For years, the Department of Homeland Security has run a virtually unknown program gathering domestic intelligence, one of many revelations in a wide-ranging tranche of internal documents reviewed by POLITICO.
DHS has a program gathering domestic intelligence — and virtually no one knows about it
Tag: Privacy
Twitter puts free speech and transparency at risk if it fails to publish government takedown requests
For the past decade, Twitter has published biannual reports detailing takedown requests and legal demands the company received, including from governments around the world, as well as Twitter’s responses to those requests.
However, according to an update yesterday in Rolling Stone, Twitter failed to publish its most recent transparency report and has yet to respond to media requests about the oversight.
Twitter puts free speech and transparency at risk if it fails to publish government takedown requests
A federal judge accused Facebook of ‘gaslighting’ users impacted by data breaches and fined the site and its lawyers nearly $1 million
While Facebook’s parent company, Meta, agreed in December to pay $725 million to settle the Cambridge Analytica privacy lawsuit, a judge on Thursday decided that wasn’t quite enough to ensure the social media giant had learned its lesson for sharing user data without permission.
A federal judge accused Facebook of ‘gaslighting’ users impacted by data breaches and fined the site and its lawyers nearly $1 million
H/T: Steve Lehto
Privacy nightmare: FTC claims Drug Discount App GoodRx was leaked user data to Facebook and Google
FTC alleges that GoodRx, a drug discount site, has sold user data to Facebook. The Masters of the Universe are known for their insatiable desire for all personal information, but medical data is especially valuable for advertising purposes and in other ventures.
Privacy nightmare: FTC claims Drug Discount App GoodRx was leaked user data to Facebook and Google
H/T: Steve Lehto
This is disturbing because it means that the pharmacies are giving people’s information to GoodRX! You don’t have to enter your personal information on the GoodRX site (unless they’re using information from cookies)—you just print out the discount coupon to give to your pharmacist! The pharmacies should be penalized, as well!
[2019] US military begins testing flying surveillance balloons across the country to TRACK people’s movements
The tests were carried out by U.S. Southern Command, or Southcom, which is part of the Department of Defense and is responsible for intelligence operations, security cooperation and disaster response in Central and South America. It’s a joint effort by the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Army and other forces whose main task is finding and intercepting drug shipments that are destined for the U.S. According to the Guardian, as many as 25 unmanned solar powered balloons were launched from rural South Dakota and made their way 250 miles across the neighboring states in tests.
Related:
Stratollites can maintain position over specific areas of interest for days, weeks, and eventually months on end. This allows for more sustained measurements and monitoring capabilities over a targeted area. Stratollites can carry a wide variety of commercial payloads (sensors, telescopes, communications arrays, etc.), launch rapidly on demand, and safely return payloads back to earth after mission completion.
Some interesting ‘coincidences’:
Read More »More Mass Surveillance: FOIA Docs Reveal Illegal Snooping On US Residents’ Financial Transactions
If it can conceivably be considered a “third party record,” the government is going to seek warrantless access to it. The Third Party Doctrine — ushered into existence by the Supreme Court in 1979 — says there’s no expectation of privacy in information shared with third parties. That case dealt with phone records. People may prefer the government stay out of their personal conversations, but the Smith v. Maryland ruling said that if people shared this info with phone companies (an involuntary “sharing” since this information was needed to connect calls and bill phone users), the government could obtain this information without a warrant.
More Mass Surveillance: FOIA Docs Reveal Illegal Snooping On US Residents’ Financial Transactions
NYPD commissioner reveals plans for smartphone app, new cameras
NYPD commissioner reveals plans for smartphone app, new cameras
“Between its use of spying drones, rampant facial recognition technology, and other invasive policing tactics, we’ve seen time and time again that the NYPD cannot police itself,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. “As it looks to deploy new apps to officer and civilian phones, the Department needs to be transparent about its plan for these technologies and how they will store and protect New Yorkers’ data — ensuring that this rollout complies with the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act. To truly uphold New Yorkers’ privacy and safety, any technology adopted by the NYPD must be subject to public scrutiny and review,” she said in a statement.
Josh Hawley Wants In On The TikTok Moral Panic Attention, Proposes Nationwide Ban
Insurrectionist sprinter Josh Hawley has joined the growing chorus of GOP politicians who’ve spent years doing jack shit about U.S. consumer privacy abuses, and now want to pretend that banning a single app — TikTok — will protect American consumers from a problem they themselves created.
Josh Hawley Wants In On The TikTok Moral Panic Attention, Proposes Nationwide Ban
U.S. Press Starts To Figure Out College TikTok Bans Are A Dumb Performance
U.S. Press Starts To Figure Out College TikTok Bans Are A Dumb Performance
One, the bans are generally designed to agitate a xenophobic base and give the impression the GOP is “doing something about China.” But the party that couldn’t care less about rampant corruption or privacy violations isn’t doing much of anything meaningful to thwart China. In fact, letting adtech, telecom, and app companies run rampant with little oversight runs contrary to any such goal.
Two, the bans distract the public and press from our ongoing failure on consumer privacy and security issues. Banning TikTok, but doing nothing about the accountability optional free for all that is the adtech and data-hoovering space, doesn’t actually fix anything. China can just obtain the same data from a universe of other international companies facing little real oversight on data collection.
Three, the ban is really just about money. Trump gave the game away with his proposal that TikTok be chopped up and sold to Oracle and Walmart. That cronyistic deal fell through, but it’s pretty clear that this moral panic is designed to either help TikTok’s competitors (Facebook lobbyists are very active on this front), or force the sale of the most popular app in modern history to GOP-allies. At which point they’ll engage in all the surveillance and influence efforts they pretend to be mad about.
Related:
Read More »NYPD Use 9/11 Terror Law To Pursue A Suspect Overseas
Abdullah el-Faisal is the first person to face trial under state laws passed after Sept. 11. But he was not in the city when the offenses he is accused of took place.
NYPD Use 9/11 Terror Law To Pursue A Suspect Overseas
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