Going on a Data Diet

Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast

The world wide web, as we know it today, has been around for over 30 years. In that time, most of us have created many dozens, perhaps hundreds, of online accounts. How many of those accounts are still alive somewhere? What data do they hold? And how good are the passwords you used? Today we’re going to start on the path to finding all those accounts which could drastically improve our privacy and security.

In the news: millions of Dell laptops have critical security flaws you need to patch now; Facebook may be secretly scanning your phone’s images; National Public Data is back and you should delete your data; data brokers are flouting privacy laws; Ionic 5 owners in the UK will have to pay for a security fix; Flipper Zero devices are being (wrongly) blamed for auto thefts; the US Supreme Court allows Mississippi social media law to go into effect; data brokers are hiding their opt-out pages; app TeaOnHer exposed users’ data; UK backs down from Apple backdoor demand; and now is the time for EU residents to speak out against Chat Control.

Article Links

1. Millions of Dell laptops hit by ‘critical’ security vulnerability https://www.pcworld.com/article/2870014/millions-of-dell-laptops-hit-by-critical-security-vulnerability.html
2. Meta might be secretly scanning your phone’s camera roll – how to check and turn it off https://www.zdnet.com/article/meta-might-be-secretly-scanning-your-phones-camera-roll-how-to-check-and-turn-it-off/
3. You Should Remove Your Info From the Rebooted National Public Data Site https://lifehacker.com/tech/remove-your-info-from-rebooted-national-public-data-site
4. Data Brokers Are Ignoring Privacy Law. We Deserve Better. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/08/data-brokers-are-ignoring-privacy-law-we-deserve-better
5. Hyundai wants Ioniq 5 owners to pay to fix a keyless entry security hole https://www.theverge.com/news/757205/hyundai-ioniq-5-security-upgrade-fix-game-boy-device-attacks
6. Can Flipper Zero really steal your car? (Spoiler: NO) https://blog.flipper.net/can-flipper-zero-steal-your-car/
7. Supreme Court allows Mississippi social media law to go into effect https://www.npr.org/2025/08/14/nx-s1-5482925/scotus-netchoice
8. Data Brokers Are Hiding Their Opt-Out Pages From Google Search https://www.wired.com/story/data-brokers-hiding-opt-out-pages-google-search/
9. How we found TeaOnHer spilling users’ driver’s licenses in less than 10 minutes | TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/13/how-we-found-teaonher-spilling-users-drivers-licenses-in-less-than-10-minutes/
10. UK blinks, backs down from its Apple backdoor encryption demand https://appleinsider.com/articles/25/08/19/uk-blinks-backs-down-from-its-apple-backdoor-encryption-demand
11. Worried about Chat Control? This website can help you get your say https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/worried-about-chat-control-this-website-can-help-you-get-your-say
12. Tip of the Week: Data Diet Introduction: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/data-diet-introduction/

Further Info

• Cory Doctorow on age verification: https://pluralistic.net/2025/08/14/bellovin/#wont-someone-think-of-the-cryptographers
• Fight EU’s Chat Control: https://fightchatcontrol.eu/
• My book: https://fdsd.me/book
• My newsletter: https://fdsd.me/newsletter
• Support our mission! https://fdsd.me/support
• Give the gift of privacy and security: https://fdsd.me/coupons
• Get your Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons Merch! https://fdsd.me/merch

Table of Contents

• 0:00:00: Intro
• 0:01:37: News preview
• 0:05:00: Millions of Dell laptops hit by ‘critical’ security vulnerability
• 0:06:44: Meta might be secretly scanning your phone’s camera roll
• 0:12:00: You Should Remove Your Info From National Public Data
• 0:15:39: Data Brokers Are Ignoring Privacy Law
• 0:19:06: Hyundai wants Ioniq 5 owners to pay for security fix
• 0:22:43: Can Flipper Zero really steal your car? (No.)
• 0:30:38: Supreme Court allows Mississippi social media law to go into effect
• 0:34:35: Data Brokers Are Hiding Their Opt-Out Pages
• 0:43:35: We found TeaOnHer spilling users’ info in less than 10 minutes
• 0:49:17: UK backs down from its Apple backdoor demand
• 0:53:38: Having your say about Chat Control
• 0:58:41: Tip of the Week: Data Diet, Intro
• 1:02:52: Merlin’s Musings preview
• 1:04:21: Looking ahead