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Creeps are hiding cameras in dressing rooms, bathrooms and worse

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Creeps are hiding cameras in dressing rooms, bathrooms and worse

Stories like this make my blood boil. Some creep was caught taking pics up a woman’s skirt at a Target store. Let’s give a big cheer to the woman who called him out and filmed it.

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Peeping Toms and tech are a match made in you-know-where. They use everything from smartphones to hidden cameras to get their fix. Luckily, I’m on your side to keep you and your loved ones safe.

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Skirting around the issue

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On an otherwise ordinary day in Greenville, North Carolina, a woman took a trip to her local Target. She noticed a 21-year-old man getting a little too close for comfort — crouching down on the ground near her.

When she moved, so did the man. Then she noticed his cell phone on the floor. That’s when it clicked: She was wearing a skirt that day, and this creep was trying to slide his phone underneath to get a photo. 

Caught red-handed

Another Target shopper spotted the creep, too. She started filming the peeper after noticing him following the victim around the store. She captured him putting his phone on the floor and posted it to social media. 

Surveillance cameras displayed outside a home security shop in Markham, Ontario, Canada, on June 24, 2023. (Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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Ultimately, that video is what led to the peeper’s arrest. 

Of course, when the cops picked him up, he denied it all and gladly handed over his phone. Cops got a search warrant to dig deeper, and fortunately, they didn’t find any inappropriate photos of children.

The peeper was released on bond, and his fate now rests in the courts. He also won’t return to his job anytime soon. Where’d he work, you ask? An elementary school.

Protect your privacy

Whether you’re on a Target run or vacation, a Peeping Tom could be lurking. Stay safe and smart with these tips:

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7 WAYS TO STOP PAYING SO MUCH ON STREAMING EVERY DANG MONTH

  • Any public place is fair game for a creep. Be aware of your surroundings anywhere you change clothes, including fitting rooms, hotel rooms and gyms.
  • Be on the lookout for cameras. Red flags include suspicious wires and tiny flashing lights. Cameras can also be hidden behind things like wall decor, lamps and shelves.
  • Mirrors are camera hotspots. To check for one, turn off the lights in the room and shine your phone’s flashlight into the mirror.
  • Don’t forget to check the toilets, too. Cameras could be hiding behind seats and tanks.
  • For an added layer of protection, invest in a hidden camera detector and keep it in your purse. If you want to go the free route, there are also hidden camera detection apps for iPhone and Android. Just don’t expect stellar results.

What about rentals? Yes, you need to check there, too

I once found about a dozen cameras throughout a house I rented, but they were only disclosed in small type at the very bottom of the listing. It was clear they wanted me to miss that warning.

Given all the coverage about hidden cameras spotted in rentals, I’m not surprised Airbnb just banned indoor cameras. If anything, I’m shocked it took this long.

Checking around a small dressing room is one thing. Making sure your entire rental property is creep-free is a bigger job. 

The Xiaomi Smart Camera C500 Pro is being showcased at the Mobile World Congress 2024 in Barcelona, Spain, on March 8, 2024. This latest surveillance camera from the Chinese company features smart detection capabilities for pets, baby sounds, or strong noises. (Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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Here’s how to find them

Larger cameras are easy to spot, but anyone can easily hide smaller cameras behind furniture, vents or decorations. A simple way to spot most types of cameras is to look for the lens reflection.

  • Turn off the lights and slowly scan the room with a flashlight or laser pointer, looking for bright reflections.
  • Scan the room from multiple spots so you don’t miss a camera pointed only at certain places.
  • Inspect the vents and any holes or gaps in the walls or ceilings.

You can also get an RF detector. This gadget can pick up wireless cameras you might not see. Unfortunately, RF detectors aren’t great for wired or record-only cameras. For those, you’ll need to stick with the lens reflection method.

If you can connect to the rental’s wireless network, a free program like Wireless Network Watcher shows what gadgets are connected. You might be able to spot connected cameras that way. I do this in every rental I stay in, just to double-check what’s connected to the network.

The Google Nest Cam, an indoor and outdoor smart security camera developed by Google’s home safety brand, is on display on Android Avenue at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on March 25, 2024. (Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Be aware that the owner might have put the cameras on a second network, or they could be wired or record-only types, so this is not a fail-safe option.

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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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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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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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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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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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