Friends don’t let friends feed their data to AI agents
Friends don’t let friends feed their data to AI agents

There’s a growing trend in the consumer tech world: gadgets designed to spy on everything and everyone around you, regardless of whether or not anyone else actually consented to it. Now, with the advent of “AI personal assistants” like Meta’s Muse, you’re being cheerfully asked not just to give up your own data, but also […]

Benn Jordan on Flock, privacy, and the new surveillance backlash
Benn Jordan on Flock, privacy, and the new surveillance backlash

Today, I’m talking with Benn Jordan, musician, YouTuber, researcher, and investigative journalist. You might know Benn from those first two titles — he’s got a prolific discography of experimental music dating back decades. But in the last couple of years, he’s become a high-profile face in the creator and media spaces for his work investigating […]

Flock CEO defends surveillance technology amid national backlash: ‘We shouldn’t pause progress’

At TechCrunch Disrupt, Flock CEO Garrett Langley defended his company’s surveillance technology despite growing privacy concerns, arguing that its crime-fighting benefits outweigh the risks of abuse.

Android Strengthens Scam Defenses for Calls and Texts

Changes for tools including Google Messages, screen sharing and call forwarding are all aimed at countering mobile fraud.

Flock CEO: We haven’t ‘fired’ any police departments as customers

Flock CEO Garrett Langley said that the surveillance company has not canceled contracts of any police department or law enforcement agency, despite reports of abuse.

Japan steps up cyber warnings as data leaks hit millions of customers
Japan steps up cyber warnings as data leaks hit millions of customers

Japan’s government has told ministries, local authorities and companies to step up their cyber defences. A wave of attacks has exposed the data of millions of customers. The National Cybersecurity Office sent the instructions on Friday, the Associated …

A college in Illinois tried to cancel its Flock contact and it refused
A college in Illinois tried to cancel its Flock contact and it refused

In April of 2025, Elgin Community College had six Flock safety cameras installed to “enhance the safety and security of students.” But by September of that year, the school’s administration grew concerned that Flock was sharing data with Customs and Border Patrol, that camera feeds were not properly secured, and that both law enforcement and […]

Turkey’s social media ban for under-15s starts on 1 November
Turkey’s social media ban for under-15s starts on 1 November

Turkey will bar social media platforms from serving children under 15 from 1 November, under rules published in the country’s Official Gazette, Inci Ozbek reported for Bloomberg. Platforms must check users’ ages when they sign up, using a token from Tu…

AI agent makers are promising privacy — will they deliver?
AI agent makers are promising privacy — will they deliver?

At this year’s OpenAI DevDay, CEO Sam Altman unveiled the company’s new AI agent Dots – and told the crowd that the company wants to “set a new standard for privacy in frontier AI.” OpenAI would spend the day taking veiled shots at Meta’s Muse, its primary competitor, for failing to keep users’ data safe. […]

micro1 commits $1bn to buy company data for training AI agents
micro1 commits $1bn to buy company data for training AI agents

AI training company micro1 will spend $1bn over the next 12 months buying and licensing operational data from companies. The San Francisco company announced the plan on Friday. Citi and Hercules Capital are providing the capital. The money goes through…