A new Congressional Research Service analysis flags a core weakness in traditional single-hop VPNs. Single-hop VPNs shift trust from your ISP to one VPN provider. That provider sits between you and the internet and can see both where you connect from and where your traffic goes.

Utah has become the first state to explicitly write VPN circumvention into an age-verification law. SB 73 states that being physically in Utah still counts as being in Utah even if your VPN says otherwise, and covered sites can't tell users how to bypass their age checks with a VPN.

ID verification strikes again! 2 days ago 153M driver licenses in US+CA leaked and are now up for sale on a Russian cybercrime forum. When you give a company your personal information (eventually) it will leak. krebsonsecurity.com/2026/09/fbi...

HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT: Obscura VPN is now on Windows 🥳 To celebrate, we're offering 25% off any Obscura subscription or top-up with code WINDOWS26 THAT'S NOT ALL: Every user now gets 5 simultaneous devices! (up from 3 before) 👇 Links below

Not ONLY are they monitoring you outside but if you don't like it and post about it online, they'll monitor you there and hand that data to law enforcement. www.404media.co/the-governm...

The Government is Monitoring Anti-Flock TikTok and Instagram Accounts

Documents from law enforcement spy centers show the government is warning cops of "extensive and ongoing chatter on social media" about methods to "physically destroy Flock LPR cameras."

404media.co

I hope that OEMs are mad about this and start putting Linux on their products by default. www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/w...

Amid RAM price hikes, Microsoft reportedly raises Windows license cost, forcing OEMs to hike prices even further on hardware

A new report claims Microsoft has raised the cost of the Windows license by up to 10% for certain OEMs, which is much higher than usual.

windowscentral.com

If the OS I'm using requires me to verify my age before using it, I'm seriously considering finding another OS to use.

Volkswagen blocked their app on GrapheneOS, LineageOS, and other custom ROMs. They claim it's for "security" because the app now relies on Google's Play Integrity API and certified Android standards. cybernews.com/privacy/vol...

The EU’s highest court has explicitly recognized VPNs as “lawful technical tools which users may legitimately use.” This decision reinforces the role of VPNs in protecting user privacy, securing online activity, and enabling safe access to the internet. www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-pri...

Architectural privacy >> “trust me” privacy policy.

EU officials are trying to revive (again) private chat scanning after Parliament voted it down. Scanning everyone’s messages treats 450 million people as suspects and threatens end-to-end encryption. Stand against chat control and mass surveillance.

2026 has definitely been a year.

Obtainium (and similar tools like F-Droid, direct APK installs from GitHub releases, etc.) will continue to work normally on GrapheneOS. It's awful that Google keeps locking down Android, but it's Google. keepandroidopen.org/en/

As of v1.163, Obscura on Android now allows local network access by default (for printers and other local devices). You can configure this option in the settings tab.

What got you into privacy?

If you were unable to connect to Obscura earlier today (sometime between 6:14 UTC to 8:00 UTC), the issue has been fixed as of ~14 hours ago. Please let us know if you see any persistent problems!

For anyone wondering how to download Obscura WITHOUT Google Play Store! All you need is Obtainium -> add app and the following in the screenshot:

HUGE RELEASE: Obscura VPN is now on Android 🥳 To celebrate, we're offering 25% off any Obscura subscription or top-up with code ANDROID26 👇 Links below for Google Play or Obtainium (more stores coming)

Surely just some metadata couldn't hurt right? Ex-NSA Chief:

Greece is now pushing social media age verification and calling for EU-wide tools. Ireland is testing digital ID for the same purpose.

Interesting, isn't it? How the UK gov themselves spends millions on VPNs but has been discussing banning it for others.

There's a difference between "we don't log" and "we can't log." One is a policy. The other is architecture.

KYC requirements are killing the open web. Every time a platform forces you to submit government ID just to exist online, they're building a surveillance database that would make the Stasi jealous. And the worst part? They're doing it "for your safety."

I can't log people activities, I can't see websites people visit, even if someone REALLYYYYY tried, they wouldn't be able to pull that information out of me, simply because I can't have it.

a girl with white hair and ears is wearing a blue scarf

ALT: a girl with white hair and ears is wearing a blue scarf

media.tenor.com

When you actually look into the privacy policy you 'agreed' to.

a skeleton is reading a book with green glasses on .

ALT: a skeleton is reading a book with green glasses on .

media.tenor.com

We've come across some cursed stuff while developing Obscura. What's the weirdest thing you've seen in the wild? Here's ours: obscura.net/cursed-know...

Cursed Knowledge

Cursed knowledge we obtained as a result of building Obscura that we wish we never learned.

obscura.net

Happy Valentine's Day! Are you single? Watching anime alone tonight? Still using that lame VPN? Well we can fix one of these problems, if you use the code 'noonelikesnordvpn15' you get 15% off your Obscura sub.

Previously, our Android Alpha connection was fragile. It randomly dropped and broke on refresh or network changes. That is fixed. The Android Alpha now just works (for the most part). You can try our Alpha here: appdistribution.firebase.google.com/pub/i/65f09...

Here’s something to consider with Discord alternatives: are they centralized or decentralized? If they’re centralized, the same issue is going to happen. It is much harder (basically impossible) to KYC a protocol that's decentralized, so use decentralized social media.