Privacy Digest 16/26
Google's AI Search Fails Children's Safety Tests
A large-scale assessment of Google's AI-powered search features found that they frequently produced unreliable or potentially harmful responses for children. Researchers reported that AI-generated answers consistently completed students' homework, sometimes fabricated information, and often failed to recognize signs of mental health crises or other high-risk situations. The study also found that AI responses regularly cited user-generated content alongside more authoritative sources, making it difficult to distinguish reliable information. Because AI-generated answers cannot currently be disabled in Google Search, the findings raise concerns about children's ability to safely and critically navigate AI-powered search results.
commonsensemedia.org
120,000 Cameras, One Growing Surveillance Network
Automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras continue to expand across the United States, with more than 120,000 camera locations now mapped by privacy researchers. The systems record license plates, vehicle details, and the time and location of each sighting, allowing law enforcement to search historical travel records during investigations. Supporters point to crime-solving benefits, while critics argue that widespread deployment enables large-scale tracking of people's movements without a warrant. As lawsuits challenge the technology and some cities reconsider its use, public opposition has increasingly extended beyond courts to organized campaigns against the cameras themselves.
newsweek.com
FTC Sues Telehealth Firm Over Health Data Sharing
U.S. regulators have sued telehealth company Hims & Hers, alleging it shared customers' sensitive health information with advertising platforms despite assuring users their data would remain private. The complaint also accuses the company of charging customers before medical consultations and making subscription cancellations unnecessarily difficult. The company denies the allegations. The case underscores growing regulatory scrutiny of digital health services, where personal medical information, targeted advertising, and subscription business models increasingly intersect. It also reinforces that privacy promises must match how companies actually collect, use, and share sensitive user data.
reuters.com
Healthcare Is Regulated. Your Data Isn't.
The FTC's lawsuit against Hims & Hers follows growing scrutiny of how healthcare companies handle sensitive user data. Earlier this year, Ghostery and Verified Data audited 20 pharmacy websites across Europe and the United States to examine whether they respected users' privacy choices after opting out of tracking. The results suggest that the overwhelming majority did not.
ghostery.com
Your AI Chats and Shared Files May Be More Public Than You Think
The discovery that some Claude conversations appeared in search engine results has highlighted a broader privacy issue affecting online sharing tools. Creating an "anyone with the link" link may unintentionally expose AI chats, documents, and other files far beyond their intended audience if they become indexed by search engines. The same risk can apply to cloud storage services such as Google Drive when public links are shared more widely than expected. The incident is a reminder that convenience-focused sharing features can easily lead to accidental oversharing unless privacy settings are reviewed carefully.
theguardian.com
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