The massive budget bill signed into law by President Donald Trump on Independence Day didn’t include everything on Big Tech’s wishlist, but the industry’s largest players stand to gain significantly from several provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Technology
Are your smart home cameras spying on you? Study reveals shocking data grabs
Smart home cameras have become a necessity. You already know they help keep an eye on what’s happening indoors and outdoors, even when you’re not home.
But while these cameras are undeniably useful, they also pose a privacy risk. A new study highlights outdoor security camera apps as some of the biggest collectors of user data.
This includes sensitive personal information like email addresses, phone numbers, payment details, precise location and more.
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Smart outdoor camera (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
How smart home cameras can be spying on you
According to a study conducted by Surfshark, outdoor security camera apps are some of the top offenders when it comes to collecting user data. These apps gather 12 data points on average, including sensitive details like email addresses, phone numbers, payment information and precise location. That’s 50% more than what other smart home devices typically collect. What’s even worse is that these apps often connect up to seven of these data points directly to your identity.
Indoor security camera apps are slightly less data-hungry but still raise privacy concerns. They collect an average of nine data points, with six typically tied to users’ identities. Commonly collected data includes email addresses, phone numbers, user IDs, device IDs, purchase histories and audio data. While this information can help improve the user experience, it also increases the risk of privacy violations.
One of the biggest concerns with both outdoor and indoor security camera apps is the kind of data they collect. Many of these apps gather personal info like your name, email, phone number and physical address. Some apps, such as Arlo, Deep Sentinel, and D-Link, even grab data about your contacts, which can be accessed outside of the app. This data isn’t actually necessary for the apps to do their job.
Smart camera (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
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Which apps collect the most data?
Among the apps that collect the most data, Deep Sentinel and Lorex stand out for outdoor security cameras, each collecting 18 out of a possible 32 data points. Nest Labs, which leads the pack for indoor cameras, collects 17 data points, with Ring and Arlo each gathering 15.
The absence of regulations and standards for smart home devices creates significant privacy risks. Without clear guidelines, users are vulnerable to data breaches, cyberattacks and even physical harm. Some apps track users for targeted ads or share data with third parties and data brokers. While outdoor security cameras typically avoid tracking, indoor cameras like Nooie and Canary Connect engage in user tracking, further complicating privacy concerns.
WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?
Smart indoor camera (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
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9 ways to stay safe from the risks associated with smart home cameras
1. Limit data sharing: Look for smart home camera apps that allow you to control what data is shared. Many apps offer settings that let you disable certain data collection features, like location tracking or audio recording. Customizing these settings can significantly reduce your risk of exposing personal information.
2. Regularly review and update privacy settings: Smart home cameras often receive software updates that may change privacy settings. It’s important to regularly review the app’s privacy settings to make sure they align with your preferences. Disable features that aren’t essential, such as sharing data with third-party apps or advertisers.
3. Use strong passwords and two-factor authentication (2FA): Make sure your camera’s app and associated accounts are protected by strong, unique passwords. Consider using a password manager to generate and store complex passwords.
4. Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) wherever possible: This adds an extra layer of security in case your account information is compromised.
5. Be mindful of camera placement: If your camera is collecting sensitive data like audio or images of people in your home, be mindful of where you place it. Avoid positioning cameras in private areas like bedrooms or bathrooms. This reduces the amount of potentially sensitive data the camera can capture.
6. Consider using local storage instead of cloud services: Some cameras offer local storage options, where footage is stored directly on a device like a hard drive or SD card, rather than in the cloud. This keeps your data more secure since it’s not accessible via the internet and is less likely to be exposed during a data breach.
7. Use a VPN: Encrypt your internet connection with a VPN to safeguard data transmitted from your smart home devices. This is an easy yet powerful way to add an extra layer of protection to your network. Using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) service can enhance your privacy by encrypting your internet traffic, making it harder for hackers and third parties to intercept your data, especially on public Wi-Fi. A VPN masks your IP address, helping to obscure your location and online activity. While VPNs don’t directly prevent phishing emails, they reduce the exposure of your browsing habits to trackers that may use this data maliciously. With a VPN, you can securely access your email accounts from anywhere, even in areas with restrictive internet policies. For best VPN software, see my expert review of the best VPNs for browsing the web privately on your Windows, Mac, Android & iOS devices
8. Regularly review privacy policies: Stay informed about how your devices and apps collect, store and share your data. Ensure that you are aware of any changes to privacy terms that may affect your information.
9. Consider home security systems with enhanced physical security features, but be aware that, like all smart devices, they collect a variety of user data, including personal information, device data and location tracking. To minimize privacy risks, here are some tips for adjusting the settings within most security system apps:
- Disable location tracking: The security company may use location data for features like geofencing, which triggers actions based on your proximity to your home. If you’re concerned about privacy, you can disable location tracking in the app to prevent the system from collecting this data.
- Limit video storage: Many security company’s cameras can store video footage in the cloud, but you can adjust the app settings to limit how long footage is stored or to delete it automatically after a certain period.
- Adjust device permissions: Review and adjust permissions for devices like cameras and smart locks to limit data collection. For example, disable audio recording if it’s not necessary for your security needs.
- Control third-party data sharing: Your security company may share data with third parties, so it’s essential to check and disable any settings that allow your data to be shared beyond your security system’s ecosystem.
By actively managing these settings and using a VPN, you can significantly reduce your exposure to potential privacy risks associated with your smart home system. Check out my picks for best security systems.
HOW TO REMOVE YOUR PRIVATE DATA FROM THE INTERNET
Kurt’s key takeaway
The rapid rise of IoT tech has changed the way we live and interact. But without proper rules in place, companies might put profits over user safety. This can lead to devices with security holes and weaknesses. A lot of smart home cameras are collecting more data than they really need and aren’t clear about what they’re doing with it. It could be sold to third-party companies or used to target you with ads.
Do you feel comfortable with the amount of data your smart home devices collect? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact
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The Republican-backed legislation is best known for its tax cuts on tips, deduction caps that could primarily benefit wealthy taxpayers, restriction on healthcare coverage for low-income and disabled Americans, cuts to renewable energy incentives, and tens of billions of dollars in funding to immigration enforcement. But it also includes restored tax deductions for research and development and other items that could benefit the tech industry, among other businesses.
In one high-profile fight, the tech industry failed to secure a moratorium on state AI laws, a proposal which had been supported by several trade groups and might have also affected a host of other state tech protections. But after months of lobbying from Congress to Mar-a-Lago, the industry will see slashed taxes and may receive new contracts from border enforcement funding, the Tech Oversight Project finds in a new report shared exclusively with The Verge. Some changes will likely benefit businesses of all sizes and sectors — while others may offer large companies in the tech industry the biggest benefits.
The budget bill essentially reverses a policy from Trump’s first term that limited how companies could write off research and development on their taxes. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) forced companies to spread write-offs for domestic R&D costs across five years, rather than deducting them fully in the year they were incurred. Now, Congress is restoring the previous, more generous deduction setup, and small businesses can get retroactive tax write-offs for the last couple years when the changes — which took effect in 2022 — were in place.
In a recent report, Quartz linked the R&D deduction changes to the wave of layoffs across the industry, describing how it made it so companies could effectively only write off one-fifth of their R&D costs in the year they were incurred, rather than the full sum, making salaries for engineers and other high-skilled roles much more costly. The nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) found that in the three years in which the TCJA changes took effect, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Tesla saw their tax bills rise a collective $75 billion as a result.
“The loss of full R&D expensing disincentivizes firms from significantly increasing their R&D investments”
So unsurprisingly, tech-backed groups like the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and the Business Software Alliance (BSA) pushed to revert the rule. “The loss of full R&D expensing disincentivizes firms from significantly increasing their R&D investments because the cost of those investments has risen,” ITIF wrote in a blog post earlier this year.
Maintaining a lower corporate tax rate
Conversely, business groups successfully pleaded with lawmakers to keep a different change from the TCJA: a massive reduction in the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. In a letter to lawmakers last year, tech-backed Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) told lawmakers that the reduction had brought the US in line with peer countries, and provided US companies “a more level playing field against their international competitors,” which the nonprofit Tax Foundation found helped boost US investment. Democrats who have opposed the lower tax rates have framed it as a handout to corporate America.
Extending lower international tax rates
The new budget law also blocks a scheduled increase in the effective tax rates on things like the money companies make abroad based on US-based patents or other intangible assets.
These kinds of taxes — the base erosion and anti-abuse tax (BEAT), global intangible low-taxed income tax (GILTI), and the foreign-derived intangible income tax (FDII) — are generally meant to prevent shifty accounting practices like moving assets to a foreign subsidiary. Before the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed, the effectively lowered rates through these three policies were set to expire at the end of 2025.
The tech industry argued protecting those low rates would keep US companies competitive with other countries, like France and the UK. “Several other nations already offer IP incentives,” ITI told lawmakers in an October letter. “It is essential that the FDII rate remains as low as possible.”
“The tax break disproportionately benefits large corporations with significant intellectual property portfolios”
But groups like the nonpartisan Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition and ITEP see lower rates for taxes like the FDII as a giveaway to the biggest players in the tech industry, which deal heavily in intangible assets like patents and trademarks.
“The tax break disproportionately benefits large corporations with significant intellectual property portfolios while doing little for smaller firms that lack similar assets,” ITEP wrote in a blog post last year, where it found that Google parent Alphabet reported over $11 billion in tax benefits from 2018 to 2023 as a result of the FDII.
Border protection funding could flow to tech
Alongside a significant budget increase for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other immigration-related funding, the law includes about $6 billion for border technologies, including surveillance systems. That money could flow to several large tech firms already engaged in the space.
Those include Peter Thiel-founded data company Palantir, which currently has a $30 million contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to build “ImmigrationOS” to create “near real-time visibility into instances of self-deportation.” Thiel-backed Anduril also stands to gain if the agency expands infrastructure like the surveillance towers it already supplies to the government. MIT Technology Review reported in 2018 that Amazon Web Services hosted Department of Homeland Security (DHS) databases related to immigration, including a deep pool of biometric data.
Other tax-saving adjustments
Tech companies and other businesses will also benefit from changes in how business interest deductions are calculated, and a permanent extension of rules allowing companies to take a full deduction of certain equipment expenses. House Democrats have previously called this kind of tactic a “Tax Scam,” writing, “Two-thirds of the benefits go to corporations making over $250 million in revenue, and from 2018 through 2021, about two dozen of the largest corporations received roughly $50 billion in tax breaks through this provision.”
Some of the tax changes in the bill will benefit smaller firms and businesses across many different industries. But large tech companies are particularly well positioned to benefit from changes in how foreign profits on intellectual property are taxed and fuller R&D write-offs. After months of cozying up to the Trump administration with little to show for it, it looks like the largest players in the industry have finally notched some wins.
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When you’re out walking, jogging or running, you should feel empowered, not unsafe. Yet a recent survey found that 92% of women in the U.S. reported feeling concerned for their safety while running, with half of those women fearing physical attack.
Additionally, over one-third experienced physical or verbal harassment, including sexist comments, honking, or being followed. To help address this alarming trend, Urban Eyes introduces a high-visibility safety vest with cameras built in. By capturing real-time footage of your surroundings, this clever wearable tech empowers you to stay focused, feel protected, and reclaim control of your outdoor workouts.
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ATM JUGGING SCAM ON THE RISE AS THIEVES TARGET VICTIMS
A man running while wearing a safety vest with cameras (Urban Eyes)
How a safety vest with cameras helps deter attackers
Attackers don’t want to be caught on camera. When you wear a vest with front and rear cameras, you send a clear message: you’re being recorded. This visible deterrent makes would-be harassers think twice before approaching. With bright white, eye-shaped cameras and flashing blue LEDs, Urban Eyes makes sure everyone knows you’re protected.
A woman wearing a safety vest with cameras (Urban Eyes)
How this safety vest with cameras works in action
Slip on the vest, power up the cameras, and hit the ground walking, jogging or running. The wireless remote lets you control both cameras with one button. Want to snap a photo? Just press the remote. All footage is stored locally, so you’re always in control, no cloud connection required.
WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?
Top features of this safety vest with cameras
- Dual 2.5K cameras: Capture every stride, front and back, day or night.
- Ultra-lightweight design: Weighs just 0.9 lb, moves freely without feeling weighed down.
- High-visibility panels: Reflective piping and bold colors keep you seen in low light.
- Long battery life: Record up to 90 minutes on a single charge.
- Secure storage: Footage saves directly to SD cards in each camera.
- Easy Plug & play: No app headaches. Use the wireless remote to start, stop, or pause recording instantly.
Pocket-sized remote for the safety vest with cameras (Urban Eyes)
A safety vest designed for comfort and everyday use
Urban Eyes fits most chest sizes (28″-52″) and comes in five color combos. The adjustable waistband and breathable fabric mean you can sprint, jog, or walk comfortably. There’s a large zippered pocket for your phone and smaller pockets for keys or cards, no more juggling essentials.
The benefits of this safety vest with cameras
The Urban Eyes safety vest with cameras gives walkers, runners or joggers, a sense of control and confidence. Knowing the cameras are recording adds an extra layer of protection, making it easier to stay focused instead of feeling vulnerable. The vest’s bright colors and reflective details make sure you’re seen by drivers and cyclists, even in dim conditions. It also keeps things simple. There’s no need to download an app or connect to Wi-Fi. You just press the remote and start recording. Most importantly, it gives you peace of mind. Instead of worrying about who might be behind you, you can concentrate on your pace and your path, knowing that your vest is capturing everything along the way.
A woman holding the pocket-sized remote while wearing a safety vest with cameras (Urban Eyes)
Urban Eyes safety vest: Price and preorder info
Urban Eyes is available for preorder at about $204. Choose your color, order online, and expect delivery in about 35 days.
Kurt’s key takeaways
Personal safety tech has come a long way.
With Urban Eyes, you get more than a vest; you get a visible deterrent and a personal eyewitness. You protect your home, car, and personal data; why not protect yourself when you’re out and about?
Would you feel safer running, walking, or jogging with a camera vest, or do you prefer other safety gadgets? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.
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Copyright 2025 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.
It’s been a long time coming, but we finally have a real look at the end of Stranger Things. Netflix just released the first teaser trailer for the show’s fifth season, which will also be its last when it starts streaming later this year. As was alluded to in the finale of season 4, the new trailer — which, despite being called a teaser, clocks in at nearly three minutes long — is focused on the major showdown with Vecna that will presumably end the string of supernatural bad luck in Hawkins, Indiana for good.
Here’s the official setup for the finale, according to Netflix:
The fall of 1987. Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna. But he has vanished — his whereabouts and plans unknown. Complicating their mission, the government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven, forcing her back into hiding. As the anniversary of Will’s disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread. The final battle is looming — and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before. To end this nightmare, they’ll need everyone — the full party — standing together, one last time.
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