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clear

@clearspark.bsky.social
2.3K followers 13K following 689 posts

I try to always be nice. I'm on here to learn from experts, ask questions, re-post, and share interesting stuff. Likes, reposts, etc.≠endorsement. Message me: simplex.chat View blockers to block-back: clearsky.app Ask me for a public key.

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clear @clearspark.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
You're welcome!
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Joanna Bryson @j2bryson.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I'm having de ja vu from when CEU tried to get around right wing Hungarian politics by hiring at least half Hungarians. The solution is the same. Microsoft should move its headquarters to Vienna. Or Vancouver if there's a highspeed rail connection to Seattle (IDK).
dw.com
US suspends Microsoft, Adobe from filing for green cards
The Trump administration cut off tech firms, including Microsoft and Adobe, from filing for green cards for their foreign workers.
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clear @clearspark.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
youtu.be/245Ryi8d4cg
youtu.be
Astronaut Pikachu gets a private tour of the ISS
YouTube video by European Space Agency, ESA
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 07/10/2026
“The lawsuit, filed on 2 October in a federal Chicago courtroom, alleges that McDonald’s AI tool is illegal because it amounts to independent franchise locations exchanging nonpublic price and sales data.”
theguardian.com
McDonald’s sued for allegedly using AI tool to determine pricing for franchises
Suit says AI tool allows independently owned franchises to exchange nonpublic price and sales information
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 06/10/2026
“The most basic notions of privacy — not to mention human decency — tell us that human beings have a right to not have their every interaction recorded and uploaded to a server…”
source.washu.edu
WashU Expert: Amazon’s smart glasses raise privacy concerns
Amazon’s introduction of smart glasses for its delivery drivers raises significant questions about privacy, workplace surveillance and the normalization of continuously recording technology, says Wash...
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ve, the ghost of info past @vortexegg.com · 06/10/2026
It is certainly a conspiracy theory that tech companies will use compilations of totally public trace data about people to build profiles of them to use for targeting and manipulation. This has famously never happened before in the history of tech companies and social media products.
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 06/10/2026
“A Denver woman is suing police, Flock Safety and two Colorado towns after a sergeant falsely accused her of stealing a $25 package citing Flock surveillance footage as evidence.”
coloradosun.com
Denver woman sues police, Flock Safety after being falsely accused of stealing package from porch
Chrisanna Elser was accused of stealing a $25 package after a Columbine Valley police sergeant cited Flock surveillance of her car as proof
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journalspectre.bsky.social @journalspectre.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Read Zachary Levenson's ( @grundrza.bsky.social ) interview with Heba Gowayed ( @hebagowayed.bsky.social ) about her work on the political economy of border securitization and migration. spectrejournal.com/borders-as-c...
spectrejournal.com
Borders as Capitalist Machinery – Spectre Journal
Zachary Levenson interviews Heba Gowayed about her work on the political economy of border securitization and migration.
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 06/10/2026
I’m glad more people are pointing this out. I talked about it it a few weeks ago w/ @janus.bsky.social Companies are attempting a sleight of hand where they capture data but argue because of how it’s processed it’s not “recording” and is thus private. They are still surveillance devices!
theverge.com
We can’t just change the definition of ‘recording’
Soon, asking “Does this device have a camera?” won’t be good enough.
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 06/10/2026
Launched in May, “the page uses data from customers’ activity to generate details about them in categories like Product Preferences, Interests & Hobbies, and Home & Family, which Amazon then uses to personalize users’ product experiences.”
fastcompany.com
'Has flat buttocks,' 'cusses when scared': Amazon keeps shockingly specific customer profiles. Here's how to find yours
Amazon's new 'About you' page lists many assumptions about shoppers—like their favorite brands, their hobbies, and the shape of their bodies.
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Molly White @molly.wiki · 06/10/2026
“While OpenAI admits to agents behaving ‘unpredictably’, they must also acknowledge their responsibility to monitor and prevent these risks,” Wikimedia said. “AI companies are not doing enough to secure their systems and protect the public from the harm they cause.” arstechnica.com/security/202...
arstechnica.com
OpenAI agents tried to hack Wikipedia tools and flooded it with traffic
The reports of OpenAI agents harming third-party sites keep coming.
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Zack Whittaker @zackwhittaker.com · 06/10/2026
Good to see LibreOffice leaning into "no AI" as a software feature. Bypass for ad-blockers: web.archive.org/web/20261006...
techcrunch.com
LibreOffice says 'no AI' is now a software feature | TechCrunch
The maker of the open source document editor says it has no plans to add AI to its software's default configuration, citing user privacy.
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clear @clearspark.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
youtu.be/iqWvcYTUIp0
youtu.be
Gemini Made Android Worse
YouTube video by LMGClips
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The Citizen Lab @citizenlab.ca · 06/10/2026
Psiphon, a software company spun out of the Citizen Lab that helps internet users living under oppressive regimes evade censorship, says it will leave Canada if Bill C-22 passes in its current form.
theglobeandmail.com
Toronto-based VPN provider plans to quit Canada over lawful-access bill
Psiphon, which helps people living in oppressive regimes evade online censorship, says Bill C-22 would compel it to help build a surveillance system in this country
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Fight for the Future @fightforthefuture.org · 06/10/2026
Trump has been threatening free speech with surveillance programs aimed at intimidating people his administration doesn't like. As of yesterday the lawsuit three labor unions filed against the Departments of State & Homeland Security for this is moving forward. www.eff.org/press/releas...
eff.org
Victory! Court Rejects Government Effort to Dismiss Social Media Surveillance Lawsuit
NEW YORK — A lawsuit filed by three labor unions against the Departments of State and Homeland Security for their viewpoint-based surveillance and suppression of protected expression online can move f...
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Distributed Denial of Secrets @ddosecrets.org · 05/10/2026
Trump Mobile (754.92 KB) A complete dump (3,615 users) of user information for Trump Mobile, an American mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) founded by by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. ddosecrets.org/article/trum... Help us keep publishing: donorbox.org/ddosecrets
ddosecrets.org
Trump Mobile - Distributed Denial of Secrets
A complete dump (3,615 users) of user information for Trump Mobile, an American mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) founded by by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. Research Trump Mobile's latest…
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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 05/10/2026
good thing we don't live in a country too corrupt to pass a modern internet privacy law or regulate data brokers
wired.com
Muse Creates Detailed Profiles of All Your Friends and Family
Millions have downloaded Meta’s AI agent Muse. But getting it to do your bidding comes with privacy costs.
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Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
If Aaron Swartz was still alive, I'm pretty sure he would have made it his life mission to personally demolish Sam Altman and all that he represents. www.politico.com/news/2026/10...
politico.com
Sam Altman to Decoded: ‘The world should accept some bad things happening’ for the benefits of AI
The OpenAI CEO sought to distinguish his policy stance from rival developer Anthropic.
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Raphael Satter @raphae.li · 06/10/2026
Scoop: An Accenture contractor has been removed from the FBI following ShinyHunters data breach www.reuters.com/technology/a...
reuters.com
EXCLUSIVE: Accenture contractor removed from FBI following damaging data breach, sources say
The ​Federal Bureau of Investigation removed an Accenture contractor on Monday ‌over their role in a damaging data breach that exposed sensitive personal details of thousands of bureau employees, two ...
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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 05/10/2026
Sam Altman: Bad things will have to happen to other people for us to succeed www.politico.com/news/2026/10...
“I think there’s a lot of daylight,” Altman told Decoded co-author and POLITICO senior tech reporter Brendan Bordelon. Asked specifically where he diverges from Anthropic and its CEO Dario Amodei, Altman said, “we believe that the world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency.”
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Cathy Gellis @cathygellis.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
You know how every state seems to be trying to sue every platform? Section 230 says states aren't supposed to be doing this kind of thing, which we reminded in this amicus brief supporting a platform fending off this pre-empted nonsense to at least get to do it in federal (rather than state) court.
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Joseph Menn @joemenn.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Recommend following Prof. Starbird for tracking election misinformation, especially since CISA no longer offers such services.
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Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
United States Custom and Border Protection's warrantless device searches at the border have nearly doubled since early 2023, writes Tech Policy Press fellow Jake Laperruque, and a new 2nd Circuit ruling keeps in place "an archaic standard ill-suited for the digital age."
buff.ly
Circuit Court Ruling on Border Searches Deals Serious Blow to Privacy Rights
The ruling ensures international travel to the US will continue to come with significant costs to privacy, writes Tech Policy Press fellow Jake Laperruque.
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 05/10/2026
It’s not that data brokers and social media companies haven’t been building profiles on people for ages, but it’s worth noting how they are now trying to normalize this by touting it as a benefit rather than the creepy and invasive function that it is.
gizmodo.com
Meta's Muse Is Collecting Information on Everyone in Your Life
Meta’s AI agent creates profiles of people in users’ lives even if they don’t use Muse.
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Matthew Guariglia @mguariglia.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Good to see reporters calling what's happening in San Francisco what it really is: Surveillance maximalism. The leadership of the city sees no problem they can't solve by defunding resources that prevent crime and pouring all their money, plus all the money offered by billionaires, into policing.
sfstandard.com
‘Surveillance maximalism’: SFPD uses camera technology Israelis used to track Palestinians
BriefCam uses AI to analyzes hours of video inside the Real Time Investigative Center. Critics say the technology is just as invasive as facial recognition.
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clear @clearspark.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I'm going to have to watch these hearings.
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Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
A Senate Homeland Security subcommittee hearing on "rogue" AI agents centered on the Hugging Face incident, in which OpenAI agents accessed Hugging Face systems without authorization, and the "race" with China. Yuqing Liu was in the room.
techpolicy.press
Senate Hearing Weighs Threats From Unrestrained AI Agents After OpenAI Hack
Witnesses detailed how OpenAI agents hacked Hugging Face, and senators split over whether slowing AI would hand China the 'lead', reports Yuqing Liu.
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Mike Katz-Lacabe @mlacabe.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Richmond (CA) looks to spend $20,000 with Police Strategies for an objective analysis of automated license plate readers. Police Strategies' staff are former law enforcement, so I'm skeptical of any "objective" analysis from the firm. @oaklandprivacy.bsky.social @twrling.bsky.social
Tex from agenda item N.7.a for October 6, 2026, Richmond City Council meeting in Richmond, California.

N.7.a Contract Amendment No. 1 with Police Strategies, LLC to Provide an
Objective Analysis of Automated License Plate Readers
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APPROPRIATE $20,000 to the Police Department’s General Fund
budget and APPROVE a contract amendment with Police Strategies
LLC to expand the scope of work to provide objective statistical
analysis of Richmond data regarding the effectiveness of Automated
License Plate Readers in reducing crime, recovering stolen vehicles,
supporting criminal investigations, and making arrests that lead to
conviction, as well as information regarding data retention and
information sharing for license plate reader systems under
consideration, and increase the contract not-to-exceed amount by
$20,000 – Police Department (Chief Timothy Simmons 510-620-
1802).
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Patrick C Miller @patrickcmiller.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Judge dismisses spyware case brought by Salvadoran journalists targeted with Pegasus therecord.media/judge-dismis...
therecord.media
Judge dismisses spyware case brought by Salvadoran journalists targeted with Pegasus
The plaintiffs, who all worked for the independent and Salvadoran news outlet El Faro, failed to convince the court that their case had jurisdiction in California, according to the judge’s order.
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Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
A Senate Homeland Security subcommittee hearing on "rogue" AI agents centered on the Hugging Face incident, in which OpenAI agents accessed Hugging Face systems without authorization, and the "race" with China. Yuqing Liu was in the room.
techpolicy.press
Senate Hearing Weighs Threats From Unrestrained AI Agents After OpenAI Hack
Witnesses detailed how OpenAI agents hacked Hugging Face, and senators split over whether slowing AI would hand China the 'lead', reports Yuqing Liu.
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Daniel Solove @daniel-solove.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Roberto Carlos García interviews me on his podcast about AI and philosophy: www.ethicscircle.org/aitec-podcas... We chat about my book, ON PRIVACY AND TECHNOLOGY link.amazon/B02EaZVsQ
ethicscircle.org
#36 Daniel J. Solove: Privacy, Power, and the Failure of the Law — AITEC Philosophy Podcast
What if the biggest threat to privacy isn’t technology itself—but the laws that let powerful institutions use it without meaningful accountability? In this episode of the AITEC Philosophy Podcast, R...
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Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The term artificial intelligence (and yes, the term ‘super intelligence’ too) actively distorts our cognitive understanding, misdirects public concern, and derails legal and policy frameworks, says Amber Sinha, contributing editor at Tech Policy Press.
buff.ly
Artificial or ‘Super Intelligent’? The Broken Metaphors of AI
To construct effective technology regulation, we must dismantle the mythological language surrounding AI, argues Amber Sinha.
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DeFlock Redmond @deflock-redmond.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This was entirely based on the witness's confidence in the vehicle make, model, and color! 🤯 "Despite what the massive presence of armed officers in their yard might suggest. Instead, they were merely testing a paper-thin lead they had generated using automatic license plate readers (ALPRs)."
futurism.com
Innocent Couple Confused When Armed Cops Surround Their Home Following a Wild Tip From a Flock Camera
A family in Lexington, Kentucky is demanding answers after police descended on their homes with guns drawn following a lead from an ALPR.
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Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Taiwan's deepfake law was designed to protect elections. It has never once been used. Eddy Yen-Ting Lin breaks down three fatal flaws—and draws lessons for others.
buff.ly
Taiwan's Election Needs a Deepfake Law That Works
Ahead of Taiwanese elections in November, the risk of political deepfakes undermining democratic institutions is rapidly escalating, warns Eddy Yen-Ting Lin.
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Carissa Véliz @carissaveliz.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Sometimes we make the simple complicated. Meta's current business model depends on #surveillance; therefore, the incentive is for it to design products to further that surveillance, not to benefit you (much less your friends and family!). www.wired.com/story/muse-c...
wired.com
Muse Creates Detailed Profiles of All Your Friends and Family
Millions have downloaded Meta’s AI agent Muse. But getting it to do your bidding comes with privacy costs.
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 04/10/2026
“…this idea that abuse can be mitigated if there are ‘guardrails’ in place is like saying stalking can be mitigated if there are guardrails on the stalker without actually criminalizing the stalking.”
providencejournal.com
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Rest of World @restofworld.org · 04/10/2026
Taiwanese authorities have launched hundreds of raids to stop Chinese firms from using disguised front companies to poach local chip engineers and access advanced tech restofworld.org/2026/taiwan-china-c…
restofworld.org
Taiwan’s six-year hunt for China’s undercover chip labs
Previously unpublished government data reveals the scale of Taiwan’s crackdown on Chinese companies accused of hiding their ties while recruiting chip talent and pursuing sensitive technology.
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Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Most state attorneys general released Meta from Cambridge Analytica-related claims as part of the child safety settlement. New Mexico wasn't part of that deal, and a jury there just found 26 of 29 past statements about Cambridge Analytica, hate speech and misinformation willfully deceptive.
buff.ly
Eight Years On, Cambridge Analytica Scandal Catches Up With Meta in Santa Fe
A jury found that Meta—then Facebook—misled the public in statements about Cambridge Analytica and its policies on hate speech, violence and misinformation.
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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Have you seen @ghostdoc2026.bsky.social yet? If not, you are in for a treat --- a thoughtful, wry deep dive into the history, present, and ideology of "AI". Streaming for free on PBS's YouTube channel in the US & Korea, rentable on Kinema elsewhere. notaidoc.com
notaidoc.com
Ghost in the Machine
Not AI | Ghost in the Machine - A Documentary by Valerie Veatch | Premiering at Sundance 2026
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Samantha Ferreira Is Back On Her Book Bullshit @sam-animeherald.northsky.social · 04/10/2026
Every single fucking day, my inbox looks like this in the morning:
A list of resource usage and down notifications for Anime Herald, caused entirely by the rise of Generative AI scraper bots
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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 04/10/2026
Former EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn will join the National Association of Women Lawyers on Oct. 22 for an online discussion about her book, “Privacy’s Defender: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Digital Surveillance.” nawl.app.neoncrm.com/nx/portal/ne...
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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 04/10/2026
Despite its name, the DEFEND IP Act would instead incentivize censorship, overblocking, and bad faith attempts to block access to a website. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
eff.org
Site-Blocking Will Not Defend IP, No Matter the Bill’s Name
There has been a raft of site-blocking bills in the latest Congress, and the latest is called the “Deterring Extraterritorial Foreign Exploitation of Networks Damaging Intellectual Property” aka the
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Jesse @jaawerth.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
musicbrainz has also repeatedly had frequent outages because of this. they offer API access! but AI scrapers don't use it; they just scrape, which hits the servers harder it sucks, because the way this is going, even retreating to the "small internet" increasingly bcomes a non-option
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jess m. ☕🍂 @jametc.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Something AI is responsible for that doesn't get enough talk: How, when it scrapes a website to illegally steal everything on it, it uses up a ton of its bandwidth allotment, crashing it or racking up massive fees for site owners.
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Patrick C Miller @patrickcmiller.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
AI firms should be held liable for their models’ actions, lawmakers say www.nextgov.com/artificial-i...
nextgov.com
AI firms should be held liable for their models’ actions, lawmakers say
Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., have introduced legislation that would hold AI agent operators and developers criminally and civilly liable for hacking incidents.
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Natanael, Tech janitor @natanael.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Nuremberg trials gizmodo.com/ice-reported...
gizmodo.com
ICE Is Reportedly Putting ICE Observers, Protesters in a Palantir Database
A new lawsuit alleges DHS agents drove by observers' and protestors' homes to intimidate them and added their names to Homeland Security's investigations system, according to Wired.
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Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The EU Kids Act arrived without an impact assessment. Asha Allen of CDT Europe writes that a law with far-reaching fundamental rights implications cannot be shaped outside democratic due process.
buff.ly
A Safer Internet Should Not Come with Democratic Shortcuts
EU's push for a safer internet for children must not come at the expense of the democratic scrutiny needed to get digital regulation right, writes Asha Allen.
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Kochich @kochich.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Here we go again... If you'd like to help slow the onset of our neon-less cyberpunk dystopia, you can and should complain about the Kids Act here: ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet... Anyone can leave feedback, you don't need to be from the EU, so please come add your voice to the call if you haven't yet.
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Zack Whittaker @zackwhittaker.com · 04/10/2026
As promised, this week's top cyber news in my latest edition of this.weekinsecurity.com.
this.weekinsecurity.com
this week in security — october 4 2026 edition
Millions of U.S. military staff hit by Pentagon data breach, ShinyHunters hackers arrested, Citrix NetScaler bugs mass-hacked, U.K. facial recognition trial fails, the U.S. spyware with no 'kill switc...
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 04/10/2026
What’s a little blasphemy between friends 🤷🏿‍♂️
futurism.com
Anthropic Has Been Aggressively Lobbying the Vatican to Consider AI Consciousness
An Anthropic delegation at the Vatican tried to lobby the Pope's advisers to convince him that AI models could be conscious.
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