Surveillance State

Zuck Made Him a Billionaire, Now WhatsApp Founder Urges Users to Delete Facebook

(ZHE) — Three years after Mark Zuckerberg made Brian Action a billionaire by paying $22 billion for WhatsApp, the messaging app’s co-founder has a clear message for the billions of social media drones worldwide – #deletefacebook. MarketWatch notes that Acton and fellow co-founder Jan Koum sold the messaging service WhatsApp to Facebook in 2014 for $22 billion. Acton received about $3 […]

26 Reasons Why You Need to Start Paying Attention to Edward Snowden

(ANTIMEDIA) — In June of 2013, Edward Snowden was the most wanted man in the world as the U.S. government and others frantically attempted to arrest him for leaking documents that exposed the breadth of surveillance imposed upon the public. The Portuguese government even forced a plane carrying Bolivia’s president to be grounded because of rumors that Snowden might be on board. […]

Florida Court to Determine If Police Use of Facial Recognition Software Is Even Legal

(AP) — Florida’s First District Court of Appeals will take on a case involving law enforcement use of facial recognition technology to catch a drug dealer. Specifically, the court will determine whether police are allowed to use the facial recognition software to catch suspects without notifying them of the technology. Police One reports: The court battle, regarded by researchers […]

US Senator Demands Zuckerberg ‘Be Subpoenaed’ to Testify Under Oath

(CD) — As the damning details of Facebook’s largest-ever data breach at the hands of pro-Trump data firm Cambridge Analytica continue to pour in—and as the social media giant’s share price continues to plummet as a result—Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) on Monday called on CEO Mark Zuckerberg to “testify under oath” before Congress to explain why his company took so long to […]

Facebook Helped the Obama Campaign Harvest and Exploit Your Personal Data

(ZHE) — The recent controversy and escalating scandal over Facebook’s decision to ban Trump-linked political data firm Cambridge Analytica over the use of data harvested through a personality app under the guise of academic research has opened a veritable Pandora’s box of scandal for the Silicon Valley social media giant. Carol Davidsen, who served as Obama’s director of integration and […]

Snowden: Facebook Is a Surveillance Company Rebranded as ‘Social Media’

(ZHE) — NSA whistleblower and former CIA employee Edward Snowden slammed Facebook in a Saturday tweet following the suspension of Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) and its political data analytics firm, Cambridge Analytica, over what Facebook says was imporoper use of collected data. In a nutshell, in 2015 Cambridge Analytica bought data from a University of Cambridge psychology […]

Facebook Knew About Illicit Data Harvesting for Two Years and Did Nothing

(CD) — Those wondering why Facebook suddenly announced late Friday night that it has banned the Trump-affiliated data firm Cambridge Analytica received a decisive answer Saturday morning, when the New York Times and the London Observer published detailed reports on how the Robert Mercer-funded company exploited Facebook to harvest the personal information of around 50 million Americans without permission—the social media giant’s “largest-ever data […]

So, Best Buy’s Geek Squad Are Basically Snitches for the FBI

(SP) — Throughout the past ten years, the FBI has at varying points in time maintained a particularly close relationship with Best Buy officials and used the company’s Geek Squad employees as informants. But the FBI refuses to confirm or deny key information about how the agency may potentially circumvent computer owners’ Fourth Amendment rights. The Electronic […]

Louisiana Officials Engaged in Surveillance of Bayou Bridge Pipeline Opponents

(SP) — The Louisiana Bucket Brigade is an environmental justice organization that advocates for communities most impacted by the state’s oil refineries and chemical plants. It has fought construction of Energy Transfer Partners’ Bayou Bridge oil pipeline, and newly released documents indicate activists were targets of surveillance. The environmental justice organization and the Center for Constitutional Rights […]

Tor Project ‘Almost 100% Funded by the US Government’: FOIA

(ZHE) — The Tor Project – a private nonprofit known as the “NSA-proof” gateway to the “dark web,” turns out to be almost “100% funded by the US government” according to documents obtained by investigative journalist and author Yasha Levine. The Tor browser, launched in 2001, utilizes so-called “onion routing” technology developed by the US Navy in 1998 to […]