• Oct 12, 2021
  • Glyn Moody
  • Cybersecurity, Governments, Social Media,

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is Great for Catching Bad Actors; But It Can Also Be Used Against the Good Ones – You and Me

Most people have heard of open source these days – after all, it has conquered every aspect of computing, with the possible exception of the desktop. But Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) may be less familiar. It was brought to prominence by the Bellingcat group, which describes itself as “an independent international collective of researchers, investigators … Continue reading “Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is Great for Catching Bad Actors; But It Can Also Be Used Against the Good Ones – You and Me”

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  • Jul 22, 2021
  • Glyn Moody
  • Censorship, Encryption, General Privacy News, Governments, Social Media, Surveillance,

What the Pegasus Spyware Leak Means for Surveillance, Smartphones & Encryption Backdoors

A few months ago, we wrote about dual-use surveillance systems – that is, technology that can be used for both peaceful and military purposes. The post discussed some limited efforts by the EU to prevent such technologies from being abused. A major new leak of alleged targets of one of the leading spyware companies, the … Continue reading “What the Pegasus Spyware Leak Means for Surveillance, Smartphones & Encryption Backdoors”

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Privacy News Online | Weekly Review: November 6, 2020

Featured: Privacy News Online – Week of November 6th, 2020 EU politicians want Europe’s next big digital law to tackle micro-targeted advertising, by regulating or even banning it The EU’s next big digital law, the Digital Services Act (DSA) would update the EU’s e-commerce directive – which hasn’t been touched since 2000. Recommendations for the … Continue reading “Privacy News Online | Weekly Review: November 6, 2020”

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Privacy News Online | Weekly Review: September 11, 2020

Featured: Privacy News Online – Week of September 11th, 2020 Federal courts rule that reverse location requests by police violate the Fourth Amendment Law enforcement has previously used reverse location requests, otherwise known as geo fencing warrants, to ask tech companies like Google to provide a list of all smartphones located near the scene of … Continue reading “Privacy News Online | Weekly Review: September 11, 2020”

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  • Sep 2, 2020
  • Caleb Chen
  • General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Federal appeals court finds the NSA’s mass surveillance of American phone records was illegal

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has just ruled that the “NSA’s bulk collection of Americans’ phone records was illegal.” For years, the NSA has conducted a domestic mass surveillance program on Americans’ phone records with little to no resistance from other arms of the government but lots of resistance from … Continue reading “Federal appeals court finds the NSA’s mass surveillance of American phone records was illegal”

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  • Jul 23, 2020
  • Glyn Moody
  • General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Top EU court sinks main framework for sending personal data across the Atlantic

The Privacy Shield framework for transferring personal data across the Atlantic was brought in to deal with a problem created by the EU’s GDPR. According to the latter, the personal data of European citizens can only be transferred to countries that offer “adequate” data protection, equivalent to the GDPR. The Privacy Shield system was devised … Continue reading “Top EU court sinks main framework for sending personal data across the Atlantic”

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  • Feb 28, 2020
  • Caleb Chen
  • General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Domestic phone surveillance program from the Patriot Act may finally see the grave

The Patriot Act was passed in the protectionist aftermath of 9/11, where the government decided to spy on its own citizens phone records under the guise of protecting against terrorism. When the Patriot Act was set to expire in 2015, Congress passed the USA Freedom Act which restored but barely modified several key surveillance provisions … Continue reading “Domestic phone surveillance program from the Patriot Act may finally see the grave”

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  • Aug 30, 2019
  • Caleb Chen
  • General Privacy News, Governments, Surveillance,

Trump Administration seeks to permanently restore NSA program to spy on Americans

The Trump Administration supports the permanent restoration of Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allowed the National Security Administration (NSA) to collect the phone records of American citizens as part of a mass surveillance program. The support was made known to key Senate members in an attempt to shore up support for future legislation … Continue reading “Trump Administration seeks to permanently restore NSA program to spy on Americans”

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  • Mar 31, 2019
  • Caleb Chen
  • General Privacy News, Surveillance,

New leaked documents reveal that NSA can read minds of 4G LTE users

Apparently, sometime in the last year, Mark Zuckerberg’s Brain-Computer Interface, the DoD’s invisibility cloak projects, and a proprietary goop designed with input from Gwyeneth Paltrow have been integrated into every smartphone with 4G LTE capability. Whenever your phone receives 4G LTE signal, invisible goop tendrils actually extend out of your phone’s charging port and attach … Continue reading “New leaked documents reveal that NSA can read minds of 4G LTE users”

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