of Privacy Posts from April 2025:
🧬 Genetic data might be the least of your problems with the 23andme bankruptcy…
AI scams are here and getting more sophisticated. One of the best things you can do to protect yourself is to remove your personal information from Google and the data broker sites. That starves the scammers of vital information, making you a much harder target. You can DIY, or pay a reasonable fee to DeleteMe to do it for you. Sign up today and get 20% off using our affiliate link here. We’ve used DeleteMe for almost five years and love it for the peace of mind. It’s also a huge time saver.
AI Scams and other AI Privacy Related News
IDIQ Report Reveals Staggering Surge in Fraud and Emerging AI Scam Tactics (source)
How AI, crypto and social media are making online scams more sophisticated (source)
Fraud Watch: Fraudsters use genAI to enhance old scams (source)
Underground Trading of Malicious LLMs is Fueling Cybercrime (source)
Six arrested for AI-powered investment scams that stole $20 million (source)
Tinder Deploys AI-Powered Singles That Automatically Shoot Down Your Rizzless Attempts at Flirtation (source)
An AI Image Generator’s Exposed Database Reveals What People Really Used It For (source)
Toward a tailored approach for privacy, trustworthiness in Edge AI (source)
Nine Ways to Protect Yourself From ‘Impostor’ Voice Scams (source)
How to avoid tax scams, as AI can make them more difficult to spot (source)
Job hunters facing more fraud and AI-powered deepfake video interviews (source)
Cyber Signals Issue 9 | AI-powered deception: Emerging fraud threats and countermeasures (source)
Google used AI to suspend over 39M ad accounts suspected of fraud (source)
Fake job seekers are flooding the market, thanks to AI (source)
AI unleashes more advanced scams. Here's what to look out for (and how to stay protected) (source)
AI is making online shopping scams harder to spot (source)
You can't hide from ChatGPT – new viral AI challenge can geo-locate you from almost any photo – we tried it and it's wild and worrisome (source)
Discord using AI face scans for age-verification in two specific scenarios (source)
Regrets: Actors who sold AI avatars stuck in Black Mirror-esque dystopia
How To Use Any AI Model Privately (source)
WhatsApp defends 'optional' AI tool that cannot be turned off (source)
Cybersecurity in the AI Era: Evolve Faster Than the Threats or Get Left Behind (source)
Ways to protect yourself against AI-assisted fraud (source)
Scams 2.0: How Technology Is Powering the Next Generation of Fraud (source)
Online AI trends raises privacy concerns, experts warn (source)
How AI is being used to create sophisticated scams that leave even experts second-guessing (source)
We just published a virtual bookshelf on the website. It’s a curated list of 10 privacy related books that cover key topics like the history of facial recognition, verified privacy techniques, Monero, and others. Check it out here:
Privacy Coins and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) News
South Korea to Pilot CBDC at Retailers, Including 7-Eleven (source)
US House Committee Votes to Move Forward on Anti-CBDC Bill (source)
Why I Support Privacy (source)
Bank of England explores challenges of offline CBDC (source)
Trump Shelved CBDCs for Stablecoins: But Kyrgyzstan CBDC Is Next Phase of Splinternet (source)
As the U.S. Shrinks Back, the World Moves Forward on CDBCs (source)
Russia Makes Huge Announcement on CBDC Currency Launch (source)
Israel’s New Study Shows 51% of Public is Interested in Adopting CBDC (Digital Shekel) – Is That So? (source)
Currency: E-Yuan is Here – How China’s CBDC Could Destroy the Dollar (source)
House Financial Services passes bill to prevent Fed from launching a CBDC (source)
ECB exec renews push for digital euro to counter US stablecoin growth (source)
The Future Of Money: Will Digital Currencies Replace Fiat? (source)
Digital Dollars: Government Money vs. Private Tokens – Empowerment or Digital Leash? (source)
Central Banks Pilot Multi-CBDC Settlement Platform with Private Blockchain Integration (source)
Did China link its CBDC to 10 ASEAN, 6 Middle Eastern countries? (source)
Password managers are a must have in our digital first world. Not only do they organize your logins securely, they’re huge productivity boosts as we explained here. We use Proton Pass. Bitwarden is another large player. Both have limited free plans to try out. If you want full functionality, Proton Pass is only around $3/month. Use our affiliate link here to get started and support the newsletter.
All Other Privacy News
Expert raises privacy concerns in technology-equipped vehicles (source)
Royal Mail Group Breach Exposes 144GB of Sensitive Customer Data (source)
Google Patches Quick Share Vulnerability Enabling Silent File Transfers Without Consent (source)
23andMe is potentially selling more than just genetic data – the personal survey info it collected is just as much a privacy problem (source)
WhatsApp for Android Could Soon Restrict Message Sharing With Advanced Privacy Tool (source)
Europe’s GDPR privacy law is headed for red tape bonfire within ‘weeks’ (source)
Consumer Reports and Wesleyan University researchers release joint study examining online retailers’ compliance with state privacy opt-out requests (source)
She was chatting with friends in a Lyft. Then someone texted her what they said (source)
Google Hit With Lawsuit Over Data Collection on School Kids (source)
Meta to feed Europe's public posts into AI brains again (source)
Apple’s complicated plan to improve its AI while protecting privacy (source)
One Tech Tip: Locking down your device when crossing borders (source)
In depth with Windows 11 Recall—and what Microsoft has (and hasn’t) fixed (source)
LG TVs’ integrated ads get more personal with tech that analyzes viewer emotions (source)
Perplexity CEO says its browser will track everything users do online to sell ‘hyper personalized’ ads (source)
Does your phone eavesdrop to target ads? A Samsung engineer and Korean regulators weigh in (source)
Telegram pledges to exit the market rather than "undermine encryption with backdoors" (source)
Proposed Swiss encryption laws may have a severe impact on VPNs – what you need to know (source)
Google’s Updated Local Services Ads Terms Spark Privacy Fears, Threaten Confidentiality in Medical and Legal Sectors (source)
Substack Privacy and Cybersecurity Spotlight
ChatGPT's Privacy Trap: Default Settings You Can't Ignore (source) via
Safe Browsing for Normal People (source) via
How Content Creators Can Protect Their Privacy with This Technique (source) via
TechLetters ☕️ Solving the (!) 25-YEAR-OLD PRIVACY BUG in web browsers. 17 years of cyberattacks on industrial systems. AI cyberattacks won't be a game changer for now (source) via
How to Destroy a Message after Someone Reads It (source) via
OpenAI and AI as a Privacy Dystopia (source) via
Cash Is Great For Your Privacy (source) via
Privacy & Cybersecurity #22 (source) via
Is Privacy The New Luxury? (source) via
Privacy Is The New Intimacy (source) via
Privacy & Security Tools I Recommend (source) via
LLMs Don't Respect Privacy (source) via
Privacy at the Border: The Ultimate Technical Guide to Securing Your Data and Devices at Border Crossings (source) via
ChatGPT's New Memory Feature (source) via
🎬 20 movies every privacy expert must watch (source) via
Why is it so hard not to dox yourself? (source) via
✈️ No Boarding Pass, No Privacy: The New Face of Travel (source) via
Your Computer Is a Privacy Nightmare (Fix These 5 Things Now) (source) via
Biometric Borders and Digital IDs: Efficiency or Erosion of Freedom? (source) via
Is Your Digital Life an Open Book? The Privacy Secrets You Need Now (source) via
Rethinking Digital Privacy (source) via
Your Guide to Ghost Phones- How to Disconnect from Big Tech and Reclaim Your Privacy (source) via
Your Social Credit Score Is Already Being Built — And You're Helping (source) via
The Silent Threat to Your Data Privacy You Never Saw Coming! (source) via
The Most Dangerous Thing in Your Browser (source) via
Slamming the Door on Google Account Surveillance (source) via
The CISO’s Guide to Surviving a Ransomware Attack (source) via
A smarter approach to age verification? Apple thinks so (source) via
OSINT Tools for Reddit (a list) (source) via
The Critical Privacy Threat Most People Ignore (And It Could Cost You Your Safety): Your Address (source) via
If we missed a privacy story, article or post, please drop it in the comments.
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Disclaimer: None of the above is to be deemed legal advice of any kind. These are *opinions* written by a privacy attorney with 15+ years of working for, with and against Big Tech and Big Data. And this post is for informational purposes only and is not intended for use in furtherance of any unlawful activity.
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In this context
Artificial Intelligence, its true Value and its Future https://mile7bar.substack.com/p/artificial-intelligence-its-true
thanks for sharing!