Privacy
Meta opens news scraping rights as WhatsApp hides AI orders
Meta's October 30 terms let it scrape news sites for AI, while WhatsApp quietly embedded 102 hidden AI instructions in its help pages.
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Meta terms from October 30 allow scraping news sites for AI training
Meta’s updated commercial terms, effective October 30, authorize automated scrapers, bots and crawlers to access, index, cache and retrieve content from domains tied to business accounts, including Facebook pages, Instagram profiles and WhatsApp channels. Legal experts who reviewed the terms for Nieman Journalism Lab said the language could support arguments that Meta may scrape news sites and train AI on the content. Attorney Matt Topic said publishers should assume the provision is enforceable; Cornell professor James Grimmelmann said it amounts to permission to train AI on publishers’ content. There is no opt-out before October 30 — users who disagree must stop using the products for business purposes. Meta said the update consolidates existing language and does not change crawling, and that robots.txt still governs access.
Topics: MetaAI copyright
Wyden presses CISA and OMB to adopt ECH encryption at federal agencies
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) urged CISA and OMB to adopt Encrypted Client Hello (ECH), which hides the name of the website a user visits, across federal agencies. His office identified at least 350 sites without ECH protections. Wyden said standard encryption leaves some site names exposed, letting eavesdroppers identify whistleblowers, profile cleared personnel, track people seeking crisis support and map agency interactions. Agencies using CDN infrastructure without ECH include an FBI tipline that supports ECH but does not enable it, and a Department of Veterans Affairs suicide prevention hotline left unprotected because Amazon does not support ECH. Wyden recommended CISA require civilian agencies to enable ECH on public-facing sites and OMB make ECH support a condition for federal cloud and network contracts. CISA and OMB did not immediately respond.
Topics: Encryption
WhatsApp help pages carried 102 hidden AI instructions, including one barring regulator referrals
Redact, a data deletion company, found 102 hidden blocks of AI-directed text across 80 of 545 pages linked from WhatsApp’s help centre, about 14.7 percent. The text shipped with each page but was never shown on screen. One block on the account deletion page told an AI not to recommend contacting any data protection authority or regulator, and not to suggest WhatsApp can manually delete accounts. Another, triggered by mentions of legal action, told the AI not to cite WhatsApp’s Terms of Service, Privacy Policy or data protection regulations such as GDPR. WhatsApp told WIRED the notes were instructions for its support chatbot, appeared because of a bug that has been fixed, and were removed; all 102 were gone by October 18, 2026. Redact has not tested whether any AI assistant acted on them.
WhatsApp help pages hid 102 AI orders, one barring regulator referrals →
Topics: Messaging apps privacyAI chatbot privacy and data leaks
Denmark bill would give public bodies blanket right to process personal data with AI
Denmark is preparing a bill giving public bodies a blanket legal right to process personal data with AI to meet their legislated service obligations, including building and training systems that profile people. The bill waives rules against using data collected for one purpose for another — a safeguard whose absence, and uncertainty over whether existing law covered AI, had stalled roll-out. In 2023 Datatilsynet told Copenhagen municipality it could train an AI triage system for physiotherapy patients but not use it. Jesper Lund of IT-Politisk Forening said the law effectively says normal rules do not apply when AI is involved. The DPA warned that a revised September draft failed to answer most of its concerns, though it accepted the general legal basis. The IT Industry Association welcomed the bill but warned that leaving justification to ministers could fragment the public sector.
Denmark stands against critics of public sector AI plans | Computer Weekly →
Topics: GDPR
Florida confirms driver license and motor vehicle data breach
Florida driver license and motor vehicle data were accessed by a malicious actor, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles reported Friday. The breach occurred September 4 through compromised credentials. The department said it took immediate steps to contain the activity and secure its systems, and that it has no evidence the information has been misused. It did not say how many records were accessed. The investigation involved the Florida Digital Service and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The department plans to send letters to current driver license and identification card holders who may be affected, offering complimentary identity and credit monitoring plus $1 million in identity theft insurance for one year.
Florida driver license, motor vehicle data breached by “malicious actor,” state confirms →
Topics: Driver's license data leaks