Hacker News with Generative AI: Surveillance

SignalGate: A Surveillance Arms Race Has Poked Gaping Hole in National Security (foreignaffairs.com)
In the weeks since the explosive revelation that top U.S. officials inadvertently shared attack plans in Yemen with a journalist on a Signal group chat, fresh questions about the Trump administration’s lax approach to digital security have continued to emerge.
National Security, Surveillance, Politics, Government
27 points by gnabgib 1 day ago | 3 comments
Issue Spotlight: The rise of surveillance pricing [pdf] (ftc.gov)
Surveillance, Pricing, Privacy, Government, Consumer Protection
6 points by 1vuio0pswjnm7 2 days ago | 0 comments
Vizio Shows What Happens When U.S. Fascism and TV Enshittification Meet (techdirt.com)
We’ve noted for years how the “smart” TV sector is at the forefront of enshittification. It’s a sector full of companies that have doubled down on annoying ads and surveillance to the detriment of the customer. And while absolutely fixated on monetizing consumer surveillance data, it routinely fails to put anywhere close to the same attention on consumer privacy, resulting in a lot of scandal.
Politics, Consumer Rights, Privacy, Television, Surveillance
11 points by type0 3 days ago | 1 comments
Zersetzung (wikipedia.org)
Zersetzung (pronounced [t͡sɛɐ̯ˈzɛt͡sʊŋ] ⓘ, German for "decomposition" and "disruption") was a psychological warfare technique used by the Ministry for State Security (Stasi) to repress political opponents in East Germany during the 1970s and 1980s.
Cold War, East Germany, Surveillance, Psychology, History
20 points by walterbell 4 days ago | 0 comments
PaulG on building the infrastructure of the police state (twitter.com)
Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot.
Police State, Surveillance, Technology, Social Commentary
39 points by pmcjones 4 days ago | 26 comments
Official abuse of state security has always been bad, now it's horrifying (theregister.com)
Official abuse of state security has always been bad, now it's horrifying
Security, Government, Politics, Surveillance
96 points by pseudolus 5 days ago | 10 comments
Palantir exec defends company's immigration surveillance work (techcrunch.com)
One of the founders of startup accelerator Y Combinator offered unsparing criticism this weekend of the controversial data analytics company Palantir, leading a company executive to offer an extensive defense of Palantir’s work.
Data Analytics, Surveillance, Immigration, Business
10 points by breadwinner 5 days ago | 3 comments
Doge Is Building a Master Database to Surveil and Track Immigrants (wired.com)
Operatives from Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are building a master database at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that could track and surveil undocumented immigrants, two sources with direct knowledge tell WIRED.
Privacy, Immigration, Surveillance, Government, Technology
18 points by throw0101d 7 days ago | 4 comments
ICE Is Paying Palantir $30M to Build 'ImmigrationOS' Surveillance Platform (wired.com)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is paying software company Palantir $30 million to provide the agency with “near real-time visibility” on people self-deporting from the United States, according to a contract justification published in a federal register on Thursday.
Immigration, Surveillance, Government Contracts, Technology
33 points by yurivish 7 days ago | 2 comments
How Americans Are Surveilled During Protests (wired.com)
There have been a number of protests in the past few months pushing back against President Trump’s most recent policy changes, and we're likely to see more.
Surveillance, Protests, United States, Politics, Technology
19 points by nickthegreek 8 days ago | 1 comments
This 'College Protester' Isn't Real. It's an AI-Powered Undercover Bot for Cops (wired.com)
American police departments near the United States-Mexico border are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for an unproven and secretive technology that uses AI-generated online personas designed to interact with and collect intelligence on “college protesters,” “radicalized” political activists, and suspected drug and human traffickers, according to internal documents, contracts, and communications that 404 Media obtained via public records requests.
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance, Law Enforcement, Political Activism
235 points by colinprince 9 days ago | 227 comments
ICE Hands Palantir Millions for Comprehensive Analysis of Known Groups (404media.co)
Last week Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) paid contracting giant Palantir tens of millions of dollars to make modifications to a powerful ICE database and search tool to allow “complete target analysis of known populations” and to update the tool’s targeting and enforcement priorities, according to procurement records reviewed by 404 Media.
Government Contracts, Surveillance, Immigration, Data Analysis
19 points by bentobean 10 days ago | 4 comments
Official abuse of state security has always been bad, now it's horrifying (theregister.com)
Official abuse of state security has always been bad, now it's horrifying
Politics, Security, Surveillance
37 points by shaftoe444 10 days ago | 2 comments
Company's Surveillance Tech Makes Immigrants 'Easy Pickings' (nytimes.com)
Geo Group, a private prison firm that makes digital tools to track immigrants, becomes one of the Trump administration’s big business winners as its tech is increasingly used in deportations.
Surveillance, Immigration, Technology, Government, Private Prisons
12 points by agiacalone 10 days ago | 1 comments
Company's Surveillance Tech Makes Immigrants 'Easy Pickings' for Trump (nytimes.com)
Geo Group, a private prison firm that makes digital tools to track immigrants, becomes one of the Trump administration’s big business winners as its tech is increasingly used in deportations.
Immigration, Surveillance, Politics, Technology, Business
8 points by ripe 12 days ago | 1 comments
Company's Surveillance Tech Makes Immigrants 'Easy Pickings' for Trump (nytimes.com)
Geo Group, a private prison firm that makes digital tools to track immigrants, becomes one of the Trump administration’s big business winners as its tech is increasingly used in deportations.
Surveillance, Immigration, Politics, Technology, Business
16 points by perihelions 12 days ago | 1 comments
Locating Stealth Fighters with Cheap Cameras Without Using AI or Radar [video] (youtube.com)
Military Technology, Surveillance, Photography, Open Source, Innovation
60 points by jryb 16 days ago | 56 comments
Trump Wants to Merge Government Data. Here Are Things It Might Know About You (nytimes.com)
The federal government knows your mother’s maiden name and your bank account number. The student debt you hold. Your disability status. The company that employs you and the wages you earn there. And that’s just a start.
Politics, Data Privacy, Government, Surveillance
8 points by instagib 16 days ago | 1 comments
Court document reveals locations of WhatsApp victims targeted by NSO spyware (techcrunch.com)
NSO Group’s notorious spyware Pegasus was used to target 1,223 WhatsApp users in 51 different countries during a 2019 hacking campaign, according to a new court document.
Cybersecurity, Privacy, WhatsApp, NSO Group, Surveillance
15 points by jbegley 17 days ago | 0 comments
Congressional hearing reveals deep concerns about federal surveillance practices (biometricupdate.com)
America’s surveillance architecture has grown from an opaque counterterrorism framework into a complex and far-reaching system with deep implications for civil liberties.
Government, Surveillance, Privacy, Civil Liberties
4 points by giuliomagnifico 17 days ago | 0 comments
Russian Authorities Returned Device with Monokle-Type Spyware Installed (citizenlab.ca)
This joint investigation with First Department, a legal assistance organization, found spyware covertly implanted on a phone returned to a Russian programmer accused of sending money to Ukraine after he was released from custody.
Cybersecurity, Surveillance, Russia, Human Rights
8 points by janandonly 17 days ago | 0 comments
UK creating 'murder prediction' tool to identify people most likely to kill (theguardian.com)
The UK government is developing a “murder prediction” programme which it hopes can use personal data of those known to the authorities to identify the people most likely to become killers.
Crime, AI, Surveillance, UK, Government
18 points by jhunter1016 17 days ago | 8 comments
Agenda Behind the Facial Recognition Tech Used by ICE and the FBI Revealed (motherjones.com)
One evening in March 2017, Hoan Ton-That, an Australian coder building a powerful facial recognition system, emailed his American business partners with a plan to deploy their fledgling technology. “Border patrol pitch,” the subject line read. He hoped to persuade the federal government to integrate their product with border surveillance cameras so that their newly formed company, later named Clearview AI, could use “face detection” on immigrants entering the United States.
Facial Recognition, Privacy, Surveillance, Government, Technology
158 points by miles 19 days ago | 57 comments
Wary of US Surveillance? Try These European Alternatives to Big Tech (proton.me)
How we use the internet is largely shaped by a handful of US-based tech giants — Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta in particular. While they may make life more convenient, that convenience comes at a cost: your privacy. Their apps collect vast amounts of personal data, using it to refine algorithms, target ads, and — when required — even share that data with governments and law enforcement.
Privacy, Surveillance, Big Tech, Europe, Alternatives
36 points by dxs 21 days ago | 14 comments
Sneaky Android spyware needs a password to uninstall (techcrunch.com)
Consumer-grade phone surveillance apps aren’t only intended to stay stealthy; some of these apps are also making it increasingly difficult to remove them.
Android, Security, Surveillance, Malware
4 points by nobody9999 22 days ago | 0 comments
Unmarked Vans. Secret Lists. Public Denunciations. Our Police State Has Arrived (nytimes.com)
“It’s the unmarked cars,” a friend who grew up under an Argentine dictatorship said. He had watched the video of the Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil’s abduction. In the video, which Khalil’s wife recorded, she asks for the names of the men in plainclothes who handcuffed her husband.
Police Brutality, Surveillance, Civil Liberties, Human Rights, Journalism
40 points by tastyface 23 days ago | 7 comments
Unmarked Vans. Secret Lists. Public Denunciations. Our Police State Has Arrived (nytimes.com)
“It’s the unmarked cars,” a friend who grew up under an Argentine dictatorship said. He had watched the video of the Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil’s abduction. In the video, which Khalil’s wife recorded, she asks for the names of the men in plainclothes who handcuffed her husband.
Police Brutality, Surveillance, Civil Liberties, Argentina
15 points by quantified 24 days ago | 2 comments
'Please leave feedback': how constant online reviews are changing our brains (theguardian.com)
We live under mutual surveillance, asked to leave public ratings for every purchase, meal, taxi ride or hair appointment. What is it doing to us?
Online Reviews, Psychology, Consumer Behavior, Surveillance
12 points by sandebert 25 days ago | 6 comments
Privacy died last century, the only way to go is off-grid (theregister.com)
From smartphones to surveillance cameras to security snafus, there's no escape
Privacy, Surveillance, Security, Technology
24 points by LorenDB 26 days ago | 4 comments
Trump Admin Spies on Social Media of Student Visa Holders (kenklippenstein.com)
The Trump administration is requiring that foreign students studying in, or seeking to study in the United States, pass an ideological test in order to obtain a visa, according to a “sensitive” State Department directive issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and which I obtained.
Politics, Immigration, Education, Surveillance
16 points by bbqfog 27 days ago | 0 comments