RFK Jr outlines expansive vision for collecting US health data at Maha event

Medical and lifestyle data, from doctor’s visits to exercise, should be connected and shared with the government and independent researchers, where it can be searched by AI – including potential links between vaccines and health outcomes including autism and mortality, suggested Kennedy, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and a longtime vaccine skeptic…

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/29/rfk-jr-collect-health-data

 

4 ways to avoid getting ripped off : NPR

Owens explains how to cover up your trail so it's harder for retailers to watch you — and then sell you products at personalized prices. Maybe you don't use all these techniques for smaller purchases, like a pair of shoes, but for expensive flights or other travel, it might be worth it…

 https://www.npr.org/2026/09/29/nx-s1-5983457/4-ways-to-avoid-getting-ripped-off-according-to-a-pricing-expert

 

Own a gun? Go to church? Do yoga? AI can find out in seconds. - POLITICO

“Today, anyone with access to a frontier AI model can buy your data from a broker and reconstruct an intimate picture of your life, including your location, your purchases, your browsing history, and even who you love or where you worship,” Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) said in a statement. “CivAI’s work showing members and staff exactly how easy this is should be a wake-up call for Congress, which has spent years failing to act.”…

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/01/wake-up-call-for-congress-lawmakers-get-a-big-brother-warning-on-ai-01054087

 

‘Darth Vader’ comes out in favor of Flock cameras at San Diego city council meeting

“The emperor is a fan of Flock,” the man said, though he proceeded to portray the surveillance hardware in an ominous light. 

“We must continue utilizing Flock technologies so that we can follow and surveil the rebel scum as they move from playground to playground, from playground to pool, from pool to gymnasium,” he continued…

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/21/darth-vader-flock-cameras-san-diego

 

Lemon case and abuse of search warrants

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yJQn-ZH4Rsg

 

Records Reveal How Homeland Security Agents Surveilled ICE Protesters – Mother Jones

“When you are recording information about people’s political activities, you know that that is the first step towards acting on that speech,” Steinbaugh said. “And what the government then does with that information can have a real chilling effect.” 

 On July 24, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and three legal observers filed a First Amendment lawsuit against DHS, alleging the agency has “adopt[ed] a secret Protester Surveillance Policy enabling its agents to first collect records on Americans engaging in First Amendment exercise and then maintain them in DHS systems, where they can be used to retaliate against those Americans.”…

 https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/07/dhs-ice-surveillance-database-protest-public-records-spokane-hsi/

Justices say Constitution protects people’s location history - POLITICO

“An individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in records about his cell phone’s location, and police intrude on that constitutionally protected interest when they demand the information — even though for only a limited time, and from a third-party tech company,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the majority...

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/29/supreme-court-location-data-ruling-00979929

 

‘It’s dangerous and it’s going to erode trust’: redesign of US government websites stokes surveillance fears

The NDS built and now operates four public federal websites: ndstudio.gov, trumprx.gov, realfood.gov and trumpaccounts.gov. All four ran commercial visitor-tracking software, configured to evade the privacy tools many web users install, and none carry the public filings federal privacy law requires under laws including the Privacy Act of 1974 and the E-Government Act of 2002. 

Separately, none of the NDS’s spending or its arrangements with outside vendors appears in USAspending, the federal contracting database, raising questions about how it is funded and overseen…

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/28/government-website-visitor-tracking-surveillance-fears

Judge RIPS Trump to SHREDS and Delivers FATAL BLOW To Election Scheme

Harry fills you in on a federal judge blocking Trump from creating a national registry of Americans’ private information, including Social Security numbers. You'll want to tune in about this important ruling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zGUPvumzX0

Judge blocks Trump admin’s database of Americans’ Social Security numbers and citizenship status - POLITICO

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from creating a database of millions of Americans’ private information — including Social Security numbers and citizenship status — saying the administration has fed knowingly inaccurate data to states that are now “actively” and “haphazardly” purging purported non-citizens from voter rolls.

“The federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote,” U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan wrote in a 75-page ruling. “This Court cannot stand idly by while that happens.”…

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/22/americans-private-information-database-ruling-00969935

 

Michigan communities watch closely as surveillance law debate continues

"In 2021, the FBI reported conducting nearly 3 million U.S. person queries. An audit of those queries found that 278,000 times they did not comply with the rules. FBI agents ran queries on protesters, donors to congressional campaigns, public officials, journalists, colleagues, even ex-girlfriends."…

 https://www.michiganpublic.org/criminal-justice-legal-system/2026-05-21/michigan-communities-watch-closely-as-surveillance-law-debate-continues

US judge blocks DoJ’s demand for Rhode Island hospital’s records of trans patients

Subpoenas demanded birthdates, social security numbers and addresses of patients who got gender-affirming care…

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/14/judge-block-doj-trans-patient-records-rhode-island

 

US Congress passes 10-day extension of surveillance law amid Republican infighting

“The shameful midnight smash-and-grab attempt to steal away Americans’ privacy rights failed,” said Jake Laperruque, deputy director of the security and surveillance project at the Center for Democracy and Technology. “Surveillance boosters tried to sneak a sham proposal through in the dead of night because they know they’ve lost the substance of this debate.” The only way forward, he said, was a warrant rule that will “close the backdoor search loophole and protect Americans from surveillance abuse”...

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/17/congress-fisa-extension-warrantless-surveillance-law

 

GOP holdouts not giving up on amendments to Section 702 extension - Live Updates - POLITICO

Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) is seeking consideration of an amendment to the bill reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, that would prevent data brokers from selling information to the federal government, according to text of the provision obtained exclusively by POLITICO...

 https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/04/14/congress/gop-holdouts-not-giving-up-on-amendments-to-section-702-extension-00871419

Why Congress is fighting over a central tool of American surveillance : NPR

But a number of lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, are concerned that FISA 702 allows for the federal government to spy on the communications of American citizens without a warrant, violating their constitutional right to privacy…

 https://www.npr.org/2026/04/14/nx-s1-5768270/what-to-know-about-section-702-surveillance

 

Meta Ray-Bans send 'sensitive' videos to human data annotators

"The workers in Kenya say that it feels uncomfortable to go to work. They tell us about deeply private video clips, which appear to come straight out of Western homes, from people who use the glasses in their everyday lives. Several describe video material showing bathroom visits, sex and other intimate moments […] 

"Someone may have been walking around with the glasses, or happened to be wearing them, and then the person's partner was in the bathroom, or they had just come out naked", an employee says"

https://9to5mac.com/2026/03/03/meta-ray-ban-smart-glasses-send-sensitive-videos-to-human-data-annotators/

 

 

The problem with doorbell cams: Nancy Guthrie case and Ring Super Bowl ad reawaken surveillance fears

"There's a very distinct and marked difference between what you have access to – in terms of whether you're paying for it or not – and what the company has access to," said Chris Gilliard, a data privacy expert who has researched how wearables and smart doorbells are contributing to mass surveillance..

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/14/doorbell-cameras-ring-nancy-guthrie-super-bowl

Trump administration ramps up its war on young voters with Tufts University probe

"Over the past few years, the outpouring of political punditry about the MAGA movement's supposed appeal among young voters has largely obscured Donald Trump and his allies' brazen efforts to discourage many of those voters from reaching the polls." 

 https://www.ms.now/opinion/trump-administration-ramps-up-its-war-on-young-voters-with-tufts-university-probe

 

Somebody is Watching (with Nita Farahany) (Seth Andrews; The Thinking Atheist)

Professor Nita Farahany of Duke Law is an expert on the implications of new technologies on society, law, ethics, and privacy. We spoke about today's culture of smart tech and surveillance.

Interview: 

Podcast: https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-4nrh2-2a460fa9

YouTube: https://youtu.be/Pv3lNMiHLOA?si=QJGmajdnSYS7CQ6r

5 things to know about the TikTok deal - POLITICO

The deal is intended to insulate the social media company from influence by China, avoiding a ban that Congress had mandated in 2024...

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/22/5-things-to-know-about-the-tiktok-deal-00743316