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Surveillance Report: Weekly News For Digital Freedom

Surveillance Report: Weekly News For Digital Freedom

Techlore 352 Episodes Jun 11, 2026

Surveillance Report is a weekly news podcast covering digital privacy, security, surveillance technology, and digital rights. Hosted by Henry Fisher, founder of Techlore, each episode provides carefully selected stories, context, historical perspective, and analysis to help listeners stay safe online. Topics include data breaches, government and corporate surveillance, Big Tech privacy policies, encryption standards, and digital rights legislation. New episodes every Wednesday.

Episodes

Meta Hid Face-Recognition Code on 50M Phones, The UK's Device-Scanning Ultimatum & A Burner Phone Ban Jun 11, 2026 2153 Meta quietly embedded unreleased facial-recognition code, internally called "nametag" onto more than 50 million phones through its Meta AI app, then deleted it the day after Wired exposed it. This week I also get into Microsoft repos weaponized a second time to push credential-stealing malware to AI users, the UK's ultimatum to scan every device (and Signal's response), the FCC's push to
Dashlane Confirms Hackers Stole Password Vaults, Pentagon Location Tracking, and Hackers Trick Meta's AI Jun 4, 2026 2313 Dashlane has confirmed hackers stole around 20 encrypted password vaults, and the company is being unusually quiet about how it happened. Plus the Pentagon admits US troops were tracked using commercial location data, Europe accelerates its move away from US tech, and hackers hijacked celebrity Instagram accounts by simply asking Meta's AI support chatbot.🔎 EasyOptOuts is the easy, afford
A Rare Age Verification Win, AI Cameras On School Buses, And A License Plate Tracking Ban May 27, 2026 1961 A rare and genuine win against age verification with California following Colorado in exempting Linux and other open source operating systems from its Digital Age Assurance Act, directly because of community pressure. Plus AI cameras on tens of thousands of school buses being quietly repurposed for police access, a bipartisan amendment that could end nationwide automatic license plate rea
A Brutal Week for Microsoft Security, Signal Threatens to Leave Canada, And Bitwarden Quietly Shifts May 20, 2026 2517 A brutal week for Microsoft with seven vulnerability stories, an actively exploited Exchange zero-day, the MiniPlasma exploit (rooted in a six-year-old Project Zero report Microsoft sat on), and Pwn2Own Berlin zero-days. Plus the Shai-Hulud npm supply chain attack hitting 600+ packages, Signal threatening to pull out of Canada over Bill C-22, Meta rolling out AI-powered age detection, and
Linux's Rough Run, ICE's 20M Palantir Database & Android Good/Bad News May 13, 2026 2227 Linux gets hit with a third major vulnerability in as many weeks, a Palantir-built database of 20 million people, and Android delivers both bad news (a new VPN leak Google has refused to patch) and good news (intrusion logging for high-risk users). Plus encrypted RCS finally arrives in iOS 26.5, Instagram quietly kills its end-to-end encrypted DMs, and the usual roundup of data breaches,
CopyFail Explained, Utah's New VPN Law, and Microsoft Edge Keeping Passwords in Plaintext May 7, 2026 1951 This week's Surveillance Report covers the most severe Linux threat in years sending researchers and admins scrambling, Apple patching the bug police were using to extract deleted Signal messages from iPhones, Utah's new law regulating VPNs taking effect, and Microsoft Edge inexplicably storing your passwords in plaintext memory.🧡 SUPPORT TECHLOREBecome a Techlorian and keep this show gro
VPNs Could Make You an NSA Target, North Korea's Supply Chain Hijack & the EU Kills Chat Control Apr 9, 2026 3275 The government told you to use a VPN, but are you actually making yourself a target for NSA surveillance in the process? This week's highlight story digs into a letter from six US lawmakers pressing intelligence officials to answer whether Americans using commercial VPNs risk losing their legal protections and being treated as foreign nationals under Section 702 of FISA.Also this week: No
Two iOS Exploits, Google's Android Lockdown & Instagram Drops Encryption Mar 30, 2026 2946 This week's Surveillance Report covers two sophisticated zero-click iOS exploit frameworks: Coruna and DarkSword hit hundreds of millions of iPhones in the span of a single week. Google finally revealed their controversial Android sideloading "advanced flow," and it involves a 24-hour wait, developer mode unlock, and a wall of warning screens just to install an APK. Meanwhile, Instagram h
Password Manager Vaults Aren't Private, Google Threatens Open Android, & Apple's Global Age Verification Mar 2, 2026 2423 Password managers CAN see your vault (new research reveals attack vectors), Google threatens the open Android ecosystem, Apple rolls out age verification globally, 147 million installs of Android mental health apps with security flaws, Samsung's innovative privacy display, and a massive week of breaches and updates.NO SR NEXT WEEK - Back in two weeks!🧡 SUPPORT TECHLOREBecome a Techlorian
3 Mac Attacks Explained, Discord Age Verification Goes Global & Hidden Hotel Cameras Feb 19, 2026 2997 No operating system is safe, and this week, Mac users got hit from three directions at once. We cover the attacks, Discord's messy age verification expansion, hidden hotel cameras in China, and everything else threatening your digital rights.🧡 SUPPORT TECHLOREBecome a Techlorian and keep this show growing: https://techlore.tech/support🔗 SOURCES & LINKSView all sources here: https://te
FBI Can't Crack iPhone Lockdown Mode, Age Verification Hits 3 Countries, And Chat Control 1.0 Extended Feb 6, 2026 2009 The FBI couldn't crack a journalist's iPhone because of one security feature, and we'll break down exactly how Lockdown Mode stopped them. Meanwhile, Austria, Spain, and Greece all announced age verification mandates in the same week, Chat Control 1.0 just got an extension, and Microsoft is finally backing away from Recall as AI fatigue reaches a breaking point. 🧡 SUPPORT TECHLOREBecome a
Microsoft Gave FBI Your Encryption Keys Jan 29, 2026 2954 This week's Surveillance Report covers Microsoft handing BitLocker encryption keys to the FBI, meaning your "encrypted" Windows data isn't as secure as you thought. This two-week Surveillance Report covers age verification laws spreading across three continents, 840,000 malicious browser extension installs, WhatsApp's encryption challenged in court, a trusted Android launcher turned spywa

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