Tag: privacy

New FAA Rule Allows Private Jet Owners To Hide Travel Information From Public

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is implementing a data privacy policy that allows people with private jets to hide travel information from the public.

“Private aircraft owners and operators can now electronically request that the FAA withhold their aircraft registration information from public view,” the agency said in a March 28 statement.

“Starting today, they can submit a request through the Civil Aviation Registry Electronic Services (CARES) to withhold this information from public display on all FAA websites.”

In its statement, the FAA said the data protection decision was taken based on a privacy provision included in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024.

The provision allows aircraft owners to request that certain personally identifiable information not be made publicly available via FAA websites.

“The FAA will publish a request for comment in the Federal Register to seek input on this measure, including whether removing the information would affect the ability of stakeholders to perform necessary functions, such as maintenance, safety checks, and regulatory compliance,” said the agency.

“The FAA is also evaluating whether to default to withholding the personally identifiable information of private aircraft owners and operators from the public aircraft registry.”

While some say that such trackers allow people to record carbon emission info, there have been concerns that monitoring aircraft movements puts at risk the people who use that mode of transportation, often high-profile individuals.

The new rule could negatively affect jet trackers that use FAA information as a key source to track and report flight details of famous personalities.

In December 2023, attorneys for Taylor Swift issued a cease-and-desist letter to a university student, blaming his automated tracking of her private jet travel for revealing the celebrity’s whereabouts to stalkers.

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Which AI Chatbots Collect The Most Data About You?

The harbinger of the AI revolution, ChatGPT, remains the most popular AI tool on the market, with more than 200 million weekly active users.

But amongst all its competitors, which AI chatbots are collecting the most user data? And why does that matter?

Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu visualizes data from Surfshark which identified the most popular AI chatbots and analyzed their privacy details on the Apple App Store.

At first place, Google’s Gemini (released March, 2023) collects 22 different data points across 10 categories, from its users.

Data collected ranges from general diagnostics (that all bots in this study collect) to access to contacts (that no other bot identified collects).

xAI’s Grok (released November, 2023) collects the least unique data points (7).

China’s DeepSeek (released Jan 2025), sits comfortably in the middle of the pack at 11 points.

The kind of data collected by each of these AI tools varies. All of them collected general diagnostics information. However, only Gemini and Perplexity look at purchases.

And then, nearly all but Perplexity.ai and Grok collect user content.

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The Stablecoin Trap: The Backdoor To Total Financial Control

The walls are closing in on your financial freedom—but not in the way most Americans believe.

While the debate rages over the future threat of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), a far more insidious reality has already taken hold: our existing financial system already functions as a digital control grid, monitoring transactions, restricting choices, and enforcing compliance through programmable money.

For over two years, my wife and I have traveled across 22 states warning about the rapid expansion of financial surveillance. What began as research into cryptocurrency crackdowns revealed something far more alarming: the United States already operates under what amounts to a CBDC.

  • 92% of all US dollars exist only as entries in databases.
  • Your transactions are monitored by government agencies—without warrants.
  • Your access to money can be revoked at any time with a keystroke.

The Federal Reserve processes over $4 trillion daily through its Oracle database system, while commercial banks impose programmable restrictions on what you can buy and how you can spend your own money. The IRS, NSA, and Treasury Department collect and analyze financial data without meaningful oversight, weaponizing money as a tool of control. This isn’t speculation—it’s documented reality.

Now, as President Trump’s Executive Order 14178 ostensibly “bans” CBDCs, his administration is quietly advancing stablecoin legislation that would hand digital currency control to the same banking cartel that owns the Federal Reserve. The STABLE Act and GENIUS Act don’t protect financial privacy—they enshrine financial surveillance into law, requiring strict KYC tracking on every transaction.

This isn’t defeating digital tyranny—it’s rebranding it.

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“MyTerms” wants to become the new way we dictate our privacy on the web

Author, journalist, and long-time Internet freedom advocate Doc Searls wants us to stop asking for privacy from websites, services, and AI and start telling these things what we will and will not accept.

Draft standard IEEE P7012, which Searls has nicknamed “MyTerms” (akin to “Wi-Fi”), is a Draft Standard for Machine Readable Personal Privacy Terms. Searls writes on his blog that MyTerms has been in the works since 2017, and a fully readable version should be ready later this year, following conference presentations at VRM Day and the Internet Identity Workshop (IIW).

The big concept is that you are the first party to each contract you have with online things. The websites, apps, or services you visit are the second party. You arrive with either a pre-set contract you prefer on your device or pick one when you arrive, and it tells the site what information you will and will not offer up for access to content or services. Presumably, a site can work with that contract, modify itself to meet the terms, or perhaps tell you it can’t do that.

The easiest way to set your standards, at first, would be to pick something from Customer Commons, which is modeled on the copyleft concept of Creative Commons. Right now, there’s just one example up: #NoStalking, which allows for ads but not with data usable for “targeted advertising or tracking beyond the primary service for which you provided it.” Ad blocking is not addressed in Searls’ post or IEEE summary, but it would presumably exist outside MyTerms—even if MyTerms seems to want to reduce the need for ad blocking.

Searls and his group are putting up the standards and letting the browsers, extension-makers, website managers, mobile platforms, and other pieces of the tech stack craft the tools. So long as the human is the first party to a contract, the digital thing is the second, a “disinterested non-profit” provides the roster of agreements, and both sides keep records of what they agreed to, the function can take whatever shape the Internet decides.

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Sleepwalking Into a Cashless Society

Philip Lane, chief economist of the European Central Bank, recently expressed urgency for the need to develop a digital euro—also known as a central bank digital currency (CBDC)—to compete against stablecoins such as Tether and electronic payment systems developed by U.S. tech firms, such as Google Pay and Apple Pay. Not content with eliminating cash, now the goal of central banks is to eliminate any competing electronic payment system.

We’re sleepwalking into a world with digital currencies without any government coercion whatsoever. As a 51-year-old Generation Xer, I carry lots of cash in my wallet. I teach personal finance at the local university and recently asked a class of about 30 students if any of them had any cash. Not one of them had a single bill or coin on them. They use debit cards, credit cards, Venmo, and Apple Pay. As it turns out, cash usage among the 18–24 age cohort has declined from 28 percent to 13 percent over the last five years. Most like the convenience of electronic payments, even though studies show that people spend 12 percent to 18 percent more when using credit cards than cash. If the government does attempt to implement a digital dollar, there will be little resistance to it.

Currently, there is $2.36 trillion in U.S. currency in circulation. Of course, much of this is held outside our borders, owing to the dollar’s dominance as the global reserve currency. The most common denomination of U.S. currency is the $100 bill. There are more $100 bills in circulation than $1 bills. Many residents of foreign countries, such as Argentina, consider the U.S. dollar to be a store of value and a hedge against inflation and local currency depreciation. If the U.S. government ever decided to phase out paper currency, it would have far-reaching effects around the globe.

Promoters of a digital currency allege that it would cause a drop in criminal and illicit activity. That may be correct, or people may simply resort to another medium of exchange or barter. Philosophically speaking, virtue is not possible without the freedom of choice. If people can’t choose to misbehave, it does not make them virtuous. A society in which nobody has the freedom to misbehave is far more horrifying than a society where people actually misbehave. 

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Replacing Cash With Digital Dollar Would Pose A Grave Threat To Our Rights and Freedoms

The Bank of Canada has made no secret of its efforts to explore a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), a “digital dollar” issued and controlled by the central bank. The Bank of Canada is not alone. To date, 134 countries and currency unions have explored a CBDC, and 66 countries are already in advanced stages of implementation.

In 2023, cash accounted for a mere 11 percent of total payments made by Canadians. Consumers increasingly tap their credit and debit cards at checkouts, send e-transfers, or use online banking to pay bills, make investments, and donate to charities. For many Canadians, metal coins function less like a currency and more like a locker or shopping cart token; paper bills are for birthday cards, not for “serious” transactions. New legislation in Quebec empowers law enforcement to presume that cash sums of $2,000 or more are the proceeds of unlawful activity.

While most consumers seem to appreciate the convenience of an increasingly digital economy, a CBDC is a radical change from using credit cards and online banking apps. A CBDC would likely lead to a cashless economy, in which all financial transactions can be monitored and controlled by government. A cashless economy would create severe hardship for people who are homeless, technologically illiterate, or without ready access to the internet.

For Canadians who look after their finances electronically, cash remains essential to protect their rights and freedoms, including their privacy, security, and autonomy. In a cashless economy, all transactions are digital, subject to surveillance, and ultimately subject to government control. CBDC opens the door for governments to reward or penalize Canadians for their personal choices on how to live, where to go, and what to do with their own money.

Governments can use CBDC to restrict when, where, and what people are allowed to buy, leading to a level of control resembling communist China’s notorious “social credit” system. China uses “social credit” to reward citizens who support the Communist Party and its rules and policies. Those who criticize the Party can find themselves unable to board a train, plane, or subway, denied a bank loan, or prevented from enrolling their children in the best schools and universities.

Cash means privacy and confidentiality.

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Congressional Hearing Reveals Stablecoins And CBDCs Share The Same Financial Control Risks

A congressional hearing on digital currencies rarely makes headlines. Yet, this week’s debate over stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) revealed more than technical disagreements; it exposed deeper anxiety about financial power, privacy, and control in an increasingly digital world.

The conversation unfolded along predictable lines. Those skeptical of CBDCs warned of creeping surveillance and government overreach. Advocates, meanwhile, framed it as a necessity, a matter of American competitiveness in a world where China and Europe are already moving ahead. Yet what emerged, almost inadvertently, was a realization that the supposedly safer alternative, privately issued stablecoins, carries many of the same risks.

While CBDC opponents championed stablecoins as the free-market alternative, testimony from industry leaders revealed that stablecoins — despite their branding as decentralized, private-sector solutions — already carry many of the same risks. The ability to freeze assets, enforce government mandates, and track transactions is a present reality, especially when combined with Know Your Customer (KYC) laws which eradicate privacy.

The core argument against CBDCs is simple: they give the federal government unprecedented control over personal finances. Randall Guynn, Chairman of the Financial Institutions Group at Davis Polk & Wardwell, issued a stark warning.

“A CBDC would give the Federal Reserve staff a direct window into virtually every transaction every person in America makes,” he said. “And at least one of them won’t be able to resist the temptation to use that information to promote what they consider to be worthy political goals.”

His comments echoed a broader concern: a US CBDC could function as a financial surveillance tool, much like China’s digital yuan. In China, authorities can track purchases in real-time and even restrict how certain funds are spent. Many fear the US government could use a CBDC to implement similar controls — whether to enforce political objectives, regulate behavior, or even deplatform individuals from the financial system.

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Finland’s Big Bet on Biometrics: Crime-Fighting Tool or Privacy Nightmare?

Finland has come out with a plan to expand the use of biometric data, with a new a new proposal from the country’s Interior Ministry.

Even as the push to introduce various forms of advanced biometric surveillance, including that incorporating facial recognition, is gaining momentum in countries around the world – so is the pushback from civil rights and privacy campaigners, which ensures that such initiatives these days rarely fly under the radar.

Finland’s Interior Ministry announced on its website that the proposal aims to amend existing rules on biometric data stored by the police and the immigration service – stored, that is, in Finnish citizens’ ID cards, and registers containing biometric data of foreigners.

The government says the intent is not only to strengthen crime prevention – but also to “improve the conditions for using biometrics in law enforcement.”

In addition to the collection of data captured by facial recognition devices, the proposal includes DNA samples and fingerprints taken from suspects. The process is then to attempt to match this biometric data with other types already contained in the law enforcement’s databases – for “crime prevention and investigative purposes.”

The groups keeping a close eye on this development are warning about some of the issues that crop up time and again around similar legislative efforts: the wording that allows for future “mission creep”- as well as unsatisfactory level of provisions that would guarantee against any abuse of such highly sensitive personal information.

Currently, the Finish proposal is yet to be presented to the lawmakers – the Interior Ministry is seeking comments before this can happen. And while the announcement of the proposal goes into the intent driving it, it is short on detail regarding the elephant in the room – privacy safeguards.

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Doxing website that shows personal details of Tesla owners has Molotov cocktail as cursor: report

A website called “Dogequest” reportedly has published the personal information of Tesla owners nationwide in an apparent bid to shame and intimidate them as Elon Musk’s ties with the Trump White House have grown.

The site, called “Dogequest,” reportedly reveals the names, addresses and phone numbers of Tesla owners throughout the US using an interactive map — and uses an image of a Molotov cocktail as a cursor.

The site’s operators, who also posted the exact locations of Tesla dealerships, said that they will remove identifying information about Tesla drivers only if they provide proof that they sold their electric vehicles, according to 404 Media.

News of the doxing site follows a string of reported incidents of vandalism aimed at Tesla drivers and dealerships in the wake of CEO Elon Musk’s high-profile role as head of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The website also hosts personal details allegedly belonging to employees of DOGE, according to the 404 Media report, though the authenticity of the information has not been confirmed.

It is unclear where the alleged Tesla owner data has been sourced from.

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Medical Surveillance Part 2: Tracking the Unvaccinated

Part 1 of “Medical Surveillance” revealed how contact tracing evolved into databases called real-time AI ecosystems. The data stored in these ecosystems ranges from medical records to genomic sequences that were largely collected using Covid-19 PCR tests. Health privacy laws were revised to enable an alarming amount of data sharing with public and private intelligence agencies for military operations. Using the Covid-19 scamdemic as a front, the military worked with so-called health authorities to weaponize Covid-19 statistics to target non-compliant or undesirable groups with mRNA vaccines, ventilators, and Remdesivir. In other words, it was a military operation that utilized covertly collected private medical and genetic data to deploy bioweapons. Targets were acquired using AI generated predictive behavior models provided by government intelligence agencies like Palantir. If that sounds disturbing to you, keep reading because that was just a warm-up.

The DELAYED REACTION THAT ENABLED THE ILLUSION OF THE PANDEMIC OF THE UNVACCINATED

As contact tracing phased into the background and the genome-collection method known as PCR testing was normalized, one more important piece of data needed to be collected: vaccination status.

The mockingbird media foreshadowed that vaccination status must be made public information because during a public health emergency everyone has a right to know their risk. Soon everyone would need to have a Covid-19 shot to travel, work, go to school, and participate in society. All this would inevitably lead to a vaccine passport. Yet there was no official way to track who was vaccinated in the healthcare industry.

The CDC and Medicare (CMS) announced new codes for tracking vaccination status that would go live on April 1st 2022. The update occurred exactly two years after the Covid-19 diagnosis code went live — on April fools’ Day. This time the emergency update was for the purposes of tracking vaccination status. It just wasn’t an emergency during the most aggressive portion of the vaccine campaign; the part where everyone had to get the shot in order for society to come out of lockdown and “go back to normal”. At any point during 2021, the CDC, CMS, or the AMA could have stopped the presses to do another emergency update to introduce a new code for vaccination status (or for adverse events, for that matter). They did not.

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