The Calyx Institute

BIG NEWS! Our Contributor Plus membership level is back with the JEXtream hotspot, a brand new 5G device! members.calyxinstitute.org/enroll

"When advertising enters a messaging app, it often marks the beginning of deeper data collection...This isn’t just about pop-ups; it’s about protecting your privacy." techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privac…

Check out this study from Data Privacy Brasil on the impact of a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), especially digital identity applications, on the protection of personal data dataprivacybr.org/wp-content/upl…

The US State Department now requires student visa applicants to disclose social media handles from the past five years to be reviewed for security risks, including hostility towards the US economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/study/soci…

“Where digital safety was about avoiding threats, digital resilience is about surviving them. It’s the capacity of an org not just to defend against attacks- but to withstand them, recover from them, and continue operating despite them.” rtafrica.org/why-digital-re…

Next month, you can catch us at @DEFCON in Las Vegas and @hopeconf in Queens, NY. Come by, say hi, check out CalyxOS and sign up for a membership!

ICE is using a new mobile phone app that can identify someone based on their fingerprints or face by simply pointing a smartphone camera at them 404media.co/ice-is-using-a…

Check out this guide by our friends @EFF on what types of private data can be collected by the police and best practices to mitigate this eff.org/deeplinks/2025…

Flock, the automatic license plate reader (ALPR) company with a presence in thousands of communities across the U.S., has stopped agencies across the country from searching cameras 404media.co/flock-removes-…

Questions about our brand new Calyx Sprout (BYOD) membership? Check out our FAQ for answers and info on how to get started calyxinstitute.org/help/membershi…

Conference season is upon us! Keep an eye out for the Calyx booth at @DEFCON (Las Vegas, NV) and @hopeconf (Queens, NY) in August 🌟

A trove of stolen treasure: A cybersecurity researcher has discovered an exposed Elasticsearch database with millions of login credentials, with no clues as to who stole the credentials or how. siliconangle.com/2025/05/22/cyb…

CalyxOS community update: we have made progress in building and running Android 16 on Pixel 6 and newer Pixels in the past two weeks. The team is assessing our development processes and making necessary improvements. Full progress report: calyxos.org/news/2025/06/2…

Due to a security misconfiguration, a dating app leaked all of its users' data, including private messages, photos, locations, and profiles, including names, age, relationship status, and even HIV status. queerty.com/another-day-an…

A deep-dive into the new Meta AI app reveals a "privacy nightmare", including uncomfortably personal chat logs about health issues, sexuality and petty criminality. tech.yahoo.com/social-media/a…

Cryptocurrency contributions are currently down on our website due to a technical issue. Thank you for bearing with us as we are working to resolve the issue. We will share updates as soon as we can!

A stalkerware company has taken all of its assets offline abruptly after a vulnerability exposed data from victims' devices such as messages, photos, and location, making them available for public viewing. darkreading.com/threat-intelli…

Planning an international trip? Travelers should prepare for the possibility of extra scrutiny of their phones when crossing borders, especially when entering the United States. apnews.com/article/intern…

Don't forget: the deadline to apply for our Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) - Email position is June 20th! Read more and apply here: job-boards.greenhouse.io/calyxinstitute…

A PowerSchool breach in May has exposed PII and academic data on students and teachers at every North Carolina public school that has ever used PowerSchool dating back to 2013, impacting potentially millions of people. wral.com/news/education…

ICYMI: DHS has scrapped provisions which guard against surveillance based on sexual orientation & gender identity. "If you’re able to violate the civil rights and liberties of one community or one individual, then there’s no limit to it," an expert warns. truthout.org/articles/dhs-s…