Overreach. The IT Privacy and Security Weekly Update for the Week Ending June 10th., 2025

EP 246

...And in this update, the subject of overreach.  Just last week, Meta and Yandex ceased covert tracking practices on Android apps that exploited localhost communications to collect user data, prompting recommendations to use privacy-focused browsers like Firefox, Brave, or DuckDuckGo.  
The ACLU filed a lawsuit against Sonoma County, California, alleging its drone program, initially for tracking illegal cannabis, has expanded into unauthorized surveillance of private properties, raising ire or the local residents and serious privacy concerns.  
New York lawmakers passed the “Keep Police Radio Public Act” to maintain public access to NYPD radio communications, balancing transparency with law enforcement needs, but it still needs Governor Hochul’s approval.  
OpenAI has dismantled ten overreaching influence operations, including four likely linked to Chinese actors, which used AI to generate social media content aimed at swaying opinions on global issues.  
The FBI warns that the BADBOX 2.0 malware has infected over 1 million Android-based IoT devices, urging users to avoid uncertified gadgets and monitor network activity to prevent cybercriminal exploitation.  
Evidence of a 2023 Chinese state-backed hack into a U.S. telecom company reveals earlier-than-known breaches, again sounding the alarm over vulnerabilities in critical communications infrastructure.  
Apple’s research reveals limitations in advanced AI reasoning models, showing performance declines in complex tasks and questioning their true cognitive capabilities, as outlined in their paper, The Illusion of Thinking.
Come on!  Let's discover what's under-achieving and who's overreaching!

Find the full transcript to this podcast here.