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Tech News
Huawei launched the Mate XT 2 in China, its third trifold phone, switching to an inward-folding design similar to Samsung's Galaxy Z TriFold rather than the accordion style of prior models. The device also introduces a privacy OLED screen, akin to the one on Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra, that narrows viewing angles to shield content from onlookers when enabled as a paid option.
The Autistici/Inventati (A/I) collective, which for 25 years ran free, privacy-focused digital services, announced it is shutting down all operations. The decision follows being labeled a global terrorist organization, which the group says exposed users, contributors and their families to legal and physical danger.
Quad9, a free public DNS recursive resolver service focused on blocking malicious domains, has reorganized its operations to be based in Switzerland, citing the country's strong privacy laws. Industry figures from organizations including the Center for Democracy and Technology, ProtonMail, RIPE, and Alta Associates praised the move as a step toward diversifying and strengthening privacy protections in core internet infrastructure.
A dark web identity-theft service is selling scans of more than 153 million U.S. and Canadian driver's licenses, apparently sourced from a Louisiana-based identity verification company that supplies age- and ID-checking services. Investigator Brian Krebs found the site was still adding hundreds of thousands of new records daily, including 400,000 added the day the breach was exposed, before the service was finally taken offline.
Utah's Department of Commerce has agreed not to enforce SB 73, a law that took effect this week making adult websites liable for users who access them via VPN, while a federal judge weighs a legal challenge. The law treats anyone physically located in Utah as a Utah user regardless of VPN use, and bars sites with significant adult content from encouraging VPN use.
A Hacker News poster described being stuck in a repeating Google reCAPTCHA challenge when trying to access archive.is using current Firefox on Linux with strict privacy settings enabled. Disabling Privacy Badger and switching to private browsing did not resolve the issue, prompting the user to ask whether other Firefox users are experiencing similar problems.
Ollie, a subscription-based personal AI assistant, has become one of the first family-focused AI products to achieve SOC 2 compliance, an independently audited standard proving it has formal data security controls in place. CEO Bill Lennon says the company's subscription model, rather than data monetization, ensures user data isn't shared or used for AI training. The San Diego startup has raised $7.5 million in seed funding led by Khosla Ventures and AI House.
DJI has introduced the ROMO 2 lineup, including the ROMO P2 and ROMO A2, at IFA 2026 as successors to last year's ROMO. The new models use an upgraded drone-derived perception system for millimeter-level obstacle detection, a LiDAR-guided mopping arm, up to 36,000 Pa suction, and leg mechanisms that step over ledges up to 8.5cm tall.
Security researcher Jose Rodriguez found that on some Android phones, WhatsApp's video call feature can let anyone view your entire photo gallery without unlocking the device. The flaw is triggered by answering a video call, opening the effects panel, selecting AI-generated backgrounds, and choosing to edit an existing photo, which opens the gallery directly. Rodriguez says the bug affects OPPO and vivo phones but not Samsung, and has reported it to Meta and Google.
Norway's digital minister Karianne Tung says the government is exploring rules to regulate camera-enabled wearables like those from Meta and Snap, citing growing privacy concerns. The devices, sometimes dubbed 'pervert glasses' by critics, combine cameras and microphones with AI and could soon add facial recognition capabilities. Tung plans to convene an expert panel to advise on protecting citizens' privacy rights.
A class-action lawsuit accusing Meta of misrepresenting privacy protections in its AI-powered smart glasses has been amended to add bystanders who never bought the devices but say they were recorded and had their footage sent to human content reviewers. The suit, filed after Swedish journalists exposed Kenyan content moderators describing intimate footage—including nudity and sexual activity—being reviewed to train Meta's AI, alleges the company falsely marketed the glasses as 'designed for privacy.'
Florida's Department of Transportation announced it will stop using license plate reading cameras like Flock's on state highways, giving agencies 30 days to remove them, citing misuse and privacy concerns. This follows Texas's decision last week to halt state funding for Flock cameras after a Lufkin police officer was indicted on 100 felony counts for allegedly misusing the database to track people without authorization.