Privacy News for December 27th

Government Surveillance

The Surveillance State Quietly Lost a Major Court Case | Daily Beast

It Seemed like a Popular Chat App. It’s Secretly a Spy Tool [ToTok] | The New York Times

‘People’s War of Surveillance’ Ensures China will Never be Free | The Hill

Privacy Laws are Best Defense Against Surveillance State, Says Senator Thomas | Forbes

Baltimore Revives Controversial “Spy Plane” Surveillance Pilot | Axios

Students’ and Minors’ Privacy

Colleges are Turning Students’ Phones into Surveillance Machines, Tracking the Locations of Hundreds of Thousands | The Washington Post

Thought Pieces

How Elf on the Shelf Became a Surveillance State Apparatus | Vice

This Week in Data Breaches and Leaks

Exposed Databases are as Bad as Data Breaches, and They’re not Going Anywhere | CNET