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U.S. Soldiers maneuver through smoke during a live-fire exercise at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, March 4, 2026. (Credit: U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Elijah Magaña)

SIGNIFICANT ACTIVITIES

Younger Veterans Carry Far More 'Forever Chemicals' Than Other Americans

Younger military veterans carry far higher levels of toxic "forever chemicals" in their blood than other Americans their age, a Brown and Harvard study found. About half of veterans aged 20 to 39 topped the level that warrants medical follow-up, versus under a third of civilians.

Researchers point to firefighting foam and groundwater on military bases as possible contaminants. The VA does not currently cover the blood test that would detect the chemicals, which have been linked to kidney and testicular cancer. (Read More)

Microsoft Scientist Calls AI Training the 'Largest Theft of Labor in History'

A senior Microsoft scientist privately called the practice of training AI on scraped web content "the largest theft of labor in human history," according to court filings unsealed this week in the New York Times copyright case against OpenAI and Microsoft.

The remark, from an internal Microsoft memo, surfaced as the Times argued the companies built their models on unlicensed work. Microsoft disavowed the characterization and said it believes the training is lawful. (Read More)

Video Shows China's Coast Guard Ramming a Philippine Fisheries Boat

A China Coast Guard cutter rammed a Philippine fisheries vessel inside Manila's exclusive economic zone off Palawan on Friday, tearing away railings and scattering deck gear. The Philippine boat had been delivering fuel to Filipino fishermen.

Manila's coast guard released video of the collision and accused the Chinese ship of a deliberate, dangerous maneuver. Beijing blamed the Philippine crew, saying the boat ignored warnings, changed course, and accelerated in front of its bow. (Read More)

Your Inbox Is Spying on You. Here’s How to Stop It.

Every time you check your inbox, your behavior is logged, tracked, and sold. That “free” email account you rely on? It’s feeding the AI systems being trained to replace you. And once that data is out, there’s no getting it back.

Founded by veterans, our platform offers AI-free, privacy-assured communication managed by real humans, no data harvesting, no hidden tracking, no surveillance capitalism. Just tools designed with your digital autonomy in mind.

Our mission is clear: stop digital exploitation and restore your right to a private inbox.

With SOFX, your conversations stay between you and the person you’re speaking to. Not bots. Not marketers. Not machine-learning models.

Take Back Your Inbox →

QUICK UPDATES

CONFLICT UPDATES

➤ The Pentagon is weighing whether to pull up to 40,000 US troops out of Europe. Media reports citing unnamed officials said the possible cut, about a third of the force there, is part of a review pressing allies to defend more of the continent. (Read More)

➤ Italy will send its navy to protect its own ships through the Bab al-Mandab strait, rather than wait for the European Union's Red Sea mission, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said. He warned that bureaucratic delays were leaving vessels exposed as Houthi attacks spread. (Read More)

➤ Indonesia's first aircraft carrier, the former Italian ship Giuseppe Garibaldi, reached home waters this week. Renamed KRI Sriwijaya, the light carrier sailed from Taranto through the Suez Canal and will serve mainly in disaster relief and humanitarian missions, flying helicopters rather than fighters. (Read More)

SECURITY UPDATES

➤ Adding a hidden watermark to AI-generated text can make the model easier to trick, researchers at the security firm Lasso Security found, testing Google's SynthID tool. Watermarked models followed malicious instructions more often, a risk that spreads to any app built on them. (Read More)

➤ A new synthetic opioid that resists Narcan is spreading across at least a dozen states, after San Francisco tied it to the overdose death of a 16-year-old boy. Officials estimate cychlorphine is far more potent than fentanyl and say police seized 20,000 counterfeit pills. (Read More)

➤ Manufacturers were the top target of ransomware gangs for a fifth straight year. They accounted for more than a fifth of all victims, Black Kite reported, and attacks rose 40 percent. The Jaguar Land Rover breach alone may cost the UK economy $2.5 billion. (Read More)

TECHNOLOGY UPDATES

➤ DARPA is offering $3.5 million to teams that can build a robot to perform trauma surgery on the battlefield. One track calls for a machine that diagnoses, plans, and operates entirely on its own, with no surgeon present. Testing runs through next spring. (Read More)

➤ The Air Force is weighing new-build F-16s for the first time in two decades, as its fighter fleet ages and drops below the floor Congress set. A modernized Block 70 jet would be a cheaper complement to the F-35, though the plan is an early study. (Read More)

➤ The Pentagon's Drone Dominance program finished Gauntlet II, its second round of drone testing, ranking 23 small attack drones from 19 companies at Fort Carson. Startups Perennial Autonomy and Neros topped the two categories. (Read More)

The Cost of Free Email Is Everything

Your “free” email is costing you more than you think. It’s not just your inbox, it’s your location, your contacts, your calendar, your identity. Big Tech scans and stores everything, turning your private life into a product for advertisers and a resource for AI.

Designed by veterans who’ve defended the nation and now defend your data, SOFX is a privacy-first email platform. Our infrastructure is built from the ground up to reject surveillance and protect your right to communicate freely with encrypted email, secure scheduling, and human-run systems that never sell or share your data.

The surveillance economy depends on your inbox staying vulnerable. You don’t have to play along.

Reclaim Your Privacy →

SPECIAL CATEGORY

➤ Time seems to speed up with age because the brain marks it by counting new memories, and routine plus constant scrolling creates fewer of them. The counterintuitive fix, researchers say, is more novelty and deep focus and less shallow screen time.

➤ Only 16 percent of Americans read for pleasure, yet the benefits are real. A Cambridge review found adults over 64 who read weekly had far less cognitive decline over 14 years, plus lower stress, less loneliness, and more empathy. Audiobooks may not count.

➤ Egyptian archaeologists digging a 3,000-year-old frontier fortress in the Nile Delta found a young warhorse buried intact, alongside a limestone slab carved with the royal names of Ramesses II and a bound Libyan captive. The find offers a rare glimpse of New Kingdom border defense.

On this day in history: On September 19th, 1777, British Gen. John Burgoyne's forces clashed with American troops under Gen. Horatio Gates in the first Battle of Saratoga, a fight the British won tactically, though the Americans prevailed in the decisive second battle the following month.

SENTIMENT COLLECTION

Will humans set foot on Mars in your lifetime?

Yes

Unsure

Yesterday's Results:

Should the US sell F-35 stealth fighters to Gulf states?

No (59.4%)
Yes (33.3%)
Unsure (7.2%)

n=663

Have your own question that you'd like polled? Email us at editor@sofx.com.

Every time you open your inbox, you're feeding the algorithms designed to automate, replace, and manipulate. That "free" email you’re using? It’s not free, it’s fueling a system built on your private data.

SOFX.net gives you an email that’s truly yours. No tracking. No AI. No shady terms buried in fine print, just secure communication built by veterans who value privacy.

Take control of your inbox before someone else does.

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About SOFX: We are an independent media and communications technology company reporting on the conflicts, security, and technology issues impacting your lives and businesses. SOFX was founded by former special operations & intelligence professionals, not career journalists or Big Tech / Big Media.

Have feedback for us? We want to hear any and all comments you may have. Contact us at editor@sofx.com.

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