The FCC wants to stop cell phones

Following the WIRED report Last week that Meta’s smart glasses app has an icon This will enable the company to activate facial recognition features on the company’s devices The icon was removed this week Without commenting on why or whether they plan to add this functionality back to the app later. Another WIRED investigation this week found just that xAI’s Grok still hosts deeply sexual contentincluding “nude” photos and videos of celebrities and at least one prominent American politician.

After limiting the release of a new Mythos-class AI model due to concerns about its potential cybersecurity implications, Anthropic has announced Upgrade the model to partners in its limited-access group this week and launched a “secure” version of the model to the public with guardrails intended to prevent the system from being used to fuel cyberattacks. Meanwhile, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency He issued new guidance to federal agencies this week In response to new AI threats that include a requirement to fix the most pressing software vulnerabilities in less than three days.

As Europe looks to decouple and isolate itself from the big tech companies in the United States, WIRED has created a timeline that tracks All the ways in which EU governments, companies and other organizations are turning away from US technology. A A new open source project called “Cryptospaces”. They can be used to make countless mainstream collaboration applications more private and resistant to surveillance through end-to-end encryption. Illegal pharmacies and scam sites Spotify’s search rankings have been hijacked Using fake audio files, according to a new joint US Congressional report.

the World Cup 2026 In full swing, and WIRED looked into surveillance technologiesfrom anti-drone technology to facial recognition, which is being used in American, Canadian and Mexican stadiums. Us too Each license plate reader is designated Flock Close to the World Cup stadium in the United States. More broadly, Amnesty International said this week it had gathered fans in all three host countries – both local residents and visitors –Confronting potential human rights violations Result of the FIFA Championship.

The American Civil Liberties Union is Two Florida police departments are being sued For her use of FACES, one of the oldest facial recognition tools in the United States, after its alleged misuse led to the wrongful arrest of a Fort Myers man. Donald Trump, meanwhile It puts the future of the main surveillance authority at risk After selecting Bill Bolt, who was described as “completely unqualified,” to be acting Director of National Intelligence. (Trump has since selected a replacement nominee for this permanent role.)

And there’s more. Every week we round up security and privacy news that we haven’t covered in depth ourselves. Click on the titles to read the full stories. And stay safe out there.

As difficult as digital anonymity has become in the modern world, obtaining a phone number without revealing almost any identifying information — whether by purchasing a temporary phone or registering an account with a privacy-preserving phone company — has remained perfectly legal in the United States. Now the FCC wants to change that.

Late last month, the FCC released a proposal for a new rule that would implement “know your customer” requirements for cellular networks, requiring cellular providers “at a minimum, to obtain and maintain the name, physical address, government-issued identification number, and alternate telephone number of any new and renewed customer before granting access to their services.” The proposal is described as a measure similar to money laundering laws designed to make it more difficult for fraudsters to exploit phone networks. But privacy advocates say it also threatens a final channel of anonymity for those seeking to evade phone surveillance — whether they are journalists, whistleblowers, activists or simply people seeking to avoid widespread data collection in another aspect of their communications.