Privacy technologies

Privacy technologies

Several months after AI-powered age verification rolled out to YouTube, age checks are hitting another Google service. Over the past several days, users have spotted a new age verification system appearing on the Google Play Store. When attempting to download certain apps, users are greeted with a verification pop-up asking to confirm their age. According to reports from people who have already seen this pop-up, you aren't able to download many apps until this is done.

If you've been following the wave of age-gating laws sweeping across the country and , you've probably noticed that lawmakers, tech companies, and advocates all seem to be using different terms for what sounds like the same thing. Age verification, age assurance, age estimation, age gating-they get thrown around interchangeably, but they technically mean different things. And those differences matter a lot when we're talking about your rights, your privacy, your data, and who gets to access information online.

Berkeley Police Chief Jennifer Louis said the change was necessary to align with state and federal privacy requirements, protect officers when on duty and prevent potential suspects from evading arrest. Having considered alternatives, Louis said switching between encrypted and unencrypted channels would be challenging given a dispatch staffing shortage and delaying the feed or creating a key or workaround for media would not solve the issue of protecting sensitive information, as required by a 2020 memo from former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

Crypto markets continue to struggle on the back of the FOMC meeting this past Wednesday. Fed Chair Powell's comment of no guarantee of cuts in December has had markets reeling, with Bitcoin beginning to recover today, trading above its 200 day SMA at around $110,000 at this time of writing. But Bitcoin's recovery is not as significant as Z-Cash, the crypto story of the moment.

Some grocery stores owned by Sobeys Inc. are the latest Toronto stores to test body-worn cameras. In a statement, the retailer confirmed it's piloting the project after the bodycams were spotted on FreshCo cashiers in a store located at Sherbourne and Isabella streets. The cameras are being used to combat harassment and assault directed toward employees and to prevent shoplifting and other crimes, Sobeys spokesperson Caitlin Gray said.

Both Google and Apple are cramming new AI features into their phones and other devices, and neither company has offered clear ways to control which apps those AI systems can access. Recent issues around WhatsApp on both Android and iPhone demonstrate how these interactions can go sideways, risking revealing chat conversations beyond what you intend. Users deserve better controls and clearer documentation around what these AI features can access.

Meta, Instagram's parent company, acknowledged that "teens may try to avoid these restrictions," so it's using age-prediction technology to apply protections even when users misreport their age. The AI system looks for behavioral and contextual clues that someone claiming to be 18 might actually be younger. It's not perfect, but it's far more reliable than relying on self-reported birthdays. Under the new system, anyone under 18 is automatically placed into "13+" mode.

Smart glasses, like the newly revealed Meta Ray-Ban Displays, solve lots of problems. They can provide live translation and captions while chatting with a foreign friend, they can use provide turn-by-turn directions and a mini map so you don't get lost on the way to that new coffeeshop, they can take pictures so you're not fumbling with your phone while enjoying a sunset or nature walk.

It's a small, round, white object that is supposed to be hung from the neck. Wherever you go, it goes too, listening to and gathering data from everything you say and do in order to "know" you as much as possible. Then, when you "talk" to Friend, it should deliver the most personal and helpful answers through its companion app. And you get all of that for $129.

For years, tech behemoth Google threatened to crack down on browser extension activity within its Chrome browser to improve security. Now, the company is making good on its threats and disabling browser extensions that don't comply with Manifest V3, its browser extension framework. Security experts, such as those at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), argue that Manifest V3 is not a viable solution for addressing real security concerns, including browser extensions that scrape users' browsing histories and sell the data to the highest bidder.

Surveillance pricing has dominated headlines recently. Delta Air Lines' announcement that it will use artificial intelligence to set individualized ticket prices has led to widespread concerns about companies using personal data to charge different prices for identical products. As The New York Times reported, this practice involves companies tracking everything from your hotel bookings to your browsing history to determine what you're willing to pay.

The American dream is "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" but, in practice, it has always been about ownership. Sadly, the dream of ownership is slowly slipping away for many people. Harvard University's 2025 Youth Poll found that three-quarters say they want to own a home, but barely half think they ever will. Ownership feels increasingly out of reach.

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-9242 (CVSS score: 9.3), is described as an out-of-bounds write vulnerability affecting Fireware OS 11.10.2 up to and including 11.12.4_Update1, 12.0 up to and including 12.11.3 and 2025.1. "An out-of-bounds write vulnerability in the WatchGuard Fireware OS iked process may allow a remote unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code," WatchGuard said in an advisory released last month. "This vulnerability affects both the mobile user VPN with IKEv2 and the branch office VPN using IKEv2 when configured with a dynamic gateway peer."

Google is adding new ways to recover Google accounts without losing any information in case you lose your device or if your account is compromised through a hack. The company is adding a new feature called Recovery Contacts, which lets you add your trusted friends or family members as contacts to initiate your recovery and verify your identity. When you are locked out of your account because you lost your device or forgot your password.

The idea is that by exposing some of these details, users will be able to make a more informed decision about whether someone is operating an authentic account or if they're possibly a bot or bad actor attempting to sow misinformation. For instance, if an account's bio claims they're based in a U.S. state, but their account information shows it's based overseas, you may suspect the account has another agenda.