New Tool Spots When AI Agents Are Spying on You If you’ve started using an AI agent to help with shopping, scheduling, or browsing, you may have noticed how convenient they are. But a new research tool from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) suggests that convenience can come with a cost: some AI agents may be quietly working against your interests, sharing your data, or acting beyond your instructions. ...
Title: How Canada’s Privacy Ruling Could Change What AI Does With Your Data Intro On May 12, 2026, Canada’s federal privacy regulator issued a ruling that may reshape how artificial intelligence companies train their models. The decision, from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC), requires businesses to obtain explicit consent before using personal data to train AI systems. For consumers, this means your social media posts, browsing habits, and even public comments could soon be off-limits for training unless you actively opt in. The move is already drawing both praise from privacy advocates and criticism from innovation-focused groups like the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). Here’s what happened, why it matters, and how it may affect you. ...
Canada’s New Privacy Ruling on AI Training Data: What It Means for Your Privacy If you use chatbots, image generators, or any AI tool that learns from your input, a recent Canadian ruling could change how those services handle your data. On May 12, 2026, Canada’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner issued a decision requiring AI companies to obtain “meaningful consent” before using personal data to train their models. The move has drawn sharp criticism from some policy experts, who argue it sets a bad precedent that could hamper innovation and create confusion for both companies and users. Here’s what happened, why it’s controversial, and what you can do to protect your personal information. ...
Canada Just Changed the Rules on AI Training Data – Here’s What It Means for Your Privacy Last week, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) issued a new guidance on how companies can use personal data to train artificial intelligence models. The ruling makes clear that organizations covered by Canada’s federal privacy law (PIPEDA) must obtain meaningful consent before they collect or use your information for AI training—even if the data was already collected for another purpose. ...
Canada’s AI Privacy Ruling: What It Means for Your Data and How to Stay Protected A recent decision by Canada’s federal privacy watchdog has put the spotlight on how artificial intelligence companies gather and use publicly available data. On May 12, 2026, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada issued a ruling that addresses whether AI developers need explicit consent before scraping personal information from the open web. The ruling has drawn criticism from some policy analysts, but for everyday users, the key question is simpler: what does this mean for your privacy, and what can you do about it? ...
What Canada’s Privacy Ruling on AI Training Data Means for Your Data In early May 2026, Canada’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) issued a ruling that restricts how artificial intelligence companies can use personal data to train their models. The decision has sparked debate in tech policy circles, with critics arguing it sets a bad precedent for both privacy and innovation. For everyday users, the ruling raises real questions about how your data might be used—or protected—in an AI-driven world. ...
Venmo Finally Fixes Its Privacy Problem After Eight Years If you’ve used Venmo for more than a few years, you probably know that every transaction you made was public by default. That meant anyone with your username could see who you paid, what you bought (via the description), and how much you sent. Security researchers and privacy advocates have called this out since the app launched in 2009. Now, eight years after the first major criticisms, Venmo is finally changing the default. ...
Venmo Finally Fixes Its Privacy Settings—Here’s What Changed For years, sending money through Venmo meant your transactions could be seen by anyone who happened to browse the app’s public feed. That default was flagged as an “alarming” privacy risk as early as 2018, but it took eight years for the company to change course. Now, Venmo is finally making transactions private by default. Here’s what you need to know and how to check your own settings. ...
How AI’s Data Habits Put Your Privacy at Risk—And What to Do About It Introduction If you’ve used ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, or Google Gemini in the past year, you’ve probably noticed how quickly these tools can answer questions, draft emails, or summarize documents. What’s less obvious is what happens to the information you feed them. A recent analysis by Computing UK argues that AI adoption has raced ahead of the data governance needed to keep personal information safe. For the average person, that gap creates real—if often invisible—risks. ...
How to Stop Google From Using Your Gmail for AI Training – Step-by-Step Privacy Fix If you use Gmail, there’s a good chance your emails are being used to train Google’s AI models. A recent report from TechRepublic highlights that the company’s default privacy settings may allow this without clear consent, and a lawsuit filed in early 2026 claims that the option is effectively hidden from users. With 1.8 billion active Gmail accounts, that’s a lot of personal correspondence feeding into machine-learning systems. ...