Anthropic quickly removed a tracker secretly monitoring Claude Code users in China after a security researcher exposed the hidden code and condemned the spyware-like tracking as a “serious breach of user trust.”

Last week, a web developer known as “Thereallo” was researching privacy issues in Claude Code and was shocked to find that the AI firm was using “prompt steganography” to hide code that tracks Chinese users “in plain sight.” This code wasn’t malicious, but it was sending information to Anthropic that most users wouldn’t detect, relying on shorthand markers to quietly flag users’ timezone, proxy, and potential connection to Chinese AI labs that Anthropic has accused of distillation attacks.

On X, Anthropic engineer Thariq Shihipar confirmed that the tracker was added to Claude Code as an “experiment” in March. According to Shihipar, the code “was meant to prevent account abuse from unauthorized resellers and protect against distillation.” Regarding the former, The Washington Post found unauthorized retailers have sold access to free models for $1 a month, and pro subscriptions that can cost $100 monthly sell for "as little as $12."

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The US has lifted export curbs on Anthropic’s newest Claude models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, about three weeks after the Trump administration flagged the models as national security risks.

As of today, Anthropic confirmed in a blog post, Fable 5 will be available globally, and US organizations have had access restored to Mythos 5 since June 26. Anthropic said it is now working with the government to expand Mythos access to a “broader set of domestic and international partners in the Glasswing program.” That program allows cybersecurity researchers at trusted companies to access Mythos for defensive purposes.

In a letter to Anthropic viewed by Reuters and The New York Times, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Anthropic would “no longer need a license for exports or in-country transfers of its Claude Mythos and Claude Fable AI models.” The letter acknowledged that Anthropic had “taken steps in close coordination with the US government to address the risks” posed by the models.

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