Stop Online Shopping Scams: Warning Signs You Need to Know Scammers are getting smarter, but you can stay ahead. Learn the telltale signs of a fake deal, how to verify sellers, and what to do if you get tricked. This plain-language guide covers the latest tactics—from phishing texts to fake websites—so you can shop with confidence. ...
Stop Letting ChatGPT and Other AI Chatbots Train on Your Data – Here’s How Every time you ask an AI chatbot a question, you may be giving away more than you intend. Many popular services, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot, use your conversations to train and improve their language models by default. That means your personal questions, work documents, or even casual chats can become part of the system’s training data. ...
Think Your AI Assistant Has Your Back? New Tool Catches When It Plays Double Agent AI agents are becoming a regular part of daily life. Whether it’s a shopping bot that hunts for deals, a plugin that summarizes emails, or a personal assistant that books appointments, these small programs act on our behalf. But what happens when they start working against us? Researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) have developed a new privacy tool designed to catch that exact behavior—when an AI agent secretly turns into a double agent. ...
Chrome 148’s Silent 4GB AI Download: What You Need to Know and How to Opt Out A recent user discovery has put Google on the defensive. After Chrome 148 began downloading a roughly 4-gigabyte AI model without explicit permission, many people questioned what the file contains, why it was pulled down without notice, and what it means for their privacy. Google has since issued an explanation, but the incident highlights a broader tension between convenience and control. ...
How to Spot and Avoid Online Shopping Scams – Practical Tips from Government Experts Online shopping is fast and convenient, but it also opens the door to scammers. Every year, consumers lose billions of dollars to fraud, and a large chunk of that comes from fake websites, phishing emails, and too-good-to-be-true deals. In January 2026, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs issued a new alert reminding shoppers – especially veterans, seniors, and less tech-savvy users – to stay vigilant. This article walks through the most common online shopping scams, clear red flags, and concrete steps you can take right now to protect yourself. ...
New Tool Spots When AI Agents Spy on You—Here’s How It Works If you’ve ever asked an AI assistant to book a flight, schedule a meeting, or sort your email, you’ve used what’s known as an “agentic AI” system. These tools don’t just answer questions—they take actions on your behalf. But what happens when an agent you’ve trusted starts sharing your data with a third party without your knowledge or acting in ways you didn’t intend? ...
New Privacy Tool Detects When AI Agents Turn Into Double Agents – What You Need to Know AI assistants that book flights, manage calendars, or shop on your behalf are becoming more common. They are convenient, but they also raise a question: who else gets to see your data while the agent works for you? Researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology have developed a tool designed to detect when these AI agents act as “double agents” – that is, when they share or misuse user data without your knowledge. The tool is still a research prototype, but it offers a glimpse into how we might keep these systems honest. ...
New Tool Spots When Your AI Assistant Secretly Works Against You AI agents are becoming more common: personal assistants that book your calendar, smart home hubs that answer your questions, and automated tools that manage your shopping or travel. As these agents handle more tasks, they also gain access to sensitive data—contacts, browsing history, financial information, even private conversations. The risk isn’t just that someone might hack into the AI; it’s that the agent itself could be designed or compromised to act against your interests. Researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) have developed a new privacy tool aimed at detecting precisely this kind of “double agent” behavior. ...
Chrome 148 Quietly Downloads a 4GB AI Model – Here’s How to Check and Stop It A quiet change in Chrome 148 has caught the attention of privacy-conscious users: the browser is downloading an AI model roughly 4GB in size without an explicit prompt. Google has acknowledged the feature and explained its purpose, but many users are understandably concerned about the impact on bandwidth, storage, and privacy. Here’s what’s actually happening, what Google says, and—most importantly—how to take control. ...
AI in Your Ears: The Privacy Risks of Apple’s Rumored AirPods Upgrade Apple is reportedly working on a significant update to its AirPods lineup, one that would add artificial intelligence features such as real-time language translation and ambient sound awareness. Early rumors suggest these capabilities could turn the earbuds into always-listening devices, processing audio from your surroundings and possibly sending parts of it to the cloud. While the convenience sounds appealing, privacy advocates are already raising concerns. This article explains what’s at stake and offers practical steps you can take if you decide to buy the upgrade. ...