Apple and Google confirm governments spy on users through push notifications

#Push #notifications can reveal private information and governments can essentially access this data if they want.

A US senator has asked the Department of Justice to let #Apple and #Google disclose how governments surveil users through push notifications.
Apple says the federal government stopped it from being transparent about the practice.
Google has also acknowledged the senator’s plea and said it is committed to keeping users informed about government requests for push notification data.

Government agencies have been spying on smartphone users through push notifications sent out by apps, a US senator wrote in a letter to the Department of Justice on December 6.

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has asked the Department of Justice to lift any existing restrictions around discussions of push notification surveillance.

“I write to urge the Department of Justice (DOJ) to permit Apple and Google to inform their customers and the general public about demands for smartphone app notification records,” Wyden writes in the letter.

He explains that push notifications pass through a kind of digital post office run by the phone’s operating system providers. “Because Apple and Google deliver push notification data, they can be secretly compelled by governments to hand over this information,” the letter says. This could tell governments how users interact with certain apps, give them access to a notification’s complete text, and disclose some unencrypted content.

Wyden moved the DOJ to allow Apple and Google to be transparent about the demands they receive from governments regarding push notification #surveillance.

Meanwhile, the two companies welcomed Wyden’s letter and acknowledged that push notification surveillance has been happening for a while. Apple even said it was not allowed to disclose government requests for push notification data but will start informing users about it now.

“In this case, the federal government prohibited us from sharing any information,” Apple said in a statement published by Reuters. “Now that this method has become public, we are updating our transparency reporting to detail these kinds of requests.”

Google also acknowledged the issue and said it shared Wyden’s “commitment to keeping users informed about these requests.” Google’s transparency report already documents governmental requests for users’ push notification data.

https://www.androidauthority.com/apple-google-push-notification-surveillance-3392252/

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https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38543155
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38555810

#gov #why

🇵🇸 Gaza is a weapons lab for the arms industry w/Antony Loewenstein | The Chris Hedges Report

Whether it's drone technology or the infamous Pegasus spy software, Israel has long developed and refined repressive technologies used by governments around the world by testing them on Palestinians. Antony Loewenstein, journalist and author of The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World, joins The Chris Hedges Report for a deep dive into the disturbing links between Israeli Apartheid, the arms industry, and global repression of civilian populations.

Previous post with Anthony Loewenstein 1 | 2

#Palestine #Irsael #Arms #AIA #AI #Technology #ArmsTrade #Drones #Book #Author #ArmsIndustry #AnthonyLoewenstein #Surveillance
08/12/2023

Tech workers protested at #Google offices in SanFrancisco to call for an end to their $1.2 billion contract with israel.

The #AI based “Project #Nimbus” assists #israel in the #surveillance and expansion of settlements.

#ot #why #bds

37C3 - YOU’VE JUST BEEN FUCKED BY PSYOPS | Chaos Computer Club Berlin

How the history of military and government PSYOPS involving #MindControl, UFOs, magic, and remote-control zombies, explains the future of AI and generative media.

As #AI-generated content, social-media influence operations, micro-targeted advertising, and ubiquitous #surveillance have become the norm on the Internet and in the market in general, we have entered an era of PSYOP Capitalism. This is an era of hallucinations designed to transform each of us into a “targeted individual” through the manipulation of perception. This talk explores a secret history of reality-altering #military and #intelligence programs that serve as antecedents to a phantasmagoric present.

CYCLOPS explores the themes of the mind-control and #PSYOPS through an interactive parafictional narrative taking place in the context of an obscure #CIA #CognitiveWarfare program from the early days of the #ColdWar.


Trevor Paglen

🇵🇸 A Boy, A Wall and A Donkey by Hany Abu-Assad | 2008

Origin: Palestine | Fiction | Director: Hany Abu Assad | 4 minutes

Intent on making a film, a group of young boys don't let limited resources
stand in their way. They decide to go where the cameras are... AbuAssad's
(Paradise Now, Rana's Wedding, Ford Transit) short was produced under the
auspices of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights as part of a collection of works by artists from around the world.

#Palestine #OPT #TheWall #Wall #WallOfSeperation #Occupation #WestBank #ShortFilm #Documentary #Fiction #Film #Camera #Surveillance
#Apartheid

#EU set to allow draconian use of #facial #recognition tech, say lawmakers

https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-ai-facial-recognition-tech-act-late-tweaks-attack-civil-rights-key-lawmaker-hahn-warns/

#stalking #surveillance #biometrics

#NSA finally admits to spying on Americans by purchasing sensitive data

This news follows Wyden's push last year that forced the FBI to admit that it was also buying Americans' sensitive data. Now, the senator is calling on all intelligence agencies to "stop buying personal data from Americans that has been obtained illegally by data brokers."

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/01/nsa-finally-admits-to-spying-on-americans-by-purchasing-sensitive-data/

#stalking #surveillance #why

Want to watch porn in Britain? Get your passport ready

New ID checks kick in next year amid a fierce global debate between child protection groups and privacy warriors.

https://www.politico.eu/article/the-great-british-porn-block-is-back/

#uk #surveillance

EU’s Plan To Mass Surveil Private Chats Has Leaked

A new version of controversial "chat control" regulation has leaked, revealing unchanged mass surveillance plans and threats to digital privacy.

The latest version of the proposed European Parliament (EP) and EU Council regulation to adopt new rules related to combating child sexual abuse has been made available online.

Despite its declared goal, the proposal, which first saw the light of day in May 2022 and is referred to by opponents as “chat control” is in fact a highly divisive draft of legislation that aims to accomplish the stated objective through mass surveillance of citizens’ private communications

@reclaimthenet
#EU #EUChatControl #ChatControl #BigBrother #MassSurveillance #Surveillance

Manufacturing Bipartisan Consent For #Biometric #Surveillance

Joining me once again today is TLAV writer and researcher, and founder/editor of Unlimited Hangout, Whitney Webb, here to discuss the biometric surveillance network being built around democrat and republican alike, while they all squabble about manufactured distractions and situations designed to manufacture bipartisan consent. She explains how this is connected to the push for global governance, the digital #ID, and even Israel and their infamous #unit8200. 

https://www.thelastamericanvagabond.com/whitney-webb-interview-4-17-24/

https://rumble.com/v4q1cdb

https://unlimitedhangout.com/2024/02/investigative-reports/manufacturing-consent-the-border-fiasco-and-the-smart-wall/


@TLAVagabond @UnlimitedHangout

Skynet 2024: The infrastructure is complete

The last piece in the infrastructure that allows the operation of Skynet is now in place just announced a week ago. With this piece the advent of wireless peer to peer command and control of devices and robotics now become possible in full, with a range to affect all of the world.

https://odysee.com/Skynet-x1#c7d77f5cfe7b4c13737487e6d5c67831e387daaf

#Google #apple #surveillance #why

FISA WEAPONIZED Against Americans, For israel?

Briahna Joy Gray calls attention to FISA and its use in the Israel-Hamas protesters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqHsOBGMcyY

#surveillance #fisa #USA #bds #protests

#ai #surveillance

#EU Commission is confidentially planning an unprecedented expansion of #surveillance measures of digital devices, extending even to household appliances, including smart refrigerators.

“The draft is titled: "Recommendations from the High-Level Group on Access to Data for Effective Law Enforcement." In German: Recommendations of the expert group on how access to digital data can be regulated in order to ensure effective prosecution.”

Why would you need to be prosecuted for something you have in your fridge?

Translation available on article:

https://www.t-online.de/digital/netzpolitik/id_100419932/whatsapp-eu-will-bald-mitlesen-sogar-haushaltsgeraete-betroffen.html

Follow @zeeemedia
Website | X | Instagram | Rumble

EU Plans Major Expansion of Mass Surveillance: Indiscriminate Data Collection, Device Monitoring, Encryption Backdoors, and Mandatory Data Sharing

The European Union (EU) is planning to implement a new set of draconian mass surveillance rules shortly after Sunday’s EU Parliament election, a member of the EP has warned after the plans surfaced on the internet.

The conclusion that radical surveillance measures are in the works proceeds from documents detailing the meetings of working groups, dubbed “high level group(s) on access to data for effective law enforcement.”

The documents originate from the EU Commission, and contain a number of recommendations, including reintroducing indiscriminate retention of communications data in the bloc, creation of encryption backdoors, as well as forcing hardware manufacturers to give access to anything from phones to cars to law enforcement through what is known as “access by design.

Via @reclaimthenet
#EU #BigBrother #Surveillance

⚡️Apple & Google WiFi Surveillance Can Track Death & Destruction
@takebackourtech

Chances are, if you’ve used Google Maps or Apple Maps, you’ve contributed to one of the biggest surveillance databases in the world.

Known for their accuracy, big tech maps can locate your phone within a few meters and even indoors.

No, these big tech maps aren’t using GPS - they’re using WPS or Wi-Fi positioning system.

These WPS systems collect millions of WiFi networks and tag them with locations.

Researchers in Maryland discovered through a flaw in Apple’s WPS that they could gather at least 2B (2 Billion) WiFi location points by requesting WiFi networks at random.

That’s enough points to cover the world’s populated areas, notably China was nearly empty except for a few thousand points. Looks like even the CCP can’t opt out of this surveillance.

We did the work for them.

When you use Google or Apple maps, your phone will send the nearby WiFi networks along with their signal strength to the WPS. The WPS will look up these networks in a database that has hundreds of millions of networks along with their location. The calculation is then performed on the server for Google location’s service, and on the phone for Apple location’s service - which sent a list of 400 additional WiFi points back.

And this is how you get a precise location for your phone. Any new WiFi networks you scanned are potentially added to the WPS databases.

Apple & Google have made their users the instrument of their surveillance.

And the things you can do with this surveillance are harrowing. The researchers were able to see how many WiFi access points went offline in Gaza due to the constant bombardment that caused the deaths of 40,000 civilians.

Similarly the researchers were able to see the damage from the August 2023 Maui fires, and the emigration of people from Ukraine to escape forced conscription.

Apple, Google and any organization they choose to share this WiFi data will have incredible capabilities. Don’t worry though - because these companies care so much about privacy - they give you a way to opt out.

Solutions

Add _nomap to the end of your WiFi SSID (name), Google and Apple promise not to index Wifi networks ending with those names.

Turn off your WiFi network and use ethernet cable.

Read primary source material here.

Get the latest updates on our mailing list: Above Phone

Above Book: Learn about our privacy laptop: https://abovephone.com/book

Above Suite: Use our privacy services: https://abovephone.com/suite

#TBOT #AbovePhone #WiFi #Surveillance #Big_Tech
—
https://takebackourtech.org
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⚡️Microsoft Recall, Stealing Everything You've Ever Typed
@takebackourtech

Microsoft recently introduced an upcoming feature of Windows 11 that will be rolled out soon with Copilot+ called Recall. If you’re a current user of Windows 11, this isn’t active for you yet, but it will be in the near future.

As a brief summary, Recall will continuously take screenshots of your PC every 5 seconds, creating a searchable database of your activity. It will also store everything you have ever typed in plain text, yes, including sensitive passwords that are copy and pasted.

We recommend you do everything you can to avoid Recall when it is implemented, and to disable it in Windows 11 in the near future.

In case you’re not convinced yet, you may want to switch to an open source OS, like Linux, in order to avoid 0 day exploits and privacy breaches that will likely occur on Windows due to Recall.

Recall is a PR Nightmare

Unfortunately, Recall is one of the many problematic new implementations of AI in mainstream operating systems.

Similar functionality will be coming to Apple, considering they have opted to work with Google’s Gemini AI and will soon implement invasive, AI based scanning of the private data located in the unencrypted messages on your smartphone and PC in the near future.

In case you are not convinced yet, here are some more reasons to avoid Recall:

Cybersec: Microsoft claims that Copilot+ runtime processes data locally, but because its database is stored in plain text, it will make any Windows based PC vulnerable to remote access by hackers.

One practical use case of this would be an InfoStealer trojan, which steals usernames and passwords and can easily be modified to support Recall.

User Reaction: Recall has rightly been met with overwhelmingly negative reactions from Windows users, who naturally fear the coming privacy breaches and severe potential for misuse by bad actors. For any Windows users still out there: this was inevitable.

Implementation: Recall is, quite frankly, a PR nightmare unfolding in real time for Microsoft. To make matters worse, the feature will come enabled by default, despite Microsoft calling it an “optional feature."

Legal Jargon Manipulation: Microsoft's vague, misleading descriptions of Recall are decidedly sketchy. They continue to use terms like "snapshots" instead of "screenshots," in order to cover their tracks and downplay Recall’s intrusiveness.

Update as of 6/13/24: Because of recent public backlash, Microsoft is now making Recall an optional feature that you have to willingly opt-in to, instead of being enabled by default. They are also adding encryption via Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-in Security and are encrypting the search engine database.

Still, we wanted to capture the previous stages of development before Microsoft could sweep the roll-out of this extremely problematic feature under the rug.

Whether or not this convinces you to feel safe and secure while handing over your private data to Recall and Windows, is another story.

#TBOT #Recall #Microsoft #Windows11 #dataprivacy #Surveillance #Big_Tech

Primary sources here.

Get the latest updates on our mailing list: Above Phone

Above Book: Learn about our privacy laptop: https://abovephone.com/book

Above Suite: Use our privacy services: https://abovephone.com/suite
—
✌️ MORE POSTS | 🗯 CHAT GROUP | 📩 NEWSLETTER
Follow 🫶 @takebackourtech

Chat Control Must Be Stopped – Now! – Threema

This Wednesday, June 19, 2024, the #EU Council could be voting on the controversial #ChatControl bill. Should it pass, the consequences would be devastating: Under the pretext of child protection, EU citizens would no longer be able to communicate in a safe and private manner on the Internet. The European market’s location advantage would suffer a massive hit due to a substantial decrease in data security. And EU professionals like lawyers, journalists, and physicians could no longer uphold their duty to confidentiality online. All while children wouldn’t be better protected in the least bit. On the contrary, Chat Control could have a negative impact on minors in particular.

https://threema.ch/en/blog/posts/stop-chat-control

#surveillance #privacy