Welcome to Tech Beat, your daily look at the stories shaping our digital world.
Russia has formalized new powers requiring Apple and Microsoft to retain Russian users' communication records for three years and hand them over to security agencies on demand. Companies that refuse face the threat of service bans, a pressure tactic that puts both firms in a familiar and uncomfortable position between user privacy and market access.
Closer to home, a quieter concern is worth your attention. Most of us hand over app permissions without a second thought, but researchers and consumer advocates are flagging that many smartphone apps hold access to your camera, contacts, and location well beyond any reasonable need. A few minutes in your phone's settings could reveal more than you expect.
And from the world of work, a question worth sitting with. New graduates are increasingly spending their days managing AI tools rather than doing the underlying work those tools are meant to assist. The worry is that they are gaining fluency with software while missing the harder, slower lessons that come from doing things the difficult way first.
Those are the stories driving the conversation today. Keep surfing. Tech Beat out.
