Online Safety

How to Spot AI Hype (and Why EFF Wants Your Help) You’ve seen the headlines: a new chatbot that can “reason like a human,” an AI tool that “eliminates bias,” or a smart device that “respects your privacy completely.” These promises sound impressive. But too often they don’t hold up under scrutiny. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit focused on digital rights, has been running a campaign to cut through this noise. Here’s what you should know about the problem and how you can avoid being misled. ...

How to Cut Through AI Hype: A Practical Guide for Everyday Users Every few months, another AI product promises to revolutionize your life. It will write your emails, edit your photos, manage your calendar, and maybe even make you breakfast. But beneath the breathless headlines and sleek marketing, the reality is often more mundane—and sometimes more troubling. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit that has defended digital rights for decades, is asking consumers to help cut through the noise. Their message is simple: don’t let hype distract you from the actual risks and limitations of today’s AI tools. ...

Anthropic Removes Hidden Tracker from Claude: What Users Need to Know About Privacy Risks If you use Claude, Anthropic’s AI chatbot, you may have been affected by a hidden tracker that researchers recently uncovered. The company removed the tracking code after the discovery raised concerns about user consent and data collection—especially around code-related inputs. Here’s what happened, why it matters, and what you can do to protect your privacy. ...

What Is Inferred Data? How AI Puts Your Privacy at Risk (and What to Do About It) You’ve probably seen it happen: you mention something in casual conversation, and an ad for that exact product appears on your phone minutes later. Creepy, yes – but that’s just the surface. The real story is that companies aren’t just collecting what you type or tap. Using AI, they can now infer far more private details from the digital breadcrumbs you leave behind, often without you knowing. ...

Stop Falling for AI Hype: A Simple Guide to Protecting Your Privacy Every week there’s a new AI tool promising to revolutionise your inbox, photo library, or shopping list. The messaging is confident, often backed by glossy demos and breathless press coverage. But behind the marketing, many of these products raise real questions about how they handle your data—and whether they deliver on their claims at all. ...

How AI Is Secretly Inferring Your Personal Data — and What You Can Do About It You probably know that companies collect data about you: what you search for, where you shop, which videos you watch. But a less obvious threat is growing. With advances in artificial intelligence, companies no longer need you to tell them your political views, health status, or income. They can infer it — from seemingly harmless scraps of information. ...

How AI Uses Your Data to Infer Secrets You Never Shared You know companies collect your browsing history, purchase records, and location data. But you may not realize they can use that information to infer things you have never explicitly shared — your health status, political leanings, sexual orientation, or even your income bracket — all with increasing accuracy thanks to artificial intelligence. ...

AI Is Guessing Your Secrets: How Inferred Data Threatens Your Privacy and What to Do You might be careful about what you post online and which apps you allow to track your location. But even if you never share your medical history, salary, or political views directly, companies can now use artificial intelligence to infer those private details from seemingly harmless information—your shopping habits, browsing times, or even the way you type. This practice, known as inferred data, is drawing new attention from regulators and consumer advocates after a recent legal analysis from the law firm Dykema highlighted growing risks for everyday internet users. ...

How to Cut Through AI Hype and Protect Your Privacy: A Guide from EFF Every week, it seems, a new company announces an AI tool that will “revolutionise” your workflow, “personalise” your experience, or “intelligently” anticipate your needs. But behind the marketing language, many of these products collect more data than they disclose, rely on poorly documented training methods, and rarely deliver on their boldest promises. The result is a fog of hype that makes it hard for ordinary users to know which tools deserve their trust – and which ones put their privacy at risk. ...

How to Spot and Avoid Online Shopping Scams: Tips for Staying Safe Online shopping has become part of everyday life, but it also attracts scammers who try to steal your money or personal information. Recent warnings from government agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, remind us that these scams are persistent and evolving. This article outlines common tricks used by fraudsters and offers concrete steps to protect yourself. ...