Pluralistic: Ad-tech is fascist tech (10 Mar 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

The Government Uses Targeted Advertising to Track Your Location. Here's What We Need to Do.

The online advertising industry has built a massive surveillance machine, and the government can co-opt it to spy on us.

How to Identify Automated License Plate Readers at the U.S.-Mexico Border

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and scores of state and local law enforcement agencies have installed a massive dragnet of automated license plate readers (ALPRs) in the US-Mexico borderlands. In many cases, the agencies have gone out of their...

The Defense Attorney’s Arsenal In Challenging Electronic Monitoring

In criminal prosecutions, electronic monitoring (EM) is pitched as a “humane alternative" to incarceration – but it is not. The latest generation of “e-carceration” tools are burdensome, harsh, and often just as punitive as imprisonment. Fortunately, criminal defense attorneys have options when...

Appeals Court Sidesteps The Big Questions on Geofence Warrants

Another federal appeals court has ruled on controversial geofence warrants—sort of. The new opinion in Chatrie is a missed opportunity for the Fourth Circuit to join both other appellate courts to have considered the issue in finding geofence warrants unconstitutional.

Texas Is Enforcing Its State Data Privacy Law. So Should Other States.

States need to have and use data privacy laws to bring privacy violations to light and hold companies accountable for them. So, we were glad to see that the Texas Attorney General’s Office has filed its first lawsuit under Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA) to take the Allstate Corporation...

The FTC’s Ban on GM and OnStar Selling Driver Data Is a Good First Step

The Federal Trade Commission announced a proposed settlement agreeing that General Motors and its subsidiary, OnStar, will be banned from selling geolocation and driver behavior data to credit agencies for five years. That’s good news for G.M. owners. Every car owner and driver deserves to be...

EFF Goes to Court to Uncover Police Surveillance Tech in California

The private company Pen-Link sued the San Joaquin Sheriff’s Office to block the agency from disclosing to EFF the unredacted contracts between them, claiming the information is a trade secret. We are going to court to make sure the public gets access to these records.

Cars (and Drivers): 2024 in Review

If you’ve purchased a car made in the last decade or so, it’s likely jam-packed with enough technology to make your brand new phone jealous. Modern cars have sensors, cameras, GPS for location tracking, and more, all collecting data—and it turns out in many cases, sharing it.Cars Sure Are Sharing a...