• Apr 12, 2017
  • Caleb Chen
  • General Privacy News, Governments, VPN,

4/13 is Australia’s National Get a VPN Day as ISPs and telecoms officially begin metadata retention

April 13th, 2017 is now “National Get a VPN” Day for the entire country of Australia. In March 2015, Australia passed the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill (info). The law mandates metadata retention by Australian internet service providers (ISPs) and telecommunication companies (known as carrier service providers in Australia). Australians scramble to get a VPN … Continue reading “4/13 is Australia’s National Get a VPN Day as ISPs and telecoms officially begin metadata retention”

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  • Jan 3, 2017
  • Caleb Chen
  • General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Despite promises, metadata gathered by Australian mass surveillance may be made available to civil litigators, not just law enforcement

Australia, one of many countries that conducts mass surveillance with mandatory metadata logging laws, is planning to make your private information available in civil proceedings. When Australia initially passed the mandatory logging laws in 2014, government proponents, such as AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin, emphasized that information was only supposed to be made available for the … Continue reading “Despite promises, metadata gathered by Australian mass surveillance may be made available to civil litigators, not just law enforcement”

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  • Dec 6, 2016
  • Caleb Chen
  • Cybersecurity, General Privacy News, Governments, VPN,

Private Internet Access VPN response to Investigatory Powers Act

The United Kingdom has passed a draconian mass surveillance law, the Investigatory Powers Act (IP Act), which will force the collection of UK internet connection records for a whole year. We want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that Private Internet Access doesn’t store traffic logs or connection records of any kind. We are … Continue reading “Private Internet Access VPN response to Investigatory Powers Act”

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  • Oct 26, 2016
  • Caleb Chen
  • Cybersecurity, General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

AT&T actually sells leads to DEA and local law enforcement using Project Hemisphere

AT&T has been running a for-profit mass surveillance program, called Project Hemisphere, since 2007. Everybody already knows about AT&T cooperation with NSA mass surveillance metadata database… This is a separate program that allows law enforcement to access all of AT&T’s data at will, even though the information is never handled by law enforcement, which apparently makes … Continue reading “AT&T actually sells leads to DEA and local law enforcement using Project Hemisphere”

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European Supreme Court says “Maybe” to mass surveillance of innocents

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) says that mass surveillance of innocent people may be legal in a preliminary ruling issued today. The ECJ is the highest court in the European Union, and it issues preliminary rulings by a General Advocate about six months ahead of its final ruling. Today’s preliminary ruling allows for mass … Continue reading “European Supreme Court says “Maybe” to mass surveillance of innocents”

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As horrible as Internet surveillance is, the alternative could have been far worse

While the Internet has turned into a global surveillance machine, with only tech-aware and privacy-aware people opting out of the surveillance, it’s important to remember that we could have had something far worse. In the 1990s, the telcos were aggressively pushing for their own version of a packet switched network – and had they won … Continue reading “As horrible as Internet surveillance is, the alternative could have been far worse”

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