Facebook user says she's being spied on and sent adverts for things she talks about

6.1.19  A journalist believes the social media giant may be spying on her after two adverts popped up for random items she had just been chatting about.

Tyler Mears had been talking about some very unusual things - and the next day adverts appeared on her timeline.

Tensions ERUPT between USA and Germany over China spying fears

6.1.19  Pompeo issued the warning after meeting his German counterpart Heiko Maas in Berlin, which has so far stood with European partners in resisting USA calls to ban the state-owned manufacturer from 5G mobile networks now being built.

SFPD obtained warrant to launch secret surveillance against journalist in Adachi leak investigation

5.31.19  We are now learning the lengths to which San Francisco police went, trying to identify who leaked a report on the death of Public Defender Jeff Adachi.

The police department asked for permission and received it from a judge to launch secret surveillance against a journalist. His lawyers call it a "deeply disturbing attack on the free press.”

MiMedx announces overhaul of board after exec spying scandal 

5.30.19  The biotech was the subject of a recent internal investigation that revealed former executives had spied on employees to discredit whistleblowers, and the company's chief executive and chief operating officers resigned in July during an internal audit that found they and the company's former controller knew about revenue manipulation practices related to deals with its largest distributor. 

Tucker Carlson: The real reason Obama intel officials don't want you to know how they spied on Americans

5.30.19  Yes, American citizens were monitored electronically without their knowledge, but it wasn't spying. Of course, it wasn't "spying." It was "investigating." It was done for your own good. And if you don't like it, you're unpatriotic and possibly, mentally ill. That's Comey's position.

Uganda: UPDF Colonel Arrested Over Spying for Rwanda

5.29.19  Highly-placed sources last night said operatives from the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), the investigative wing of the Ugandan army, picked up Col Paul Muwonge on Wednesday, last week.

Col Muwonge, until his reported arrest, was the director of Intelligence for UPDF Land Forces, placing him in a critical position to receive and synthesise classified information shared by the army's five infantry divisions to inform decision-making in the highest circles of the military.

Private surveillance firm may be behind breach: WhatsApp

5.15.19  Facebook-owned WhatsApp said yesterday that a security breach on its messaging app had signs of coming from a private company working on surveillance and that it had referred the incident to the United States Department of Justice.

How 9/11 and China’s plan for blanket surveillance created a wave that CCTV camera makers Hikvision and Dahua rode to huge success

5.15.19  Hikvision and Dahua came under the spotlight when they were named in the US 2019 National Defence Authorisation Act, which banned federal agencies from purchasing cameras from the two companies on concerns that they pose a risk to national security. Both Hikvision and Dahua have said the ban is not expected to have a substantial impact on their business.

Federal judge in Maine appointed to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court

5.15.19  The court, established in 1978, considers applications submitted by the government for approval of electronic surveillance, physical searches, and other investigative actions for foreign intelligence purposes, according to information posted on its website. Most of the court’s work is conducted ex parte, without requiring all the parties to be present, as required by law, and due to the need to protect classified national security information.

Living in the panopticon: on mass surveillance 

5.14.19  In the past, surveillance was selective and targeted. India’s pre-Independence leaders were relentlessly followed by British intelligence. Little was missed of Subhas Chandra Bose’s time in Germany or Mahatma Gandhi’s in his ashrams. British agents filed detailed reports on Jawaharlal Nehru’s journeys and meetings through Europe.

Firm tied to WhatsApp spying previously flagged in SA

5.14.19  A 2018 report titled ‘Hide and Seek’ …which helped to uncover the recent WhatsApp breach, identified 45 countries — including South Africa and other African nations — with suspected Pegasus spyware infections.

Pegasus — a tool that can turn on a phone’s microphone and camera, allowing an attacker to monitor a target’s calls, emails and contacts — was developed by Israeli technology firm NSO Group, thought to be responsible for the surveillance software installed on an unknown number of smartphones using a loophole in WhatsApp’s security features.

Bosses of Colombia’s largest airlines heard over illegal spying on striking pilots

5.14.19  Colombia’s Prosecutor General’s Office on Monday announced that it had called executives of airliner Avianca for questioning over the illegal spying on its pilots’s labor union during a strike.

A day after the prosecution announced that its own personnel had been wiretapping pilots union ACDAC during a 2017 strike, chief prosecutor Humberto Martinez announced Avianca directors would be questioned.

None of the arrested suspects in the wiretapping scandal have wanted to say who ordered the illegal spying on the pilots, but according to Martinez “the country needs to know what the degree of corporate responsibility is.”

Was WhatsApp hack exploited by security services spying on Khashoggi?

5.14.19  Last year a Canadian-based dissident, Omar Abdulaziz, claimed his phone was tapped using spyware developed by the Israeli cyber surveillance firm NSO, which meant the Saudi authorities could have had access to hundreds of messages he exchanged with Mr Khashoggi about their opposition to the Saudi government.

Is the Amazon Echo Dot spying on your kids?

5.13.19  A bug in the privacy settings of Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition has led to a coalition of consumer and privacy groups filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against the company. The bug in the Amazon Alexa app prevented parents from deleting personal information shared by children.

Can the Bay Area Rein In the Surveillance Tools It Created?

5.13.19  Under a Surveillance and Community Safety Ordinance passed last year, new kinds of surveillance technology now must go through a public approval process before being deployed in Oakland. But an amendment proposed by Hofer and commission member Heather Patterson would also expressly prohibit city departments—and any public entities that have data-sharing agreements with the city—from using facial recognition technology, or the information captured through it. (The amendment doesn’t ban private use of this technology, however, so private landlords can deploy it in a residential or commercial building.) If the city’s Public Safety Committee approves the amendment this month, the City Council will vote on it in early June.

Indian Media Outlet Claims Pak Intel Spies on Citizens to Control Social Media

5.11.19  Over the last 18 months, a whole array of “journalists, activists, and government opponents — both at home and overseas — have faced intimidation or the threat of legal action for their online posts”; offenders face up to 14 years behind bars…

As part of the crackdown, a new enforcement arm to identify social media users accused of spreading “hate speech and violence” was created, a move that was endorsed by Pakistani authorities.

The NDTV cited a Facebook transparency report as saying that the social media giant restricted more content in Pakistan than in any other country in the first six months of 2018, in line with Islamabad’s requests to censor online activity.

Devin Nunes reacts to FBI director: 'Spying occurred, plain and simple’

5.7.19  "Spying occurred plain and simple to any normal American out there," Nunes told host Laura Ingraham. "I believe what the FBI director is trying to do is, his position only needs to be nonpartisan. He's there for 10 years, he's got eight years left. So I think what he's trying to do is trying to not to get in the headlines. Shame on the senators for trying to put the FBI director in the middle of this. Look, I wish they would just call 'spying' for what it is: 'Spying.'"

No secrets at home anymore now Amazon's Alexa is spying on us 

5.7.19  ”They are giving us false choices. We can have these devices and enjoy their functionality and how they enhance our lives without compromising our privacy," Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham, Republican, the bill's sponsor, told me. "Welcome to the age of surveillance capitalism."

Senators want answers on expiring NSA surveillance program

5.7.19  The program, first revealed by NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013, involves the bulk collection of telephony metadata, or telephone call records, to support U.S. foreign intelligence and counterterrorism investigations. The NSA used the program to sweep up and store billions of domestic phone call and text records onto agency servers before legislative reforms in 2015 limited its scope and pushed the record-retention responsibilities to private telecommunication service providers.

Shanghai district installs comprehensive surveillance system

5.7.19  The system, developed by Alibaba Group Holding, combines the internet of things, data analysis, cloud computing and automation to enforce public order, and for other purposes, said a representative of the Shanghai Pudong Smart City Research Institute.

Big Brother is watching: Perth trials facial recognition surveillance technology

5.7.19  The technology, already in use at Perth aiport, will be tested by the City of Perth as part of a new $1 million Smart Cities trial.

Starting later this month, the first Briefcam "smart" video surveillance cameras will be switched on in East Perth.

The cameras are able to match faces from live camera footage with any photos supplied by police in the search for perpetrators of criminal activity.

Pay Attention, Dems: Jim Jordan Drops A Huge Truth Bomb About 'Political Surveillance' 

5.8.19  "Bill Barr is following the law and what's his reward? Democrats are going to hold him in contempt," Jordan said. "I don't think today is about getting information. I don't think it's about getting the unredacted Mueller report. I don't think last week's hearing was actually about staff questioning the attorney general. I think it's, as my colleague said earlier, I think it's all about trying to destroy Bill Barr because Democrats are nervous he's going to get to the bottom of everything. He's going to get to the bottom of how and why this investigation started in the first place."

Lopez Obrador Launches Modern Surveillance Device in Hidalgo

5.8.19  Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador launched Hidalgo''s C51 Control, Command, Communications, Computing and Intelligence Center at his morning press conference held Wednesday in Zapotlan de Juarez.

It is the most modern and complete security device in Mexico and all of Latin America, according to the governor of Hidalgo, Omar Fayad, who explained its composition, from sophisticated surveillance cameras to airborne and satellite equipment of a very advanced technology, everything to try to fight crime and violence in that state, especially the fuel theft from pipelines.

Darwin rolls out CCP surveillance tech

5.9.19  Australia is preparing to debut its version of the Chinese regime’s high-tech system for monitoring and controlling its citizens. The launch, to take place in the northern city of Darwin, will include systems to monitor people’s activity via their cell phones.

The new system is based on monitoring programs in Shenzhen, China, where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is testing its Social Credit System. Officials on the Darwin council traveled to Shenzhen, according to NT News, to “have a chance to see exactly how their Smart Technology works prior to being fully rolled out.”

China surveillance for 'safer' society

5.7.19  Victor Gao, the vice-president of the Centre for China and Globalisation says people in China are monitored but the overall priority is "to make society safer and more stable".

There are more than 200 million surveillance cameras in China - more than four times the number in the United States.

Protests planned against microphone surveillance in French streets 

5.7.19  The first three sound sensors were to be installed this week in the Tarentaize district, as part of a pilot scheme, according to France Bleu radio station.

The mayor of the district, which has a high incidence of crime, says the idea is to make it easier for police to intervene quickly if suspect sounds such as gunfire or breaking glass are detected.

Although the sensors are not very visible, the company installing them asserts that nothing they detect will be recorded and insists that the intention is not to listen in on the public.

"The system cannot record conversations, or even hear them, it will only capture alert sounds," Sébastian Valla, the town official overseeing the project, recently told France Info radio.

He said alert sounds are then sent to the local police using a digital platform developed by a company called Serenicity.