Category: Civil Rights

“There is no purgatory for war criminals, they go straight to hell, Ambassador”

The above is a quote from Ukrainian Ambassador to the UN, Mr. Sergiy Kyslytsya at the emergency UN Security Council meeting, last night. Last night, around the same time that a last-ditch effort was just starting at the UN to prevent bloodshed and war in Ukraine, the Russian Federation decided to invade. President Putin held… Continue reading “There is no purgatory for war criminals, they go straight to hell, Ambassador”

Dutch Data Retention Law Struck Down

Good news on privacy protection for once: after an 11 March 2015 ruling of the Court of The Hague in the Netherlands in the case of the Privacy First Foundation c.s. versus The Netherlands, the court decided to strike down the Dutch data retention law. The law required telecommunication providers and ISPs to store communication… Continue reading Dutch Data Retention Law Struck Down

The Age of the Gait-Recognising Cameras Is Here!

A few days ago I read an article (NRC, Dutch, published 11 September, interestingly) about how TNO (the Dutch Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, the largest research institute in the Netherlands) developed technology (PDF) for smart cameras for use at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. These cameras were installed at Schiphol airport by the Qubit Visual Intelligence,… Continue reading The Age of the Gait-Recognising Cameras Is Here!

Persecution of whistleblowers and journalists

I was also honoured to be able to attend the Sam Adams Associates’ award ceremony in Oxford, United Kingdom last month, and Chelsea Manning is a truly worthy recipient of the Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence. Her leaking of the Collateral Murder video to WikiLeaks (a video showing how U.S. Air Force personnel… Continue reading Persecution of whistleblowers and journalists

Privacy in danger, but there’s light at end of the tunnel

Note: This article is also available in Portuguese, translated by Anders Bateva. Last week I read an article about the plan by the National Police of the Netherlands to connect all CCTV cameras to the national camera network which is operated by the police. The upper echelon of the Dutch police is currently secretly writing… Continue reading Privacy in danger, but there’s light at end of the tunnel

The Rising Trend of Criminalizing Hackers & Tinkerers

Note: This article is also available in Portuguese, translated by Anders Bateva. There seems to be a rising trend of criminalizing hackers & tinkerers. More and more, people who explore the limits of the equipment, hardware and software they own and use, whether they tinker with it, re-purpose it, or expand its functionalities, are met… Continue reading The Rising Trend of Criminalizing Hackers & Tinkerers

Security Measures against Terrorism: Costs v. Benefits

Note: This article is also available in Portuguese, translated by Anders Bateva. A few days ago, the Dutch Home Office Minister Ronald Plasterk said in a debate in parliament that he’s apparently OK with the American intelligence community, the NSA among others, to spy on the Netherlands. His reasoning is flawed from the get-go, and went… Continue reading Security Measures against Terrorism: Costs v. Benefits

At the Crossroads: Surveillance State or Freedom?

When I went to OHM2013 last week, it was great to see such increased political activism from the hackers and geeks at the festival. I truly believe we are currently at a very important crossroads: either let governments the world over get away with crimes against the people’s interests, with programs like PRISM, ECHELON, TEMPORA… Continue reading At the Crossroads: Surveillance State or Freedom?