Withdraw Your Email Data

May 4, 2026

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Probably the oldest online data you have - like, still have out there right now - is your emails. Did you have an AOL account? Or email through your internet service provider (ISP)? Statistically speaking, you probably have a Gmail, Yahoo Mail or Outlook (previously HotMail) account. Unless you explicitly closed those accounts or deleted those emails, they're still there. Emails are less like letters in an envelope and much more like postcards, unless you made a point of encrypting them. So today we'll start a multi-step process to download that email history so that we can delete the online data before it's slurped into some AI model training or leaked in a data breach.

In other news: Met Police win suit to use live facial recognition; Australian teens work around social media ban; big tech is ignoring your do-not-track signals; Meta threatens to leave New Mexico over AG demands; Meta is training AI on their employees; doctors are using AI to take session notes; Mythos suffers 'unauthorized access'; AI agent deletes companies databases; and AI is empowering script kiddies.

Article Links

Challenge over Met Police's use of live facial recognition lost: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq59x4vv954o

Most Australian teens admit the social media ban isn’t working as they try to sidestep age verification blocks with face masks and their parents’ IDs: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/most-australian-teens-admit-social-111400429.html

Google, Microsoft, Meta All Tracking You Even When You Opt Out, According to an Independent Audit: https://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit

Meta threatens to pull its apps from New Mexico if forced to make ‘technologically impractical’ changes: https://www.theverge.com/policy/921557/meta-threatens-leaving-new-mexico

Meta is tracking employees for AI training data: https://proton.me/business/blog/meta-ai-training-employee-data

Why your doctor's AI recorder can be bad for your health (and privacy): https://this.weekinsecurity.com/why-your-doctors-ai-recorder-can-be-bad-for-your-health-and-privacy

Anthropic’s most dangerous AI model just fell into the wrong hands: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/916501/anthropic-mythos-unauthorized-users-access-security

An AI agent allegedly deleted a startup's production database: https://mashable.com/article/ai-agent-deletes-data-30-hour-service-outage-pocketos

Attack of the killer script kiddies: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/915660/mythos-script-kiddies-hackers-attack-cybersecurity-ai

Tip of the Week: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/withdraw-your-data-email/

Further Info

Enable and verify GPC flag: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/how-to-enable-global-privacy-control/

Contact your representatives on Section 702 reforms: https://act.eff.org/action/congress-has-until-april-20-to-take-action-on-702-tell-them-not-to-drop-the-ball

AI doctor privacy newsletter: https://buttondown.com/maiht3k/archive/why-you-should-refuse-to-let-your-doctor-record/

Attack of the Script Kiddies: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/915660/mythos-script-kiddies-hackers-attack-cybersecurity-ai

Zero Day Clock: https://zerodayclock.com/