Senator Warner’s RESTRICT Act Is Designed To Create The Great Firewall Of America

from the we-become-what-we-fear dept

Thu, Mar 30th 2023 10:49am – Mike Masnick

Earlier this month, we wrote about Mark Warner’s RESTRICT Act, mainly in the context of how it appeared to be kneejerk legislating in response to the moral panic around TikTok.

Senator Warner’s RESTRICT Act Is Designed To Create The Great Firewall Of America

America with Chinese Characteristics?! /sarcasm

EARN IT Act Will Make The Internet Worse For Everyone By Undermining Privacy And Security

To save the children, we must destroy everything. That’s the reality of the EARN IT Act. I mean, you can get some sort of sense of what you’re in store for just by reading the actual words behind the extremely labored acronym: Eliminating Abuse and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act. Whew. It’s a mouthful. And, given the name, it seems like this would be Congress putting funding towards supporting moderation efforts that target abusive content.

EARN IT Act Will Make The Internet Worse For Everyone By Undermining Privacy And Security

Related:

[2020] The EARN IT Act Violates the Constitution

The FBI and Zero-Click

During the Trump administration, the FBI paid $5 million to an Israeli software company for a license to use its “zero-click” surveillance software called Pegasus. Zero-click refers to software that can download the contents of a target’s computer or mobile device without the need for tricking the target into clicking on it. The FBI operated the software from a warehouse in New Jersey.

The FBI and Zero-Click

Related:

NSO Group Pitched Phone Hacking Tech to American Police

A former NSO employee told Motherboard that Phantom was “a brand name for U.S. territory,” but the “same Pegasus,” referring to NSO’s phone hacking tool that the company has sold to multiple countries including the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia for millions of dollars. Infamously, Saudi Arabia used the software to surveil associates of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Motherboard granted the source anonymity to protect them from retaliation from NSO

A tiny company with a UPS Store address could help the government get around browser security

A report from The Washington Post has raised doubts about a root certificate authority used by Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and other tech companies with ties to US intelligence. The company in question, called TrustCor, works as a root certificate authority to validate the trustworthiness of websites — and while the report found no concrete evidence of wrongdoing, it raised significant questions about the company’s trustworthiness.

A tiny company with a UPS Store address could help the government get around browser security

Related:

[04-27-2021] Shadowy DARPA-Linked Company Took Over ‘Chunk’ Of Pentagon’s Internet

Data Privacy Matters: Facebook Expands Encryption Just After Facebook Messages (Obtained Via Search Warrant) Used To Charge Teen For Abortion

Fri, Aug 12th 2022 12:09pm – Mike Masnick

In the wake of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, there has been plenty of attention paid to the kinds of data that companies keep on us, and how they could be exposed, including to law enforcement. Many internet companies seemed somewhat taken by surprise regarding all of this, which is a bit ridiculous, given that (1) they had plenty of time to prepare for this sort of thing, and (2) it’s not like plenty of us haven’t been warning companies about the privacy problems of having too much data.

Data Privacy Matters: Facebook Expands Encryption Just After Facebook Messages (Obtained Via Search Warrant) Used To Charge Teen For Abortion

Nebraska Mother, Daughter Face Abortion Charges After Facebook Shares Chats With Police

Digital rights advocates on Tuesday said an abortion case in Nebraska illustrates how powerful tech companies like Facebook could play a major role in prosecutions of people who self-manage abortions as more states ban the procedure, and called on the social media platform to reform its privacy policies to protect users.

Nebraska Mother, Daughter Face Abortion Charges After Facebook Shares Chats With Police