When a License Plate Becomes a Target
| | | | | | |

When a License Plate Becomes a Target

ByPrivacyStan

When a License Plate Becomes a Target How High-Profile Individuals Can Be Tracked Using ALPR Networks ALPR systems weren’t built to track celebrities, activists, or executives. But they do it quite well. If someone knows your license plate (or even just suspects which car is yours) they can leverage public infrastructure and commercial surveillance to…

How Spyware Operators Like NSO Win and How to Defend Yourself
| | | | | |

How Spyware Operators Like NSO Win and How to Defend Yourself

ByPrivacyStan

How Spyware Operators Like NSO Group Win(and How to Defend Yourself) Spyware operators like NSO Group, creators of Pegasus, are not hackers chasing credit card numbers or random victims. They act with precision, patience, and state-level resources. Their success does not come from being more intelligent than engineers at Apple or Google but from playing…

ALPR vs. GPS: Why License Plate Tracking Is Surging
| | | | | | | | |

ALPR vs. GPS: Why License Plate Tracking Is Surging

ByPrivacyStan

ALPR vs. GPS: Why License Plate Tracking Is Surging Law enforcement has always had ways to follow you. Phones broadcast your location through GPS, cell towers, and Wi-Fi beacons. That data is rich, precise. And often locked behind warrants, subpoenas, or private data broker paywalls. Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) is different. Cameras mounted on…

deepfake conceptual
| | | |

Why Deepfakes Are Harder to Stop Than We Admit

ByPrivacyStan

I mapped dozens of proposed solutions to deepfakes. The result was sobering:No silver bullets. Only tradeoffs. The conversation around deepfakes is full of quick fixes. New watermarking schemes, tighter laws, platform promises.None hold up under pressure. After reviewing countermeasures across technical, legal, policy, and human domains, the pattern is clear: every solution is partial, fragile,…

Ghost in the Pixels: How Hidden Image Payloads Target AI Users
| | | | |

Ghost in the Pixels: How Hidden Image Payloads Target AI Users

ByPrivacyStan

Ghost in the Pixels: How Hidden Image Payloads Target AI Users Recent research from Trail of Bits shows how attackers can hide instructions inside images – – instructions that only reveal themselves once processed by AI systems.  This has been demonstrated to work against platforms like Gemini, Vertex AI, and Google Assistant. Nothing theoretical here….

Politi-Spam: Apple, Gmail, and the Data Broker Machine
| | | | | |

Politi-Spam: Apple, Gmail, and the Data Broker Machine

ByPrivacyStan

Politi-Spam: Apple, Gmail, and the Data Broker Machine Your phone shouldn’t be a campaign donation funnel. Apple just agreed. In June, Apple announced a new “Unknown Senders” folder in iMessage. Texts from unknown numbers (including political fundraisers) no longer light up your lock screen. They slip quietly into a side folder. Still delivered. Still readable….

Lock Down Browsers. Wipe Employee Footprints. Win Breach Wars.
| | | | | |

Lock Down Browsers. Wipe Employee Footprints. Win Breach Wars.

ByPrivacyStan

Lock Down Browsers. Wipe Employee Footprints. Win Breach Wars. Over 80% of security incidents now start in the browser. Chrome. Edge. Firefox. Even Safari. They’re not just productivity tools anymore. They’ve become the primary attack surface. Groups like Scattered Spider have figured this out. Instead of smashing endpoints with malware, they slip in through the…

A Day in the Life of Your License Plate
| | | | | | |

A Day in the Life of Your License Plate

ByPrivacyStan

How ALPR Systems Quietly Track You Everywhere Your License plate is talking more than a drunk uncle at Thanksgiving. Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology is now embedded across public streets, private neighborhoods, and commercial parking lots. These systems capture, tag, and upload your movements in real time. Some of this data supports law enforcement….

Your License Plate is Talking… Who’s Listening?
| | | | |

Your License Plate is Talking… Who’s Listening?

ByPrivacyStan

Your plates used to talk to the DMV and the occasional traffic cop. In 2025? They’re snitching to data brokers, repo firms and anyone with a $200 camera and a grudge. The tools are cheap, the data is for sale, and the surveillance never sleeps. Today, Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology is everywhere. It’s…

Functional Privacy
| | | | | | |

How Data Brokers Destroyed Functional Privacy

ByPrivacyStan

There was a time, not so long ago, when we had something called functional privacy. Not perfect privacy. Not encryption. Not invisibility. Just a simple, practical buffer between our lives and the public record. Yes, much of our personal data was technically public. But accessing it required time, effort, and intent. You had to show…