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How to keep your holiday shopping a secret on Amazon

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How to keep your holiday shopping a secret on Amazon

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The holiday season is in full swing, and with it comes the joy of gift giving. 

If you’re planning to shop on Amazon this December, you might be wondering how to keep your purchases a secret until the big reveal. Whether you’re surprising a loved one or treating a friend, maintaining that element of surprise can be a challenge in today’s online shopping landscape. But don’t worry. 

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We’ve gathered some clever tips and tricks to help you keep your holiday shopping under wraps, ensuring your thoughtful gifts remain surprises.

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Amazon website on computer screen (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

1. Create a separate Amazon account

One of the easiest ways to keep your gift purchases a secret is to create a separate Amazon account just for buying gifts. This way, you can avoid sharing your order history, recommendations and wish lists with anyone else who uses your main account.

You can also use a different email address and phone number for your gift account, so you won’t receive any delivery notifications or emails that might give away your gifts.

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If you don’t already have one, here’s how you can get a cheap Amazon Prime membership.

A woman shopping on the Amazon app (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

9 BEST FEATURES OF AMAZON PRIME YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT

2. Turn on Amazon Household

This may be the simplest solution. Amazon Household is an Amazon feature that allows you to share your Prime benefits with the family. You can create up to two adult accounts, four teen and four child profiles. Amazon Household keeps all shopping purchases and notifications for shipping separate. So, no need to worry about your Christmas present being revealed before giving it out.

With Amazon Household, you not only get to keep your purchases separate, you can also share eBooks, audiobooks, digital content and games.

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Create your Amazon Household here.

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Image of Amazon Household ad (Amazon)

5 SECRETS TO SHOPPING SMARTER ON AMAZON

3. Hide or archive your orders

Another option to keep your gift purchases a secret is to hide or archive your orders on your Amazon account. This will remove them from your default order history view, so they won’t show up when you or someone else checks your recent orders. The following will only work on a desktop or laptop browser (not on a tablet or mobile device).

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  • Log In to your Amazon account.
  • Click on Returns and Orders in the top right corner. A list of your orders from the past three months will appear.
  • Scroll to find the item you want to hide. Below the item, you will see Archive Order. A window will appear, and you’ll need to select Archive Order again. If you do not see Archive Order, select View order details to the right of the purchased item. On the right-hand side, select Archive Order.

Steps to archive an order on Amazon (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Even though the item will no longer appear in Your Orders, you can still view it in Archived Orders from Your Account.

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4. Turn off shipment notifications and tracking

If you don’t want to receive any shipment notifications or tracking information for your gift purchases, you can also turn them off on your Amazon account. This will prevent you from getting any emails, texts or push notifications that might reveal your gifts.

To turn off shipment notifications and tracking in Amazon, you can follow these steps:

  • Open the Amazon app on your phone, open the menu and tap Settings
  • Tap the Notifications option in the list
  • Disable the types of notifications you don’t want to receive, such as “Shipment Notifications,” “Delivery Notifications,” “Returns and Order Updates,” etc.

WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?

A woman holiday shopping on her laptop (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

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5. Hide from Alexa

Now, if you have some real sleuths in your household, you are going to need to do more than just archive your purchases to make sure your gifts are still surprises. You can start by changing your Alexa settings.

  • Open the Alexa app
  • Click Settings
  • Find and Select Notifications, then select Amazon Shopping
  • Scroll to Say or Show Item Titles. Toggle the switches off for “For items in delivery updates,” “For items in return updates” and “Including items in your shopping cart marked as gifts or those that might be gifts during major holidays.”

Now, Alexa will still notify you when a package is being delivered, but it will not say what the item is.

HOW TO GET ALEXA TO SPEAK MORE LIKE YOU

An Alexa device sitting on top of a laptop (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

 6. Clear your ‘Search History’

We all have that one relentless person, determined to find out which presents were purchased this year. Another step to keep them off your tracks is deleting your “Search History.”

The following will only work on a desktop or laptop browser (not on a tablet or mobile device).

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  • Go to Account & Lists in the upper right corner of your browser, then select Recommendations
  • Click Your Browsing History (text in gray strip toward top of the screen)
  • Select the gear icon on the right-hand part of the page. This will open up a Settings window.
  • Click Remove items from view button
  • All the items you recently reviewed have been removed.

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7. Use Amazon Locker or Amazon Hub

If you don’t want your gift purchases to be delivered to your home address, you can also use Amazon Locker or Amazon Hub to pick them up at a nearby location. This way, you can avoid having your packages left on your doorstep or seen by anyone else in your household. Amazon Locker and Amazon Hub are secure, self-service kiosks where you can pick up and return your Amazon packages at your convenience.

Image of an Amazon locker (Amazon)

To use Amazon Locker or Amazon Hub:

  • Go to Account & Lists and click on Your Addresses
  • Then, click on Search for a Locker or Hub location and enter your zip code or city
  • You can then select a location and add it to your address book.
  • When you check out, you can choose the Locker or Hub location as your shipping address.

8. Use gift options during checkout

When purchasing gifts on Amazon, you can utilize the gift options available at checkout. This feature allows you to mark items as gifts, which can help maintain secrecy in several ways.

Gift wrapping: You can choose to have the item gift-wrapped, which not only adds a nice touch but also prevents anyone from seeing the product until it is unwrapped.

Gift message: You can include a personalized message that will be printed on the packing slip, making it clear that it’s a gift and not an ordinary purchase.

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No price information: When you select gift options, Amazon typically does not include pricing information on the packing slip, which helps keep the cost of the gift hidden from the recipient.

To use this feature, simply select the “This is a gift” checkbox during checkout and follow the prompts to customize your order accordingly. This added layer of discretion can significantly enhance your ability to keep your purchases under wraps until the big reveal.

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Kurt’s key takeaways

As the holiday festivities approach, keeping your Amazon gift purchases a secret can add an extra layer of excitement to your celebrations. With these straightforward strategies, you can shop with confidence, knowing that your surprises will stay hidden until the perfect moment. From creating separate accounts to utilizing gift options at checkout, each tip is designed to help you preserve that magical element of surprise.

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Have you ever had a gift surprise spoiled? If so, what happened and how did you handle it? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.

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You need to listen to Billy Woods’ horrorcore masterpiece for the A24 crowd

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You need to listen to Billy Woods’ horrorcore masterpiece for the A24 crowd

Billy Woods has one of the highest batting averages in the game. Between his solo records like Hiding Places and Maps, and his collaborative albums with Elucid as Armand Hammer, the man has multiple stone-cold classics under his belt. And, while no one would ever claim that Woods’ albums were light-hearted fare (these are not party records), Golliwog represents his darkest to date.

This is not your typical horrorcore record. Others, like Geto Boys, Gravediggaz, and Insane Clown Posse, reach for slasher aesthetics and shock tactics. But what Billy Woods has crafted is more A24 than Blumhouse.

Sure, the first track is called “Jumpscare,” and it opens with the sound of a film reel spinning up, followed by a creepy music box and the line: “Ragdoll playing dead. Rabid dog in the yard, car won’t start, it’s bees in your head.” It’s setting you up for the typical horror flick gimmickry. But by the end, it’s psychological torture. A cacophony of voices forms a bed for unidentifiable screeching noises, and Woods drops what feels like a mission statement:

“The English language is violence, I hotwired it. I got a hold of the master’s tools and got dialed in.”

Throughout the record, Woods turns to his producers to craft not cheap scares, but tension, to make the listener feel uneasy. “Waterproof Mascara” turns a woman’s sobs into a rhythmic motif. On “Pitchforks & Halos” Kenny Segal conjures the aural equivalent of a POV shot of a serial killer. And “All These Worlds are Yours” produced by DJ Haram has more in common with the early industrial of Throbbing Gristle than it does even some of the other tracks on the record, like “Golgotha” which pairs boombap drums with New Orleans funeral horns.

That dense, at times scattered production is paired with lines that juxtapose the real-world horrors of oppression and colonialism, with scenes that feel taken straight from Bring Her Back: “Trapped a housefly in an upside-down pint glass and waited for it to die.” And later, Woods seamlessly transitions from boasting to warning people about turning their backs on the genocide in Gaza on “Corinthians”:

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If you never came back from the dead you can’t tell me shit
Twelve billion USD hovering over the Gaza Strip
You don’t wanna know what it cost to live
What it cost to hide behind eyelids
When your back turnt, secret cannibals lick they lips

The record features some of Woods’ deftest lyricism, balancing confrontation with philosophy, horror with emotion. Billy Woods’ Golliwog is available on Bandcamp and on most major streaming services, including Apple Music, Qobuz, Deezer, YouTube Music, and Spotify.

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Technology

Grok AI scandal sparks global alarm over child safety

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Grok AI scandal sparks global alarm over child safety

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Grok, the built-in chatbot on X, is facing intense scrutiny after acknowledging it generated and shared an AI image depicting two young girls in sexualized attire.

In a public post on X, Grok admitted the content “violated ethical standards” and “potentially U.S. laws on child sexual abuse material (CSAM).” The chatbot added, “It was a failure in safeguards, and I’m sorry for any harm caused. xAI is reviewing to prevent future issues.”

That admission alone is alarming. What followed revealed a far broader pattern.

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OPENAI TIGHTENS AI RULES FOR TEENS BUT CONCERNS REMAIN

The fallout from this incident has triggered global scrutiny, with governments and safety groups questioning whether AI platforms are doing enough to protect children.  (Silas Stein/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Grok quietly restricts image tools to paying users after backlash

As criticism mounted, Grok confirmed it has begun limiting image generation and editing features to paying subscribers only. In a late-night reply on X, the chatbot stated that image tools are now locked behind a premium subscription, directing users to sign up to regain access.

The apology that raised more questions

Grok’s apology appeared only after a user prompted the chatbot to write a heartfelt explanation for people lacking context. In other words, the system did not proactively address the issue. It responded because someone asked it to.

Around the same time, researchers and journalists uncovered widespread misuse of Grok’s image tools. According to monitoring firm Copyleaks, users were generating nonconsensual, sexually manipulated images of real women, including minors and well-known figures.

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After reviewing Grok’s publicly accessible photo feed, Copyleaks identified a conservative rate of roughly one nonconsensual sexualized image per minute, based on images involving real people with no clear indication of consent. The firm says the misuse escalated quickly, shifting from consensual self-promotion to large-scale harassment enabled by AI.

Copyleaks CEO and co-founder Alon Yamin said, “When AI systems allow the manipulation of real people’s images without clear consent, the impact can be immediate and deeply personal.”

PROTECTING KIDS FROM AI CHATBOTS: WHAT THE GUARD ACT MEANS

Grok admitted it generated and shared an AI image that violated ethical standards and may have broken U.S. child protection laws. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Sexualized images of minors are illegal

This is not a gray area. Generating or distributing sexualized images of minors is a serious criminal offense in the United States and many other countries. Under U.S. federal law, such content is classified as child sexual abuse material. Penalties can include five to 20 years in prison, fines up to $250,000 and mandatory sex offender registration. Similar laws apply in the U.K. and France.

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In 2024, a Pennsylvania man received nearly eight years in prison for creating and possessing deepfake CSAM involving child celebrities. That case set a clear precedent. Grok itself acknowledged this legal reality in its post, stating that AI images depicting minors in sexualized contexts are illegal.

The scale of the problem is growing fast

A July report from the Internet Watch Foundation, a nonprofit that tracks and removes child sexual abuse material online, shows how quickly this threat is accelerating. Reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery jumped by 400% in the first half of 2025 alone. Experts warn that AI tools lower the barrier to potential abuse. What once required technical skill or access to hidden forums can now happen through a simple prompt on a mainstream platform.

Real people are being targeted

The harm is not abstract. Reuters documented cases where users asked Grok to digitally undress real women whose photos were posted on X. In multiple documented cases, Grok fully complied. Even more disturbing, users targeted images of a 14-year-old actress Nell Fisher from the Netflix series “Stranger Things.” Grok later admitted there were isolated cases in which users received images depicting minors in minimal clothing. In another Reuters investigation, a Brazilian musician described watching AI-generated bikini images of herself spread across X after users prompted Grok to alter a harmless photo. Her experience mirrors what many women and girls are now facing.

Governments respond worldwide

The backlash has gone global. In France, multiple ministers referred X to an investigative agency over possible violations of the EU’s Digital Services Act, which requires platforms to prevent and mitigate the spread of illegal content. Violations can trigger heavy fines. In India, the country’s IT ministry gave xAI 72 hours to submit a report detailing how it plans to stop the spread of obscene and sexually explicit material generated by Grok. Grok has also warned publicly that xAI could face potential probes from the Department of Justice or lawsuits tied to these failures.

LEAKED META DOCUMENTS SHOW HOW AI CHATBOTS HANDLE CHILD EXPLOITATION

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Researchers later found Grok was widely used to create nonconsensual, sexually altered images of real women, including minors. (Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Concerns grow over Grok’s safety and government use

The incident raises serious concerns about online privacy, platform security and the safeguards designed to protect minors.

Elon Musk, the owner of X and founder of xAI, had not offered a public response at the time of publication. That silence comes at a sensitive time. Grok has been authorized for official government use under an 18-month federal contract. This approval was granted despite objections from more than 30 consumer advocacy groups that warned the system lacked proper safety testing.

Over the past year, Grok has been accused by critics of spreading misinformation about major news events, promoting antisemitic rhetoric and sharing misleading health information. It also competed directly with tools like ChatGPT and Gemini while operating with fewer visible safety restrictions. Each controversy raises the same question. Can a powerful AI tool be deployed responsibly without strong oversight and enforcement?

What parents and users should know

If you encounter sexualized images of minors or other abusive material online, report it immediately. In the United States, you can contact the FBI tip line or seek help from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

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Do not download, share, screenshot or interact with the content in any way. Even viewing or forwarding illegal material can expose you to serious legal risk.

Parents should also talk with children and teens about AI image tools and social media prompts. Many of these images are created through casual requests that do not feel dangerous at first. Teaching kids to report content, close the app and tell a trusted adult can stop harm from spreading further.

Platforms may fail. Safeguards may lag. But early reporting and clear conversations at home remain one of the most effective ways to protect children online.

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Think your devices and data are truly protected? Take this quick quiz to see where your digital habits stand. From passwords to Wi-Fi settings, you’ll get a personalized breakdown of what you’re doing right and what needs improvement. Take my Quiz here: Cyberguy.com       

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Kurt’s key takeaways

The Grok scandal highlights a dangerous reality. As AI spreads faster, these systems amplify harm at an unprecedented scale. When safeguards fail, real people suffer, and children face serious risk. At the same time, trust cannot depend on apologies issued after harm occurs. Instead, companies must earn trust through strong safety design, constant monitoring and real accountability when problems emerge.

Should any AI system be approved for government or mass public use before it proves it can reliably protect children and prevent abuse? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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Copyright 2025 CyberGuy.com.  All rights reserved.

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Technology

Google pulls AI overviews for some medical searches

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Google pulls AI overviews for some medical searches

In one case that experts described as “really dangerous”, Google wrongly advised people with pancreatic cancer to avoid high-fat foods. Experts said this was the exact opposite of what should be recommended, and may increase the risk of patients dying from the disease.

In another “alarming” example, the company provided bogus information about crucial liver function tests, which could leave people with serious liver disease wrongly thinking they are healthy.

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