Outre un stockage systématique des métadonnées – qui permettent par exemple de savoir quel ordinateur s’est connecté à quel site et quand, ou quels téléphones sont entrés en contact –, Advanced Middle East Systems promet « une surveillance en temps réel des suspects » grâce à des sondes particulièrement intrusives, capables de capter les e-mails, de traquer les SMS, d’espionner les chats ou de surveiller les réseaux sociaux. « A n’importe quel moment, les enquêteurs peuvent suivre l’activité de leur cible en entrant des critères avancés (adresses e-mail, numéros de téléphone, mots-clés) », peut-on encore lire en compulsant la documentation technique. En clair, Cerebro peut aspirer toutes les données qui ne sont pas chiffrées. Une arme de choix pour les gouvernements autoritaires.

New Annenberg survey results indicate that marketers are misrepresenting a large majority of Americans by claiming that Americans give out information about themselves as a tradeoff for benefits they receive. To the contrary, the survey reveals most Americans do not believe that ‘data for discounts’ is a square deal. The findings also suggest, in contrast to other academics’ claims, that Americans’ willingness to provide personal information to marketers cannot be explained by the public’s poor knowledge of the ins and outs of digital commerce.Our findings, instead, support a new explanation: a majority of Americans are resigned to giving up their data — and that is why many appear to be engaging in tradeoffs. Resignation occurs when a person believes an ndesirable outcome is inevitable and feels powerless to stop it. Rather than feeling able to make choices, Americans believe it is futile to manage what companies can learn about them. Our study reveals that more than half do not want to lose control over their information but also believe this loss of
control has already happened.

By misrepresenting the American people and championing the tradeoff argument, marketers give policymakers false justifications for allowing the collection and use of all kinds of consumer data often in ways that the public find objectionable. Moreover, the futility we found, combined with a broad public fear about what companies can do with the data, portends serious difficulties not just for individuals but also — over time — for the institution of consumer commerce.

The wiretap order authorized an unknown government agency to carry out real-time intercepts of 3.29 million cell phone conversations over a two-month period at some point during 2016, after the order was applied for in late 2015.

The order was signed to help authorities track 26 individuals suspected of involvement with illegal drug and narcotic-related activities in Pennsylvania.

The wiretap cost the authorities $335,000 to conduct and led to a dozen arrests.

But the authorities noted that the surveillance effort led to no incriminating intercepts, and none of the handful of those arrested have been brought to trial or convicted.

Mexico’s most prominent human rights lawyers, journalists and anti-corruption activists have been targeted by advanced spyware sold to the Mexican government on the condition that it be used only to investigate criminals and terrorists.

The targets include lawyers looking into the mass disappearance of 43 students, a highly respected academic who helped write anti-corruption legislation, two of Mexico’s most influential journalists and an American representing victims of sexual abuse by the police. The spying even swept up family members, including a teenage boy.

Since 2011, at least three Mexican federal agencies have purchased about $80 million worth of spyware created by an Israeli cyberarms manufacturer. The software, known as Pegasus, infiltrates smartphones to monitor every detail of a person’s cellular life — calls, texts, email, contacts and calendars. It can even use the microphone and camera on phones for surveillance, turning a target’s smartphone into a personal bug.

A weblog about Signals Intelligence, Communications Security and top level telecommunications equipment

“Pour ce qui est des perquisitions administratives, c’est là encore un copié collé de l’état d’urgence. Ainsi l’exploitation des données numériques, des ordinateurs et autres téléphones portables saisis sera soumise à l’autorisation du seul juge administratif, et non d’un juge judiciaire.” Rendez-vous compte un instant, il serait permis à la police, sous aucune autre autorité que celle du Ministère de l’Intérieur, d’avoir accès à l’entièreté de la vie numérique d’une personne suspecte (réfléchissez un instant à tout ce que contiennent comme informations vos téléphones et ordinateurs). Pour des suspects de terrorisme, me direz-vous ? Oui, sauf que sous l’état d’urgence, des perquisitions administratives abusives ont été relevées en nombre.

SeaGlass is a system designed by security researchers at the University of Washington to measure IMSI-catcher use across a city.   Cellular sensors are built from off-the-shelf parts and installed into volunteers’ vehicles Sensor data is continuously uploaded from vehicles and aggregated into a city-wide view Algorithms find anomalies in the cellular network that indicate IMSI-catchers

The National Security Agency under former President Barack Obama routinely violated American privacy protections while scouring through overseas intercepts and failed to disclose the extent of the problems until the final days before Donald Trump was elected president last fall, according to once top-secret documents that chronicle some of the most serious constitutional abuses to date by the U.S. intelligence community.

Alors que la surveillance des citoyens est en train de s’imposer (avez vous suivi les dernières révélations de Wikileaks ?), cela suscite un débat autour de la question : en quoi est-il gênant d’avoir de la surveillance de masse ? La réponse est simple : parce quand on se sait surveillé, on se conforme à la norme, on n’ose plus s’exprimer, penser ni agir de peur d’être jugé.

C’est dans moins d’une semaine que l’on connaîtra le nom du futur locataire de l’Élysée : Marine Le Pen ou Emmanuel Macron. Les électeurs s’exprimeront démocratiquement dans les urnes dimanche. Une excellente occasion pour revenir sur les pouvoirs de surveillance qui résideront dans ces nouvelles mains.

The UK government is soliciting feedback from a handful of internet providers, but isn't consulting the tech industry or the public.

The National Security Agency vacuumed up more than 151 million records about Americans’ phone calls last year via a new system that Congress created to end the agency’s once-secret program that collected domestic calling records in bulk, a report disclosed Tuesday.

Although the number is large on its face, it nonetheless represents a massive reduction from the amount of information the agency gathered previously. Under the old system, it collected potentially “billions of records per day,” according to a 2014 study.

While it's not true that all Internet traffic flows through the US, the addition of a few listening posts at key Internet exchanges in Europe (London, Paris) and some in Asia (Hong Kong, Tokyo) ensure that the NSA and its Five Eyes partners can analyse and ingest the majority of international Internet traffic.

De plus en plus d’experts en cybersécurité s’intéressent aux attaques informatiques pratiquées par les gouvernements contre la société civile.

A l’occasion de la journée mondiale contre la cyber-censure, Reporters sans frontières (RSF) publie son rapport Censure et surveillances des journalistes : un business sans scrupules. L’ONG y dénonce la soumission des géants du web face à des régimes répressifs au nom de l’intérêt économique et les nombreux cas de surveillance en ligne de journalistes. L’ONG plaide en faveur de mécanismes internationaux de régulation contraignants.

Le site WikiLeaks a publié mardi plusieurs milliers de documents confidentiels de la Central Intelligence Agency, détaillant de nombreux outils utilisés par l’agence.

It’s safe to assume that Google, Yahoo, and other major Internet companies were not thrilled when the NSA began demanding that they hand over users’ da ...