<a target="_blank" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/fan_mail/new">Send us Fan Mail</a>A normal data breach steals names and passwords. This one may have stolen the recipe for building the world’s most powerful AI models, and it happened through software most people will never notice until it breaks. We follow the Mercor breach from the first warning signs to the moment poisoned Python packages hit PyPI and spread in minutes across systems that were set to auto-update.  We walk through what Mercor actually does in the AI economy, especially RLHF (Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback), and why that behind-the-scenes work shapes how tools from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Google behave. Then we unpack Lite LLM, the open source “plumbing” that connects apps to multiple AI services, and how a supply chain attack can bypass the company you’re targeting by compromising the dependencies everyone trusts. From there, the focus shifts to the fallout: contractors whose Social Security numbers and identity documents may be exposed, companies scrambling to assess backdoors and credential theft, and the bigger fear that proprietary AI training data sets and labeling strategies are being auctioned on the dark web. We also dig into the compliance controversy around SOC2 and ISO 27001 style certifications and what happens when security audits become performance instead of protection. If you care about cybersecurity, data privacy, AI governance, and open source risk, listen through to the end for concrete steps you can take right now. Subscribe, share this with a friend who uses AI tools, and leave a review with your take on who should be held accountable.<a rel="payment" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/support">Support the show</a>

<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/fan_mail/new"&gt;Send us Fan Mail&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A normal data breach steals names and passwords. This one may have stolen the recipe for building the world’s most powerful AI models, and it happened through software most people will never notice until it breaks. We follow the Mercor breach from the first warning signs to the moment poisoned Python packages hit PyPI and spread in minutes across systems that were set to auto-update.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We walk through what Mercor actually does in the AI economy, especially RLHF (Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback), and why that behind-the-scenes work shapes how tools from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Google behave. Then we unpack Lite LLM, the open source “plumbing” that connects apps to multiple AI services, and how a supply chain attack can bypass the company you’re targeting by compromising the dependencies everyone trusts. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;From there, the focus shifts to the fallout: contractors whose Social Security numbers and identity documents may be exposed, companies scrambling to assess backdoors and credential theft, and the bigger fear that proprietary AI training data sets and labeling strategies are being auctioned on the dark web. We also dig into the compliance controversy around SOC2 and ISO 27001 style certifications and what happens when security audits become performance instead of protection. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you care about cybersecurity, data privacy, AI governance, and open source risk, listen through to the end for concrete steps you can take right now. Subscribe, share this with a friend who uses AI tools, and leave a review with your take on who should be held accountable.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a rel="payment" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/support"&gt;Support the show&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Send us Fan Mail A normal data breach steals names and passwords. This one may have stolen the recipe for building the world’s most powerful AI models, and it happened through software most people will never notice until it breaks. We follow the Mercor breach from the first warning signs to the moment poisoned Python packages hit PyPI and spread in minutes across systems that were set to auto-update.   We walk through what Mercor actually does in the AI economy, especially RLHF (Reinforc...

S7, E270 - The 40-Minute Hack That Stole the Blueprint for AI | The Mercor Breach

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/fan_mail/new">Send us Fan Mail</a>You already knew you were the product. But did you know you&apos;re also the teacher?Companies are quietly feeding your emails, your work decisions, your customer interactions, and your daily patterns into AI systems — systems designed to automate exactly what you do. And most people have no idea it&apos;s happening.In this episode of Privacy Please, we break down how it works, who&apos;s doing it, why your right to delete your own data is functionally broken in the AI era, and what you can actually do about it.What we cover:<ul><li>How &quot;function creep&quot; turns your data into AI training fuel without new consent</li><li>The GitHub policy change that&apos;s happening right now — and how to opt out</li><li>Why employees at Amazon, Google, and JPMorgan described training AI as &quot;building your own coffin.&quot;</li><li>The deletion problem — why you can&apos;t remove yourself from a trained model</li><li>Practical steps to audit your tools and protect yourself today</li></ul>Links:<ul><li>GitHub opt-out: github.com/settings/copilot/features</li><li>Khan v. Figma lawsuit: rainintelligence.com</li><li>FTC on AI data practices: ftc.gov</li><li>Check your state privacy rights: iapp.org/resources/article/us-state-privacy-legislation-tracker</li><li>Delete old posts: redact.dev</li></ul>Privacy Please is part of The Problem Lounge network. 🌐 theproblemlounge.com 🎙️ Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen<a rel="payment" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/support">Support the show</a>

<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/fan_mail/new"&gt;Send us Fan Mail&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;You already knew you were the product. But did you know you&amp;apos;re also the teacher?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Companies are quietly feeding your emails, your work decisions, your customer interactions, and your daily patterns into AI systems — systems designed to automate exactly what you do. And most people have no idea it&amp;apos;s happening.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this episode of Privacy Please, we break down how it works, who&amp;apos;s doing it, why your right to delete your own data is functionally broken in the AI era, and what you can actually do about it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;What we cover:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;How &amp;quot;function creep&amp;quot; turns your data into AI training fuel without new consent&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The GitHub policy change that&amp;apos;s happening right now — and how to opt out&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Why employees at Amazon, Google, and JPMorgan described training AI as &amp;quot;building your own coffin.&amp;quot;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The deletion problem — why you can&amp;apos;t remove yourself from a trained model&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Practical steps to audit your tools and protect yourself today&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Links:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;GitHub opt-out: github.com/settings/copilot/features&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Khan v. Figma lawsuit: rainintelligence.com&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;FTC on AI data practices: ftc.gov&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Check your state privacy rights: iapp.org/resources/article/us-state-privacy-legislation-tracker&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Delete old posts: redact.dev&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;Privacy Please is part of The Problem Lounge network. 🌐 theproblemlounge.com 🎙️ Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a rel="payment" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/support"&gt;Support the show&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Send us Fan Mail You already knew you were the product. But did you know you're also the teacher? Companies are quietly feeding your emails, your work decisions, your customer interactions, and your daily patterns into AI systems — systems designed to automate exactly what you do. And most people have no idea it's happening. In this episode of Privacy Please, we break down how it works, who's doing it, why your right to delete your own data is functionally broken in the AI era, and what you c...

S7, E269 - You're the Teacher Now: How Companies Are Using Your Data to Build AI That Replaces You

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/fan_mail/new">Send us Fan Mail</a>Your anonymous account isn&apos;t anonymous anymore. Researchers just proved it costs $4 to find out who you are.In February 2026, a team from ETH Zurich and Anthropic published a paper that quietly ended the era of practical online anonymity. Their AI pipeline, using nothing but your posts, comments, and forum activity, correctly identified 67% of pseudonymous users from a pool of 89,000 candidates. No name. No photo. No metadata. Just your words.This episode breaks down exactly how it works, why it&apos;s different from every deanonymization scare before it, who&apos;s most at risk, and what you can actually do about it.In this episode:<ul><li>How the ESRC pipeline (Extract, Search, Reason, Calibrate) works</li><li>Why previous anonymity attacks required structured data, and this one doesn&apos;t</li><li>Why commercial AI safety guardrails didn&apos;t stop it</li><li>What &quot;practical obscurity&quot; meant, and why it&apos;s gone</li><li>Concrete steps to reduce your exposure today</li></ul>Links:<ul><li>Research paper: arxiv.org/abs/2602.16800</li><li>Delete your Reddit history: redact.dev</li><li>Tor Project: torproject.org</li><li>Signal: signal.org</li></ul>Privacy Please is part of The Problem Lounge network. 🌐 theproblemlounge.com 🎙️ Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen<a rel="payment" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/support">Support the show</a>

<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/fan_mail/new"&gt;Send us Fan Mail&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Your anonymous account isn&amp;apos;t anonymous anymore. Researchers just proved it costs $4 to find out who you are.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In February 2026, a team from ETH Zurich and Anthropic published a paper that quietly ended the era of practical online anonymity. Their AI pipeline, using nothing but your posts, comments, and forum activity, correctly identified 67% of pseudonymous users from a pool of 89,000 candidates. No name. No photo. No metadata. Just your words.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This episode breaks down exactly how it works, why it&amp;apos;s different from every deanonymization scare before it, who&amp;apos;s most at risk, and what you can actually do about it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;In this episode:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;How the ESRC pipeline (Extract, Search, Reason, Calibrate) works&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Why previous anonymity attacks required structured data, and this one doesn&amp;apos;t&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Why commercial AI safety guardrails didn&amp;apos;t stop it&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;What &amp;quot;practical obscurity&amp;quot; meant, and why it&amp;apos;s gone&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Concrete steps to reduce your exposure today&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Links:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Research paper: arxiv.org/abs/2602.16800&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Delete your Reddit history: redact.dev&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Tor Project: torproject.org&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Signal: signal.org&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;Privacy Please is part of The Problem Lounge network. 🌐 theproblemlounge.com 🎙️ Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a rel="payment" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/support"&gt;Support the show&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Send us Fan Mail Your anonymous account isn't anonymous anymore. Researchers just proved it costs $4 to find out who you are. In February 2026, a team from ETH Zurich and Anthropic published a paper that quietly ended the era of practical online anonymity. Their AI pipeline, using nothing but your posts, comments, and forum activity, correctly identified 67% of pseudonymous users from a pool of 89,000 candidates. No name. No photo. No metadata. Just your words. This episode breaks down exactl...

S7, E268 - AI Can Unmask Your Anonymous Account for $4 | Here's How

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/fan_mail/new">Send us Fan Mail</a>Cameron and Gabe sit down with Girish Redekar, co-founder and CEO of Sprinto, to pull back the curtain on one of the most misunderstood areas of security: compliance.Girish built his first startup, RecruiterBox, to 3,500 customers before selling it, and it was the painful, expensive, duct-taped compliance process he experienced firsthand that sparked the idea for Sprinto. Today, Sprinto helps companies move beyond point-in-time audits into something far more valuable: continuous, autonomous trust.In this episode, we dig into:<ul><li>Why passing a SOC 2 or ISO 27001 audit doesn&apos;t mean you&apos;re actually secure</li><li>The three stages of compliance maturity — and how to climb them</li><li>What &quot;compliance debt&quot; is and why it&apos;s quietly eating your business</li><li>How smart CISOs use their security posture as a revenue driver, not a back-office cost center</li><li>The &quot;$100/month&quot; challenge: what actually moves the needle for startups</li><li>How AI is reshaping compliance programs — for better or worse</li><li>Why Girish spent over a year talking to customers before writing a single line of code</li></ul>Plus: the &quot;sell more jeans&quot; framework every CISO should know, Rich Hickey, The Mom Test, and the toilet paper question.🔗 Find Sprinto at <a href='https://sprinto.com'>sprinto.com</a> <a rel="payment" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/support">Support the show</a>

<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/fan_mail/new"&gt;Send us Fan Mail&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cameron and Gabe sit down with Girish Redekar, co-founder and CEO of Sprinto, to pull back the curtain on one of the most misunderstood areas of security: compliance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Girish built his first startup, RecruiterBox, to 3,500 customers before selling it, and it was the painful, expensive, duct-taped compliance process he experienced firsthand that sparked the idea for Sprinto. Today, Sprinto helps companies move beyond point-in-time audits into something far more valuable: continuous, autonomous trust.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this episode, we dig into:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Why passing a SOC 2 or ISO 27001 audit doesn&amp;apos;t mean you&amp;apos;re actually secure&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The three stages of compliance maturity — and how to climb them&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;What &amp;quot;compliance debt&amp;quot; is and why it&amp;apos;s quietly eating your business&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;How smart CISOs use their security posture as a &lt;em&gt;revenue driver&lt;/em&gt;, not a back-office cost center&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The &amp;quot;$100/month&amp;quot; challenge: what actually moves the needle for startups&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;How AI is reshaping compliance programs — for better or worse&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Why Girish spent over a year talking to customers before writing a single line of code&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;Plus: the &amp;quot;sell more jeans&amp;quot; framework every CISO should know, Rich Hickey, The Mom Test, and the toilet paper question.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;🔗 Find Sprinto at &lt;a href='https://sprinto.com'&gt;sprinto.com&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a rel="payment" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/support"&gt;Support the show&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Send us Fan Mail Cameron and Gabe sit down with Girish Redekar, co-founder and CEO of Sprinto, to pull back the curtain on one of the most misunderstood areas of security: compliance. Girish built his first startup, RecruiterBox, to 3,500 customers before selling it, and it was the painful, expensive, duct-taped compliance process he experienced firsthand that sparked the idea for Sprinto. Today, Sprinto helps companies move beyond point-in-time audits into something far more valuable: contin...

S7, E267 - Your SOC 2 Won't Save You: Here's What Will with Girish Redekar, co-founder & CEO Sprinto 

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/fan_mail/new">Send us Fan Mail</a>How a Super Bowl dog commercial accidentally revealed America&apos;s surveillance infrastructure A family loses their dog. Ring runs a Super Bowl ad. America collectively goes &quot;wait… what?&quot;This week, we&apos;re digging into Ring&apos;s &quot;Search Party&quot; feature, the AI-powered doorbell camera tool that lit up millions of living rooms during the big game and immediately made privacy experts lose their minds. Because what looked like a heartwarming story about finding your lost lab was actually a live demonstration of a nationwide networked surveillance system most people didn&apos;t know they were part of.We follow the trail from the commercial to the backlash, from a secret police surveillance partnership that quietly got canceled mid-chaos, to an 84-year-old woman&apos;s &quot;deleted&quot; doorbell footage that the FBI recovered anyway.There&apos;s a lost dog. There&apos;s Amazon. There&apos;s a company called Flock Safety that you need to know about. And there&apos;s a question worth asking before you go home and look at your front door.They sold you a puppy. They built a network.<a rel="payment" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/support">Support the show</a>

<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/fan_mail/new"&gt;Send us Fan Mail&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;How a Super Bowl dog commercial accidentally revealed America&amp;apos;s surveillance infrastructure&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;A family loses their dog. Ring runs a Super Bowl ad. America collectively goes &amp;quot;wait… what?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This week, we&amp;apos;re digging into Ring&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;Search Party&amp;quot; feature, the AI-powered doorbell camera tool that lit up millions of living rooms during the big game and immediately made privacy experts lose their minds. Because what looked like a heartwarming story about finding your lost lab was actually a live demonstration of a nationwide networked surveillance system most people didn&amp;apos;t know they were part of.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We follow the trail from the commercial to the backlash, from a secret police surveillance partnership that quietly got canceled mid-chaos, to an 84-year-old woman&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;deleted&amp;quot; doorbell footage that the FBI recovered anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There&amp;apos;s a lost dog. There&amp;apos;s Amazon. There&amp;apos;s a company called Flock Safety that you need to know about. And there&amp;apos;s a question worth asking before you go home and look at your front door.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;They sold you a puppy. They built a network.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a rel="payment" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/622234/support"&gt;Support the show&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Send us Fan Mail How a Super Bowl dog commercial accidentally revealed America's surveillance infrastructure  A family loses their dog. Ring runs a Super Bowl ad. America collectively goes "wait… what?" This week, we're digging into Ring's "Search Party" feature, the AI-powered doorbell camera tool that lit up millions of living rooms during the big game and immediately made privacy experts lose their minds. Because what looked like a heartwarming story about finding your lost lab was actuall...

S7, E266 - Good Boy, Bad Data

Welcome to "Privacy Please," a podcast for anyone who wants to know more about data privacy and security. Join your hosts Cam and Gabe as they talk to experts, academics, authors, and activists to break down complex privacy topics in a way that's easy to understand. In today's connected world, our personal information is constantly being collected, analyzed, and sometimes exploited. We believe everyone has a right to understand how their data is being used and what they can do to protect their privacy. Please subscribe and help us reach more people!&nbsp; This podcast is part of The Problem Lounge network — conversations about the problems shaping our world, from digital privacy to everyday life.

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