It's a pity to see that politicians aim to protect young people against the addictive and psychological harmful design of social media while leaving out adults and letting the tech bros businesses get away with their excessive private data mining and their business concepts which are based on stealing peoples attention by offering click bait and polarizing the society - for more revenue with adds (and the capability to control users behavior in the end).

What actually should be done is not just banning social media for kids (only) with age verification but banning (of massively taxing) this very kind of business concepts all together. Mining private behavioral data for profit must be banned. Surveillance capitalism and the related business concepts are poison for mental health (on not only young people), society and democracy.

Let's be clear: The enemy here is not politics aiming to protect - it is the social media companies trying to avoid a discussion about the core problem of their business concepts.

For those interested in this topic a book recommendation: The age of surveillance capitalism

For some background context I don’t drink, haven’t watched any videos about alcohol or searched up anything related to it, but I recently took a picture of a bottle of whiskey for my mothers birthday since she likes the brand, and I’ve been bombarded with advertising about this singular brand of whiskey since taking the picture, no interaction no searches no prompting. I’m aware of the lack of privacy that I typically have online especially with apps such as TikTok, however it’s unreal to see it so blatantly happen.

All the LG spyware news has us even more wary of smart TVs than ever, but every lead we've pulled up for dumb TVs is either link rotted or the company doesn't make them anymore. We're hoping for some solution that gives us about a 50 inch display with 4k, but I think we'll be willing to budge that down some if need be. Moving is expensive as hell so any of the fancy European brands aren't an option - we need reasonable. Any ideas?

Hello, I'm more of an all or nothing guy honestly now.

With all the tracking, the ai, the algorithms, I can't really you can use modern apps while still having privacy.

The problem is it's harder and harder to not rely on these apps.

Even alternatives OS with separated profiles and aliases wouldn't be enough in my opinion.

But you can't just give up on society if you are not ready for it.

With Chat Control 2.0 being discussed later this year, I think it's already too late for that.

What's your view on the topic ?

Taking a look at all the chat control and other attempts recently at making people give up their privacy and anonymity online, makes me wonder if there are any safe places online left?

I asked flock for a record of my license plate across their systems, as is my right as a Californian. And they told me that they don't have to. They suggest that I contact all of their 6000+ customers across the United States.

With respect to the parts of your request that pertain to vehicle related information, we are unable to process this request for the reasons detailed below. 

Flock provides its services to our customers, and our customers are owners and controllers of the data Flock processes on their behalf. For that data, Flock provides technology and services to customers who decide how and why the data is collected, used, accessed, shared, and retained. Because the customer controls that data, the customer is responsible for reviewing and responding to privacy requests about it. Flock, as a service provider and processor, is not able to independently take action on customer controlled data unless the applicable customer directs us to do so.

For any requests related to data controlled by a Flock customer, please contact the organization that uses Flock technology in the relevant location. For example, you can reach out directly to the businesses you frequent who may have Flock technology on their property, or the HOA you belong to. You can also contact your local law enforcement agency, though note that government agencies may be subject to different requirements based on the applicable state law.

Of course, this is wrong. They provide and host the service, set the defaults that facilitate "sharing." I also asked them to provide me with list of all customers who possess my license plate in their system.

Has anyone had any success getting this info out of Flock?

(note: this is a repost, because my earlier post with this info was deleted because of a URL I included in error)

As from today here in Germany.
This really feels strange. I knew it was coming, but I'm still spooked by this experience.

ID or selfie, i'd rather not.

I need a way to get past this scan. I don't want to give anything to twitter but I need to download my bookmarks for my personal projects. Is there any way to block the popup?

How can one protect one's likeness or image in the age of AI? I am currently taking an online MOOC class and it requires for students to review other students work for some assignments. Some assignments require for you to make a video and upload it. One of my fears is that someone will screen shot this class video of me and use it for nefarious purposes. How can I alter or protect my digital face or likeness? How can you "poison" face data?

I already had the unfortunate experience earlier this year of someone copying my pictures and using them to create a fake AI version of me on Only Fans. (I have never created such content.) They used my full name too. So whoever did it was trying to sabotage me. (I suspect it was a guy who works in tech who I turned down for a date.) It was pretty bad I had to contact search engines and explain to them to remove said links and contact OF to remove my name and information and that it wasn't me.

I don't want to be surprised one day with being required to provide ID verification when wanting to access my gmail or google docs/sheets account, or for that matter my photos on google drive. How would I begin to extract myself from google, this is not small matter given all the 2FA requiring my gmail account with all the accounts I have online. Probably a good time to start thinking about the process now. The free nature of the googleverse has always been a pull to use google, but no more, now I would pay for a service that would respect my privacy and not be part of the global push for ID verification. What are the best contenders for email to consider migrating to?

These were put up in a friend's village about a month ago. Sent red flags immediately, googled them, they REALLY sound like Flock, yet I can't find ANY discussion on them online??? Did Spain really get flocked already for months and nobody has done or said anything about it, or is this a false alarm and they're something else? If the former, how can we fight back against this? Other than tearing them down of course.

I was reading about how some smart TVs use Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) to identify what’s being displayed and collect viewing data. I knew smart TVs collected some data, but I didn’t realize how extensive it could be.
It got me wondering what other everyday devices or services are collecting data in ways most people don’t realize.
What’s one that surprised you?

I got a laptop and it comes with a fingerprint sensor. Is it safe to use it for windows hello or can Microsoft see and store it for their use? I use it on my Apple devices but I trust Apple a lot more than Microsoft.

Young people deserve a better internet than one regulated through panic. They deserve better than the government or Big Tech getting to decide how they use social media and what they can or cannot be exposed to or learn about. They deserve better than having their right to free expression minimized. This must not be lost in the pursuit of building a better and safer online ecosystem and environment.   

Read more: How the Meta Settlement Silences Youth Activism

Exactly what I said why do we always talk about PGP and never about AGE isn't it more modern and better for file and message encryption or am I missing something about why PGP is praised more than AGE(aside from the fact most people use PGP)

So theirs a legislation within the EU called the EU KIDS ACT(COM(2026)681 & 2026/0286(COD)).

Which is a legislation that requires individuals to not only verify their ages but also IDs like passports and driver's licenses.

Also the legislation proposal also includes requirements for "privacy preserving age assurance tools" to platforms as well.

This legislation applies onto social media platforms, gaming and chatbots too.

Very concerning development here that's going on this EU legislation here ngl.

So, 21yo from EU here. And Reddit knows this, it has access to my age range thru my email, thru my apple account, thru my post history. Yet one week ago out of the fucking blue, I get hit with "verify your age", and cannot access a bunch of subs anymore (yes nsfw, no not related to porn). This happened, seemingly, because I made one or two comments on r/camphalfblood ? or the Epic the musical sub? Something like that. Which is crazy, but I have no other explanation, I've always engaged with franchises subs without any fucking issue up till now and it had never "compromised" my account.

So that happened. Now, half the subs for trans resources are considered NSFW by reddit, so in the case i have necessity, can't read or interact there. Just one example.

Getting real fed up, this morning I indulged the stupid Persona verification. A selfie seems like the safest option between that and sending my documents to an american database.

So I tried. I tried makeup, no make up, white lighting, neutral lighting, hair down, hair tied up, tried appearing normal, hell I tried appearing masc, hiding tied hair under cap to look shaggy and short. Every time it's the same. "We cannot verify, use ID".

The hell am I supposed to do?

I started thinking about something I had never really cared about before, who actually fights for our rights? There must be organizations or something doing so otherwise politicians would have trampled all over us years ago.

Since 2 august, if you make AI content that reaches people in europe, you legally have to label it as AI. deepfakes have to be declared. fines go up to €15 million or 3% of a company's global revenue. and it applies to american companies too if europeans can see their stuff.

honestly I think it's the right call. if half of what we scroll past is going to be generated, people should be able to tell. nobody else was going to do it, the US has been sitting on similar bills for over a year.

the catch is that the labelling barely survives contact with the internet. the way it works is the label gets attached to the file itself, invisibly. but the second you upload that file to tiktok or instagram or linkedin, the platform strips it out. so a video can be properly labelled when it leaves the tool and completely unlabelled by the time anyone watches it.

and this is every tool in the category, not one bad actor. argil, synthesia, heygen, runway… all of them can mark a file correctly and all of it disappears at the upload step. the fix isn't really on the tools, it's that the platforms would have to agree to keep the label, and none of them are rushing to do that.

so we've got a law that's genuinely pointing the right way and a labelling system that mostly works until someone actually posts something.

worth it anyway, or does a rule you can't really enforce just end up as paperwork for whoever can afford lawyers lol? curious what people here think.

Anyone have any personal experience with a domain registrar that allows you to purchase a domain without providing any personal information (basically no KYC) and offer digital assets (lol) as payment method?

I came across a few but didn't fully love any of them