Week in the Privacy News 8/2024

Research

• Memetic warfare: notes from the W3PN Summit meme talk by @lunar_mining
• The State of the Culture (2024): a non pretty glimpse into post-entertainment society
• EFF: Unregulated, Exploitative, and on the Rise report on electronic monitoring from Vera Institute
• WTF is Aztec? introduction article
• Hackernoon: The Role of Asset-Agnostic Privacy
• Wired: experience with Signal usernames
• The Big Brother Watch: thread on X comparing CBDCs around the world
• Google: AI privacy risks from sharing with chatbots

Ecosystem

• Fluidkey launched alpha version on Optimism
• Aleo users alarmed by leaked KYC documents
• Railgun surpasses $20m TVL (src)
• Privacy x Web3 job board by @nicksvyaznoy and @niclaz (updated)

Grants

• Ethereum Foundation: The first ZK Grants Round is now open ($900k) (src)
• Zcash: grant for Maya Protocol approved ($110k) (src)

Releases

• NymVPN v0.0.4\: initial release

Podcasts

• Privacy tools in the real world (LunarDAO)
• Protecting health data & patient privacy (Verida Network x Partisia Blockchain)
• Alternatives to CEXs (Firo)
• Privacy + blockchain: how important is it? (QuickSwap)

Governments

• Russia arrested a woman for a $51 donation to Ukraine charity, facing up to 20 years in prison
• The real story of the SEC's suit from Kraken CEO @DavidLRipley
• ‘Privacy and Security’ Should Be the Core of National Digital ID
• Australian experts discusses privacy and data collection by smart home devices
• Canadian Privacy Commissioner highlights concerns on RCMP's web surveillance with private tech

Other

• Bitcoin Magazine: Adam Back's complete emails with Satoshi Nakamato
• Satoshi Nakamoto's earliest collaborator Martii 'Sirius' Malmi released their entire email history

Upcoming events

*(new/changes in **bold**)*

• Apr 10, zkSummit (Athens) conference
• Apr 12-14, ETHDam hackathon
• May 24-26, ETHBerlin hackathon
• May 30, Web3Privacy Now Summit (Prague) conference
• Jun 7-9, MoneroKon (Prague) conference & hackathon
• Jun 19-26, Web3Privacy Now Hackathon (Bled)
• Oct 4-6, Hackers Congress Paralelní Polis (HCPP) (Prague) conference
• **Oct 4-6, ETHRome hackathon**
• Oct, Web3Privacy Now Summit (Brno) conference
• Oct, ETHBrno hackathon