Tracked: The AI, Privacy, and Security Weekly Update for the Week Ending July 7th., 2026
Episode 299 Discoveries in this week's update... Microsoft's Windows has been quietly assigning every PC a persistent tracking ID that survives VPNs, new IP addresses, and most attempts to disappear - and a hacker just got arrested because of it. Anthropic built a secret tracker inside its own developer tool to watch for Chinese users - and the company that made its name on responsible AI had to remove it after researchers found the hidden code. The Supreme Court just handed every smartphone owner in America a constitutional privacy right they didn't know they had - and it changes what law enforcement can do with your location data forever. An Air Force engineer with a saw and a point to make took down 13 license plate reader cameras - and thousands of strangers across the country sent him money to say thank you. An AI agent was given a web browser, a payment system, and instructions to help - and attackers left invisible instructions on websites that redirected the money ...
