Sean Tilley
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This is what many people (including myself) suspected would happen with these LLM SaaS services — that they would become spyware.

And, not just that, but — that they would take spyware to another level.

“OpenAI admitted that it's scanning users' conversations and reporting to police any interactions that a human reviewer deems sufficiently threatening.”

https://futurism.com/people-furious-openai-reporting-police

#AI#LLM#OpenAI#Privacy#Spyware

This is what many people (including myself) suspected would happen with these LLM SaaS services — that they would become spyware.

And, not just that, but — that they would take spyware to another level.

“OpenAI admitted that it's scanning users' conversations and reporting to police any interactions that a human reviewer deems sufficiently threatening.”

https://futurism.com/people-furious-openai-reporting-police

#AI#LLM#OpenAI#Privacy#Spyware

"Last week, Russia announced it will require that all new phones and tablets sold within its borders pre-install a messaging app called Max. Security experts who did technical analyses of Max’s software for Forbes said it’s a privacy nightmare.

While Russia’s interior ministry has claimed the app, made by Russian social media giant VK, is more secure than competitors, a cybersecurity researcher found that Max constantly monitored all user activity on the app with“excessive tracking.” The researcher, who completed the analysis with phone forensics tool Corellium, asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals by Russian intelligence agencies.

“This app just gathers all the data and logs it. I don’t remember seeing that in any messenger app,” they said. “Max is not secure at all. There is no cryptography, unless it’s hidden very well, but I doubt that. It is insecure by design to serve its purpose: people surveillance.”

Max was launched in March, and appears to be limited to Russian and Belarussian phone numbers. Functionally it works similar to messaging apps like Telegram and Whatsapp, but it also has an AI chatbot called GigaChat 2.0 and the ability to book travel and make bank transfers."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2025/08/26/kremlin-whatsapp-rival-is-designed-to-spy-on-users/

#Russia#CyberSecurity#Messaging#Privacy#LocationTracking#Spyware#Surveillance

"Last week, Russia announced it will require that all new phones and tablets sold within its borders pre-install a messaging app called Max. Security experts who did technical analyses of Max’s software for Forbes said it’s a privacy nightmare.

While Russia’s interior ministry has claimed the app, made by Russian social media giant VK, is more secure than competitors, a cybersecurity researcher found that Max constantly monitored all user activity on the app with“excessive tracking.” The researcher, who completed the analysis with phone forensics tool Corellium, asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals by Russian intelligence agencies.

“This app just gathers all the data and logs it. I don’t remember seeing that in any messenger app,” they said. “Max is not secure at all. There is no cryptography, unless it’s hidden very well, but I doubt that. It is insecure by design to serve its purpose: people surveillance.”

Max was launched in March, and appears to be limited to Russian and Belarussian phone numbers. Functionally it works similar to messaging apps like Telegram and Whatsapp, but it also has an AI chatbot called GigaChat 2.0 and the ability to book travel and make bank transfers."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2025/08/26/kremlin-whatsapp-rival-is-designed-to-spy-on-users/

#Russia#CyberSecurity#Messaging#Privacy#LocationTracking#Spyware#Surveillance

Tonight, I uninstalled Discord from my system. In its place, I am going to try Revolt. I already use Signal for a small number of contacts but don't expect everyone to move to it.

My reasoning is because I have been concerned for a long time about Discord's business practices. They are trying to jam in ads and monetization wherever they can. Not only is the software proprietary, it is essentially spyware.

https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/online-security/millions-of-discord-users-being-tracked-by-spy-site-what-you-need-to-know

#Discord#Revolt#Signal#FOSS #freesoftware #tomsguide #spyware

@evacide
Hey @signalapp are you affected by this #Gemini#Spyware from #Google as well?
Or do you have some mitigation for it in place already? Like e.g. something similar to what you did for the spyware from #Microsoft?
@echo_pbreyer Oh please, stop insulting our intelligence - your pathetic "Erklärung" re: the Gilles Bordelais scandal was bad enough. Your party supports unconditionally the biggest supplier of #spyware in the world and it also supports brutal #censorship and #crackdown against any criticism or dissent against this supplier. So, cut the crap, Dr. Breyer. We're old enough and we can see through you and your disgraced and amoral party.

I learned something today: Google's Gemini "AI" on phones accesses your data from "Phones, Messages, WhatsApp" and other stuff whether you have Gemini turned on or not. It just keeps the data longer if you turn it on. Oh, and lets it be reviewed by humans (!) for Google's advantage in training "AI" etc.

But this only came to my attention because of an upcoming change: it's going to start keeping your data long-term even if you turn it "off": "#Gemini will soon be able to help you use Phone, #Messages, #WhatsApp, and Utilities on your phone, whether your Gemini Apps Activity is on or off."

This is, of course, a #privacy and #security #nightmare.

If this is baked into Android, and therefore not removable, I'd have to say I'd recommend against using Android at all starting July 7th.

https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/gemini-ai-will-soon-access-calls-and-messages-on-your-android-even-if-you

#spyware#AI#LLM#Google #spying #phone#Android #private #data

I learned something today: Google's Gemini "AI" on phones accesses your data from "Phones, Messages, WhatsApp" and other stuff whether you have Gemini turned on or not. It just keeps the data longer if you turn it on. Oh, and lets it be reviewed by humans (!) for Google's advantage in training "AI" etc.

But this only came to my attention because of an upcoming change: it's going to start keeping your data long-term even if you turn it "off": "#Gemini will soon be able to help you use Phone, #Messages, #WhatsApp, and Utilities on your phone, whether your Gemini Apps Activity is on or off."

This is, of course, a #privacy and #security #nightmare.

If this is baked into Android, and therefore not removable, I'd have to say I'd recommend against using Android at all starting July 7th.

https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/gemini-ai-will-soon-access-calls-and-messages-on-your-android-even-if-you

#spyware#AI#LLM#Google #spying #phone#Android #private #data