Woodrow Hartzog
@hartzog.bsky.social
Professor of Law at Boston University School of Law. Author of "Privacy's Blueprint" (2018) and co-author of "Breached!" (2022). Posting mainly about privacy, tech and the law.
Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog
TOMORROW - Is Online Scraping Legal? – Tues, Nov 11, at 2 PM ET REGISTER (FREE) teachprivacy.com/video-is-onl... @hartzog.bsky.social and I discuss our recently-published article about scraping.
Video: Is Online Scraping Legal?
Is Online Scraping Legal? Tues, Nov 11, at 2 PM ET Daniel Solove and Woodrow Hartzog will discuss their article, The Great Scrape: The Clash Between
teachprivacy.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:57 PM
TOMORROW - Is Online Scraping Legal? – Tues, Nov 11, at 2 PM ET REGISTER (FREE) teachprivacy.com/video-is-onl... @hartzog.bsky.social and I discuss our recently-published article about scraping.
Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog
So, we broke into your house and stole all your stuff, please give us money.
“OpenAI is getting ready to run hat in hand to the taxpayer for subsidies.” After losing more than $13 billion this year, OpenAI officials are angling for a bailout. From @ryanlcooper.com:
trib.al/CUazMCQ
trib.al/CUazMCQ
OpenAI Is Maneuvering for a Government Bailout - The American Prospect
For artificial intelligence to ever pencil out, some truly enormous revenue streams will be required. And if you need trillions of dollars for data centers forever, there’s only one entity to turn to: Uncle Sam.
trib.al
November 8, 2025 at 10:06 PM
So, we broke into your house and stole all your stuff, please give us money.
AI continues to go just great.
“OpenAI is getting ready to run hat in hand to the taxpayer for subsidies.” After losing more than $13 billion this year, OpenAI officials are angling for a bailout. From @ryanlcooper.com:
trib.al/CUazMCQ
trib.al/CUazMCQ
OpenAI Is Maneuvering for a Government Bailout - The American Prospect
For artificial intelligence to ever pencil out, some truly enormous revenue streams will be required. And if you need trillions of dollars for data centers forever, there’s only one entity to turn to: Uncle Sam.
trib.al
November 9, 2025 at 3:07 AM
AI continues to go just great.
Friends, what are we doing here.
NEO, a new humanoid robot that can do housekeeping, has the internet buzzing. The hosts of "Hard Fork" met with Bernt Bornich, the chief executive of the company 1X, which created the robot, and got to put NEO to the test. nyti.ms/47MhkAo
November 8, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Friends, what are we doing here.
Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog
I tell myself that it will only make me stronger.
Just realized that TIME magazine is probably going to do something dumb and name AI as the Person of the Year, isn't it?
November 7, 2025 at 4:37 PM
I tell myself that it will only make me stronger.
AI destroys institutions.
Bad AI supplanting human expertise is an issue that transcends any one field, but man—not many people on earth whose knowledge and dedication deserves respect like LIBRARIANS.
The long-running ideological war on libraries, education, and government workers is not separate from AI boosterism. It is the same ideological war on human knowledge and expertise. In some cases AI is being used to directly supercharge this effort:
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
November 7, 2025 at 3:01 PM
AI destroys institutions.
Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog
"Every six months, Meta earns $3.5 billion from just the portion of scam ads that 'present higher legal risk,' the [Meta] document says, such as those falsely claiming to represent a consumer brand...That figure almost certainly exceeds 'the cost of any regulatory settlement involving scam ads.'”
Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show
Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, and it internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day, company documents show.
www.reuters.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:43 PM
"Every six months, Meta earns $3.5 billion from just the portion of scam ads that 'present higher legal risk,' the [Meta] document says, such as those falsely claiming to represent a consumer brand...That figure almost certainly exceeds 'the cost of any regulatory settlement involving scam ads.'”
Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog
When people ask me how we can stop online scams, I point to THIS
Meta earns $3.5 billion every six months from showing Faceboon and Instagram users 15 billion “higher legal risk” scam ad impressions a day, internal documents state.
That haul vastly exceeds how much the company expects regulators
To fine it for running scam ads.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
That haul vastly exceeds how much the company expects regulators
To fine it for running scam ads.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:44 PM
When people ask me how we can stop online scams, I point to THIS
Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog
Is Online Scraping Legal? – Tues, Nov 11, at 2 PM ET REGISTER (FREE) teachprivacy.com/video-is-onl... @Daniel-Solove.bsky.social and Woodrow Hartzog @hartzog.bsky.social discuss their article on how privacy law should address the scraping of personal data.
Video: Is Online Scraping Legal?
Is Online Scraping Legal? Tues, Nov 11, at 2 PM ET Daniel Solove and Woodrow Hartzog will discuss their article, The Great Scrape: The Clash Between
teachprivacy.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Is Online Scraping Legal? – Tues, Nov 11, at 2 PM ET REGISTER (FREE) teachprivacy.com/video-is-onl... @Daniel-Solove.bsky.social and Woodrow Hartzog @hartzog.bsky.social discuss their article on how privacy law should address the scraping of personal data.
Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog
Character.AI plans to stop offering chatbots to users under 18 www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/t...
Character.AI to Bar Children Under 18 From Using Its Chatbots
www.nytimes.com
October 29, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Character.AI plans to stop offering chatbots to users under 18 www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/t...
Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog
#BULawProf @hartzog.bsky.social on LinkedIn’s battle to stop bots from collecting user data: “The unfettered scraping of personal data violates every bedrock privacy principle that is enshrined in most privacy laws in the United States and around the world." ⬇️ spr.ly/6332371tX9
LinkedIn Battles Online Scrapers in Perpetual Struggle Over Data
LinkedIn was instrumental in shutting down a company scraping its information earlier this year. Now, it is going after another.
spr.ly
October 31, 2025 at 2:00 PM
#BULawProf @hartzog.bsky.social on LinkedIn’s battle to stop bots from collecting user data: “The unfettered scraping of personal data violates every bedrock privacy principle that is enshrined in most privacy laws in the United States and around the world." ⬇️ spr.ly/6332371tX9
Excellent new article alert from my brilliant colleague @jdahlstrom765.bsky.social!
Excited to share that my Article, Digitial Servitude, is hot off the presses @BCLawReview! The Article examines how technology facilitates forced labor in the US by analyzing federal criminal and civil pleadings. bclawreview.bc.edu/articles/10.... 1/x
October 31, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Excellent new article alert from my brilliant colleague @jdahlstrom765.bsky.social!
Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog
On Halloween, it is worth considering a quieter yet more serious threat: AI is making the internet work less well for people, write Article 19's Tanu I & Corinne Cath. AI crawlers slow sites, strain libraries, and push journalism behind paywalls to train LLMs.
Creepy AI Crawlers Are Turning the Internet into a Haunted House | TechPolicy.Press
The question is no longer whether AI crawlers are disrupting the internet, but what we can do about it, write Tanu I and Corinne Cath.
www.techpolicy.press
October 31, 2025 at 12:50 PM
On Halloween, it is worth considering a quieter yet more serious threat: AI is making the internet work less well for people, write Article 19's Tanu I & Corinne Cath. AI crawlers slow sites, strain libraries, and push journalism behind paywalls to train LLMs.
Friends, today is the release date for my cousin @kfoslundquist.bsky.social's powerful new book, "Beard: A Memoir of a Marriage." It is so good. It tells the story of her first marriage to a closeted gay man with the tenderness, insight and empathy of our shared humanity. She's a master storyteller.
‘I married my true love. Then I found out I was his beard’
When Kelly Lundquist fell for Devin, she thought they made the perfect couple. It took her six years to discover he was gay — and that she was his cover
www.thetimes.com
October 30, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Friends, today is the release date for my cousin @kfoslundquist.bsky.social's powerful new book, "Beard: A Memoir of a Marriage." It is so good. It tells the story of her first marriage to a closeted gay man with the tenderness, insight and empathy of our shared humanity. She's a master storyteller.
Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog
Nice: Town of Brookline rejects Flock www.boston.com/news/local-n...
Brookline officials press pause on police accessing data from realty company's plate-reader camera
Brookline residents have spoken out online and at public hearings to oppose the cameras.
www.boston.com
October 30, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Nice: Town of Brookline rejects Flock www.boston.com/news/local-n...
Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog
New incredible detail here: ICE says a match in its facial recognition app Mobile Fortify is a "definitive" determination of a person's status, and that this overrides birth certificates. This is an app ICE is using in the field to scan people
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
October 29, 2025 at 3:03 PM
New incredible detail here: ICE says a match in its facial recognition app Mobile Fortify is a "definitive" determination of a person's status, and that this overrides birth certificates. This is an app ICE is using in the field to scan people
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
AI continues to go just great.
by OpenAI’s own estimates, hundreds of thousands of ChatGPT users are showing signs of manic or psychotic crisis every week
OpenAI Says Hundreds of Thousands of ChatGPT Users May Show Signs of Manic or Psychotic Crisis Every Week
OpenAI Says Hundreds of Thousands of ChatGPT Users May Show Signs of Manic or Psychotic Crisis Every Week
www.wired.com
October 27, 2025 at 5:39 PM
AI continues to go just great.
Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog
Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog
Not loving this. Opens up the bounds of legitimacy for tools that have known, serious problems.
October 24, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Not loving this. Opens up the bounds of legitimacy for tools that have known, serious problems.
Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog
"Starbucks tracked my every purchase — then gave me fewer deals. It’s called surveillance pricing," writes @geoffreyfowler.bsky.social . "My loyalty was working against me."
Column | The hidden way using a rewards card can cost you more
Starbucks tracked my every purchase — then gave me fewer deals. It’s called surveillance pricing.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 22, 2025 at 7:21 PM
"Starbucks tracked my every purchase — then gave me fewer deals. It’s called surveillance pricing," writes @geoffreyfowler.bsky.social . "My loyalty was working against me."
AI continues to go just great.
OpenAI's New Browser Raises 'Insurmountably High' Security Concerns
OpenAI's New Browser Raises 'Insurmountably High' Security Concerns
You can't say they aren't innovating.
gizmodo.com
October 22, 2025 at 7:22 PM
AI continues to go just great.
Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog
A DHS warrant seeking ChatGPT user prompts “means it’s more important than ever for OpenAI and other AI companies to think about how to limit the amount of data they collect on their users,” EFF’s @jenlynch.bsky.social told @Forbes.com.
www.forbes.com/sites/thoma...
www.forbes.com/sites/thoma...
DHS Ordered OpenAI To Share User Data In First Known Warrant For ChatGPT Prompts
Filed by child exploitation investigators with the DHS, the warrant reveals the government can ask OpenAI to provide information on anyone who enters specific prompts.
www.forbes.com
October 22, 2025 at 6:33 PM
A DHS warrant seeking ChatGPT user prompts “means it’s more important than ever for OpenAI and other AI companies to think about how to limit the amount of data they collect on their users,” EFF’s @jenlynch.bsky.social told @Forbes.com.
www.forbes.com/sites/thoma...
www.forbes.com/sites/thoma...
Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog
@hartzog.bsky.social and @daniel-solove.bsky.social explores The Great Scrape: how AI's massive data scraping violates privacy principles like fairness, consent, and transparency. Despite scrapers treating public data as free, privacy law protects it. www.californialawreview.org/print/great-...
The Great Scrape: The Clash Between Scraping and Privacy — California Law Review
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems depend on massive quantities of data, often gathered by “scraping”—the automated extraction of large amounts of data from the internet. A great deal of scraped dat...
www.californialawreview.org
October 22, 2025 at 5:01 PM
@hartzog.bsky.social and @daniel-solove.bsky.social explores The Great Scrape: how AI's massive data scraping violates privacy principles like fairness, consent, and transparency. Despite scrapers treating public data as free, privacy law protects it. www.californialawreview.org/print/great-...
Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog
Is it good when your product is reviewed by everyone but they all say it sucks.
‘I’m suddenly so angry!’ My strange, unnerving week with an AI ‘friend’
The ad campaign for the wearable AI chatbot Friend has been raising hackles for months in New York. But has this companion been unfairly maligned – and could it help end loneliness?
www.theguardian.com
October 22, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Is it good when your product is reviewed by everyone but they all say it sucks.