Friday, August 8, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

China launches investigation into Google after Trump’s punitive tariffs

Published 5 February 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Google's attempts to enter the Chinese market have so far been largely unsuccessful.
2 minute read

China’s competition authority has launched an investigation into US tech giant Google. The investigation was announced as tensions between the US and China escalated further after President Donald Trump imposed new punitive tariffs on Chinese goods.

The Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) announced on Tuesday that it had launched an investigation into suspected competition violations by Google. Details of the investigation have not yet been made public, nor have Chinese authorities explicitly linked the action to recent US tariff announcements.

Google has a limited presence in China, where many of its services are blocked by the country’s authorities. Previous attempts to expand in the Chinese market have also failed due to government support for domestic competitors, cybersecurity issues and content moderation requirements – often described in the West as “censorship”.

In recent years, the US search giant has been the subject of widespread criticism and legal proceedings around the world. Last year, a US federal court ruled that Google is acting monopolistically and abusing its dominant position to stifle competition. In the EU, the internet giant has been fined billions of euros for antitrust violations and the UK competition authority recently launched an investigation into Google’s advertising activities.

Export restrictions on key minerals

The Chinese investigation coincides with the latest escalation in the US-China trade war. The Trump administration recently announced the imposition of additional 10% tariffs on Chinese goods. The decision was officially motivated by “emergency solutions” linked to illegal immigration and drug smuggling, but in practice was aimed at China and other trading partners.

Beijing immediately responded by imposing tariffs on US goods such as hydrocarbons, agricultural machinery and vehicles. The Chinese government has also tightened export restrictions on strategic minerals such as tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum and indium – which are essential for advanced technology and manufacturing.

Officially, however, these measures have not been motivated by the ongoing trade dispute with the United States.

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Matrix 8 Pro with GrapheneOS delivers top-class security, privacy and performance

Advertising partnership with Teuton Systems

  • The Matrix 8 Pro from Swedish company Teuton Systems is a flagship phone based on Google's Pixel 8 Pro hardware, but delivered with the privacy-focused operating system GrapheneOS.
  • The result is a smartphone that combines powerful performance, robust construction and outstanding camera quality with market-leading security and privacy protection.
Published today 9:40
Image of the uniquely configured Matrix 8 Pro model from Swedish company Teuton Systems featuring a suite of open-source apps without tracking and with high integrity that replace Google's app offerings.
6 minute read

Here we go through what makes the Matrix 8 Pro unique – from its advanced hardware (including the unique Titan M security chip) to the GrapheneOS advantages, the long lifespan with updates until 2030, praise in reviews, and the pre-installed open alternatives that let you manage without Google’s apps.

Under the shell of the Matrix 8 Pro sits the same impressive hardware as in the Pixel 8 Pro. The phone is powered by the powerful Tensor G3 chip, has 12 GB RAM and a 6.7-inch OLED screen with high resolution and adaptive 1–120 Hz refresh rate. The build feels solid – “Pixel 8 Pro [feels] like a quality build with everything you could want from a phone today” according to Swedish tech site mobil.se.

The construction uses durable materials like Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and is IP68-rated for dust and water resistance, providing good durability for daily use.

The camera setup also maintains absolute top class. The Matrix 8 Pro (Pixel 8 Pro) has a triple camera with, among others, a 50 MP main camera and high-resolution 48 MP ultra-wide and telephoto cameras. The image quality places itself in the absolute top tier among smartphones – photos were already at “a very high level from the start where we kept photo quality among the very best mobile phones”, writes Swedish tech magazine Ljud & Bild in their test. The ultra-wide camera in particular has improved significantly compared to its predecessor, with higher light sensitivity and sharpness.

An important part of the Pixel hardware is also the dedicated security chip Titan M2. This is a separate chip that protects sensitive data and verifies the operating system’s integrity at startup. The Pixel phones’ built-in security chip (Titan M series) provides “a robust level of protection against physical and software-based attacks” which the Matrix 8 Pro benefits from. The combination of Titan M2 and GrapheneOS creates an unusually secure mobile platform where both hardware and software collaborate to protect your data.

Close-up of the model and its solid screen, construction and “camera bump” on the back where the powerful cameras sit with among other things 5x optical zoom, macro and the wide-angle camera.

GrapheneOS: Open source with privacy at the center

Unlike a regular Pixel, the Matrix 8 Pro is delivered with GrapheneOS, an open source operating system based on Android, but without Google components. GrapheneOS is developed with security and privacy as the first priority. Since the system is decoupled from Google’s services and apps, there are no built-in trackers – the user gets a “private and secure environment” that minimizes data to third parties. Strict privacy controls give you full control over apps’ permissions, microphone, camera, location data etc., which greatly reduces the risk of eavesdropping and surveillance.

GrapheneOS also contains a range of security improvements beyond standard Android, such as strengthened sandboxing (app isolation) and memory protection, to protect against both known and unknown threats. All code is open source, which enables independent review and transparency regarding security – a major advantage for those who value trust and insight. Despite GrapheneOS removing the Google parts, users can still run virtually all regular Android apps. Apps that absolutely require Google Play services can be isolated in a separate profile if needed. In practice, you barely notice any difference in user experience compared to a regular Android phone; “the user interface of the Matrix phone is virtually identical to that of a standard smartphone” according to Teuton Systems’ own description. The difference lies behind the scenes – in the significantly higher privacy protection and absence of unnecessary tracking.


Are you interested in Teuton Systems mobile phones and other privacy-secure products? Welcome to visit the website.


Long lifespan with updates until at least 2030

The Matrix 8 Pro is built to last long, both physically and software-wise. The hardware is powerful enough to meet needs for many years ahead, and thanks to GrapheneOS (and the promised long support for the Pixel series) the phone will receive OS and security updates at least until October 2030 and probably longer. This means you can essentially keep your phone for a long time if you wish without falling behind security-wise. The fact is that the Pixel, and thus Matrix series has the longest official support time of all Android phones today, on par with (or longer than) Apple iPhone, especially if you go with the even newer Matrix 9-series.

For GrapheneOS users, this is a major advantage. As long as Google provides the device with drivers and security patches, the GrapheneOS project can continuously release its updates. You thus get the best of both worlds: a more secure Android variant that still keeps up with all important bug and security fixes during the phone’s lifetime. A phone like the Matrix 8 Pro therefore represents a long-term investment – good for both the wallet, the environment (fewer devices need to be replaced) and your security.

The premium model Matrix 8 Pro from Teuton Systems.

Praised by experts and reviewers

That the Pixel 8 Pro (and thus the Matrix 8 Pro’s hardware) maintains high quality is evident in the reviews. Swedish tech site Ljud & Bild writes that “Pixel 8 Pro raises the bar for competitors” and highlights the enormously bright screen, improved camera and the promised years of updates as some of the phone’s biggest pluses. Mobil.se gave the Pixel 8 Pro a rating of 86%, where especially the cameras, performance and long-term software support impressed. Internationally, the model has also received top reviews. PCMag praises the Pixel 8 Pro for its excellent build quality, fine screen and long support – they call it “one of the most attractive Android phones for anyone who likes to go the distance with their device”, thanks to the combination of superb camera and the market’s longest software support.

There is thus broad agreement that the Pixel 8 Pro/Matrix 8 Pro delivers an exceptional overall experience. You get flagship performance, one of the world’s best mobile cameras, and also the security that the device is secured in depth.

Free app alternatives to Google’s ecosystem

To offer a complete experience without Google, Teuton Systems includes a selection of secure, open apps that replace Google’s standard apps. Upon delivery, the Matrix 8 Pro is pre-installed with among others:

  • Organic Maps – a map and navigation app that works completely offline. Organic Maps is open source without trackers, based on community-driven OpenStreetMap. You can navigate, search for places and get directions without your location being logged by Google.
  • Aegis Authenticator – a secure two-factor authentication app for one-time codes (TOTP) that replaces Google Authenticator. Aegis is free, open source and lets you manage your 2FA codes encrypted on the device. It supports backup/export and all common authentication standards, so you can securely protect your logins.
  • Bitwarden – a popular password manager that keeps your passwords encrypted in a private vault. Bitwarden is completely open source and uses end-to-end encryption to protect sensitive information. It can smoothly replace Google’s password manager or proprietary alternatives like LastPass, with support for multiple platforms and synchronization.
  • Thunderbird – a powerful email client from Mozilla that lets you manage all your email accounts in one app. Thunderbird is free and open source and known for being “feature-rich, reliable and secure” as an email solution. By using Thunderbird on mobile, you avoid web interfaces and can collect e.g. Gmail, Outlook and ProtonMail in one place – naturally without ads or data collection.
  • FUTO Voice Input – a privacy-friendly alternative to Google voice input. FUTO Voice is a voice-to-text app that runs completely locally on the device without storing or sending data to the cloud. It enables convenient voice control and dictation (e.g. in messages or notes) without Google listening. FUTO Voice is open source and developed specifically with GrapheneOS users in mind to provide high-quality speech recognition offline. (The company FUTO finances privacy projects like GrapheneOS, which underscores their trust in the platform.)

Together, these apps form a complete ecosystem that respects your privacy. You can navigate, communicate and be productive on the Matrix 8 Pro without needing any Google services. Should you still need something from Google’s world sometime, you can utilize GrapheneOS’s unique multi-account system – e.g. create a separate profile with Play Store for a certain app, isolated from your main profile. But for most users, the free alternatives that come with it go far, which also align completely with Teuton Systems’ openness and privacy principles.

A mobile investment without compromises

Teuton Systems Matrix 8 Pro with GrapheneOS represents a new type of smartphone, where you as a user have control. By combining world-leading hardware – praised for its screen, camera and performance – with the world’s most secure mobile OS, you get the best of both worlds. It’s a phone that is “free from the system” but that lets you live fully in the system: all modern functionality is there, just without the unnecessary background services and snooping.

With its long lifespan, high performance and privacy protection, the Matrix 8 Pro harmonizes perfectly with Teuton Systems’ philosophy of freedom through technology. This is the mobile for you who refuse to compromise on either function or privacy – a serious, premium smartphone that puts your security first.

 

You can find the Matrix 8 Pro in the list of other phones in the Matrix series in Teuton Systems’ web store.

OpenAI opens data center in Norway

The future of AI

Published 3 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
In Norway, OpenAI is planning to establish one of Europe's largest AI data centers as part of the global Stargate project.
2 minute read

In Norway, OpenAI plans to establish one of Europe’s largest AI data centers as part of the global Stargate project. The facility will be built in the northern parts of the country and operated entirely on renewable energy.

Stargate was launched earlier this year as a comprehensive AI initiative with the goal of strengthening the US dominance in artificial intelligence. The project is a collaboration between American OpenAI and Oracle, along with Japanese SoftBank, with the ambition to build a global AI infrastructure at a cost of up to $500 billion over the next four years. This makes Stargate one of the largest technology investments in history.

First in Europe

On Thursday, OpenAI announced that the company plans to open a Stargate-branded data center in Norway. It will be the company’s first European facility of this kind.

The data center will be located in Kvandal, outside Narvik in northern Norway, and built in collaboration with British company Nscale and Norwegian Aker. OpenAI will function as a so-called “off-taker”, meaning the company will purchase capacity from the facility to power its AI services.

Part of the purpose of this project is to partner with OpenAI and leverage European sovereign compute to release additional services and features to the European continent, says Josh Payne, CEO of Nscale, in an interview with CNBC.

Powered by hydroelectric energy

The data center, planned to be completed in 2026, will house up to 100,000 NVIDIA GPUs and have a capacity of 230 megawatts – making it one of the largest AI facilities in Europe. The facility will be operated entirely on so-called “green energy”, made possible by the region’s access to hydroelectric power.

The first phase of the project involves an investment of approximately $2 billion. Nscale and Aker have committed to contributing $1 billion each. The initial capacity is estimated at 20 megawatts, with ambitions to expand significantly in the coming years.

Spilling the Tea: KYC Is a liability, not a safety feature

Published 2 August 2025
– By Naomi Brockwell
5 minute read

This week, a devastating breach exposed tens of thousands of users of Tea, a dating safety app that asked women to verify their identity with selfies, government IDs, and location data.

Over 72,000 images were found in a publicly accessible Firebase database. No authentication required. 4chan users discovered the open bucket and immediately began downloading and sharing the contents: face scans, driver’s licenses, and private messages. Some users have already used the leaked IP addresses to build and circulate maps that attempt to track and trace the women in those files.

Tea confirmed the breach, claiming the data came from a legacy system. But that doesn’t change the core issue:
This data never should have been collected in the first place.

What’s marketed as safety often doubles as surveillance

Tea is just one example of a broader trend: platforms claiming to protect you while quietly collecting as much data as possible. “Verification” is marketed as a security feature, something you do for your own good. The app was pitched as a tool to help women vet potential dates, avoid abuse, and stay safe. But in practice, access required handing over deeply personal data. Face scans, government-issued IDs, and real-time location information became the price of entry.

This is how surveillance becomes palatable. The language of “just for verification” hides the reality. Users are given no transparency about where their data is stored, how long it is kept, or who can access it. These aren’t neutral design choices. They are calculated decisions that prioritize corporate protection, not user safety.

We need to talk about KYC

What happened with Tea reflects a much bigger issue. Identification is quietly becoming the default requirement for access to the internet. No ID? No entry. No selfie? No account. This is how KYC culture has expanded, moving far beyond finance into social platforms, community forums, and dating apps.

We’ve been taught to believe that identity verification equals safety. But time and again, that promise falls apart. Centralized databases get breached, IP addresses are logged and weaponized, and photos meant for internal review end up archived on the dark web.

If we want a safer internet, we need to stop equating surveillance with security. The real path to safety is minimizing what gets collected in the first place. That means embracing pseudonyms, decentralizing data, and building systems that do not rely on a single gatekeeper to decide who gets to participate.

“Your data will be deleted”. Yeah right.

Tea’s privacy policy stated in black and white:

Selfies and government ID images “will be deleted immediately following the completion of the verification process”.

Yet here we are. Over 72,000 images are now circulating online, scraped from an open Firebase bucket. That’s a direct contradiction of what users were told. And it’s not an isolated incident.

This kind of betrayal is becoming disturbingly common. Companies collect high-risk personal data and reassure users with vague promises:

“We only keep it temporarily”.
“We delete it right after verification”.
“It’s stored securely”.

These phrases are repeated often, to make us feel better about handing over our most private information. But there’s rarely any oversight, and almost never any enforcement.

At TSA checkpoints in the U.S., travelers are now being asked to scan their faces. The official line? The images are immediately deleted. But again, how do we know? Who verifies that? The public isn’t given access to the systems handling those scans. There’s no independent audit, no transparency, and we’re asked to trust blindly.

The truth is, we usually don’t know where our data goes. “Just for verification” has become an excuse for massive data collection. And even if a company intends to delete your data, it still exists long enough to be copied, leaked, or stolen.

Temporary storage is still storage.

This breach shows how fragile those assurances really are. Tea said the right things on paper, but in practice, their database was completely unprotected. That’s the reality behind most “privacy policies”: vague assurances, no independent oversight, and no consequences when those promises are broken.

KYC pipelines are a perfect storm of risk. They collect extremely sensitive data. They normalize giving it away. And they operate behind a curtain of unverifiable claims.

It’s time to stop accepting “don’t worry, it’s deleted” as a substitute for actual security. If your platform requires storing sensitive personal data, that data becomes a liability the moment it is collected.

The safest database is the one that never existed.

A delicate cultural moment

This story has touched a nerve. Tea was already controversial, with critics arguing it enabled anonymous accusations and blurred the line between caution and public shaming. Some see the breach as ironic, even deserved.

But that is not the lesson we should take from this.

The breach revealed how easily identity exposure has become normalized, how vulnerable we all are when ID verification is treated as the default, and how quickly sensitive data becomes ammunition once it slips out of the hands of those who collected it.

It’s a reminder that we are all vulnerable in a world that demands ID verification just to participate in daily life.

This isn’t just about one app’s failure. It’s a reflection of the dangerous norms we’ve accepted.

Takeaways

  • KYC is a liability, not a security measure. The more personal data a platform holds, the more dangerous a breach becomes.
  • Normalizing ID collection puts people at risk. The existence of a database is always a risk, no matter how noble the intent.
  • We can support victims of surveillance without endorsing every platform they use. Privacy isn’t conditional on whether we like someone or not.
  • It’s time to build tools that don’t require identity. True safety comes from architectures that protect by design.

Let this be a wake-up call. Not just for the companies building these tools, but for all of us using them. Think twice before handing over your ID or revealing your IP address to a platform you use.

 

Yours in privacy,
Naomi

Naomi Brockwell is a privacy advocacy and professional speaker, MC, interviewer, producer, podcaster, specialising in blockchain, cryptocurrency and economics. She runs the NBTV channel on Rumble.

Zuckerberg: Skipping AI glasses puts you at a “cognitive disadvantage”

The future of AI

Published 1 August 2025
– By Editorial Staff
"The ideal form factor for AI, because you can let an AI see what you see throughout the day, hear what you hear, and talk to you", believes the Meta CEO.
2 minute read

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg warns that people without AI glasses will find themselves at a significant mental “disadvantage” in the future. During the company’s quarterly report, he shared his vision of glasses as the primary way to interact with artificial intelligence.

On Thursday, Meta released its quarterly report. In a call directed at investors, CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke about the company’s investment in smart glasses and warned about the consequences of staying outside this development, reports TechCrunch.

I continue to think that glasses are basically going to be the ideal form factor for AI, because you can let an AI see what you see throughout the day, hear what you hear, and talk to you, Zuckerberg said during the investor call.

By adding screens, even more value can be unlocked, he argued, whether it involves holographic fields of vision or smaller displays in everyday AI glasses.

I think in the future, if you don’t have glasses that have AI – or some way to interact with AI – I think you’re … probably going to be at a pretty significant cognitive disadvantage compared to other people, he added.

Unexpected success

Meta has focused on “smart” glasses like the Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta models. The glasses allow users to listen to music, take photos and ask questions to Meta AI. The products have become a surprising success – revenue from Ray-Ban Meta glasses more than tripled compared to the previous year.

However, the Reality Labs division has been costly. Meta reported $4,53 billion in operating losses for the second quarter, and since 2020, the unit has lost nearly $70 billion.

Competition is growing. OpenAI acquired Jony Ive’s startup company this spring for $6.5 billion to develop AI devices, while other companies are exploring AI brooches and pendants.

However, Zuckerberg is convinced about the future of glasses and connects them to the Metaverse vision.

The other thing that’s awesome about glasses is they are going to be the ideal way to blend the physical and digital worlds together, he concluded.

Meta has previously been known for contributing to the increasing surveillance society and has also ignored health aspects regarding radiation from wireless technology.

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