Category: Surveillance

Pegasus: NSO Group’s Insidious Spyware

Note: This article was first published at the World Ethical Data Forum. Pegasus is advanced spyware that was first discovered in August 2016, developed by NSO Group based in Israel, and sold to various clients around the world, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, India, Kazakhstan, Hungary, Rwanda, Azerbaijan, Morocco and Mexico among probably other… Continue reading Pegasus: NSO Group’s Insidious Spyware

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 Internet of Privacy-Infringing Things?

Let’s talk a little bit about the rapid proliferation of the so-called Internet of Things (IoT). The Internet of Things is a catch-all term for all sorts of embedded devices that are hooked up to the internet in order to make them “smarter,” able to react to certain circumstances, automate things etcetera. This can include… Continue reading The Internet of Privacy-Infringing Things?

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!

Country X: The Country That Shall Not Be Named

On Monday, 19 May 2014, Glenn Greenwald published his report entitled Data Pirates of the Caribbean: The NSA is recording every cell call in the Bahamas, in which he reported about the NSA SOMALGET program, which is part of the larger MYSTIC program. MYSTIC has been used to intercept the communications of several countries, namely… Continue reading Country X: The Country That Shall Not Be Named

Gave Privacy By Design Talk At eth0

I gave my talk about privacy by design last Saturday at eth0 2014 winter edition, a small hacker get-together which was organised in Lievelde, The Netherlands this year. eth0 organizes conferences that aim at bringing people with different computer-related interests together. They organise two events per year, one during winter. I’ve previously given a very… Continue reading Gave Privacy By Design Talk At eth0

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

NSA is coming to town!

I just stumbled upon this funny video made by the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). It fits perfectly, and it’s funny to see that when invasions of privacy gets really personal (Santa photographing your face, recording your conversations and rifling through your smartphone), people really don’t like this and some respond strongly, but when the… Continue reading NSA is coming to town!

Facebook records self-censorship

Recently I came across an article about Facebook, more specifically, that Facebook wants to know why you self-censor, in other words, why you didn’t click Publish on that status update you just wrote, but decided not to publish instead. It turns out Facebook is sending everything you type in the Post textarea box (the one… Continue reading Facebook records self-censorship