Hacker News with Generative AI: Government Surveillance

Finding Things the Government Might Know About You (nytimes.com)
Two reporters spent over a month compiling and analyzing information about the reams of data the U.S. government collects about Americans.
Privacy, Government Surveillance, Data Collection, Journalism
50 points by anticorporate 12 hours ago | 15 comments
Staying Private When the Government Doesn't Want You to Be (tenbyte.org)
The government has always tried to extract every last drop of information from you. However, Given the Trump administration's extensive track record of shrugging off privacy concerns and trampling civil liberties, it's safe to say the next 4 years will likely see digital freedoms squeezed way harder than ever before.
Privacy, Government Surveillance, Civil Liberties, Politics
10 points by ShrootBuck 7 days ago | 1 comments
U.S. says it is now monitoring immigrants' social media for antisemitism (npr.org)
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced it will begin screening immigrants' social media for evidence of antisemitic activity as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests.
Immigration, Social Media, Antisemitism, Government Surveillance
16 points by spdgg 17 days ago | 2 comments
UK's demand for Apple backdoor should not be heard in secret, says court (techcrunch.com)
The U.K. government has lost its bid to keep secret the details of a surveillance order it brought against Apple, according to a newly released decision by the U.K. surveillance powers’ court.
Privacy, Government Surveillance, Law, Apple, Technology
10 points by Corrado 18 days ago | 1 comments
Concerns over Potential Government Misuse of App Store Data Centers (mastodon.social)
Privacy, Government Surveillance, Data Centers, App Stores
5 points by LeoPanthera 30 days ago | 0 comments
CIA Director Reveals Signal Comes Installed on Agency Computers (theintercept.com)
For years, U.S. officials villainized end-to-end encrypted messaging apps like Signal as the domain of criminals and terrorists and a threat to national security.
National Security, Government Surveillance, Cybersecurity, Messaging Apps, Encryption
117 points by jbegley 31 days ago | 99 comments
More Countries Are Demanding Back-Doors to Encrypted Apps (schneier.com)
Last month I wrote about the UK forcing Apple to break its Advanced Data Protection encryption in iCloud. More recently, both Sweden and France are contemplating mandating back doors. Both initiatives are attempting to scare people into supporting back doors, which are—of course—are terrible idea.
Privacy, Cybersecurity, Encryption, Government Surveillance
8 points by Sami_Lehtinen 33 days ago | 0 comments
UK petition to keep Apple data encrypted (38degrees.org.uk)
Stop the Home Office from putting our security at risk by demanding a backdoor into Apple's encrypted services.
Privacy, Encryption, Government Surveillance, Apple
53 points by latexr 46 days ago | 17 comments
Uncle Sam mulls policing social media of all would-be citizens (theregister.com)
The US government's Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) is considering monitoring not just the social media posts of non-citizens coming into the country, but also all those already in America going through an immigration or citizenship process.
Immigration, Government Surveillance, Social Media
10 points by pseudolus 50 days ago | 0 comments
Uncle Sam mulls policing social media of would-be citizens (theregister.com)
The US government's Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) is considering monitoring not just the social media posts of non-citizens coming into the country, but also those already in America going through an immigration or citizenship process.
Immigration, Government Surveillance, Social Media
7 points by rntn 51 days ago | 0 comments
US authorities can see more than ever, with Big Tech as their eyes (proton.me)
Imagine a government that knows what you do each day — the people you talk to, the news you read, the places you go. You might think of North Korea or a similar totalitarian regime.
Privacy, Government Surveillance, Big Tech, Technology
224 points by jethronethro 57 days ago | 121 comments
US Intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard will fight 'egregious' Apple back-door order (msn.com)
New U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has called a U.K. order that Apple break the encrypted storage it offers customers worldwide an “egregious” violation of American rights and said it could violate a law easing cooperation between the countries in investigations.
Encryption, Government Surveillance, Privacy, United States, United Kingdom
10 points by CodeWriter23 59 days ago | 2 comments
Apple pulls data protection tool after UK government security row (bbc.com)
Apple is taking the unprecedented step of removing its highest level data security tool from customers in the UK, after the government demanded access to user data.
Privacy, Government Surveillance, Apple, UK, Security
1770 points by helsinkiandrew 64 days ago | 1068 comments
ICE wants to know if you're posting negative things about it online (theintercept.com)
Amid anger and protest over the Trump administration’s plan to deport millions of immigrants, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to monitor and locate “negative” social media discussion about the agency and its top officials, according to contract documents reviewed by The Intercept.
Immigration, Government Surveillance, Social Media, Law Enforcement
235 points by belter 71 days ago | 130 comments
MI5 lied to courts to protect violent neo-Nazi spy (bbc.com)
MI5 lied to three courts while defending its handling of a misogynistic neo-Nazi state agent who attacked his girlfriend with a machete, the BBC can reveal.
Government Surveillance, Law Enforcement, Politics, Extremism, Domestic Terrorism
10 points by croes 73 days ago | 2 comments
Apple's Best Option: Decentralize iCloud (mnot.net)
As has been widely reported, the government of the United Kingdom has secretly ordered Apple to build a back door into iCloud to allow ‘blanket capability to view fully encrypted material.’
Privacy, Apple, iCloud, Government Surveillance
109 points by ingve 75 days ago | 127 comments
The UK's Demands for Apple to Break Encryption Is an Emergency for Us All (eff.org)
The Washington Post reported that the United Kingdom is demanding that Apple create an encryption backdoor to give the government access to end-to-end encrypted data in iCloud.
Privacy, Encryption, Government Surveillance, Apple, United Kingdom
22 points by mdp2021 77 days ago | 3 comments
U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users' encrypted accounts (msn.com)
Privacy, Government Surveillance, Apple, Encryption, United Kingdom
10 points by pseudolus 78 days ago | 1 comments
UK government reportedly demands Apple backdoor to encrypted cloud data (techcrunch.com)
Government officials in the United Kingdom have reportedly secretly ordered Apple to build a backdoor that would give its authorities access to users’ encrypted iCloud data.
Government Surveillance, Data Privacy, Apple, Encryption
13 points by LorenDB 78 days ago | 1 comments
Spyware maker Paragon confirms U.S. government is a customer (techcrunch.com)
Israeli spyware maker Paragon Solutions confirmed to TechCrunch that it sells its products to the U.S. government and other unspecified allied countries.
Government Surveillance, Cybersecurity, Israel, Software
20 points by pulisse 81 days ago | 1 comments
Cointelpro (wikipedia.org)
COINTELPRO (a syllabic abbreviation derived from Counter Intelligence Program) was a series of covert and illegal[1][2] projects conducted between 1956 and 1971 by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting American political organizations that the FBI perceived as subversive.[3][4][5][6]
Government Surveillance, FBI, History, US Politics
91 points by georgecmu 86 days ago | 22 comments
Big brother becomes little brother (kenklippenstein.com)
Envious of the power and wealth of corporate America, the head of U.S. intelligence has issued a new directive calling on the spy agencies to “routinize”  and “expand” their partnerships with private companies.
Government Surveillance, Corporations, Privacy, Technology
40 points by anigbrowl 88 days ago | 15 comments
Court Says Feds Must Obtain Warrant to Search FISA Spy Databases (gizmodo.com)
One of the government’s most controversial warrantless spying practices does, in fact, require a warrant, according to a new federal court ruling.
Government Surveillance, Privacy, Legal, Warrants
6 points by rntn 93 days ago | 1 comments
Government Monitoring Those with "Negative" Views of Health Insurance Companies (kenklippenstein.com)
If you expressed “negative sentiment” toward insurance companies on social media following the murder of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO last month, the government was watching.
Government Surveillance, Health Insurance, Social Media, UnitedHealthcare
18 points by pessimizer 97 days ago | 6 comments
Hackers Claim Breach of Location Data Giant, Threaten to Leak Data (404media.co)
Hackers claim to have compromised Gravy Analytics, the parent company of Venntel which has sold masses of smartphone location data to the U.S. government.  The hackers said they have stolen a massive amount of data, including customer lists, information on the broader industry, and even location data harvested from smartphones which show peoples’ precise movements, and they are threatening to publish the data publicly.
Data Breaches, Privacy, Government Surveillance, Cybersecurity
43 points by anarbadalov 109 days ago | 21 comments
Return to NSA's Menwith Hill with 60 Minutes (2000) (cryptome.org)
The trip to Menwith Hill was on the spur of the moment. I mentioned to 60 Minutes producer Peter Klein: have passport will travel, I just do not have the funds. Next thing I knew Trisha Sorrels from 60 Minutes was e-mailing me asking if I would go and that they would pay for the trip, wow.
Government Surveillance, Journalism, United Kingdom, Military
6 points by robtherobber 123 days ago | 0 comments
Was the US Telecom Breach Inevitable, Proving Backdoors Can't Be Secure? (theintercept.com)
Hackers have gained sweeping access to U.S. text messages and phone calls — and in response, the FBI is falling back on the same warmed-over, bad advice about encryption that it has trotted out for years.
Cybersecurity, Government Surveillance, Privacy, Technology, Encryption
20 points by m463 132 days ago | 0 comments
FBI Official Reluctantly Touts Encryption Due to Chinese Hack of US Telecoms (techdirt.com)
Thanks to government-mandated backdoors in US telecom/broadband services, the FBI — at least in the form of an official who refused to identify themself — has had to recommend (albeit extremely half-heartedly) that encrypted communications are perhaps the only thing keeping phone owners from being actively surveilled by Chinese hackers.
Cybersecurity, Encryption, Government Surveillance, China
12 points by hn_acker 136 days ago | 2 comments
Trump DOJ obtained phone, text logs of 43 staff, 2 members of Congress (nbcnews.com)
Seeking to investigate leaks of classified information, the Trump Justice Department in 2017 and 2018 secretly obtained phone and text message logs of 43 congressional staffers and two members of Congress in a far broader probe than previously known, according to a new report by the department’s internal watchdog.
Politics, Government Surveillance, Law Enforcement, Journalism, Congress
6 points by ceejayoz 137 days ago | 0 comments
Chinese insiders steal data scooped by President Xi's national surveillance sys (theregister.com)
Feature Chinese tech company employees and government workers are siphoning off user data and selling it online - and even high-ranking Chinese Communist Party officials and FBI-wanted hackers' sensitive information is being peddled by the Middle Kingdom's thriving illegal data ecosystem.
Cybersecurity, China, Data Privacy, Government Surveillance
6 points by rntn 139 days ago | 1 comments