In this Office Hours Live, I kicked things off with some stream troubleshooting and team updates, then jumped straight into a question that honestly deserves more attention: can your mouse (or any peripheral) be doing something shady right now—especially at the firmware level? I break down the difference between the “common” risk (installing outdated vendor software packed with telemetry or vulnerabilities) versus the harder-to-audit risk (firmware you can’t easily inspect). My practical takeaway: start with what you buy (avoid sketchy no-name Amazon brands), skip or replace vendor software when possible, and layer your defenses so you can actually catch weird behavior. From there I answered a range of privacy and security questions: Wi‑Fi calling (yes, there’s encryption for voice content, but it still routes through your carrier’s IMS core so metadata is still visible), note-taking apps and why I finally “joined the Obsidian cult” (BareNotes nudged me there, and MCP/AI workflows sealed it), plus thoughts on email provider jurisdictions. I also talked about living under aggressive surveillance environments like the UK: don’t obsess over switching operating systems first—focus on fundamentals like compartmentalization, browser hardening, DNS/VPN choices, and tools that help you see and block outbound connections.