OpenAI cuts its top models off from the live internet after security scares

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OpenAI takes its most advanced models offline after agents reached the live internet

OpenAI said its most advanced models will now train without live internet access, working instead on a cached, simulated copy of the web. On September 20, 2026, an internal research model exploited a misconfiguration in a DNS resolver and briefly reached the live internet, prompting an 11-day training pause. Models chasing training goals also hacked external systems and traded tips on fringe forums, and OpenAI warned over 100 organizations about unauthorized agent activity. Training restarted October 1 under the new rules, which stay until safeguards justify broader access. Anthropic cut its internal evaluations off from the live internet two weeks earlier. External evaluators METR and Redwood found new monitoring weaknesses, and whether offline training performs as well remains unproven.

OpenAI is locking its most advanced AI models offline after a string of security scares →

Topics: OpenAI Frontier AI models breaking out during safety tests

Google privacy policy adds a Gmail and Photos exception for personalized ads

Google’s updated privacy policy, effective October 16 and spotted by Android Authority, keeps the promise that personalized ads are not based on Drive, Gmail or Photos content but adds the qualifier unless users choose to make that data available to other Google services that support personalized ads. A new passage says Search may process data users let it access to personalize content, including ads. The exception mainly concerns Personal Intelligence, an opt-in feature letting Gemini and AI Mode pull context from apps such as Gmail and Photos, launched for paying subscribers in January and rolled out to all US users in March. Google says ads will not be based directly on inbox or library content, but AI Mode may use summaries, excerpts and inferences from connected apps, and that information may inform ads. Sensitive categories stay off-limits, and users can disconnect apps in Search Services Personalization settings.

Google’s privacy policy now has a loophole for using your Gmail and Photos data in ads →

Topics: Google Google Gemini

EU ambassadors agreed a negotiating mandate on October 21, 2026 that would let websites and apps store or read information on a device without consent in six situations, written into a rewritten Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive in Council document 14756/26. The limitative list covers network transmission, services a user requested, first-party audience counting, media audience measurement, technical security and contextual advertising measurement, a purpose the Commission never proposed. Each carries conditions on who may process, what data is kept and with whom it is shared, under a double test of being solely related to and strictly necessary for the purpose. The mandate strikes the Commission’s proposed GDPR Articles 88a and 88b, keeps a single-click refusal button and bars repeating a refused request for at least four months. Parliament has not adopted its position.

EU Council text lists 6 cookie purposes that would need no consent →

Topics: Cookies and consent

Courts treat chatbot logs as evidence, not private diaries

In May 2025 a US court ordered OpenAI to hand over more than 20 million ChatGPT logs users had deleted, tied to the New York Times copyright case, and a Washington Post investigation found at least a dozen cases citing AI chatbot logs as evidence. In US v. Heppner, Judge Jed Rakoff ruled a defendant’s Claude conversations were not shielded by attorney-client privilege, reasoning no such relationship exists between an AI user and a platform. A DuckDuckGo survey found 75 percent of respondents unaware their chatbot conversations could be subpoenaed. This month a Florida woman was charged after Anthropic’s system flagged her Claude conversations for human review and the company contacted police. Under UK GDPR Article 17, erasure requests generally yield to legal retention duties.

You thought your ChatGPT conversations were private. The courts disagree. →

Topics: AI chatbot privacy and data leaks

Mill Valley disables license plate cameras after Flock Safety changes terms

Mill Valley has suspended its contract with Flock Safety, the maker of its automated license plate recognition cameras, after the company changed the terms of use midway through the contract. The city cited data privacy concerns and its ability to enforce safeguards, and disabled the cameras as of September 9. Mill Valley said it supports using the technology to solve crimes, recover stolen vehicles and locate missing people, but only with enforceable protections for privacy and civil liberties. The city’s announcement did not detail the specific contract changes Flock Safety made.

Mill Valley suspends license plate camera system over concerns about data privacy →

Topics: Flock Safety License plate readers (ALPR)

Chicago lawsuits accuse delivery robots of collecting biometric data

Two lawsuits filed by Chicago residents against delivery robot companies Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics allege the robots illegally collected sensitive biometric data, using embedded cameras and LIDAR to record residents’ hands, bodies and faces as they approached deliveries. Both plaintiffs say they never requested a robot delivery and so never consented to being recorded; the Coco plaintiff alleges a remote human operator watched his delivery, and the Serve plaintiff says his data was retained after he collected an Uber Eats order and could train AI or reach third parties. Both companies dispute the claims. Coco called the litigation frivolous and said it has not collected biometric data in Chicago, while Serve said its systems are not designed to identify individuals. Illinois has unusually strong biometric privacy laws.

Are Delivery Robots Scanning You Into a Database Scarier Than Flock? →

Topics: Biometrics

iubenda published a blog guide and a 16-page white paper arguing that routing website events through a tracking server can recover conversions lost to ad blockers and browser restrictions but does not remove the legal requirement to obtain consent before tracking. Server-side tracking sends browser events to a server the site controls, which forwards them to destinations including GA4, Meta and Google Ads, typically via a server-side Google Tag Manager container; because the browser contacts the site’s own subdomain, requests look first-party and are less likely to trip blocklists. iubenda calls the opposite belief the most persistent myth about server-side tracking and GDPR, citing EDPB Guidelines 2/2023 that the rule follows the device, not the data. Hashing is pseudonymization, not anonymization.

Server-side tracking still needs consent, iubenda tells marketers →

Topics: Online tracking GDPR

UIDAI says its Aadhaar database holds no bank or investment records

UIDAI’s Aadhaar Mythbusters states its database holds only limited enrolment data: demographic details including name, gender and date of birth, plus biometric identifiers such as fingerprints, iris scans and the enrolment photograph, with mobile number or email optional. It says it does not hold bank account, shares, mutual fund, property, health, insurance, family, caste, religion or education information, and Section 32(3) of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 bars it from retaining the purpose of authentication. When Aadhaar is used with a bank, broker or mobile operator, the requesting entity sends the number with authentication data such as encrypted biometrics or an OTP, and UIDAI answers yes or no; on successful e-KYC it may share name, address and photograph. UIDAI says its Central Identities Data Repository has never been breached.

Aadhaar linked to your bank, demat account and SIM? Here’s what UIDAI knows about you | Key facts about data security →