Surveillance
Judicial Watch sued the State Department in federal court for information on its use of the CrowdTangle social media monitoring program to surveil journalists and former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
Read moreSurveillance
Ukraine Probes Trump Allies Amid Reports of Surveillance of Ambassador
Ukraine said Thursday it had launched an investigation into alleged illegal surveillance of former U.S. ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, who is now a key figure in President Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry.
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Germany’s Top Court Mulls Limits on Spy Agency’s Powers
Germany’s highest court is considering imposing stricter limits on the activities of the country’s foreign intelligence agency.
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Surveillance Dominates the CES Gadget Show
From the face scanner that will check in some attendees to the cameras-everywhere array of digital products, the CES gadget show is all-in on surveillance technology — whether it calls it that or not
Read moreCyber Spying
Ring LLC and its corporate parent Amazon.com sell defective home security video/microphone systems that are subject to hacking, and malicious hackers have used it to “invade the privacy of customers’ homes and terrorize unsuspecting occupants, many of whom are children,” a class action claims in federal court.
Read moreUAE Chat App ToTok Called a Government Spy Tool
A chat app that quickly became popular in the United Arab Emirates for communicating with friends and family is actually a spying tool used by the government to track its users, according to The New York Times.
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Surveillance Court Slams FBI Over Trump Campaign Warrants
The secretive federal court that authorized FBI investigators to wiretap a Trump campaign aide accused the agency Tuesday of intentionally misleading it to obtains warrants.
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‘Surveillance Capitalism’ Expert Takes on Tech Industry
A year ago, Shoshana Zuboff dropped an intellectual bomb on the technology industry. She hasn’t stood still since.
Read moreAustrian Court Strikes Down ‘Trojan Horse’ Surveillance Law
Austria’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday struck down parts of a law passed by the previous government which would have enabled authorities to read encrypted messages online using so-called “Trojan horse” software.
Read moreCrime Cameras
A trial court properly granted a New Orleans public defender’s request for maps and documents related to the locations of publicly visible crime cameras, a Louisiana appeals court ruled, finding that the city’s department of homeland security did not prove that the cameras aid in the prevention of terrorism or that the records are subject to an exemption.
Read moreCompanies Staying Mum on FBI Surveillance of Customers, Records Show
The FBI gave 126 companies permission to disclose details of warrantless demands for customer data, but only a handful have spoken up about the government’s use of the secretive surveillance tool, according to an analysis of newly released data.
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Human Rights Group Blasts Surveillance by Tech Giants
In a scathing report, Amnesty International said Thursday the business models of tech giants Facebook and Google, which make huge profits by gathering and selling data on people, are seriously undermining the privacy and human rights of billions of people.
Read moreEx-Twitter Worker in Saudi Spying Case Released on Bond
A former Twitter employee accused of helping Saudi Arabia spy on its critics will go home to his family in Seattle after a two-week saga in which four federal judges ordered him to be released from jail.
Read moreJudge Rules FBI Cannot Hide Use of Social Media Surveillance Tools
The FBI cannot hide whether it uses powerful surveillance tools to monitor the social media activity of millions of Americans and noncitizens, a federal judge ruled Monday.
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Internet Increasingly Used for Government Surveillance
Freedom House issued its annual report Tuesday, warning that social media is an increasingly dangerous tool for mass surveillance and manipulation of elections. Global internet freedom also declined for the ninth straight year, the nonpartisan, government-supported organization found.
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Are You on the Border? They’ve Got Their Eye on You
Law enforcement agencies on the Mexican border are using a broad array of surveillance technology, including gunshot detection, drones, license plate readers, facial recognition and artificial intelligence, according to a report released Wednesday.
Read moreFacial Recognition
A class action claims Lowe’s Home Center collects customers’ faceprints through security cameras and shares the data with a third party without customers’ consent, in violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, in Cook County Chancery Court.
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Monsanto Says Its ‘Watch Lists’ Are Not Illegal Surveillance
Lawyers hired by German chemical giant Bayer found no illegal activity in “watch lists” of hundreds of pro- and anti-pesticide figures kept by its subsidiary Monsanto, the firm said Thursday.
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