Privacy
DHS leak exposes 41,000 staff as Austria bets on Matrix for hospitals
A transparency group published data on 41,000 Homeland Security workers, while Austria trials encrypted messaging to replace faxes in hospitals.
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DHS data leak exposes 41,000 employees and contractors
The transparency nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets published identifying data on more than 41,000 US Department of Homeland Security employees and contractors, including names, phone numbers and emails from ICE, Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations and CISA. Over 21,000 of those listed work for CBP and about 6,600 for ICE. The records also reveal job titles, email groups and assignments to special operations, surveillance, computer forensics and undercover work. The group says the data came from the entity calling itself Department of Peace, which claims it harvested the trove from DHS’s Okta sign-on service; Okta denies any compromise. Reuters matched some records to credit bureau data and confirmed details with three employees. The leak lands as DHS seeks to unmask critics online.
Non-profit group leaks data of more than 40,000 homeland security workers →
Topics: Government agency data breachesICE and DHS immigration surveillance
Austria trials Matrix encrypted messaging for hospitals
Austria is trialling a sovereign, open source, end-to-end encrypted messaging service for hospitals and clinics to replace email and phone calls, aiming to speed clinical communication. The catalyst was the government’s January 2025 ban on faxes for clinical information. ELGA GmbH, which runs Austria’s electronic healthcare record system, adopted the Matrix protocol in January 2025 after a December 2024 workshop. A trial with Salzburger Landeskliniken and Klinikum Wels-Grieskirchen covered five hospitals and 7,100 staff and showed encrypted messages could cross state lines. Famedly co-founder Phillipp Kurtz estimates 2,000 to 3,000 doctors have signed up to the medSpeak network. A proof of concept starts October 2026, with rollout targeted by 2028.
Austrian doctors to swap emails and phone calls for encrypted messages | Computer Weekly →
Topics: EncryptionMessaging apps privacy
UK and EU users can object to Meta’s AI training use
Meta updated its commercial terms to let it use content from business accounts, including connected websites and URLs, to develop and improve its products, and users in the UK and EU can object. Nieman Lab first reported the change, buried in Meta’s Commercial Terms. After backlash, Meta moved the effective date from October 30 to November 20, removed the word train from a list of allowed uses and limited those uses to advertising and business products. GDPR and the EU AI Act give people the right to object and withdraw consent. Users report success through the privacy center’s object form, though the option appears only with a UK or EU location and Meta’s platform changes may break the steps.
If You’re In the UK or EU, Here’s How to Object to Meta’s AI Training →
Google cleared 250,000 trees in Finland for a data center
Google cleared an estimated 250,000 trees across 815 acres of forest near the rural town of Muhos in northern Finland to build a data center, stripping the area illegally and taking the topsoil with it, according to the report. The clearing left a vast expanse of mud, puddles and mounds of earth behind a wire fence and occurred within a few months of Google’s arrival. The case has sparked anger in Finland, which has 145 data centers planned and sits at the forefront of tech companies’ latest push. The report frames the clearing as illegal, underscoring tensions between data infrastructure growth and environmental oversight in the Nordics.
Anger in Finland as Google Illegally Fells 250,000 Trees for Data Center →