Hacker News with Generative AI: Surveillance

How to disappear– Inside the world of extreme-privacy consultants (theatlantic.com)
You could easily mistake Alec Harris for a spy or an escaped prisoner, given all of the tradecraft he devotes to being unfindable.
Privacy, Security, Technology, Surveillance
34 points by FinnLobsien 31 days ago | 11 comments
EU plans new mass surveillance law mandating data retention, built-in backdoors (europa.eu)
EU Law, Surveillance, Data Retention, Cybersecurity, Backdoors
42 points by iLoveOncall 32 days ago | 16 comments
Live facial recognition cameras may become 'commonplace' as police use soars (theguardian.com)
Police believe live facial recognition cameras may become “commonplace” in England and Wales, according to internal documents, with the number of faces scanned having doubled to nearly 5m in the last year.
Surveillance, Privacy, Facial Recognition, Law Enforcement, Technology
166 points by c-oreills 34 days ago | 143 comments
Russian parliament passes bill to track migrants via mobile app (novayagazeta.eu)
Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, has adopted a bill introducing a pilot scheme to register migrants in Moscow and the Moscow region via a mobile app, according to information published by the Duma on Tuesday.
Russia, Immigration, Surveillance, Technology
4 points by gslin 36 days ago | 0 comments
U.S. Spy Agencies–One-Stop Shop to Buy Your Personal Data (theintercept.com)
The ever-growing market for personal data has been a boon for American spy agencies. The U.S. intelligence community is now buying up vast volumes of sensitive information that would have previously required a court order, essentially bypassing the Fourth Amendment. But the surveillance state has encountered a problem: There’s simply too much data on sale from too many corporations and brokers.
Privacy, Surveillance, Government, Data, Fourth Amendment
141 points by LAsteNERD 36 days ago | 69 comments
Russia to enforce location tracking app on all foreigners in Moscow (bleepingcomputer.com)
The Russian government has introduced a new law that makes installing a tracking app mandatory for all foreign nationals in the Moscow region.
Russia, Surveillance, Privacy, Law, Foreign Policy
17 points by Ozarkian 36 days ago | 0 comments
Switzerland plans surveillance worse than US (tuta.com)
In Switzerland, a country known for its love for secrecy, particularly when it comes to banking, the tides have turned: An update to the VÜPF surveillance law directly targets privacy and anonymity services such as VPNs as well as encrypted chat apps and email providers.
Privacy, Surveillance, Switzerland, Law, VPNs
13 points by janandonly 36 days ago | 0 comments
EU-backed surveillance software for detecting CSAM has flaws,manufacturer admits (ftm.eu)
Controversial non-profit Thorn touts its software as a privacy-friendly way to detect child abuse content. Experts have criticised such tools as potentially leading to mass surveillance – and the technology, while praised by the European Commission, is less reliable than it purports to be, new documents obtained by Follow the Money show.
Surveillance, Privacy, Child Abuse, Technology, Europe
12 points by amarcheschi 41 days ago | 1 comments
A new type of AI is helping police skirt facial recognition bans (technologyreview.com)
Police and federal agencies have found a controversial new way to skirt the growing patchwork of laws that curb how they use facial recognition: an AI model that can track people using attributes like body size, gender, hair color and style, clothing, and accessories.
Artificial Intelligence, Law Enforcement, Privacy, Facial Recognition, Surveillance
9 points by walterbell 43 days ago | 0 comments
Proton threatens to quit Switzerland over new surveillance law (techradar.com)
Switzerland, Privacy, Surveillance, Law, Technology
10 points by nickslaughter02 43 days ago | 1 comments
AI therapy is a surveillance machine in a police state (theverge.com)
Big Tech wants you to share your private thoughts with chatbots — while backing a government with contempt for privacy.
Artificial Intelligence, Privacy, Surveillance, Government, Big Tech
9 points by laurex 44 days ago | 0 comments
Border agents are going to photograph everyone leaving the US by car (theverge.com)
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) plans on photographing every single person who leaves the US by car, an agency spokesperson told Wired.
Border Security, Surveillance, Transportation, United States
9 points by emptybits 48 days ago | 0 comments
Border agents are going to photograph everyone leaving the US by car (theverge.com)
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) plans on photographing every single person who leaves the US by car, an agency spokesperson told Wired.
Surveillance, Transportation, Privacy
6 points by Element_ 48 days ago | 0 comments
In São Paulo, 'Big Brother' is watching, with 25K cameras and facial recognition (elpais.com)
In São Paulo, Brazil, the fugitive probably felt protected by the anonymity offered by a city of 12 million people… a larger population than many countries.
Surveillance, Facial Recognition, Brazil, São Paulo, Cities
25 points by geox 48 days ago | 4 comments
Border agents plan to photograph everyone leaving the US by car (theverge.com)
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) plans on photographing every single person who leaves the US by car, an agency spokesperson told Wired.
Border Security, Surveillance, United States, Technology, Privacy
19 points by panic 49 days ago | 2 comments
Border Agents Asking for Help Taking Photos of Everyone Entering the US by Car (wired.com)
United States Customs and Border Protection is asking tech companies to send pitches for a real-time face recognition tool that would take photos of every single person in a vehicle at a border crossing, including anyone in the back seats, and match them to travel documents, according to a document posted in a federal register last week.
Facial Recognition, Privacy, Surveillance, Government, Technology
8 points by jaredwiener 51 days ago | 0 comments
The DEA is now abandoning body cameras (propublica.org)
The Drug Enforcement Administration has quietly ended its body camera program barely four years after it began, according to an internal email obtained by ProPublica.
Law Enforcement, Government, Surveillance, Technology
164 points by bookofjoe 52 days ago | 67 comments
NSA spied through Angry Birds, other apps: report (2014) (nbcnews.com)
Documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden suggest that spy agencies have a powerful ally in Angry Birds and a host of other apps installed on smartphones across the globe.
Surveillance, Mobile Apps, Privacy, Data Security
278 points by __natty__ 52 days ago | 155 comments
'Streaming as surveillance': How Spotify is poisoning music in the digital age (smh.com.au)
So Spotify knows Amused to Death is my favourite Roger Waters album and Perfect Sense is my favourite track. I bet it hasn’t worked out which line of the song is stuck on high rotation in my head. Yet.
Streaming Services, Music Industry, Privacy, Surveillance, Digital Age
16 points by internet_points 52 days ago | 5 comments
Cyber-espionage campaign found targeting exiled Uyghurs (therecord.media)
Senior members of an international organization for exiled members of China’s Uyghur ethnic minority were targeted in March with a spearphishing campaign designed to install Windows-based malware allowing them to be remotely surveilled.
Cybersecurity, Uyghurs, China, Espionage, Surveillance
11 points by PaulHoule 54 days ago | 0 comments
Palantir, the secretive tech company, is rising in the Trump era (text.npr.org)
It's not a household name, but its power is immense - Palantir. For years, the surveillance company has done work for the Pentagon and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and now it's expecting a boom in the second Trump administration.
Politics, Surveillance, Companies, Technology
5 points by tosh 55 days ago | 1 comments
Trump dismantles surveillance watchdog, triggering Europe's privacy PTSD (politico.eu)
Donald Trump wants to oust three members of a national privacy watchdog that is a key part of Europeans’ privacy protections in the United States — spelling trouble for thousands of U.S. companies moving personal data out of Europe.
Politics, Privacy, Europe, United States, Surveillance
14 points by Tabular-Iceberg 56 days ago | 0 comments
Elon Musk's Legacy: DOGE's Construction of a Surveillance State (nytimes.com)
Elon Musk may be stepping back from running the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, but his legacy there is already secured. DOGE is assembling a sprawling domestic surveillance system for the Trump administration — the likes of which we have never seen in the United States.
Politics, Surveillance, Elon Musk, Cryptocurrencies
10 points by reaperducer 58 days ago | 0 comments
The New American Surveillance State (nytimes.com)
Elon Musk may be stepping back from running the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, but his legacy there is already secured. DOGE is assembling a sprawling domestic surveillance system for the Trump administration — the likes of which we have never seen in the United States.
Surveillance, Politics, United States, Government
16 points by floathub 58 days ago | 2 comments
American Panopticon (theatlantic.com)
The Trump administration is pooling data on Americans. Experts fear what comes next.
Privacy, Surveillance, Politics, USA
8 points by howard941 59 days ago | 1 comments
Car Subscription Features Raise Your Risk of Government Surveillance (wired.com)
Automakers are increasingly pushing consumers to accept monthly and annual fees to unlock preinstalled safety and performance features, from hands-free driving systems and heated seats to cameras that can automatically record accident situations. But the additional levels of internet connectivity this subscription model requires can increase drivers’ exposure to government surveillance and the likelihood of being caught up in police investigations.
Privacy, Automotive Industry, Surveillance, Technology
13 points by benkan 60 days ago | 5 comments
Exiled Uyghur leaders targeted with Windows spyware (citizenlab.ca)
In March 2025, senior members of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) living in exile were targeted with a spearphishing campaign aimed at delivering Windows-based malware capable of conducting remote surveillance against its targets.
Cybersecurity, Uyghur, China, Surveillance, Malware
43 points by coloneltcb 60 days ago | 2 comments
There Were Always Enshittifiers. My March, 2025 Locus Magazine Column (pluralistic.net)
My latest Locus column is "There Were Always Enshittifiers." It's a history of personal computing and networked communications that traces the earliest days of the battle for computers as tools of liberation and computers as tools for surveillance, control and extraction:
History, Technology, Surveillance, Personal Computing, Networking
9 points by rbanffy 60 days ago | 0 comments
Trump administration is pooling data on Americans. Experts fear what comes next (theatlantic.com)
The Trump administration is pooling data on Americans. Experts fear what comes next.
Politics, Data Privacy, Surveillance, Trump Administration
12 points by jaredwiener 61 days ago | 1 comments
East German Stasi Tactics – Zersetzung (2021) (maxhertzberg.co.uk)
This post takes a look at the experiences of political activists in East Germany (GDR) who had to deal with Stasi informants and infiltration before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Cold War, East Germany, History, Political Activism, Surveillance
134 points by walterbell 61 days ago | 241 comments