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The airlines sold you out
ChatGPT
Let’s talk about something no one thinks about when booking a flight: where your travel info really goes.
An investigative bombshell from 404 Media just uncovered that the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), a company owned by the biggest U.S. airlines, has been giving federal agencies access to passenger records.
No, I’m not talking about flagged terrorists. We’re talking 5 billion ticket records of everyday folks like you and me, completely searchable by the FBI, ICE, the Secret Service and more. Wow.
All without a warrant.
🧳 What they have about you
ARC isn’t a household name, but it processes bookings from over 12,800 travel agencies and 270 airlines. That includes your flight through Expedia, business trip from your company’s travel desk or miles you cashed in last summer.
The data includes your full name, payment method, dates and times of travel, full itinerary and who you traveled with. This info goes into a database that law enforcement can search instantly, no judge or subpoena required.
🤫 It gets worse
The contracts between ARC and these agencies reportedly forbid them from ever revealing ARC as the source of the data. So if your personal travel history helped trigger an investigation or was sold off, you’d never know how they got it.
It’s a direct runaround of the Fourth Amendment, which is supposed to protect you from this kind of unchecked surveillance.
🛡️ Fight back
If this made your stomach drop, you’re not alone. It’s the latest example of data brokers acting as secret surveillance partners.
About 99% of the internet flows through undersea cables
ChatGPT
I bet you imagine the internet as a magical cloud floating wirelessly between satellites and Wi-Fi routers. Nope. It’s mostly underwater.
Nearly all of your “in the cloud” traffic actually travels through fiber-optic cables laid along the ocean floor. These thin strands of glass are buried in some places and simply resting on the seafloor in others.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: On YouTube desktop, press 0 on your keyboard to restart a video instantly. Or hit numbers 1 through 9 to jump to that percentage of the playback. Nice.
Meta’s new smart glasses come in two flavors: Oakley Meta ($449) for sporty types with 3K video, 12MP photos, eight-hour battery and rugged, polarized lens options. Or go sleek with Ray‑Ban Display ($799) for AR in your lens, hands-free texting, calling and navigation. So if you see anyone wearing these, you’re probably being recorded.
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🌲 Branches & Big Brother: Imagine getting an email saying your insurance policy is getting canceled because a drone you never saw took pics of your tree branches. That’s what happened to one Massachusetts woman. The company forced her to pay $1,200 to stay covered. Insurers are buying aerial shots, and lawmakers want limits before your roof becomes drone content.
🔮 Witches on the payroll: Before their hot streak, the Mariners were cooked. Then a fan hired SpellByLuna on Etsy to “unf*ck the team.” Now? Nine wins straight and a team-approved witch cameo on X. Players even shouted out the witch. Sports curses? Cliché. Sports spells? Apparently working overtime. I think the witch was from Austin, which makes her a hexin’ Texan.
⚠️ Keep your email private: Big email providers like Gmail and Yahoo track what you do. I use StartMail because it keeps my inbox secure, stops spam and keeps my personal info private. Try it free for 7 days, and when you sign up, you’ll get my 60% off deal for the first year! It’s a terrific service.
🌍 Free Wi-Fi takes flight: Good news, you might not have to pay $8 just to text “landed” anymore. Free in-flight Wi-Fi is expanding, boosted by new satellite providers like Starlink. That’s right, soon you can finally stream Netflix while squished in seat 32B. I’d like to believe this to be true. I was on a 10.5-hour flight from London to Los Angeles on Monday with no Wi-Fi. Torture.
Wi-Fi ate my homework: Mark Zuckerberg tried showing off Meta’s new AI glasses at the company’s big Connect conference yesterday. Instead, the AI froze, ignored instructions and left a panicked chef begging for help while Zuck blamed “bad Wi-Fi.” And cue Zuck gesturing wildly like a dad trying to connect the Roku. Been there.
⚡ Hands off my wallet: The BBB says crooks are pulling a new move called “ghost tapping” (paywall link). They carry a legit-looking wireless card reader, like the ones you see at coffee shops, and only need to get a few feet from your tap-to-pay card or phone. Bump into you at a concert? Stand too close in a line? Boom, tiny “test” charge hits your account. The scam works best on debit cards since the money comes out instantly. Easiest defenses: Toss your cards in an RFID-blocking sleeve (they’re cheap), turn on instant bank alerts and always check the terminal screen before tapping your phone, debit or credit card. If something feels sketchy, swipe or insert instead. It’s pickpocketing, just upgraded for 2025. These scams are getting nuts.
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Robo-blitz incoming: Amazon is layering AI over NFL broadcasts like queso on fries. You’ll gradually start noticing video game-like overlays on Thursday Night Football. You’ll see if your QB’s about to get pancaked, whether your team has even a prayer of a comeback and which defender’s sneaking up to ruin the drive. I love tight ends.
Parent app overload: Parenting used to mean packing lunch. Now it’s like managing a startup. Schools have separate apps for buses, grades and announcements, and parents get 80+ emails a month. Kindergarten has more software than my first job.
💊 Beware the Benadryl: A South Carolina teen landed in the ER after trying TikTok’s “Benadryl Challenge,” sending her heart racing to nearly 200 bpm while hallucinating. She’s OK, but high doses can cause seizures, coma, even death. Her parents are warning other families.
YouTube runs the show: Be real, when’s the last time you watched cable? Exactly. YouTube’s replaced it, plus Netflix and most of your weekend. 2.5 billion people are on it, and 500 hours get uploaded every minute. And now, AI is helping creators crank out edits, titles, even Shorts. If you have a YT channel, check this out. I can’t wait to try the new tools.
🔥 Delete these apps now: Hackers snuck 224 fake apps into Google Play, downloaded over 38 million times. Yes, you read that right. Disguised with names like CreateCreatives, Foocus, ChatGLM and ClapTrack (ahem, clap to find your phone?), they looked harmless but installed shady ads. Then came the real damage: The apps hijacked devices, silently launching invisible web browsers that ran 24/7, draining battery life, eating up data, slowing down performance and overheating phones, all to generate 2.3 billion fake ad views per day. Ad networks paid out as if real users were watching, while your phone was working overtime behind your back. Check your device for any apps listed here.
📦 Prime and pause: Don’t click “Buy Now.” Amazon just announced a big hardware event for Sept. 30 in New York City, where it’s going to unveil new Echo speakers, Fire TV gear and a colorful Kindle that you can write on. Alexa’s gonna be smarter, too. Maybe it will ask me, “Kim, why am I unplugged?”
AI ads incoming: Roku is rolling out generative AI tools so even the tiniest business can slap together an ad in minutes. Roku has hundreds of advertisers, but they want 100,000+. Streaming’s booming, ad slots are open, and AI sludge is about to fill the void.
📙 Don’t fall behind: AI is changing business fast, and you need to keep up. Grab NetSuite’s free guide, “The CFO’s Guide to AI and Machine Learning.” It’s a quick way to get smarter about AI, because it’s here to stay.
🇨🇳 TikTok on the clock: Looks like the U.S. and China are inching toward a deal that could keep TikTok alive in America. The plan would move U.S. operations, with Oracle overseeing data here in the States. Communist China’s ByteDance would still have a hand in the algorithm, which is the heart and soul of the app.