This week's Surveillance Report covers Apple's security features actually stopping the FBI from accessing a journalist's iPhone, a global wave of age verification hitting Austria, Spain, and Greece, Chat Control 1.0's extension after the Commission admits negotiations failed, Microsoft backing away from Recall as AI fatigue grows, and more!
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Episode Timestamps
00:00 INTRO
00:40 HIGHLIGHT STORY: APPLE LOCKDOWN MODE
08:05 AGE VERIFICATION EXPANDING TO 3 COUNTRIES
12:38 CHAT CONTROL 1.0 EXTENSION
17:54 MICROSOFT ADMITS THEIR AI IS BAD
22:56 THE DEFENSE BULLETIN
Episode Sources
Highlight: Apple's Security Feature Just Stopped the FBI
- https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/fbi-stymied-by-apples-lockdown-mode-after-seizing-journalists-iphone/
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/29/apples-new-iphone-and-ipad-security-feature-limits-cell-networks-from-collecting-precise-location-data/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENuGWhz10UY
Story 1: Age Verification Wave Hits 3 Countries in One Week
- https://www.diepresse.com/20539248/babler-social-media-ordnungs-gesetz-soll-bis-zum-sommer-am-tisch-liegen
- https://www.politico.eu/article/spain-pedro-sanchez-moves-ban-under-16-social-media/
- https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/greece-soon-announce-social-media-ban-children-under-15-government-source-says-2026-02-03/
Story 2: Chat Control 1.0 Extension
- https://chat-kontrolle.eu/index.php/2026/02/01/aufruf-eprivacy-luecke-schliessen/
- https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/chat-control-1-0-civil-society-mobilizes-against-extending-mass-surveillance-eu-parliament-decision-imminent/
- https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/sippel-draft-on-chat-control-mass-surveillance-set-to-continue-sparking-renewed-protests/
- https://fightchatcontrol.eu/
Story 3: Microsoft Backs Away From Recall—AI Fatigue Sets In
- https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/windows-11/microsoft-is-reevaluating-its-ai-efforts-on-windows-11-plans-to-reduce-copilot-integrations-and-evolve-recall
- https://www.pcmag.com/news/duckduckgo-asked-users-how-they-feel-about-ai-search-90-percent-hate-it
The Defense Bulletin
- https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/02/notepad-updater-was-compromised-for-6-months-in-supply-chain-attack/
- https://www.rapid7.com/blog/post/tr-chrysalis-backdoor-dive-into-lotus-blossoms-toolkit/
- https://www.404media.co/massive-ai-chat-app-leaked-millions-of-users-private-conversations/
- https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/panera-bread-data-breach-impacts-51-million-accounts-not-14-million-customers/
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/04/hackers-publish-personal-information-stolen-during-harvard-upenn-data-breaches/
- https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/data-breach-at-fintech-firm-betterment-exposes-14-million-accounts/
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/05/substack-confirms-data-breach-affecting-email-addresses-and-phone-numbers/
- https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/flickr-discloses-potential-data-breach-exposing-users-names-emails/
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/05/one-of-europes-largest-universities-knocked-offline-for-days-after-cyberattack/
- https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/spains-ministry-of-science-shuts-down-systems-after-breach-claims/
- https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/researcher-reveals-evidence-of-private-instagram-profiles-leaking-photos/
- https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-investigated-claims-whatsapp-chats-212251244.html
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfjyUtR5Xdk
- https://www.thurrott.com/cloud/332298/youtube-blocks-background-play-on-mobile-web-browsers-but-brave-is-resisting
- https://www.404media.co/privacy-telecom-cape-introduces-disappearing-call-logs-that-delete-every-24-hours/
- https://proton.me/blog/next-generation-proton-mail-mobile-apps
- https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tails-7_4_1/
- https://www.mullvad.net/en/blog/2026/2/3/addition-of-new-supported-currencies/
- https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/ai-controls/
- https://alternativeto.net/news/2026/2/posteo-doubles-standard-mailbox-storage-to-4gb-at-no-extra-cost/
- https://alternativeto.net/news/2026/2/kagi-brings-its-translation-service-to-ios-and-android-with-context-aware-image-translation/
- https://alternativeto.net/news/2026/2/vivaldi-7-8-brings-pinned-tabs-privacy-dashboard-and-gesture-upgrades-to-ios-and-android/
- https://alternativeto.net/news/2026/2/tor-project-releases-arti-2-0-with-major-improvements-to-relay-and-directory-authority/
- https://alternativeto.net/news/2026/2/libreoffice-26-2-adds-markdown-import-export-better-excel-compatibility-and-speed-boost/
- https://alternativeto.net/news/2026/2/calibre-9-2-1-introduces-mustache-templating-and-key-security-fixes/
- https://alternativeto.net/news/2026/2/open-source-video-editor-shotcut-26-1-finally-introduces-hardware-video-decoding/
- https://alternativeto.net/news/2026/2/linux-lite-7-8-releases-12-rewritten-apps-and-expands-software-selection/
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