Privacy
Facial ID Lawsuit, Child Privacy, Google IP Tracking & More
Reno police sued over facial ID arrests; Connecticut enacts child privacy law; Google changes IP tracking; Microsoft device ID revealed.
Lawsuit Alleges Reno Police Made Thousands of Unlawful Arrests Using Facial ID
A lawsuit filed April 2, 2026, by Jason Killinger accuses the Reno Police Department of making thousands of unlawful arrests due to lack of training on facial recognition software limitations. Officer Richard Jager arrested Killinger at the Peppermill casino after the casino’s facial recognition system claimed a 100% match with someone banned for sleeping on property. The suit, which now names the city as a defendant, argues that no policy or training exists requiring officers to understand that a match alone does not establish probable cause, citing the 2017 DOJ policy template calling matches advisory in nature. Killinger’s attorney, Terri Keyser-Cooper, described the arrest as part of a widespread custom involving hundreds of employees and thousands of similar arrests over years.
“Lawsuit: Reno police made thousands of unlawful arrests using facial ID” →
Connecticut Online Privacy Protections for Children Now in Effect
Expanded protections under the Connecticut Data Privacy Act took effect July 1, announced Attorney General William Tong. Businesses are now banned from selling or using minors’ data for targeted advertising, using addictive design features, collecting precise location unless necessary, or profiling minors without consent. Direct messaging platforms must default to preventing adults from sending unsolicited messages to minors. Tong called the move a stand against Big Tech treating children as cash cows. Additional protections approved for 2028 include parental consent for algorithms, default privacy and screen-time settings, notification restrictions from 9:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., and warning labels on mental health risks. Social media companies must report minor user counts, consent numbers, and average daily time spent. Tong highlighted ongoing investigations into Roblox, Meta, and TikTok.
“Attorney General Tong: New Connecticut Online Privacy Protections for Children Now in Effect” →
Delta Chat Offers Decentralized, Anonymous Messaging Without Phone Number
Delta Chat is a decentralized, open-source, end-to-end encrypted messaging app that requires no phone number or email address. Users sign up by creating a new profile; the app provides a random string of characters as the address. There is no public directory, and encryption prevents spam because only contacts with the correct encryption key can message. Features include audio/video calls, group chats, disappearing messages, file sharing, and multi-device support. The app’s backend runs on distributed servers, making it hard to block or censor compared to Signal. Users can also host their own data. Persuading others to install the app remains a challenge, but it works well for small private groups.
“The Best Private Messaging App Isn’t WhatsApp or Signal, It’s Delta Chat” →
Google to Allow IP Addresses for Personalized Ads in Europe Starting August 4
From August 4, Google will permit third parties to use IP addresses for personalized advertising in the European Economic Area, UK, and Switzerland, a reversal of its previous policy that restricted IP use to traffic routing and ad display. The move raises GDPR compliance questions since IP addresses are classified as personal data requiring consent. Google previously opposed fingerprinting, calling it wrong in 2019, but lifted the ban in 2024. The UK Information Commissioner’s Office called the reversal irresponsible. Google is shifting compliance responsibility to advertisers. A VPN can spoof IP addresses to limit tracking; services like NordVPN, Surfshark, and Proton VPN offer anti-tracking features. Free VPNs are available but may have limited servers.
Microsoft’s Global Device ID Used to Track Hacker, Raising Privacy Concerns
The FBI used a Microsoft Global Device ID (GDID) to link 19-year-old Peter Stokes to a May 2025 hack of a luxury jewelry retailer, revealing that Microsoft can track users via a persistent hardware identifier. According to the unsealed complaint, the GDID remains consistent across Windows updates but changes with a fresh OS install. The ID allowed Microsoft to associate Stokes’ computer with ngrok signup pages and other sites, even though he used a VPN. Cybersecurity expert Matthew Hickey described Windows as surveillance software. Microsoft has only a brief support page mentioning GDID. Users are now exploring ways to contain or scrub the identifier.
“A Hacker’s Arrest Reveals Microsoft Can Track Users Via a Windows Device ID” →