Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by NSO Malware
Mexico Threatens To Sue Google Over ‘Gulf Of America’ Change
America, which used to be a serious country run by adults, has since devolved into something else. We were just talking about how the White House had made the brilliant decision to bar AP News reporters from all kinds of official briefings. Why?
ByteDance Spying Scandal Isn’t So Much About TikTok, But About The US’s Failure To Pass A Comprehensive Privacy Law
from the privacy-is-the-victim dept Emily Baker-White has quite the story over at Forbes, revealing how ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, apparently planned to have its “Internal Audit and Risk Control” department spy on the location of some American citizens: Given the near non-stop moral panics about TikTok from the past few years, I’m am absolutely sure that this will be used (yet again) to argue that TikTok is somehow uniquely problematic, when the reality (yet again) is...
Kentucky Judge Streisands Story About Him Failing To Wear Pants At Work Into Wide Coverage
from the no-pants-dance dept For obvious reasons, we’ve covered a metric ton of Streisand Effect stories here at Techdirt over the years, but I honestly didn’t think we’d get to one about a judge not wearing pants. Yet, unfortunately, here we are. Meet Judge Jamie Jameson, of the 42nd Judicial Circuit court in Kentucky. Jameson is currently suspended from his duties over a series of misconduct allegations, much of which has been dutifully covered by WKMS, Murray State’s NPR radio station.
Chicago Sun-Times Kills Its Paywall; Makes Its Content Free For Everyone
from the welcome-to-the-future dept Going back many, many years, we’ve argued that paywalls are not a particularly sustainable model for most journalism enterprises. There are some exceptions. They seem to work in cases where breaking news and timely access are extremely important (e.g., financial news), and in cases where there is a strong community built up around the news provider (both small and large).
Hundreds Of FBI Employees Are Simply Walking Away From Misconduct Charges
from the accountability-is-still-mostly-theoretical dept The FBI has a long history of misconduct, dating back to the J. Edgar Hoover years when agents were writing letters to civil rights leaders encouraging them to kill themselves. Since then, investigations and leaks have exposed the FBI’s insular attitude that values incremental law enforcement wins over respect for enshrined rights.
Publisher Wiley Lets Libraries Offer eTextbooks Again… But Only For Nine Months
from the publisher-greed dept Last week, we wrote about how publisher Wiley had removed 1,379 textbook titles from the list of books that academic libraries could lend out, thereby forcing students to have to buy the textbooks, rather than take them out of the library. As we noted, this was an example of how damaging copyright has been on the free flow of information.
Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Goes Completely Rogue, Blocks Inspector General’s Access To Files, Facilities
from the law-enforcement-with-zero-respect-for-the-law dept The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has been problematic pretty much ever since its inception. Its prior iteration — headed up by Sheriff Lee Baca — was an abhorrent mess. The LASD was (and still is!) home to gangs formed by deputies — cliques that encouraged members to violate rights and abuse those incarcerated in the county jail.
Daily Deal: The A-Z Cybersecurity Developer Bundle
Daily Deal: The A-Z Cybersecurity Developer Bundle from the good-deals-on-cool-stuff dept Cybersecurity is one of the fastest-growing IT fields. The A-Z Cybersecurity Developer Bundle contains 10 courses that cover everything from ethical hacking to penetration testing to securing networks, and more. It’s on sale for $40. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of all sales from Techdirt Deals helps support Techdirt.
In EU And US, Big Telecom Desperately Wants Big Tech To Pay It Billions Of Dollars For No Coherent Reason
from the troll-toll dept Karl Bode We’ve noted for years how “Big Telecom” is desperate to have “Big Tech” pay them billions of dollars for no coherent reason. This effort is what began the net neutrality wars, and, despite the fact it’s routinely dressed up as adult policy making, it’s little more than a lobbyist-fueled cash grab.
Links 14/10/2022: 26th Birthday of KDE
Gemini version available ♊︎ Links 14/10/2022: 26th Birthday of KDE Posted in News Roundup at 5:22 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz GNU/Linux Server OpenSource.com ☛ Can Kubernetes help solve automation challenges?
Seattle Times, Brands Complain Over Senate Campaign Ad That Is Clearly Protected Speech
from the c'mon-guys dept There is something about when corporate brands get used in political advertisements that seems to make everybody forget about the very concept of fair use or international equivalents. One previous example would be when a bunch of foodstuff brands claimed trademark infringement over an anti-littering campaign in Canada, arguing that the use of their own packaging in photographs was somehow a trademark violation. It wasn’t, but that particular city campaign caved anyway.
An (Im)perfect Way Forward On Infrastructure Moderation?
from the infrastructure-moderation-appeals dept Within every conversation about technology lies the moral question: is a technology good or bad? Or, is it neutral? In other words, are our values part of the technologies we create or is technology valueless until someone decides what to do? This is the kind of dilemma Cloudflare, the Internet infrastructure company, found itself in earlier this year.
More Mexican Journalists And Activists Found To Be Targeted By NSO Group Malware
from the NSO-customers-doing-the-thing-everyone-always-thought-they-were-doing dept Last summer, a blockbuster leak of data allegedly related to NSO Group’s customers made it crystal clear that earlier rumors about routine abusive use of powerful phone-targeting malware were likely true. Israel’s NSO Group swiftly issued a denial that was more angry than coherent and did nothing to persuade its many critics that NSO just simply didn’t care what paying customers did with its products.
Gun Detection AI The Latest Tech To Make Schools Less Safe
from the if-you-like-the-false-positives,-you're-going-to-love-the-false-negatives dept We’re just going to keep getting kids killed in America. We’ll never stop throwing money in the direction of the problem, but not directly at the problem. Nothing gets safer. It just gets more budget line items. The problem with school shootings is uniquely American. The proposed solutions — and the industry that has sprung up to address the problem — are simply demand creating supply.
Whistleblower Alleges NSO Offered To 'Drop Off Bags Of Cash' In Exchange To Access To US Cellular Networks
from the pay-to-play dept The endless parade of bad news for Israeli malware merchant NSO Group continues. While it appears someone might be willing to bail out the beleaguered company, it still has to do business as the poster boy for the furtherance of human rights violations around the world.
More Fallout For NSO And Israel: Gov't Police Illegally Deployed Malware Against Person Involved In Netanyahu Bribery Trial
from the one-leak,-apparently-endless-repercussions dept More troubling developments for both NSO Group and the country it calls home. Less than a month ago, both entities found themselves in midst of another turbulent news cycle, thanks to reporting from Calcalist that showed Israel police were using NSO spyware to engage in domestic surveillance. Worse, the people targeted weren't just dangerous criminals or suspected terrorists.
Spying Begins At Home: Israel's Government Used NSO Group Malware To Surveill Its Own Citizens Original
from the activists,-political-opponents,-and-the-occasional-criminal dept Israeli malware purveyor NSO Group may want to consider changing its company motto to "No News Is Good News." The problem is there's always more news. The latest report from Calcalist shows NSO is aiding and abetting domestic abuse. No, we're not talking about the king of Dubai deploying NSO's Pegasus spyware to keep tabs on his ex-wife and her lawyer.
In 2019, The FBI Took NSO Malware For A Spin Before Deciding It Might Cause Too Many Problems In Court
from the every-so-often,-the-feds-get-it-right dept The latest disturbing revelation about Israeli malware merchant NSO Group is a bit delayed. NSO has claimed its malware which, even if true, hasn't stopped the malware from targeting Americans. But two years before NSO's malware malfeasance made headlines around the world, the company was inside the United States, demonstrating its products for federal law enforcement.
German Police Caught Using COVID-Tracing Data To Search For Crime Witnesses
from the law-enforcement-means-applying-enforcement-in-one-direction-only dept Multiple governments have been relying on contact-tracing apps to limit the spread of COVID. This has gone on nearly uninterrupted for the last couple of years in more than a few countries. Given the type of data collected -- contact information and location data -- it was only a matter of time before some government decided to abuse this new information source for reasons unrelated to tracking COVID infections.
Add The United Nations To The List Of Entities Helping The Chinese Government Oppress Its Minority Uighur Population
from the can-you-not???!!!! dept It's no secret the Chinese government wants to control its population through pervasive surveillance. It's also no secret the government wants very badly to eliminate a certain sector of its population with (in every sense of the words) extreme prejudice. China's minority Uighur Muslim population presents an existential threat to a government that is tasked with controlling the hearts and minds of billions of residents.
The UK Has A Voyeuristic New Propaganda Campaign Against Encryption
from the how-dare-people-have-walls dept Over the weekend, Rolling Stone reported on a new propaganda campaign the United Kingdom’s government is rolling out to try to turn public opinion against end-to-end encryption (E2EE). It’s the latest salvo in the UK’s decades-long war against encryption, which in the past has relied on censorious statements from the Home Office and legislation such as the Snooper’s Charter rather than ad campaigns.
Demanding Progress: From Aaron Swartz To SOPA And Beyond
from the foundations-of-activism dept It’s a great irony — and an awkward thing to admit — that I’m not sure if the organization of which I’m executive director, Demand Progress, would exist but for SOPA and PIPA (or really their progenitor, COICA). This month marks not just the 10th anniversary of the SOPA blackout, but also the 9th anniversary of the passing of my partner in the effort to get Demand Progress up and running, Aaron Swartz.
DirecTV Finally Dumps OAN, Limiting The Conspiracy And Propaganda Channel's Reach
from the good-luck-out-there dept Wed, Jan 19th 2022 6:28am — Karl Bode Back in October, reports emerged indicating that AT&T had not only funded much of the creation of the popular conspiracy and fantasy channel OAN, AT&T executives had actually come up with the original idea. The channel, which routinely traffics in false election fraud, COVID, and other right-wing conspiracy theories, had seen most of its reach come courtesy of a partnership with DirecTV.
Links 19/1/2022: ArchLabs 2022.01.18 and KDE’s 15-Minute Bug Initiative
Untangling Ourselves From the Dark Side “You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.” The words are those of Albert Einstein, in a letter to a congressman 75 years ago.
Court Says That Travel Company Can't Tell Others How Much Southwest Flights Cost
from the c'mon dept A few months back, we wrote about Southwest Airlines' ridiculously antagonistic legal strategy against aggregators that would scrape information on flights and prices from Southwest.com and help people find flights and prices. The case we covered was the one against Skiplagged, but it was related to a separate case against Kiwi.com. Skiplagged had argued that it didn't violate Southwest's terms of service since it wasn't scraping info from Southwest...
Court To Cops Who Caught Pokemon Rather Than Robbery Suspects: That's A (Justified) Firin'
from the but-can't-even-catch-a-case dept Sometimes you can't always get what you want. In this case -- argued in front of a California court -- you can't even get what you need. Ex-officers Louis Lozano and Eric Mitchell wanted their jobs back. They used to be cops working for the Los Angeles Police Department. On the way to a call about a robbery in progress, the officers -- ostensibly "running towards the sound of gunfire" -- found something far more compelling than the job they were hired to do.
How The SOPA Blackout Happened
from the the-internet-saved-the-internet dept "[Historical knowledge] gives understanding of how the present world came to be, and maybe more importantly, an appreciation that everything that is, never necessarily had to be" -from "History as Freedom" —Joe Costello, longtime political organizer, writer On the 10th anniversary of the groundbreaking SOPA Blackout, a question seems to surface above all else: can any one of us really go on to change history? And how, exactly, does that happen?
India's Supreme Court Opens Investigation Into Targeting Of Indian Citizens' Phones By NSO Malware
from the is-it-too-late-to-rebrand-as-'International-Pariah' dept NSO Group's terrible 2021 is flowing seamlessly into an equally terrible 2022. The leak of a list of alleged targets for its malware -- a list that included journalists, activists, government critics, political officials, and religious leaders -- led to an outpouring of discoveries linking the company to abusive deployments of malware by a number of questionable governments.
Daily Deal: LastPass Premium or Family Plans
from the good-deals-on-cool-stuff dept LastPass puts your digital life at your fingertips, simply and securely. Save a password once, and it’s instantly available on all your devices. LastPass goes everywhere! It keeps your information private, secure, and hidden. Get one year of the premium plan for $25 or one year of the family plan for $33. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of all sales from Techdirt Deals helps support Techdirt.
UK Government Apparently Hoping It Can Regulate End-To-End Encryption Out Of Existence
from the sure-hope-'the-children'-are-grateful-for-the-shitty-future-being-handed dept Politicians -- those motivated by the notion of "doing something" -- want to end encryption. They don't want this to affect their communications and data security. But they don't see the harm in stripping these protections from the general public. Often, the argument is nothing better than "only criminals want end-to-end encryption," something they trot out as a truism despite plenty of evidence to the contrary.
Pennsylvania Says Legal Medical Marijuana Means Cops Can't Just Sniff Their Way Into Warrantless Searches
from the follow-my-snoot-to-granted-suppression-orders! dept The legalization of marijuana is changing the probable cause equation all over the nation. What used to be an easy bust and/or a great way to engage in warrantless searches is no longer guaranteed. Probable cause on four legs -- police drug dogs -- can't automatically justify further intrusion by police officers. A drug dog trained to detect the odor of now-legal drugs is now more a hindrance than an enabler of warrantless searches.
Olympics Copyright Insanity Rules Again: Gold Medal Winner Blocked From Sharing Her Own Victory
from the the-olympic-gold-in-copyright-abuse-goes-to dept Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica won both the women's 100 meter and 200 meter gold medals at the Olympics this year, and then did the super piratey thing of... excitedly posting snippets of her victories to Instagram, which responded by blocking her account for copyright violations.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with NSO
Contact NSO, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack