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This week, BJ examines 404 Media's bombshell coverage of Proton's CEO and his alleged AI psychosis—and whether activists can still trust their products. Our book excerpt also covers how to film ICE safely. Given that an ICE agent held a gun to a bystander's head in North Hollywood the day before we recorded this, the timing couldn't be any better for you to hear this.
Creators and Guests
What is Stupid Sexy Privacy?
Stupid Sexy Privacy is a miniseries about how to protect yourself from fascists and weirdos. Your host is comedian Rosie Tran, and the show is written by information privacy expert B.J. Mendelson. Every episode is sponsored by our friends at DuckDuckGo. Tune in every Thursday night —or Friday morning if you're nasty — at 12 am EST to catch the next episode.
BJ Mendelson: (00:06)
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Privacy Tips, the sister podcast for Stupid Sexy Privacy. I'm your host, BJ Mendelson. Today's show is made possible by our friends at DuckDuckGo. So if you enjoyed what we do, check out their DuckDuckGo subscription. It comes with a simple and easy to use VPN, identity theft protection, data removal service, and more. Additional information can be found at DuckDuckGo.com slash subscribe.
And some features and offerings will vary based on your location.
Now my friends, Stupid Sexy Privacy has wrapped, and you can find all of the episodes online at stupidsexyprivacy.com. All you have to do is click or tap on where it says episodes. Our website is under some major construction and will be throughout the rest of 2026. So please pardon our dust if you find something that does not work at this moment. The website and some of the episode edits are on my list of things to get done as soon as the audiobook is out in stores.
That should be like literally any day now. As soon as I get it, Rosie and I will start doing the media to promote it, and then I will be able to go back and fix up the website. Speaking of which, the purpose of Privacy Tips is to give me an opportunity to read from my version of How To Protect Yourself From Fascists & Weirdos.
Think of this podcast like the director's commentary you used to find on DVDs. Remember those? If not, think of this podcast as something that you can listen to while you read the book. The PDF of the book is available right now, absolutely free, at stupidsexyprivacy.com. All you have to do is click or tap on the word book to get yourself a free copy. Now, I'm releasing this week's podcast earlier. I know a lot of you expect it on Thursday. Under normal circumstances, that's when this podcast would come out. Thursday, November 5 at midnight.
However, because election day is Tuesday, November 3 here in America, and we have no idea if that's the last free and fair election our country will ever have, I thought it'd be a wise idea to get ahead of things.
We will be back to our normal Thursday release schedule on Thursday, November 12 at midnight.
Assuming there's no fascist coup that's taking place, of course, because if one does, well, I'll need to update you about any breaking news. And that's kind of why I wanted to leave Thursday open a little bit, Thursday, November 5, in case I need to pop back on. There probably won't be an episode. Hopefully everything will go well. If you've gone out and voted, you've done your part. If you have not, please go out and do so.
Now speaking of breaking news, a lot of you forwarded me at bjmendelson@duck.com where all emails are welcome. 404 Media's latest coverage on Proton. I find 404 Media to be a reliable source, so they are very trusted around these parts. So if they tell you there's a problem, that is something to pay attention to. And last week they told us that there was a problem with Proton CEO, seeming to have developed some kind of alleged AI psychosis, and is leading the company, according to the reporting, down a dark path. I'm tracking the story.
As of right now, there's no reason to think the Proton VPN or Proton Mail services, both of which we recommend, have been impaired in terms of their security by the alleged actions of Proton CEO. However, and this is really important, if it's true that Proton is encouraging their engineers to vibe code, which is basically letting the large language model code for them without a human bothering to look at what's being produced, then we're going to have to make a pretty serious decision here about our recommendation of Proton services.
This is really crappy timing because the book is all about pushing Proton Mail and ProtonVPN. For now, if you're like me and still using Proton stuff, you're fine. It's just something to be aware of that the company behind these products might be heading in a bad direction that may at some point in the future impact these products. If they continue to head in this direction, they being Proton, we'll need to find a new VPN and email service to recommend. In the book, we recommend DuckDuckGo's VPN, but as we pointed out, that's good for most people in most cases.
If you're an investigative journalist like me and need extra security, then ProtonVPN is what we recommend instead of DuckDuckGo's VPN. So for most people in most cases, if you're using DuckDuckGo's VPN, you're fine. If you're taking our suggestion in the book to use the more advanced VPN, which is offered by Proton, or Proton's email services, this is just something to keep in the back of your head for right now. As the story develops, we will keep you posted.
It kind of sucks that this is happening, but you know, look, AI psychosis is real. And there's a lot of education that needs to be done with people out there about not believing the AI summaries that Google produces and not copying and pasting those into Facebook groups. I saw that a lot this week. And there's also a lot of education about people getting addicted to these things. And we're finding that the use of AI actually slows down your cognitive ability. So it's just—look, we're living in a weird world. I will do my best to keep you posted on all this stuff. Right now my goal of Privacy Tips is just to go through the book. I just want to get through the book. And once the book is done, we'll start to go back and talk about these changes and what happens if we need to change for Proton and Tuta. But the other thing is that Tuta may also have similar problems. So where do we go? Those are all questions we will get to as soon as we're done reading through the book.
If you have questions about things that are happening right now after the book was published, remember the book officially was published on October 23. So if it happens after October 23, we're definitely tracking it. We're definitely paying attention to it, but we may not necessarily talk about it unless it's something really major like this Proton thing. But feel free to keep sending me stuff. If there's things that you're concerned about or if there's privacy and security questions just in general that you have, I don't have all the answers, but you can at least email me at bjmendelson@duck.com and I'll try to give you an answer to the best of my ability based on the current information that we have.
Okay, so this week chapter four is where we are, if you're reading along in the book. We're going to now talk a little bit about filming ICE. One thing I want to point out to you is that I sat down to record this on the morning of November 1, and I am watching a story right now in North Hollywood where an ICE agent was caught on camera pointing a gun at a bystander's head. I'm looking right at that video. I'm going to link to that in today's show notes.
Even though some of this might seem like it's a little old because ICE has moved away from the big mass raids to like these more sinister, concealed raids that are happening, it's still good to know how to film them, especially if they're doing stuff like this where they're aiming a gun at bystanders' heads. Or like we pointed out last week, there were twenty-six New Yorkers who were all U.S. citizens that have been accosted and roughed up and subjected to ICE's fascist treatment.
If you're going to proceed, film ICE at every opportunity. The key is to stay out of their way. If there are directives to stand on a certain street or maintain a specific distance, you must follow those instructions. How do you know if you are far enough? If the ICE agent needs to take multiple steps to reach you, you're far enough.
Generally, you should be as far from ICE as a pitcher is to a catcher on a major league baseball field, or about 60 feet 6 inches. Do not reveal the identity of the person being detained. Avoid filming anything that could identify them for retaliation, such as their apartment number. Inform people watching of your general vicinity and look for recognizable landmarks and buildings instead. And if possible, ask the person being detained how you can assist them. Don't do anything that can harm them or yourself.
If that person requests that you stop filming, follow their instructions. People are not content. Unless there's a reason like we're discussing in this chapter, or they're law enforcement, don't film anyone without their consent.
You can remind the person being detained of their right to remain silent and their right not to sign any documents presented to them by ICE. On your iPhone, for example, you can use the Notes app to translate text into dozens of different languages. Be ready to have notes that say: "You have the right to remain silent. You don't have to answer questions without an attorney. And you don't have to sign anything that they tell you to sign."
Red cards, which display know-your-rights information, can be purchased in bulk at redcardorders.com. If, for some reason, redcardorders.com no longer works, visit the Immigration Legal Resource Center at ilrc.org.
ICE agents, and here ICE serves as a catch-all for the Department of Homeland Security, DHS, and other agencies assisting in deportation operations, can harm you if they become physical. Your priority is to remain calm. And I know this is easier said than done. But if you can, remind yourself to speak in a low voice and say: "I have a First Amendment right to film you without obstruction. Do you need me to move back?" Refrain from sudden movements. Remember to say "You are hurting me" if they get violent.
Body cameras are often manipulated by law enforcement, but never assume that all of those cameras have been turned off. You might get lucky. Phones can be mistaken for weapons; never forget that. Consider using a bright pink phone case to reduce the risk of that confusion. We also recommend a selfie stick for the same reason, and because it will also keep your camera steady while filming. A small tripod is ideal, like the Sensine 60-inch phone tripod. Even better is a wireless microphone, like the Holly Land Lark Max 2 Wireless Lavalier microphone. The sound quality of iPhone recordings in general is poor. Avoid recording on an inexpensive wireless microphone whenever possible. Since fascists and weirdos lie, you don't want there to be any question concerning what was said on that recording.
So if you have an iPhone, that's ideal. If not, that's okay. But if you do use an iPhone, I want to note some things here in terms of filming. The quality of video matters. For example, that video may be used in future legal proceedings. So we'd like to suggest, if you're going to film ICE, these are things that you can do in your settings under camera on your iPhone: Film in 4K resolution. Adjust your frame rate to 4K at 30 frames per second. You'll see that as an option. This is ideal for most vertical video formats. Film with your main rear camera, not the front one—the main rear camera has the best quality. And make sure to turn on your grid and level settings to help steady the frame and the shot. Aim to capture their license plates and body cameras, in addition to any other detail you might observe. If you're at a sufficient distance—if they instructed you to move back a block, for example—this is a great time to provide specific information in your video, such as your location, the number of agents present, their badge numbers, and any other relevant details. Don't record yourself making assumptions though, as anything related to an arrest that you're documenting is admissible in court. So be clear and succinct instead. Think about what information will be needed and stick to the facts.
Today's episode of Privacy Tips was recorded in Hollywood, California and sponsored by DuckDuckGo. It was written, produced, and hosted by me, BJ Mendelson. Before we go, I want to give a shout out to the production team at Stupid Sexy Privacy, which includes Vanj Van Voris, Rosie Tran, and my co-author, Amanda King. I'm hoping in 2027 that we will be hearing a lot more of Rosie instead of me, because like I said, there's a lot of stuff we gotta write.
If you enjoyed today's show, we hope you'll take a moment to leave a review wherever you may be listening. This won't take more than two minutes of your time. You see, we have this crazy goal, and we need your help to achieve it. We want 5% of Americans to be 1% better at protecting themselves from fascists and weirdos. Leaving us a review can help make that happen. That's because your reviews will help other people find the show. So please take a moment to leave us a review, and we'll see you next Thursday, November 12 at midnight on Privacy Tips.