🤖 Facebook Burns AI Zombies & You Can Burn Notes With Our New App

Jazz Age Mickey Mouse & Popeye are public domain + Secret notes with PrivacySafe Link

💀 Zuckerberg’s Zombie AI Profiles Bite the Dust

The experiment with “zombie” AI-generated profiles on Facebook and Instagram by its parent company Meta has officially flatlined after widespread backlash. The artificial accounts, introduced clandestinely in 2023 and 2024, were supposed to revolutionize social media by standing in for real people with convincing bios, profile pics, and machine-made content. Unleashed by Meta as the opening salvo of a grander AI strategy, they shuffled aimlessly through users’ feeds like supernatural trolls who never rest from spamming.

The gods of Facebook and Instagram envisioned an undead army of AI-generated NPCs marching across their platforms in a reckless demo of the “Dead Internet Theory” but the plan was met with horror and mockery after being revealed to the public. Meta has now removed the AI-generated profiles, or at least the ones that had been widely published across the web. Hundreds of thousands of characters were created, though most remain known only to Meta. Perhaps they’re ready for future resurrection of the concept?

Meta is not done with AI and is now pivoting to more familiar wizardry, like AI-powered photo editing and text-to-video features. In fact, the company is doubling down and might already be creating digital doppelgangers of you. Instagram has launched an experiment where AI places clones of users in strange scenarios and publishes those photos to their feeds — at least one Insta user was shocked to find bizarre photos depicting his clones in a maze of mirrors.

Don’t be surprised when the AI zombies rise again on Big Tech platforms, perhaps wearing a familiar face…

❤️ A Social Network For Humans

While Meta tests its AI illusions, decentralized apps continue to breathe new life into social networks — by keeping things human. If you’re sick of being subject to experimental AI agents, join our social space to connect with millions of users:

🔆 PrivacySafe Social https://privacysafe.social — A free app with No Ads, No Spyware, No Timeline or AI Manipulation. We have 8 simple rules and honest, human moderation.

🐭 Mickey Squeaks Into Public Domain in 2025

Each January brings a fresh wave of creative freedom as previously-copyrighted works enter the US public domain. For 2025, this includes literature, films, music, and art from 1929 as well as sound recordings from 1924. These works are now free to be remixed and shared without copyright restrictions.

Highlights include iconic novels like Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, and William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. The era’s evolving film industry contributed classics like On With the Show! — the first all-color, sound feature — and Buster Keaton’s final silent film, Spite Marriage. Popular music gems like Singin’ in the Rain and Tiptoe Through the Tulips will also join the fray.

Disney fans can now freely remix and share some early Mickey Mouse shorts as well as the Silly Symphony cartoon The Skeleton Dance. While culturally significant, these works only include the versions of these characters from the 1920’s, leaving later iterations by the House of Mouse under lock-and-key.

There are many other public domain releases this year including early appearances of beloved characters like Popeye the Sailor and Tintin, though debates persist over the copyright status of specific incarnations. Could we soon see these versions of the ‘toons teaming up in a fan-made “cinematic universe”?

🕵️ Create Secret Notes with PrivacySafe Link

We’ve released another free app — PrivacySafe Link, your tool for sharing secret notes via a password-protected link: https://privacysafe.link

Self-Destructing Notes: By default, notes disappear after one view by the person you share the link with. You can also set a custom number of views.

Client-Side Encryption: Your note is encrypted inside your web browser, on your device, so our server has no idea what you type or paste.

Strong Passwords: Your PrivacySafe Links are automatically secured by a strong password generated on your device, not our server.

Go-Go-Gadget Privacy

Remember Inspector Gadget, the 80’s cartoon detective with the exploding messages? Now your messages can self-destruct too!

✍️ Write Your Mission Brief Visit privacysafe.link and type your note. Choose how many times it can be viewed or set a time limit (in seconds).

🔗 Copy Your PrivacySafe Link Your note is encrypted on your own device, creating a PrivacySafe Link that can be shared. You can copy the link and the password separately (best practice) or copy them both together as a long URL (simpler).

💌 Deliver Your Message Share with your recipient — preferably in an app with strong encryption. If you share over an insecure channel like email, at least you know the data will self-destruct.

🍸 Mission Accomplished Once the PrivacySafe Link self-destructs, sit back and enjoy a vodka martini.

Don’t Get Burned!

Share Smart: Use encrypted messaging apps to share with your recipient. If you use Tor Browser, you can also try our Tor .onion hidden service.

Be Patient: Avoid the urge to check your link so it won’t self-destruct early.

Split the Info: If both the link and password are intercepted, someone could read the note before your intended recipient. Splitting the information over separate apps or communication channels is better operational security.

Keep Backups: Your data will self-destruct and is gone forever — our server can’t read the note, can’t identify the link, and doesn’t make copies.

Why You’ll Love It

Need to pass along a heartfelt message, your class notes, or a funny meme? PrivacySafe Link is for messages you want to stay private and temporary, with the simplicity and security that would make Inspector Gadget say, “Wowzers!” 💥

🙏 Thank You For Reading!

Join PrivacySafe Social to keep up with our app releases. We’ve got more public apps fresh out of the oven and you’ll be the first folks who get a taste as we announce them.

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Bits On Tape™ is a twice-weekly replay of science & technology stories by cyber experts. These bits are put to screen by Sean O’Brien, leading voice behind privacy and cybersecurity at Yale Law School and founder of Yale Privacy Lab, and edited by Cherise Labonte, science researcher and licensed Registered Nurse.

© Ivy Cyber Consulting LLC. This project is dedicated to ethical Free and Open Source Software and Open Source Hardware. Ivy Cyber™ and Bits On Tape™ are pending trademarks and PrivacySafe® is a registered trademark. All content, unless otherwise noted, is licensed Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International.

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