-
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityFBI Effort to Expose ‘USA Today’ Readers Was Likely Unlawful, Experts Say
The FBI announced Saturday it had withdrawn a subpoena seeking to identify readers of a USA Today story concerning a Florida shooting that left two of its agents dead. The decision to do so, however, is purportedly unrelated to allegations raised in court last week by USA Today’s publisher, which accused the FBI of violating … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecuritySupreme Court Issues Radical New Reading of Anti-Hacking Law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday said a Georgia police officer had not violated the country’s main anti-hacking law by improperly accessing a government database for financial gain, a decision likely to curtail prosecutions under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) of individuals who misuse computer systems to which they have legal access. The … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityMatt Gaetz Clarifies He Meant ‘Armed’ Government Overthrow, Not Murdering Tech Workers
There are increasing signs that Matt Gaetz’s future prospects aren’t great. The GOP congressman’s ex-girlfriend is cooperating with the feds, his former “wingman,” the one who accused him of sex trafficking a minor, is cooperating with the feds, and now there are stories about planes of young women in the Bahamas. Conspicuously, there’s no phalanx … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsCitizen CEO Personally Directed Innocent Man’s Manhunt, Reports Motherboard
Citing leaked internal chats logs of the night Citizen falsely accused a California man of intentionally setting a wildfire, Motherboard on Thursday offered readers an inside look into the company’s self-inflicted blunder, even as it was blindly executed, logs show, at the emphatic direction of its chief executive, Andrew Frame. “Citizen had gotten a tip … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsPrivacy & Security‘Clearview AI’ Hit With Legal Complaints In 5 Countries, Accused of Face Recognition Abuse
Clearview AI, the American maker of a controversial facial recognition tool used mostly by police, is facing a downpour of legal complaints across Europe as of Thursday, alleging scopious privacy violations based on internal documents showing the company’s algorithm at work. Complaints filed with privacy watchdogs in five countries—France, Austria, Italy, Greece and the United … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsU.S. Agency Ran ‘Rogue’ Police Force, Spied on Americans’ Social Media
A security unit tasked with assessing threats against the U.S. Department of Commerce used counterintelligence tools to gather information about U.S. citizens and foreign visitors to the United States, unauthorized surveillance that included the monitoring of Americans’ Twitter accounts for comments critical of the government, according to a senior Republican in the U.S. Senate. Ahead … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecuritySenate Cyber Hawk Calls for ‘Criminal Penalties’ for Negligent CEOs After U.S. Pipeline Hack
Sen. Ron Wyden, historically a leading proponent of heightened cybersecurity governance in both public and private spheres, called for congressional action Wednesday around all private firms operating in critical infrastructure sectors, saying the recent network breach at one of the largest U.S. pipelines paints a dismal picture of the nation’s susceptibility to attack. The cyber … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsFBI Informants Committed Over 9,000 Crimes in Early Trump Years
Informants working for the FBI committed more than 9,600 crimes under the bureau’s supervision during President Trump’s first two years in office, according to unclassified government reports. The so-called “Otherwise Illegal Activity” reports, obtained first by Gizmodo, detail the number of crimes committed by what the bureau calls “confidential human sources.” The name of the … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsJames O’Keefe, Professional Person Impersonator, Firmly Denies Impersonating Persons
James O’Keefe, whose criminal record includes entry of a federal office under false pretense along with three goons dressed as telephone repairmen, would like you to know that he did not, under any circumstance, operate fake Twitter accounts. That settles that. A Twitter spokesperson on Thursday told Gizmodo that, despite his professions of innocence and … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityU.S. Lawmakers Pressure DOJ Over Funding of Predictive Policing Tools
Ratcheting up pressure on the Justice Department to crack down on unregulated predictive policing algorithms, Democratic lawmakers on Thursday called for strict new requirements on any DOJ-funded research into police tools promising to forecast crime, saying that research into some programs already in use has revealed “major problems with their effectiveness and reliability.” “These algorithms, … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityWhite Extremists Sought Murders of Politicians and Cops After Capitol Siege
In mid-January, U.S. intelligence analysts began quietly notifying local police departments about a host new violent, criminal threats surfacing in the wake of the Capitol riot. At only number six on their list, the analysts warned that voices emanating from one of the internet’s most malignant corners had begun calling for the murders of politicians … Continued
Dell Cameron & Tom McKay -
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityDallas Police Used Face Recognition Software Without Authorization, Installed on Personal Phones
Dallas police officers used unauthorized facial recognition software to conduct between 500 and 1,000 searches in attempts to identify people based on photographs. A Dallas Police spokesperson says the searches were never authorized by the department, and that in some cases, officers had installed facial recognition software on their personal phones. The spokesperson, Senior Cpl. … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsPoliticsBig Telecom’s Voting Rights Stance Is as Treacherous as It Is Hollow
Corporations have long vied to cultivate brands that consumers will—at the very least—perceive as “socially responsible.” Since the 1980s, these efforts have forced companies, with seeming no way of reversing the trend, to stake out positions on politically divisive issues. As concern for Earth’s climate swelled in the 2000s, for example, many companies rolled out … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsRobocalls May Get Worse Soon, and You Can Blame Facebook
Rather than dole out what is, essentially—at least to one of the richest companies on the planet—a handful of spare change, Facebook set out to purposely undermine one of the most important legal protections Americans have against unwanted robocalls. Today it accomplished that mission. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday issued an opinion that negates … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsEncrypted Chats, Parler Posts Indict Proud Boys Leaders for Capitol Rioting
The FBI has amassed social media posts and encrypted text messages that implicate four senior members of the Proud Boys in a Jan. 6 plot to storm police barriers at the U.S. Capitol and stop members of Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory. In a superseding indictment on Friday targeting leaders of the notoriously violent … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityU.S. Indicts 21-Year-Old Accused of Leaking Stolen Data of Disney, Nintendo, and More
Federal prosecutors in Western Washington secured a grand jury indictment on Thursday against a Swiss national accused by the U.S. of hacking dozens of companies and government agencies. Tillie Kottman, a 21-year-old hacker, has reportedly taken credit for intrusions at major U.S. companies like Nissan and Intel, according to Bloomberg, which broke news of a … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsSocial MediaTwitter Stands By, Lets OANN Link to Reporter’s Phone Number, Encourage Users to Harass Her [Updated]
[Editor’s note: After publication, OANN’s tweet was deleted, six or so hours after being published. “This tweet violated the Twitter Rules,” a new message says. Our original story is below.] [Note 2: A Twitter spokesperson said: “We took action on the tweet you referenced for violating the Twitter rules on personal and private information.”] More … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsFacebook Pressed to Stop Ignoring la Desinformación en Español
Civil liberties advocates are working to raise awareness of Facebook’s apparent disinterest in moderating Spanish-language posts—with at least the same meandering enforcement it applies towards English-speaking users. The Center for American Progress, Free Press, National Hispanic Media Coalition, and the Real Facebook Oversight Board said in a statement Tuesday that Facebook has “continuously ignored” warnings … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsFeds Eye Swiss Hacker Tied to Major Security Cam Breach
Swiss authorities on Friday raided the home of a computer hacker reportedly under FBI investigation who has also—unrelatedly—taken credit for the recent breach of U.S. security camera company. The company, Verkada Inc., has itself separately been accused of granting employees extraneous access to the private surveillance feeds of potentially thousands of global customers. Bloomberg, which … Continued
By Dell Cameron
Dell Cameron
Dell Cameron's posts
