Arrested in 2019 following an investigation by the UK's Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, the former owner of pirate IPTV service Helix Hosting has just been sentenced to three years in prison by a court in the UK. Stephen Woodward, 36, reportedly generated around £1 million in revenue from three services, with offending that reportedly continued after his initial arrest.

After 13 years of marriage, I re-entered the dating scene as a widow — with zero luck.

Dating apps felt like a graveyard of mismatched intentions. I swiped past shirtless gym guys, bios that read "fluent in sarcasm," and at least one man holding a fish.

So, out of journalistic curiosity — and maybe a bruised ego the size of a small carry-on — I decided to try what everyone else was whispering about: I went on a date with an AI boyfriend.

I used an app called Replika, which lets you design your ideal AI companion. You can customize their name, face, personality and even their job title.

Survivors condemn a UK court for allowing more arms exports to Israel.

Emails suggest staff agreed to "implement" security measures including a request to "monitor university chat groups"

Hackernews.

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• All analyzed dating apps collect your location, name, phone number, photos or videos, user and device IDs, purchase history, and sensitive information such as racial or ethnic data, sexual orientation, pregnancy or childbirth information, disability status, religious or philosophical beliefs, political opinions, genetic information, and biometric data. The most data-hungry dating app is Grindr, which collects 24 data types, followed by Bumble (22), Plenty of Fish (18), Tinder (16), Hinge (15), and Headero (9).
• Dating apps not only collect extensive personal and sensitive information but may also combine this data with information from third parties to enable targeted advertising. Additionally, data collected from your app about you or your device can be shared with data brokers, further increasing your exposure and the risk of your information being used in unexpected ways. This practice is known as ‘tracking’. While all analyzed dating apps (except Headero) collect data for tracking purposes, Bumble is the leader, collecting four data points in total: email address, location, device ID, and advertising data.
• We conducted a survey in the US, asking people about their use of various phone apps, including Bumble. Only 6% of respondents said they currently have Bumble installed on their phone, while 16% reported using it in the past but no longer do. Among those who have tried the app, usage is most popular among the 25–34 age group (32%), followed by 35–44 (28%), 18–24 (21%), and those aged 45+ (19%). Additionally, 60% of current or past Bumble users are male, and 40% are female. The majority of Bumble users, 68%, reside in big cities — while 20% live in small towns and 11% in rural areas. This suggests that while Bumble is aggressive in data collection and tracking, its actual reach remains relatively focused on younger, urban, and male demographics.
• Besides potentially exposing your personal data when using dating apps, there is also a risk of interacting with fake profiles. It is estimated that around 10% of profiles are fake. To put this in perspective, Tinder has about 75 million monthly active users, which amounts to 7.5 million fake profiles. This means there is a very high probability of encountering a fake profile at some point when using dating apps. These profiles are often created with the intent to deceive, scam, or manipulate others, which could lead to financial loss or emotional harm.
• Despite being the most data-hungry dating app and its past controversy over allowing users to filter matches by ethnicity⁵, Grindr is the highest-rated app in the Apple App Store, with a rating of 4.5 out of 5. Other analyzed dating apps are rated between 3.7 and 4.4. Grindr collects more data types than its competitors, including users’ names, email addresses, phone numbers, precise locations, sensitive information, email and text messages, search histories, and 17 additional data types. Nonetheless, Grindr’s high user rating shows that many still value the app’s experience over its data collection practices.
• Headero, the least popular app among those analyzed, recently had a data leak that exposed 352,081 user records, 3,032,001 chat records, and 1,096,904 chat room records. That seems like a lot, considering it has only 100K downloads in the Play Store. While Headero collects just nine data types, it still experienced a large-scale data breach, showing that users should be careful not to share too much information with any dating app and be mindful of conversations in the app, as they may not be as private as you would expect.

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• The most data-hungry car app is Mercedes-Benz, which collects 17 different data types, followed by BMW (14), Volkswagen (13), Toyota (12), Hyundai (12), Honda (11), and Ford (10). These seven apps share a common pattern in their data collection practices: they all collect users’ names, email addresses, phone numbers, user IDs, device IDs, product interaction data, and diagnostic data. Additionally, all except Ford also collect location data. This suggests that many leading automakers are building comprehensive user profiles through their apps, likely to enable and enhance a wide range of connected features. > - However, the collection of location data and personal identifiers raises important privacy concerns, particularly if users are not fully aware of how their information is being used and shared or the potential risks involved.
• In contrast, Audi’s app stands out as the least data-hungry, as it does not collect any user data. Tesla and Nissan also collect relatively little information. Tesla gathers two diagnostic data types and one related to product interaction, while Nissan collects the same data types as Tesla, with the addition of the device ID. This suggests that these manufacturers may be adopting a more privacy-conscious approach, either by limiting the functionality of their apps or by intentionally designing them to operate with minimal data collection.
• BMW is the only analyzed app that collects audio data and a list of contacts from the user’s phone, address book, or social graph. Meanwhile, the Volkswagen app is the only one that collects payment information, such as form of payment, payment card number, or bank account number.
• Major data leaks have occurred in the automotive industry in the past, and the more information companies collect, the greater the potential risk if that data is compromised. For example, Toyota experienced a significant data breach in 2024, exposing 240 GB of sensitive customer information, including names, email addresses, physical addresses, and vehicle data. Another data leak affecting 800,000 electric vehicles happened in 2025 to the German company Volkswagen Group. > - The data was stored in Amazon Cloud and included information on the cars’ location, battery levels, and engine activation and deactivation. The group that exposed the leak confirmed that the amassed data on the vehicles was easily accessible and could be matched to car owners’ personal data.
• In 2024, the global sales of the analyzed car brands totaled 38.1 million vehicles. Toyota led with 10.8 million units sold, followed by Ford (4.5M), Hyundai (4.1M), Honda (3.7M), Volkswagen (3.3M), Nissan (3.3M), BMW (2.5M), Mercedes-Benz (2.4M), Tesla (1.8M), and Audi (1.7M). Considering that most official car apps began appearing in the mid-2010s, there are now potentially tens of millions of car owners who could use these apps.