r/privacy • • 1h ago

question Interesting Reddit age verification

• Upvotes

Yesterday my reddit account got hit with the age verification banner. Not a chance in hell that I would submit my id or selfie to Persona. So I tried going through threads where people claimed to have tricked the system. Tried a lot of things, but nothing really worked... However I believe while trying to trick the selfie process with a 3d model face on my laptop screen, my face may have appeared in front of the camera for a split moment. Still, the process with the 3d face said it failed. Then I gave up yesterday. However today I am suddenly able to access nsfw subs... What I cant help thinking about is whether they captured my face in the split moment when it appeared on camera and processed it. The process works like, it counds down from 3 to 0 and the pic is clicked automatically but I moved my face away before the counter ended so it shouldn't have clicked the photo. I dont know for sure how these rat bastards work.

Anyone any clue why I can suddenly accesss nsfw stuff again?


r/privacy • • 9h ago

question How do you guys feel about Google's selfie video feature to sign up to a Gmail account here?

23 Upvotes

I ask this cause of I'm curious of how you guys feel about this feature.

Currently it's completely optional here. But hearing about how they'll handle such videos like that including even them asking for a extra video selfie from you is quite concerning for what purpose they would need another one here.


r/privacy • • 14h ago

news Pay Amazon to Record Everything You Say

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53 Upvotes

Amazon's new Bee wearables record every conversation around you all day and use it to suggest what to buy, and nobody you're talking to ever agreed to that


r/privacy • • 15h ago

news Dutch government to keep using Facebook despite unresolved privacy risks

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72 Upvotes

r/privacy • • 15h ago

question Tiktok Location

0 Upvotes

My TikTok app suddenly has a whole feed for the area I live in, AND my normal feed is infiltrated with local content. I don’t have any location stuff enabled and all location data is deleted…I’m sure it’s based on IP and whatnot. I just want it to stop. I do not want any type of local content in any way. Tips??


r/privacy • • 15h ago

question is a touchscreen fingerprintable

0 Upvotes

i have a latpop with a touchscreen is my digital fingerprint unique because of it? (the touchscreen is built in)

if so what do you do?

(not asking about literal fingerprints on hands)

the question im asking is does the website (weather or not i use it) know that i have a touchscreen


r/privacy • • 17h ago

news New Jersey worker says employer's AI photographed her at home every 3 minutes, then fired her | "A camera in your living room is cheaper than a manager."

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453 Upvotes

r/privacy • • 18h ago

data breach Burger King Japan data breach exposes 11 million customer records

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522 Upvotes

r/privacy • • 19h ago

discussion Now it's not just Police abusing ALPRs, they're just giving their credentials to family?

278 Upvotes

I couldn't repost the thread on this sub, but a quick google: Savannah officer lets her husband (who works for ICE) use her credentials to access flock surveillance.

I'd like to say this shocks me, but it doesn't. And short of... activities I won't promote, there is just nothing we can do? We just have to let this happen because it's making people money?

https://www.wtoc.com/2026/10/15/savannah-officer-fired-sharing-flock-login-with-ice-agent-husband/


r/privacy • • 20h ago

age verification Just a rant: Playstation app asking for age verification after years of me making purchases with my card

197 Upvotes

Like what gives, how blatant can it be that they just want to squeeze data out of me. You know i'm an adult, fuck off


r/privacy • • 22h ago

software WeChat, how much does it spy

30 Upvotes

My girlfriend (Chinese) went to China. I had to Install wechat for that. I didn't give it any permissions and of course used a random username with random picture.

Now I'm still a little worried about how much it can spy? Yes, I know everything that goes through the app is public data. I'm also aware it knows about my IP etc.

But how much can it spy on my phone (OnePlus nord CE32 lite) with up to date Security patches? I'm wondering how much it could spy my Internet activity and usuage of other apps (like reading along with reddit, whatsapp etc.).


r/privacy • • 23h ago

age verification Spain: ID verification

60 Upvotes

Hello, I realised that reddit deactivated my +18 nsfw access and now is asking me ID verification or photo. I am not from UK, wtf is this?


r/privacy • • 1d ago

news Researchers Say an Israeli Firm Used Online Ads To Spy on People, Turning Simple Browsing Into Surveillance

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1.3k Upvotes

r/privacy • • 1d ago

question College Applications

1 Upvotes

How do you protect your privacy and social security number when applying to college? I am unable to freeze my child’s credit due to her age. Apparently I have to go to multiple websites and organizations to apply. Her SSN will be everywhere. Any advice?


r/privacy • • 1d ago

question How do I get my wife on the bandwagon of self hosting and caring about their privacy and information?

33 Upvotes

Basically the title.

I’ve set up Mealie, Plex (and Plexamp), a family planner (weekly meals, budget, calendar, etc.), and more.

She discovered a fantastic family planning app (on AppStore) that we started using yesterday. However, after reading about the data it collects, I was quite concerned. It gathers our addresses, emails, check-in notes, menstrual cycles, full calendar access, and more. I found a self-hosted alternative that looked very similar to the app she found, explained it to her, and demonstrated how it worked when I set it up.

This led to a conversation that eventually turned into an argument about privacy and accessibility. I am very privacy-oriented, while she essentially says, “I don’t care about sharing personal details with company X; let them see when I have my menstrual cycle, etc.” She mentioned that the family planning app she found looked better and “warmer” and preferred it over the self-hosted one, even though they are essentially the same. To me, it’s baffling that she chooses minor UI details over our privacy.

Any tips on how to persuade her to take her privacy more seriously? Is all hope lost?


r/privacy • • 1d ago

news Exposing AdFection: How Discover-Tech Turned Targeted Ads Into a Pipeline for Zero-Click Mercenary Spyware

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31 Upvotes

r/privacy • • 1d ago

age verification Age verification requiring last 4 of SSN for child to participate in local in-person events. This BS bleeds out of the digital world and into local day-to-day living.

496 Upvotes

Enraging. This is what you get asked for when trying to create a child account for Pokemon so they can participate in local in-person events (which require a "Pokemon ID"):

  • Name
  • Birthday
  • Address
  • Last 4 of Social Security Number

Age verification performed by Veratad with a blub:

"Per FTC Safe Harbor Guidelines, we must verify your location, determine that you are not deceased, and confirm that you are 18+ years of age and have provided an accurate SSN."

Sorry, kiddo. I guess you can't go play Pokemon TCG at the local game shop because I'm not handing out part of my Social Security Number (specifically the part that every service uses to verify identity when recovering accounts).


r/privacy • • 1d ago

question How do you guys feel about the US's KIDS Act bill passing threw the house here?

32 Upvotes

I ask this cause I've been out the loop with age verification bills in the USA a little bit here.

So when I looked up about this legislation and it passed through one chamber,I got extremely concern about this development.

I'm sure a lot of others have talked about the kids act bill(7757) here.

But just want to know you guys feel about it currently.


r/privacy • • 1d ago

discussion What are your legitimate privacy concerns as a functioning human in 2026?

32 Upvotes

second edit get fucked and die, this entire subreddit. You're the reason we're at where we are, not the 10 people that replied to me. Keep on keeping on. Dead internet theory, with /r/privacy at the helm

So, we're almost at the end of the year and it's cybersecurity awareness month, or something.

I'm a CS student. I really like networking and coding, and I REALLY fucking hate that every other day there's a new headline about a company we should have easily be able to 'trust' selling or leaking our data. It's the South Park BP episode, but with our personal information.

I have my experience, I know things I'd like to have to protect me online, gaps I think need filled.

But as someone subbed to r/privacy, what are YOU wishing there was to protect your privacy?

Tony Stark, you have bajillions of dollars and super smartz, what's your 'Suit of armor around the world'?

edit Ignore the belligerence in my replies. I'm drunk, my wife just left me, and I'm just looking for a reason to keep coding. I'm mad. Possibly at you. Probably not.


r/privacy • • 1d ago

discussion Do Smart TVs connect to Open Networks? I couldn't find proof

9 Upvotes

Hey all! I often see an assumption that never connecting your smart TV to your Wi-Fi was not enough, since the TV could simply connect to a neighboring open Wi-Fi. I configured a router with an open Wi-Fi, connect the WAN port to a mirroring switch, and monitor it through Wireshark in the hope to see a rogue TV connecting to my honeypot free open Wi-Fi. I had 6 TVs plugged in with no ethernet or Wi-Fi set up with the honeypot right next to it.

I now have a 2.1Gb packet capture to sift through. So far, I checked if any IP that would have been given by my router's DHCP and found two false positive (another router doing constant ARP (both routers had the same DHCP range) and a few reset packets from an unknown device with no MAC address that I can't identify... but it had no active connection to the web, so it doesn't really matter in the end).

I also checked TLS handshake, TCP/UDP traffic and DNS calls and couldn't find any TV to connect to the open Wi-Fi. So unless I failed at identifying traffic in there somewhere, I haven't been able to prove that any device would freely connect to an open Wi-Fi.

If anyone have tips on how I could spot rogue packets or connections, I'm all ears! I have an arsenal of TVs to my disposition and would really like to be able to prove if Smart TV (or other smart devices) really do connect to open Wi-Fi networks or not.


r/privacy • • 1d ago

age verification Google asking for video of face to "protect my account"

130 Upvotes

This popped up as an option when I signed into youtube just now. How much longer until it's a requirement? Why the heck isn't someone suing these corporations for invasion of privacy?

X/Twitter straight up required me to take a picture of my palm to log in, so I dropped that site. Now youtube and likely other Google sites are "asking" for it.


r/privacy • • 1d ago

question US Midterm Voting Guide/Information

5 Upvotes

Does anyone know of a good site with information about which candidates in the upcoming US midterm elections are strong on civil liberties/privacy?

I know there are similar voter guides for pro-choice candidates, anti-choice candidates, pro-gun candidates, anti-gun candidates, etc. (where one can see how candidates are rated regarding those issues based on a specific town/county/postal code), but I can't really find a good source for a guide focused on pro-civil liberties.

The closest I could find is Project for Privacy and Surveillance Accountability, which seems to focus more on pro-fourth amendment issues (which are important! But clearly the site doesn't address politicians who support the identity verification garbage because fucking Dick Durbin is given an A rating), plus it only has information for incumbents.

Before anyone who's right-wing says "vote Republican" or anyone who's "left" wing says "vote Democrat," both parties have members who are great on this issue (e.g. Democrat Ron Wyden or Republican Rand Paul) and members who are absolutely garbage on this issue (e.g. Democrat Blumenthal or Republican Blackburn).


r/privacy • • 1d ago

software What can your employer actually see when you use a financial wellness app?

6 Upvotes

My company is rolling out a financial wellness platform and HR keeps saying it’s confidential.

I’m probably more skeptical than most people, but “confidential” can mean a lot of things.

Can they see that I signed up?

Can they see whether I connected an account?

Do they get individual information or just overall participation numbers?

What happens to the data if I leave the company?

Can I delete everything later?

The service includes budgeting tools and access to a financial planner, which sounds useful. I just don’t want my employer knowing how much debt I have or what I spend money on.

Has anyone looked into this with a workplace financial platform? What questions should I ask before signing up?


r/privacy • • 1d ago

news Privacy groups warn of mass surveillance under proposed Dutch intelligence law

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388 Upvotes

r/privacy • • 1d ago

news Israeli firm’s digital ads enabling installation of ‘zero-click’ spyware, researchers say

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898 Upvotes