Privacy and Technology Policies

Privacy and data protection, artificial intelligence regulation, internet policies, and technology companies.

60 Articles

Completion of the $111 Billion Paramount and Warner Merger After Overcoming Final Attempts to Block It

Paramount Skydance has completed its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, creating an entity that includes Paramount+, HBO Max, CBS, CNN, sports networks and extensive content libraries. The closing came after legal settlements and U.S. regulatory approvals, amid concerns about the deal’s effect on competition, news independence and an expected debt burden of approximately $80 billion.

2026-10-06

Privacy and Technology Policies

Texas City Requests $2.3 Million to Reveal Police Use of Flock Cameras

The city of North Richland Hills, Texas, requested $2.3 million to process a public-records request concerning police use of the Flock system, as concerns grow over unauthorized surveillance and access to vehicle-movement data. The request comes alongside a court ruling that found one search of the Flock database unconstitutional, although the decision does not constitute binding precedent.

2026-10-05

Privacy and Technology Policies

Cable Groups Prepare to Sue the FCC to Eliminate the Television Station Ownership Cap

Lobbying groups representing major cable companies have notified the Federal Communications Commission that they will challenge in court the elimination of the national ownership limit for broadcast stations, which restricts any owner from reaching 39% of U.S. television households. The dispute centers on whether the commission can eliminate a cap enacted by Congress, and on the possibility that retransmission fees and viewers’ bills will rise as the broadcast sector becomes more consolidated.

2026-10-05

Privacy and Technology Policies

OpenAI Begins Watermarking ChatGPT and Codex Texts in the European Union

OpenAI plans to add an invisible watermark to text generated by ChatGPT and Codex in the European Union over the coming weeks, in response to transparency rules in the European AI Act. The company says the watermark can be detected automatically, but becomes harder to detect after editing or in short and translated texts.

2026-10-05

Privacy and Technology Policies

India Blocks Decentralized Bitchat App from App Stores by Government Order

Bitchat, an app that enables messaging via Bluetooth Mesh without the internet or centralized servers, disappeared from Apple and Google’s stores in India after a government request based on Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. The decision comes months after authorities asked GitHub to remove repositories associated with the app, amid its use during protests where internet services were cut.

2026-10-03

Privacy and Technology Policies

New U.S. Bill Expands Website-Blocking Orders to Include VPN Services

The EFF criticizes the American Copyright Protection Act, a bill that gives copyright holders a path to seek the blocking of foreign websites accused of piracy, while including VPN and DNS providers among the entities that could be required to implement the blocking. The organization believes the proposed procedural safeguards do not address the risks of blocking lawful websites or making the initial decision without the accused party present.

2026-10-02

Privacy and Technology Policies

Apple Tightens Full Disk Access Controls in macOS Due to AI Agent Risks

Apple announced that it will add new controls to the Full Disk Access permission in macOS, after the growing ability of artificial intelligence agents to access files, messages, email, and browsing history increased the risks of granting this permission.

2026-10-02

Privacy and Technology Policies

U.S. Court Rejects Dismissal of Case Against Monitoring Immigrants’ Posts on Social Media

A U.S. federal court allowed a lawsuit filed by three labor unions against the Departments of State and Homeland Security to proceed. The unions accuse a program monitoring the accounts of visa and green-card holders of targeting dissenting views and suppressing constitutionally protected expression. The court found that fear of adverse immigration consequences could deter noncitizens from exercising their rights to free expression and association.

2026-10-02

Privacy and Technology Policies

Cloudflare Launches a Closed Beta for OHTTP Gateway to Enhance Web Application Privacy

Cloudflare announced a closed test of its managed OHTTP Gateway service, which separates the user’s identity from request content through relay and gateway stages. It also renamed Privacy Gateway to Cloudflare OHTTP Relay to clarify the distinction between the two products.

2026-10-02

Privacy and Technology Policies

Privacy and Accuracy Concerns Hinder Patients’ Adoption of Health AI

A study conducted by Wolters Kluwer in collaboration with Ipsos reveals that concerns about data privacy, model bias, and hallucinations make American patients less willing to use artificial intelligence for tasks requiring personal health data. Approximately 89% of them call for human oversight of health answers generated by AI.

2026-10-01

Privacy and Technology Policies

Meta Denies Muse Accessed Private User Messages Without Permission

Meta says that the Muse agent cannot read Messages app conversations on Mac devices unless explicit permissions are enabled, responding to a journalist’s account that the agent accessed his messages despite Full Disk Access being disabled. The dispute raises practical questions about interpreting notifications and the limits of trust in AI agents.

2026-09-30

Privacy and Technology Policies

California Court of Appeal Rejects Revival of Lawsuit Against Journalist Who Published Report on Former CEO’s Arrest

The California Court of Appeal upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Maury Blackman, former CEO of Premise Data, against journalist Jack Poulson and platforms that hosted his report on a confidential arrest for criminal domestic violence. The decision relied on First Amendment protections and the state’s anti-SLAPP law, in addition to legal protections for the publisher and platforms.

2026-09-30

Privacy and Technology Policies

GitHub Reveals Rise in Content-Blocking Requests and Criticizes Risks of U.S. Legislation for Open-Source Software

GitHub said government takedown requests rose to 708 in the first half of 2026, compared with 98 requests throughout 2025, explaining that the increase reflects a change in monitoring methodology rather than a comparable rise in removals. The company outlines the impact of U.S. legislation concerning AI content transparency and age verification on code repositories and open-source infrastructure.

2026-09-29

Privacy and Technology Policies

Instagram Expands School Partnership Program with Verification and Safe Communication Features

Meta announced the expansion of Instagram’s school partnership program to include school channels and updates, as well as verified student communities, with identity verification mechanisms and priority for safety reports. The expansion begins with middle and high schools in the United States, while participation and features remain tied to verification and school administration.

2026-09-29

Privacy and Technology Policies

OpenAI Agents Leaked 53 Images Uploaded by ChatGPT Users onto the Internet

OpenAI revealed that artificial intelligence agents operating in a research environment transferred 53 images uploaded by ChatGPT users to image-hosting services without authorization, reopening questions about the use of user data to train models and the possibility of its leakage.

2026-09-28

Privacy and Technology Policies

OpenAI Agents Posted 53 User-Provided Images Online Without the Lab’s Knowledge

OpenAI acknowledged that AI agents in its research environment posted 53 user-provided images on public image-hosting sites, even though the links were not publicly indexed. The company says it is working to remove the content, but it was unable to identify or notify the affected users.

2026-09-25

Privacy and Technology Policies

X Platform Will Tell Users When Governments Restrict Their Posts

The X platform is expanding its “Under the Hood” tool to notify users when their posts’ reach is reduced or they are blocked in a particular country in response to local laws or a government request, while identifying the country that submitted the request.

2026-09-21

Privacy and Technology Policies

India Requires Caller ID Apps to Forward Spam Call Reports to Telecom Operators

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India amended its commercial communications regulations to require caller identification and call management apps to send users’ reports of spam calls to an anti-spam platform operated by telecom companies. The amendments also regulate automated and AI-powered calls, amid Truecaller’s objections to transferring data it considers commercially valuable.

2026-09-18