Collaborate Disseminate
How does Microsoft hope to defeat the macro terror? How is the UK Government trying to influence the public’s opinion on end-to-end encryption? And what is MoviePass hoping to do with your eyeballs?
All this and much more is discussed in the latest … Continue reading Smashing Security podcast #262: Macro progress, eyeball-tracking ads, and encryption backdoors
How does Microsoft hope to defeat the macro terror? How is the UK Government trying to influence the public’s opinion on end-to-end encryption? And what is MoviePass hoping to do with your eyeballs?
All this and much more is discussed in the latest … Continue reading Smashing Security podcast #262: Macro progress, eyeball-tracking ads, and encryption backdoors
Two US senators claim that the CIA has been running an unregulated — and almost certainly illegal — mass surveillance program on Americans.
The senator’s statement. Some declassified information from the CIA.
No real details yet.
Continue reading Secret CIA Data Collection Program
Some data belonging to Americans was swept up in a secret CIA mass surveillance program that operated under atypical legal authority for such an operation, according to a letter released Thursday night by two Democratic members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The unnamed program operates “entirely outside the statutory framework that Congress and the public believe govern this collection, and without any of the judicial, congressional or even executive branch oversight” that otherwise would apply, according to the letter from Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M. The senators said the “secret bulk collection program” was authorized under presidential Executive Order 12333 from the early 1980s, which covers some activities of U.S. intelligence agencies. Many of the intelligence community’s surveillance programs are covered under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which involves a special court that secretly reviews requests for spying. The information released by the senators does not […]
The post CIA ‘secret bulk collection program’ picked up some Americans’ data, senators reveal appeared first on CyberScoop.
Senators have reintroduced the EARN IT Act, requiring social media companies (among others) to administer a massive surveillance operation on their users:
A group of lawmakers led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have re-introduced the EARN IT Act, an incredibly unpopular bill from 2020 that was dropped in the face of overwhelming opposition. Let’s be clear: the new EARN IT Act would pave the way for a massive new surveillance system, run by private companies, that would roll back some of the most important privacy and security features in technology used by people around the globe. It’s a framework for private actors to scan every message sent online and report violations to law enforcement. And it might not stop there. The EARN IT Act could ensure that anything hosted online — backups, websites, cloud photos, and more — is scanned…
Surveillance today is narrowly defined as “continuous observation of a place, person, group, or ongoing activity in order to gather information,” especially when the subject is a suspect or criminal. Under this definition, surveillance systems tend to … Continue reading AI technology is redefining surveillance
Surveillance today is narrowly defined as “continuous observation of a place, person, group, or ongoing activity in order to gather information,” especially when the subject is a suspect or criminal. Under this definition, surveillance systems tend to … Continue reading AI technology is redefining surveillance
Urban surveillance and public safety technologies are finding new use cases following the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing AI capabilities. COVID-19 has spurred the use of technologies, such as crowd monitoring, which are here to stay. ABI Research for… Continue reading AI to greatly enhance urban surveillance technologies
China is mandating that athletes download and use a health and travel app when they attend the Winter Olympics next month. Citizen Lab examined the app and found it riddled with security holes.
Key Findings:
- MY2022, an app mandated for use by all attendees of the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, has a simple but devastating flaw where encryption protecting users’ voice audio and file transfers can be trivially sidestepped. Health customs forms which transmit passport details, demographic information, and medical and travel history are also vulnerable. Server responses can also be spoofed, allowing an attacker to display fake instructions to users.
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Last summer, the San Francisco police illegally used surveillance cameras at the George Floyd protests. The EFF is suing the police:
This surveillance invaded the privacy of protesters, targeted people of color, and chills and deters participation and organizing for future protests. The SFPD also violated San Francisco’s new Surveillance Technology Ordinance. It prohibits city agencies like the SFPD from acquiring, borrowing, or using surveillance technology, without prior approval from the city’s Board of Supervisors, following an open process that includes public participation. Here, the SFPD went through no such process before spying on protesters with this network of surveillance cameras…
Continue reading San Francisco Police Illegally Spying on Protesters