Tails 7.10 has been released, continuing the project's focus on privacy protection and resistance to surveillance and censorship.

This update introduces the use of the standard GNOME shutdown procedure. With this change, users receive a power off confirmation dialog that identifies any open documents or running applications before shutdown, preventing data-loss. The procedure will automatically power off the system after 60 seconds if no user action occurs. The previous emergency shutdown method remains available for faster exits.

Following the shutdown improvements, Tails now ships with Celluloid, replacing GNOME Videos as the default media player. Celluloid is based on GTK and MPV, offering improved reliability and security by preventing network access through the player. Users who need to open online video files, such as MP4 or AVI, can use Tor Browser, while streaming types like IPTV or HLS can be opened in VLC. If Celluloid is incompatible with older hardware, VLC remains an installable alternative.

Building on these feature updates, Tails 7.10 also upgrades Tor Browser to version 15.0.19. Additionally, updated firmware packages enhance support for graphics, Wi-Fi, and other recent hardware, improving performance and compatibility for users on newer systems.

Basically, don't let your oppressors sleight of hand you. They YT channel.

Link from the local news org

Link says he's charged with petit larceny, which is a misdemeanor in USA. IDK where the destruction of property charges land.

He's receiving donations for his defense from across the country.

I ( @excursion22@piefed.ca ) received the email this morning from Proton announcing improvements to Drive speed, and they just happened to tuck this in there:

... It also allowed us to focus on deeper integration with the rest of the Proton ecosystem (such as Drive in Lumo) and support for a Linux client, which we're now actively building.

Glad I won't have to continue using my cobbled together Syncthing solution much longer.

Here's the full email for anyone interested, seems the announcement isn't on their website yet.

Tap for spoiler

Dear Proton community member,

A faster, more powerful Proton Drive is here, giving you smoother access, stronger protection, and more control over your files.

Proton Drive is up to 3x faster

We rebuilt Proton Drive around a single, shared engine that now powers uploading, downloading, and encryption across all our apps. Uploads are up to 3x faster and downloads up to 2x faster, plus smoother scrolling and quicker loading in Photos. It also allowed us to focus on deeper integration with the rest of the Proton ecosystem (such as Drive in Lumo) and support for a Linux client, which we're now actively building.

Faster, stronger encryption

Your files stay end-to-end encrypted — that hasn't changed, and never will. But that happens more efficiently now. We've adopted a cryptographic advance in the OpenPGP standard, cutting encryption time for new file uploads by up to 4x.

More control over who can manage your shared files

When you share a file or folder, you can already choose Viewer or Editor access. Now you can also decide whether an Editor can manage sharing on your behalf — inviting others, changing permissions, or removing access. To keep that control for yourself only, open the share's Settings and toggle off access.

More power and flexibility across Proton Drive

Alongside the updates above, we’ve continued improving Proton Drive across platforms, making it easier to automate workflows, browse shared files, manage syncing, and work more efficiently.

• The Proton Drive CLI is now available for Linux, macOS, and Windows, so you can script uploads, downloads, and sharing from your terminal.
• Grid view is now available on public Proton Drive links, making shared photo folders much easier to browse.
• On the Windows desktop app, you can now pause syncing for a few hours or until the next day, and Proton Drive automatically resumes so you don't forget to turn it back on.
• A new encrypted cache stores your 500 most recently viewed thumbnails, so albums you've already browsed load instantly the next time.
• Proton Sheets now supports custom currency, number, and date/time formats, alongside bug fixes and reliability improvements.

Protecting your privacy is our priority. Follow us on X for the latest feature releases, privacy news, and security tips. Join the discussion on Reddit for insights directly from our team, and share your ideas on UserVoice to help shape Proton’s future.

Thank you for your continued support. Stay secure,

The Proton Drive team

If you have been wondering about the effectiveness of the social media ban of under 15 year olds, this study got you :)

Spoiler: 92%+ of kids age 14-15 in Australia still use it 🥳

Meanwhile IMO forced verification of users had a much better success rate 😉

Source: https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w35162/w35162.pdf

Everybody knows that when you make laws banning teens from something they absolutely comply and aren't rebellious at ALL LMFAO

A new report from the Government Accounting Office reveals that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to nearly triple the number of surveillance towers along U.S. borders, from the current 830 to 2,300 by 2034.

DHS expects to expend $1 billion in taxpayer dollars for this dangerous expansion of a surveillance network indiscriminately trained on towns, school playgrounds, backyards, and vehicles—threatening the privacy and civil liberties of everyone in the border regions.

Swedish VPN vendor Mullvad is facing a backlash from some customers after co-founder Daniel Berntsson personally donated SEK 5 million (£385,000, $519,000) to the controversial populist Örebropartiet, which is running in Sweden's national elections for the first time.

Berntsson has this week published a blog post explaining the donation, alongside posts titled "Immigration," "Political individualism," and "Moral individualism." Before that, he had not posted since 2019.

The flurry of posts follows weeks of customer criticism over the donation – for example, Finnish blog Moonwriting's post "I'm done with Mullvad." Another blog, Unutterable, is more direct: "Mullvad funding the far-right and the problem with tech company ownership." The Hacker News discussion thread about the donations has reached a remarkable 1,784 comments so far.

Mullvad was co-founded and is still jointly owned and run by two CEOs, Berntsson and Fredrik Strömberg. Its name, as reflected in the company's logo, is Swedish for "mole." It also offers the Mullvad Browser, a privacy-enhanced fork of Firefox ESR co-developed with the Tor Project. Swedish socialist newspaper Flamman ("The Flame") revealed the donation in its story "High-profile techie gives millions to the Örebro Party."

In a post on X, the company said it was devoted to freedom of speech and tolerance, saying: "It should be obvious that Daniel's private donation to a political party is not part of Mullvad's values or mission, in the same way that someone's opinions on animal rights, taxes or public healthcare policy isn't."

Archive: https://archive.ph/9FwUX

ACLU Surveilllance Discovery Project: https://www.aclum.org/campaigns-initiatives/surveillance-discovery-project/

...more Atlanta News First Investigates identified at least 19 Georgia cases in the past year involving alleged personal searches, including accusations of stalking. MORE ON THIS INVESTIGATION: atlantanewsfirst.com/2026/07/17/ai-audit-tool-flags-suspicious-police-searches-flock-misuse-cases-mount-georgia

Most of the things you interact with online are tracking your location, your device type, and your digital footprint to predict exactly how desperate you are to buy something. If the algorithm thinks you have money, or simply lack options, it alters the price in real-time.

To prove how widespread "surveillance pricing" has become, I decided to see if I could outsmart it. This involved exploiting corporate registry loopholes to create a fake corporate entity, hiring an improv actor off Craigslist to establish a completely separate digital identity, and strapping a burner phone to a drone to make purchases from the airspace above the wealthiest gated community in Minnesota.

A Moroccan intelligence insider has revealed details about his government’s use of hacking software, including Israeli-manufactured Pegasus spyware, to track journalists, human right defenders and foreign officials.

The whistleblower's revelations were reported in an investigation published on Thursday by Forbidden Stories, Amnesty and 13 media organisations.

Investigative reporting in 2021 accused Morocco of having used the Israeli-manufactured hacking tool for spying on its critics as well as allies - claims that Rabat denied at the time.

The former Moroccan intelligence officer said he had been witness to much of Morocco's relationship with Pegasus, from its introduction to Moroccan officials to its utilisation.

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1268605/how-cops-use-flock-to-track-people-not-cars

Cops have used Flock's FreeForm search feature to look for people with tattoos and wearing specific sport shirts, and searches sometimes include the target's race, according to data reviewed