NSA asks Congress to let it get on with that warrantless data harvesting, again

A US intelligence boss has asked Congress to reauthorize a controversial set of powers that give snoops warrantless authorization to surveil electronic communications in the name of fighting terrorism and so forth. NSA director General Paul Nakasone told the Privacy Read More …

RCMP use of spyware warrants update to Canada’s privacy laws, MPs say

Canada should update its privacy laws in the wake of revelations that the country’s national police force uses spyware to hack mobile devices, a parliamentary committee says. The House of Commons ethics committee is recommending the federal government require privacy Read More …

Greece wiretap and spyware claims circle around PM Mitsotakis

It has been dubbed the Greek Watergate. What began as a surveillance of a little-known journalist in Greece has evolved into an array of revelations circling around the Greek government. The story emerged last spring, when Thanasis Koukakis found out Read More …

End-to-end encryption is a ‘disaster’ for counter-terrorism and stops police finding right-wing extremists online

End-to-end encryption on messaging apps is a “disaster” for counter-terrorism officials as it stops them finding extreme-right activity online, a new report warns. Extreme right-wing terrorists’ “conspiracy theorist, anti-government outlook” means they are “often aware of what technical security measures Read More …

Indian government wants VPNs to store and share user data

A new directive from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in) requires VPN companies to retain data on users for 5 years or more. The rule also applies to data centres Read More …

UK: Met Police is planning to root out corruption with use of ‘sophisticated’ new technology that monitors officers’ phones and computers

The Met Police will root out rogue officers with ‘sophisticated’ new technology that can monitor officers’ emails and work phones for ‘alarming’ words in a bid to stamp out its culture of sexism and racism. The software will also track Read More …

UK spy agencies sharing bulk personal data with foreign allies was legal, says court

A privacy rights org this week lost an appeal in a case about the sharing of Bulk Personal Datasets (BPDs) by MI5, MI6, and GCHQ with foreign intelligence agencies. The British agencies have never stated, in public, whether any of Read More …

How a Saudi woman’s iPhone revealed hacking around the world

A single activist helped turn the tide against NSO Group, one of the world’s most sophisticated spyware companies now facing a cascade of legal action and scrutiny in Washington over damaging new allegations that its software was used to hack Read More …

Israel Police Used NSO’s Pegasus Spyware Against Top Gov’t Officials, Journalists and Activists

Israel Police used NSO’s Pegasus spyware to hack the phones of public figures, including protest leaders, journalists, government employees and associates of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a report by Calcalist on Monday. According to the report, the Read More …