Episode 56 - When the Gatekeepers Fail: EU Age App Cracked in 2 Minutes, HR 8250, Palantir Pressure, Signal Notification Leaks, and Taking AI Local

Episode 52 - OPSEC Fail, Epstein Files, Why Decentralized Systems Are a Threat to Power Networks, Age Verify Is Coming to Everything
Episode 53 - Locked Out: How Governments and Google Are Closing the Open Internet

Meta Smart Glasses — “Name Tag” Facial Recognition Backlash

Biometric Update — Meta urged to halt facial recognition glasses rollout, disclose law enforcement ties: Meta urged to halt facial recognition glasses rollout, disclose law enforcement ties | Biometric Update

Additional coverage:

PetaPixel — Meta Urged to Abandon Facial Recognition Plans for Ray-Ban Glasses: Meta Urged to Abandon Facial Recognition Plans for Ray-Ban Glasses | PetaPixel
Washington Times — Rights groups demand Meta cancel Ray-Ban facial recognition: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/apr/14/rights-groups-demand-meta-cancel-ray-ban-facial-recognition/
TechRadar — Over 70 privacy advocacy organizations want facial recognition to stay off Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses: Your Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses don’t have facial recognition yet, and over 70 privacy advocacy organizations want it to stay that way | TechRadar
EFF — Think Twice Before Buying or Using Meta’s Ray-Bans: Think Twice Before Buying or Using Meta’s Ray-Bans | Electronic Frontier Foundation
Fortune — Meta promised it wouldn’t spy on you with its AI smart glasses. A lawsuit says humans are watching you, actually: Meta promised it wouldn’t spy on you with its AI smart glasses. A lawsuit says humans are watching you, actually | Fortune

Lawmakers Press DHS, ICE Over Palantir Surveillance Tools

Biometric Update: Lawmakers press DHS, ICE over Palantir surveillance tools | Biometric Update

Official Congressional press releases:

Rep. Daniel Goldman — Goldman, Wyden, Velázquez Demand Answers on ICE Use of Palantir-developed Technologies: Goldman, Wyden, Velázquez Demand Answers on ICE Use of Palantir-developed Technologies to Fuel Mass Surveillance | Congressman Daniel Goldman
Rep. John Garamendi — Reps. Garamendi, Goldman, Velazquez, & Sen. Wyden Demand Answers on ICE Use of Palantir-developed Technologies: Reps. Garamendi, Goldman, Velazquez, & Sen. Wyden Demand Answers on ICE Use of Palantir-developed Technologies to Fuel Mass Surveillance | Congressman John Garamendi

Additional coverage:

NPR — ICE has spun a massive surveillance web: ICE is using mass surveillance on American citizens, activists : NPR
FedScoop — DHS-built surveillance apparatus to surge in year ahead, documents show: DHS-built surveillance apparatus to surge in year ahead, documents show | FedScoop

The FBI Didn’t Break Signal’s Encryption — They Pulled Messages From the iOS Notification Database

404 Media (primary source): Joseph Cox — “FBI Extracts Suspect’s Deleted Signal Messages Saved in iPhone Notification Database” (April 9, 2026)

404 Media Podcast (April 15, 2026): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNUOHwB5yiE

Additional coverage:

9to5Mac — FBI used iPhone notification data to retrieve deleted Signal messages (April 9, 2026)
Digital Trends — The FBI just cracked open Signal texts on an iPhone. Here’s how to lock yours down
Security Affairs — iPhone forensics expose Signal messages after app removal in U.S. case
Leaf&Core — Notifications Cracked a Signal History, Here’s How to Protect Yourself

The Thirty-Second Fix — Do This Now

Fix 1 — Inside Signal itself: Open Signal → Settings → Notifications → Notification Content → Select “No Name or Content”

Fix 2 — iOS system-wide: Settings → Notifications → Show Previews → “Never” (or at minimum “When Unlocked”)

Critical caveat: These settings only protect you going forward. You cannot currently clear the existing notification database on iOS. Whatever has already been stored there from the last 30 days is there until iOS purges it naturally. If you haven’t had these settings enabled, assume up to a month of Signal message previews are sitting on your device right now.

Bonus for the security-conscious:

Consider disabling Signal notifications entirely and checking the app manually.
GrapheneOS does not use Apple’s push notification infrastructure — and gives you far more control over what gets stored and where. Yet another reason to consider it.
Physical security of the device still matters — use a strong passcode, disable biometric unlock when crossing borders.

Vercel Security Incident Tied to Context.ai Compromise

Vercel’s official bulletin: Vercel April 2026 security incident | Vercel Knowledge Base

Additional coverage:

TechCrunch — App host Vercel confirms security incident, says customer data was stolen via breach at Context.ai: App host Vercel says it was hacked and customer data stolen | TechCrunch
SecurityWeek — Next.js Creator Vercel Hacked: https://www.securityweek.com/next-js-creator-vercel-hacked/
The Hacker News — Vercel Breach Tied to Context AI Hack Exposes Limited Customer Credentials: Vercel Breach Tied to Context AI Hack Exposes Limited Customer Credentials
GitGuardian — Vercel April 2026 Incident: Non-Sensitive Environment Variables Need Investigation Too: Vercel April 2026 Incident: Non-Sensitive Environment Variables Need Investigation Too
CoinDesk — Hack at Vercel sends crypto developers scrambling to lock down API keys: Hack at Vercel sends crypto developers scrambling to lock down API keys
CyberInsider — Vercel confirms security incident as hackers claim to sell internal access: Vercel confirms security incident as hackers claim to sell internal access

Going Local — Simon’s AI Journey on System76 + Mac Studio

Tools and resources:

Ollama — the local LLM runtime: https://ollama.com
OpenClaw on Ollama docs: OpenClaw - Ollama
OpenClaw docs — Ollama provider: Ollama | OpenClaw Docs
OpenClaw GitHub — Ollama provider documentation: openclaw/docs/providers/ollama.md at main · openclaw/openclaw · GitHub
Step-by-step guide — Run OpenClaw with any model locally using Ollama: https://medium.com/@unicodeveloper/how-to-run-openclaw-with-any-model-locally-using-ollama-step-by-step-guide-35682c16073d
Building a Local AI Agent Architecture with OpenClaw and Ollama: Building a Local AI Agent Architecture with OpenClaw and Ollama - DEV Community

Models referenced:

Qwen 2.5 (7B) — Alibaba open-weights model — ollama pull qwen2.5:7b
Llama 3.1 (8B) — Meta open-weights model — ollama pull llama3.1:8b

Hardware tested:

System76 Oryx Pro (Linux / Pop!_OS, NVIDIA GPU)
Apple Mac Studio M1 Max, 32 GB unified memory

Section 702 — Ten Days to Reform (CALL TO ACTION)

EFF — Keep Pushing: We Get 10 More Days to Reform Section 702: Keep Pushing: We Get 10 More Days to Reform Section 702 | Electronic Frontier Foundation

EFF — We Need You: Our Privacy Cannot Afford a Clean Extension of Section 702: We Need You: Our Privacy Cannot Afford a Clean Extension of Section 702 | Electronic Frontier Foundation

Additional coverage:

NPR — Congress extends controversial surveillance powers for 10 days: Congress extends controversial surveillance powers for 10 days : NPR
5 Calls — Reform FISA Section 702 to Stop Government Surveillance: Reform FISA Section 702 to Stop Government Surveillance (UPDATED 4/17) ⭑ 5 Calls
Al Jazeera — US Congress extends controversial surveillance power under FISA for 10 days: US Congress extends controversial surveillance power under FISA for 10 days | Privacy News | Al Jazeera
EPIC — FISA Section 702: Reform or Sunset: https://epic.org/campaigns/fisa-section-702-reform-or-sunset/

Call Script — Use This

Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121

“Hi, my name is [YOUR NAME]. I’m a constituent from [ZIP CODE]. I’m calling about Section 702 of FISA. I do not support a clean reauthorization. I do support reform that requires a probable cause warrant before the FBI can search Section 702 data for information about Americans. And I do support closing the data broker loophole. Thank you.”

Call once for each of your House representative and your two senators. Each call takes about two minutes. Offices count and log these calls.