Thomas Sowell’s warning fits the digital age with brutal precision: There are no solutions, only trade-offs. When governments regulate technology, they seize your privacy first. Every “safety” mandate becomes an excuse to collect more personal data, and the result is always the same. Bureaucrats claim to protect you while making you more vulnerable.

Age-verification laws illustrate this perfectly. Discord’s recent breach — more than 70,000 stolen government ID photos taken from a third-party vendor — shows how quickly privacy collapses once platforms are forced to gather sensitive data.

Millions of citizens should not be forced to trade away privacy because policymakers refuse to acknowledge the risks.

To comply with the U.K.’s new Online Safety Act, Discord began collecting users’ documentation. That data became a target, and once breached, attackers reportedly demanded a multimillion-dollar ransom and threatened to publish the stolen IDs. Discord failed to monitor its vendor’s security practices, and thousands paid the price.

Age-verification mandates require digital platforms to confirm a user’s age before granting access to specific content or services. That means uploading government IDs or submitting to facial scans. The stated goal is child safety. The actual effect is compulsory data surrender. These laws normalize the idea that governments can force citizens to hand over sensitive information just to use the internet.

Centralized data collection creates a jackpot for cybercriminals. As the Discord breach proves, one compromise exposes thousands — or millions — of users. Criminals can sell this information, reuse it for identity theft, or weaponize it for blackmail. The problem isn’t a one-off failure. It is structural. Age verification mandates require platforms to create consolidated databases of personally identifying information, which become single points of catastrophic failure.

The libertarian Cato Institute captures the problem: “Requiring age verification creates a trove of attractive data for hackers that could put broader information about users, particularly young users, at risk.”

Governments may insist that the Discord breach was an outlier. It wasn’t. Breaches of sensitive information are predictable in systems designed to aggregate it. Even if the motives behind the U.K.’s age-verification regime were noble, undermining privacy to advance those aims is a trade-off free societies should reject. That is why the Online Safety Act triggered an outcry far beyond the U.K.

And, as usual, legislative mandates fail to achieve their stated goals. Days after the OSA took effect, VPN downloads surged as users — including children — bypassed verification systems. Laura Tyrylyte, Nord Security’s head of public relations, told Wired that “whenever a government announces an increase in surveillance, internet restrictions, or other types of constraints, people turn to privacy tools.” Predictably, age-verification laws encourage evasion instead of compliance.

RELATED: The UK wants to enforce its censorship laws in the US. The First Amendment begs to differ.

mikkelwilliam via iStock/Getty Images

The pattern is simple: Age-verification laws degrade privacy, heighten the risk of identity theft, and fail to keep minors off restricted platforms. They make the internet less safe for everyone.

Meanwhile, policymakers remain determined to spread these mandates in the name of protecting children. The U.K. pioneered the model. Many other governments followed. Twenty-five U.S. states have adopted similar laws. The list grows each month.

But governments cannot treat data breaches as acceptable collateral damage. Millions of citizens should not be forced to trade away privacy because policymakers refuse to acknowledge the risks. The result of this approach will be more surveillance, more breaches, more stolen personal data, and a steady erosion of civil liberties.

Privacy is the backbone of liberty in a digital world. Thomas Jefferson’s warning deserves repetition: “The natural progress of things is for government to gain ground and for liberty to yield.”

Age-verification mandates accelerate that progress — and citizens pay the price.

​Opinion & analysis, Online safety act, Cato institute, Thomas sowell, Government, Privacy, Identity theft, Discord, Crime, Age verification, Risk, Vpn, Virtual private network, Surveillance, First amendment, Censorship, Control, United kingdom, Kier starmer, Civil liberties, Thomas jefferson 

Android security has come a long way since the early days, thanks largely to Google’s broad suite of virus-busting tools, like Play Protect for apps, Safe Browsing for the web, and the Advanced Protection Program for Google accounts. However, malware can still infect devices from time to time, and the latest threat aims to infiltrate your bank account just before the holidays.

The threat

Dubbed Sturnus, this latest Android threat is a classic Trojan horse malware that bypasses Android’s security protections to gain access to a target device. Once inside, a hacker can spy on your conversations in popular chat apps — like Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp — and even mimic your bank’s login screen to trick you into handing over your bank login and password.

What makes this malware especially tricky lies in its sophistication. Sturnus doesn’t break the encryption found in the popular apps listed above. Instead it exploits Android’s native accessibility features to view, detect, and record data shown on your screen. The malware even comes with uninstall protection, making it harder to remove from a device once infected.

Here are some things you can do to make sure your Android phone is protected from Sturnus.

How to know if your phone is infected with Sturnus

Sturnus is especially dangerous because it runs completely undetected. There’s currently no way to know for sure that the malware is installed on your device. It could be lurking in your phone right now!

But don’t panic just yet. You’re less likely to be infected if either of these apply to you:

First, Sturnus is only transmitted through downloading and installing an Android app (an APK file, also known as an Android Application Package) directly to your phone. More than that, the infected APK file has to come from a third-party source outside of the Google Play Store — either in an attachment sent through a spam message or via a third-party app store. In a statement provided to Android Authority, Google confirmed that all Android users who strictly download apps from the Google Play Store are safe:

Based on our current detection, no apps containing this malware are found on Google Play. Android users are automatically protected against known versions of this malware by Google Play Protect, which is on by default on Android devices with Google Play Services. Google Play Protect can warn users or block apps known to exhibit malicious behavior, even when those apps come from sources outside of Play.

Second, Sturnus has only been detected in devices based in South and Central Europe so far. Users in the United States aren’t under any direct threat right now, but this could change as we get further into the holidays.

How to prevent Sturnus from infecting your phone

Just to be safe, there are some things you can do to make sure your Android phone is protected from Sturnus or any other downloadable security threat.

Google Play Protect

Make sure Google Play Protect is on. This feature regularly scans the apps downloaded to your phone and checks them for “harmful behavior,” including viruses and malware. To enable Play Protect, open the Google Play Store app on your phone, tap your profile picture in the top right corner, then Play Protect. Make sure it’s turned on.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw

Disable ‘Install unknown apps’

The Google Play Store is the default app store found on most Android devices sold in the U.S. Although Android phones can download apps from other sources, most of them ship with this feature turned off by default. Still with Sturnus going around, it’s a good idea to check to make sure your phone can’t accidentally sideload an app from a dubious corner of the internet.

If you have a Samsung Galaxy phone, open the Settings app, tap on “Security and privacy,” then “More security settings,” and finally “Install unknown apps.” Make sure every app on this page is unchecked.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw

If you have a Google Pixel phone, open the Settings app, tap on “Apps,” then “Special app access,” and lastly “Install unknown apps.” As with Samsung, make sure every app on this page is disabled.

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw

For those with other-branded Androids, you should be able to find this feature by opening your Settings app and typing “install unknown apps” into the search bar. As with the devices above, make sure this feature is disabled.

Extra features

Depending on your device, some Android phones come with additional security features that protect against malware, both on the software side and the hardware side. For instance, Samsung Knox protects data and defends from cybersecurity threats. As for Pixels 6 and up, they come with a Titan M2 chip that makes it harder for hackers to access your phone if it’s stolen, plus regular monthly security updates directly from Google ensure that their phones are always up to date.

The fix?

At this time, there is currently no fix for Sturnus, and there isn’t likely to be one anytime soon. Since the malware exploits several important features baked directly into the Android operating system, Google would have to disable these features entirely to get rid of the problem, something that simply can’t be done.

RELATED: Cloudflare crash exposes the internet’s fragile core — and worse may be coming

Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

With Sturnus on the rise, it’s probably not a coincidence that Google recently announced that it is making it more difficult to distribute and sideload unverified apps from third-party sources. The move would prevent this exact kind of malware from infecting devices worldwide, though backlash from avid Android users has caused Google to loosen these restrictions just a bit. The final version of the sideloading changes are expected to roll out starting in late 2026.

As for now, your best bet to keep Sturnus out of your phone is to stay away from APKs that come from anywhere outside of the Google Play Store. Do that one simple thing, and you have nothing to worry about.

​Tech, Malware, Sturnus, Google, Android, Virus 

Police are trying to identify dozens of teenagers who looted a 7-Eleven convenience store in downtown Los Angeles in broad daylight.

The clerk of the store hit the panic alarm Saturday to alert police after someone walked into the store and pointed a gun at him. That’s when a mob of teens started stealing items from the business on Beverly Boulevard.

‘They feel like they can get away with anything — and from the looks of it, they can.’

Video posted on social media showed the laughing teens happily ransacking the store.

One of the teens can be heard boasting on the video: “Bro, it’s worth it because it ain’t got my face on it.”

The teen flash mobs have targeted several convenience stores in California in numerous incidents in recent years, and they often post videos of their crimes on social media.

“Nobody respects anything or anyone,” said Erik Albizures, a resident of L.A., to KTTV-TV. “They feel like they can get away with anything — and from the looks of it, they can.”

KTTV reported that no one had been arrested yet, despite numerous surveillance cameras capturing video at the intersection.

“How do we get this to stop? I don’t even know,” said Aaliyah Robinson, another resident. “Kids don’t listen in general, but maybe if parents start teaching their kids to be more respectful.”

RELATED: Security video shows deputy walk in on 4 thugs robbing 7-Eleven in California

At least one resident actually tried to say economic pressures forced the teens into looting.

“They probably don’t have the money for food,” Malcolm McBride said. “If you go up that block, there are so many homeless people. It’s a systemic issue, and I don’t think California is doing a good job at that. I’d start there.”

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​7-eleven robbery video, Looting of 7 elevens, Flash mob robbery, Los angeles crime, Crime 

What is it about the National Defense Authorization Act that makes it a dumping ground for every dumb liberal pet project?

First the Trump administration pushed an AI data-center amnesty that would have stripped states of authority over massive, power-hungry facilities. Then lawmakers tried to slip in Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s housing bill, a package built to subsidize Section 8 tenants and builders and to fuel the very forces driving the current housing bubble. After a backlash, both provisions came out of the NDAA. Now congressional leaders plan to pass the Massachusetts Democrat’s housing bill on its own.

The real crisis comes from government debt and the inflation it fuels. This is not a shortage of lumber or land. It is a monetary chokehold created by government policy.

Earlier this year, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) worked with Warren to move S. 2651, an omnibus housing package that expands every federal program Trump previously vowed to cut. They attached the legislation to the Senate’s NDAA, then lobbied House conservatives to adopt it in their version of the defense bill. At the last minute, House leaders stripped the language. The House Financial Services Committee now plans to mark up the bill next week.

Here’s the trouble: The bill misdiagnoses the housing crisis. It treats high prices as a supply shortage instead of a government-fueled asset bubble and inflationary pricing distortion.

The result is predictable. Its 40 provisions would expand Section 8, loan subsidies, “affordable housing” grants, and even looser mortgage programs for people priced out of the market. Every one of these items pours accelerant on the factors that drove the 2008 bubble and the post-COVID spike.

Government subsidies for overbuilding and for buyers who cannot afford homes created the crisis. Yet like a dog returning to its vomit, Scott, the president, and Senate Democrats are endorsing Warren’s 2020 campaign platform to revive the same model. The bill promises builders and activist groups federal cash in exchange for regulatory concessions. The trade-off is disastrous.

Section 202 creates a new federal grant program to fund local housing projects in designated zones — a warmed-over version of the community-engineering schemes Obama’s Department of Housing and Urban Development pushed a decade ago.

Meantime, Section 209 establishes a $200 million yearly fund at HUD to award “innovative housing reforms” to localities that reshape zoning to favor dense, subsidized units.

Conservatives would call these incentives an invitation to replicate failed urban policies in red suburbs. The bill rewards grifting nonprofits and community organizers who treat federal housing programs as political infrastructure.

At the same time, the administration is pushing rules that limit red-state zoning authority to clear the way for data-center construction while promoting Section 8 expansion with new incentives and zoning guidance. It revives, in effect, Obama’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regime — the same racial-gerrymandering tool Trump killed in his first term. Supporting the Scott-Warren bill would revive it in practice.

Worse, the bill rests on a false premise. America doesn’t have a housing shortage. According to Redfin, as of October sellers outnumbered buyers by 36.8% — about 529,000 more sellers — the largest gap since 2013. Census data shows about 148 million housing units for roughly 134 million households, a surplus of around 14 million units. When Trump took office, the vacancy count stood near 11 million, yet prices were far more affordable.

The real crisis comes from government debt and the inflation it fuels. Construction costs surged with inflation. Interest rates spiked to service that debt, creating an interest-rate cliff that locked millions of homeowners into sub-3% mortgages. They cannot sell without doubling their monthly costs. High rates froze the existing inventory in place. This is not a shortage of lumber or land. It is a monetary chokehold created by government policy.

RELATED: Why the kids are not all right — and Boomers still pretend nothing’s wrong

Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images

Federal housing policy adds another layer. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac long prioritized “access to credit” over price stability. By guaranteeing high-risk loans and encouraging low down payments, they allow buyers to bid more than their incomes justify. Subsidized credit lifts prices for sellers, not buyers.

S. 2651 makes the problem worse by expanding the Community Development Block Grant and similar programs, encouraging activist groups and corporate developers to overbuild units no one can afford without subsidies. That process pushes prices upward and strengthens corporate buy-ups of suburban neighborhoods.

The administration previously acknowledged these distortions. In Trump’s FY 2021 budget, the Office of Management and Budget proposed eliminating CDBG and the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, arguing that states and localities were better positioned to address affordability challenges. This new bill reverses that logic entirely.

The Federal Reserve’s rate whiplash — a decade of near-zero borrowing costs followed by sudden hikes — froze supply by trapping owners inside artificially cheap mortgages. Washington’s policies created the gridlock. The inventory exists. Monetary policy quarantined it.

What the administration needs to do is allow prices to fall back toward alignment with median incomes. That adjustment would restore affordability without new federal intervention. Instead, the FHFA is pushing lower credit-score requirements for subsidized mortgages. That mistake will repeat the pattern of enticing families into overpriced homes they cannot sustain.

Housing policy should stop trying to prop up inflated prices. The market must correct. A federal “solution” built around 40 expansionary programs will intensify the crisis, not solve it. Doing nothing would spur more affordability than this bipartisan blunder.

​Elizabeth warren, Housing bill, Data centers, Housing prices, Opinion & analysis, Donald trump, Ndaa, Defense bill, Section 8 housing, Subsidies, Mortgages, Interest rates, Inflation, S 2651, House financial services committee, Tim scott, Affordable housing, Department of housing and urban development, Barack obama, Suburbs, Redfin, Fannie mae and freddie mac