A reminder to Swifties and non-Swifties alike to regularly review your phone's location sharing settings.
Remember: the deepest privacy threat from mobile phones is the way that they announce your whereabouts all day (and all night) long.
Stalking your ex using phone location services isn’t cool. Neither is the way that governments and companies use your phone's data to determine where you've been. Learn more about protecting your privacy, and how EFF helps:
MPs now debating whether to give themselves special exemption from surveillance powers. If only MPs were the only ones he would benefit from the requirement of a judge’s order before having their communications intercepted #IPAA#privacy#digitalrights
Always keep in mind there is
a legal difference between the content you post publicly and the content you post using a service implying you have agreed to its Terms of Service.
Always remain aware of what you publish where, and what the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy of this service are.
African Digital Rights Network (#ADRN): "Mapping the Supply of Surveillance Technologies to Africa:
… African governments are spending over 1US$bn per year on digital #surveillance technologies which are being used without adequate legal protections in ways that regularly violate citizens’ fundamental human rights."
They seek to obtain #research access to internal #Microsoft data to check whether and how the company is making sure its not-so-intelligent #AI#Copilot isn't bullshitting around in dangerous ways.
Hi there, infosec.exchange! I'm a criminology masters postgraduate in my 40s diving into the world of cybercrime research—basically, I'm a cyber-criminologist in the making! 🕵️♂️
As an infosec enthusiast, I'm passionate about bridging the gap between criminology and cybersecurity. Want to talk about scams, ransomware, hacking groups, h.acktivism, social engineering, digital rights, surveillance, and cyber policy? Count me in!
When I'm not immersed in research, you'll find me tinkering with Linux, advocating for FOSS, catching up on movies and music, and occasionally exposing myself to sunlight.
Every time I look at the drawers of 'put away' items, especially old cell phones and tablets, I see still-functioning devices that could continue to serve a purpose. Take, for example, the old Motorola phone my mother discarded due to years without security updates. I believe it's no less efficient than an old Raspberry PI - it even has a screen, good built-in WiFi, various sensors, a camera, etc. Yet, this Android terminal has been abandoned since 2018, and I feel quite insecure running software on it.
The European Union, often too focused on bureaucracy and not enough on the real world, did make progress with USB-C. It would be wonderful if they could mandate manufacturers to open up their devices once they are abandoned. I dream of being able to install an updated OpenSource OS (not necessarily *BSD, but at least Linux) detached from Android, or at least an AOSP version of Android, without resorting to questionable binaries from XDA.
Essentially saying: 'You've bought my device, I won’t update it anymore, but since the hardware still works, you're on your own but you can keep it running.'
My drawers are full of high-quality, still usable but abandoned devices. I'd rather use my old Huawei as a surveillance camera (which now has outdated and unupdated software) than any device sending my images to obscure clouds in countries with questionable laws.
I'm considering starting a petition – not sure if there are any yet, will do some research – but I'm fairly certain it won't lead to much. Planned obsolescence is a concept too ingrained in today's technology, and there are too many interests behind it.
Just read a thought-provoking article by @pluralistic, highlighting a series of incidents where companies have used DRM to strip customers of features or even entire content post-purchase. A must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of technology, rights, and consumer advocacy or who has a problem with CEOs breaking into your home and taking your stuff. #digitalrights#DRMhttps://pluralistic.net/2023/12/08/playstationed/#tyler-james-hill
Did you now that the #FSFE is part of the #ZOOOM Consortium?
This @EU_Commission project raises awareness of the importance of management of rights and obligations related to #FreeSoftware, #OpenData, and Open Hardware.
We joined the rest of the ZOOOM partners to discuss issues arising from the work on the individual work packages for the past 6 months, and prepare the team for the upcoming milestones.
Investigation by The Insider on Russia's enhanced filtering capacity - protocol-based blocking - and how it evaded sanctions to procure the equipment this requires.
Great follow up from The Insider on recent SovFed statements about more aggressive measures to restrict VPNs that enable circumventing censorship in Russia (again illustrating SovFed is not the place where to expect tech expertise...).
Worth translating if you're interested in the topic of VPNs in Russia.
Freedom House has kicked off promotion for the launch of the 2023 #FreedomOnTheNet ranking on 4 Oct.
As a primer, have a look at our recent article with @tanyalokot on how competing rankings have shaped global understandings of what internet freedom is (and isn't)
I'm writing about Internet bills proposed by the Russian State Duma that either did not go anywhere (e.g. Milonov's 2017 social-media-by-passport proposal) or only much later or in heavily redacted form (such as the 2020 social media law). Which other bills should I include?
I'm trying to get a sense of the overall dynamics of proposals being floated at various times since 2012. Vague leads or hunches welcome!
2023 Dutch general election - The FSFE asks parties to work on current themes such as artificial intelligence (AI) and digital commons:
Check out our demands: https://fsfe.org/news/2023/news-20230906-01.html
There needs to be more geographical diversity in core digital technologies. There's far too consolidated in the US, which is ripe with surveillance capitalists controlling core operating systems, CPUs, GPUs, and other components found in most digital devices. The whole world shouldn't have to be subjected to the surveillance laws of a single country.