The agency’s espionage chief is looking for Russians displeased with the war in Ukraine
CIA Aims to Recruit Russians Unhappy With the War in Ukraine
Related (broken link):
US Increases Funding to Help Russians Access US State-Funded Media
Tag: Surveillance
Call of Duty is a Government Psyop: These Documents Prove It
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II has been available for less than three weeks, but it is already making waves. Breaking records, within ten days, the first-person military shooter video game earned more than $1 billion in revenue. Yet it has also been shrouded in controversy, not least because missions include assassinating an Iranian general clearly based on Qassem Soleimani, a statesman and military leader slain by the Trump administration in 2020, and a level where players must shoot “drug traffickers” attempting to cross the U.S./Mexico border.
Call of Duty is a Government Psyop: These Documents Prove It
Related:
Spies Infiltrate a Fantasy Realm of Online Games (behind a paywall)
Just some notes, for myself:
Read More »Bad News For The Internet: Congress Looking To Sneak In Dangerous ‘Save The Kids!’ Internet Bill Into Year-End Omnibus
Over the last week or so, I keep hearing about a big push among activists and lawmakers to try to get the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) into the year-end “must pass” omnibus bill. Earlier this week, one of the main parents pushing for the bill went on Jake Tapper’s show on CNN and stumped for it. And, the latest report from Axios confirms that lawmakers are looking to include it in the lameduck omnibus, or possibly the NDAA (despite it having absolutely nothing to do with defense spending).
Bad News For The Internet: Congress Looking To Sneak In Dangerous ‘Save The Kids!’ Internet Bill Into Year-End Omnibus
Related:
KOSA Would Let the Government Control What Young People See Online
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
Europe’s Watergate? The Pegasus spyware scandal keeps spreading
Revelations about alleged surveillance of journalists and politicians with spyware continue to surface in Europe, with four EU states accused of illegitimate snooping. Is it “Europe’s Watergate”?Would you like to browse the contents of a cellphone in the interest of national security? If you have millions of dollars and are a government agency, you could try approaching the NSO Group, an Israeli company that has sold its Pegasus spyware to scrupulous governments worldwide, and its products in 14 EU states, according to the European Parliament.
Europe’s Watergate? The Pegasus spyware scandal keeps spreading
Revealed: The Former Israeli Spies Working In Top Jobs At Google, Facebook And Microsoft
A MintPress study has found that hundreds of former agents of the notorious Israeli spying organization, Unit 8200, have attained positions of influence in many of the world’s biggest tech companies, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon.
Revealed: The Former Israeli Spies Working In Top Jobs At Google, Facebook And Microsoft
H/T: Alan MacLeod on the Former Israeli Spies in Top Social Media Jobs
Yet Another Study Shows Apple’s Hyped Privacy Standards Are Often Empty Theater
For the last few years Apple has worked overtime trying to market itself as a more privacy-focused company. 40-foot billboards of the iPhone with the slogan “Privacy. That’s iPhone” have been a key part of company marketing for years. The only problem: researchers keep highlighting how a lot of Apple’s well-hyped privacy changes are performative in nature.
Yet Another Study Shows Apple’s Hyped Privacy Standards Are Often Empty Theater
Pentagon, NATO expand military dominance in Africa
Tunisia, Mauritania and Algeria have been members of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue military partnership since 1994. No sooner did the Soviet Union dissolve in 1991 than the U.S. moved to expand NATO globally, including forging individual partnerships with the fifteen new nations emerging from the former USSR, three of whom (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) were brought into NATO in 2004.
Pentagon, NATO expand military dominance in Africa
Chad and Niger have hosted multinational military forces from several NATO nations in recent years; Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria are increasingly participating in Africa Command/NATO exercises, including Senegal in the 2021 (last held) U.S./NATO Sea Breeze war games in Ukraine and the Black Sea. Libya was bombed by NATO for over six months in 2011 and immediately afterward was touted as a prospective member of the Mediterranean Dialogue. It’s now effectively under military occupation by NATO powerhouse Turkey.
U.S. Africa Command and NATO, essentially coterminous, have effected the military integration of most all nations on the continent under mechanisms such as the African Standby Force and the Africa Partnership Station and regular military exercises like African Lion, Operation Flintlock, Obangame Express and Phoenix Express. The NATO Response Force was inaugurated in 2006 with massive military drills in the African nation of Cabo Verde.
TRUTH COPS: Leaked Documents Outline DHS’s Plans to Police Disinformation
THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY is quietly broadening its efforts to curb speech it considers dangerous, an investigation by The Intercept has found. Years of internal DHS memos, emails, and documents — obtained via leaks, Freedom of Information Act requests, and an ongoing lawsuit, as well as public reports — illustrate an expansive effort by the agency to influence tech platforms.
TRUTH COPS: Leaked Documents Outline DHS’s Plans to Police Disinformation
Related:
Disrupt The Cognitive Infrastructure
H/T: Unorthodox Truth
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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