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
Tag: NSA
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
Economic Consequences of NSA Surveillance
Note: This article is also available in Portuguese, translated by Anders Bateva. (Note: A version of this article also got published on Consortium News) In the last 6 months or so, Edward Snowden, former NSA contractor, came forward with revelations about the NSA, disclosing quite a few of the agency’s surveillance programs, and revealing that… Continue reading Economic Consequences of NSA Surveillance
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?
Ubiquitous Tracking by Big Mega Corporations and What We Can Do About It
Nowadays, if you surf the web like any normal person, chances are your movements on the internet will be tracked. There are a lot of companies tracking you and building detailed profiles about your behaviour on the internet. With all the news about the revelations of Edward Snowden about the mass surveillance going on by… Continue reading Ubiquitous Tracking by Big Mega Corporations and What We Can Do About It
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Snowden
Note: This article is also available in Portuguese, translated by Anders Bateva. 237 years ago, 56 traitors to their King and country signed a document which outlined a new philosophy, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights. That among these are Life, Liberty, and the… Continue reading Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Snowden