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The FBI Came Very Close to Deploying Spyware for Domestic Surveillance
The FBI came very close to using commercial spyware to aid in its domestic criminal investigations, the New York Times has reported. The spyware was developed by the NSO Group, the notorious surveillance vendor from Israel whose products have been tied to spying scandals all over the world.
In January, the Times broke the news that the FBI had been considering procuring a surveillance system called “Phantom” from NSO that could reportedly hack any phone in the United States. The tool was a variant of NSO’s more well-known malware Pegasus and had the ability to comprehensively infiltrate mobile devices and monitor their activities. At the time, it was reported that the FBI was considering using it in criminal investigations. However, not long after news of the potential deal broke, privacy concerns were raised, and the government found itself on the defensive.
At a congressional hearing earlier this year, FBI Director Chris Wray claimed that the government’s contacts with NSO had been part of a “counterintelligence” operation, implying that the bureau had never actually intended to use the spyware tool. Officials made it sound like they were conducting research on how such tools could be used by bad actors but seemed to imply that they, themselves, had no interest in using them.
New documents uncovered by the Times seem to suggest that the government was very much interested in using the tools for their own criminal investigations. The documents, retrieved via a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, include a number of internal FBI PowerPoint presentations, created throughout 2020 and 2021, that discuss how the bureau could deploy the hacking tools.
Google Agrees to $392 Million Privacy Settlement With 40 States
Google agreed to a record $391.5 million privacy settlement with a 40-state coalition of attorneys general on Monday for charges that it misled users into thinking they had turned off location tracking in their account settings even as the company continued collecting that information.
Under the settlement, Google will also make its location tracking disclosures clearer starting in 2023.
The attorneys general said that the agreement was the biggest internet privacy settlement by U.S. states. It capped a four-year investigation into the internet search giant for violating the states’ consumer protection laws.
States have taken an increasingly central role in reining in the power and business models of Silicon Valley corporations, amid a vacuum of action from federal lawmakers.
NYPD Spent $3 Billion on Surveillance but Critics Say Details Are Vague Despite New Disclosure Law
The NYPD spent nearly $3 billion on surveillance technology in a 12-year stretch but continues to flout the law requiring it to reveal details of each contract, according to two advocacy groups.
The money spent was opaquely listed as “special expenses” in the police budget until 2020, when the City Council passed, over the NYPD’s objections, the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology, or POST, Act.
The law requires the NYPD to explain each contract — from drones to facial recognition software to license plate readers and beyond — and to reveal which other law enforcement agencies have access to the data. But advocacy groups say the NYPD is not meeting the law’s disclosure requirements.
Microsoft helped build the NYPD’s Domain Awareness System, which collects data from different surveillance methods and links the data to people and addresses. Constitutional and racial concerns have been raised about the system, and the Surveillance Oversight Project, known as STOP, has said immigration authorities are tracking undocumented immigrants using data collected by it.
Teach the Constitution: Democrat Attorney Who Halted Hochul’s Quarantine Camp Regulation
In what she has called a David versus Goliath battle, New York real estate lawyer Bobbie Anne Cox sued Governor Kathleen Hochul for issuing directives mandating quarantine for people exposed to or infected with highly contagious diseases such as COVID-19. The directives, dubbed “quarantine camp regulations,” have been compared to laws that relocated Japanese during World War II without due process. Cox won the lawsuit on the grounds that Hochul’s regulation was unconstitutional.
“The constitution is not perfect, but it’s brilliant,” Cox said. Schools should require learning about the U.S. Constitution, “from the little kids all the way up through high school, into college. The constitution was written to keep the government in check. The constitution wasn’t written to keep the people in check.”
It is tyrannical for a government to take power to which it is not entitled, Cox explained. During the pandemic, state and federal governments gave themselves powers the constitution did not give them.
State governors are part of the executive branch of government. As such, she said, “they’re supposed to enforce laws, and their agencies beneath them are supposed to help them enforce laws. They’re not supposed to make laws.” When a governor such as Hochul takes on powers that properly belong to the legislature, “that’s tyranny,” Cox reiterated.
HHS to Launch New Push to Get Americans Updated COVID Booster Shots Before the Holidays
U.S. News & World Report reported:
The Biden administration on Monday will launch its latest push to get more Americans vaccinated with the updated COVID-19 booster shots ahead of the holidays and an expected coronavirus wave in the fall and winter.
The Department of Health and Human Services on Monday will kick off its “Countdown to Thanksgiving Vax Up America Tour” which aims to get more shots in arms ahead of the holiday. The agency will work with national and community-based organizations, among others, to bring pop-up vaccine sites to large community events.
The agency and its partners will also offer COVID-19 vaccines at football games at historically Black colleges and universities in an effort to reach Black communities. The agency expects to reach thousands of Americans at each location, which includes Alcorn State University, the SWAC Championship Game in Jackson, Miss., and the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta. A list of upcoming events will be available on the agency’s “We Can Do This” website.
In Zero-COVID China, a Different Death Toll Emerges
In the lead-up to China’s Communist Party Congress last month, watercooler chatter in many offices here focused on a single question: Will the Congress abandon its zero-COVID policy?
It didn’t take long for an answer. In his opening speech, Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed the nation’s commitment to zero COVID — a stance made all the more inviolable since securing his unprecedented third term.
I can confirm that zero COVID is alive and well. In the weeks since Xi’s speech, I’ve had dozens of nucleic acid tests, canceled a domestic work trip and seen multiple colleagues hauled off to quarantine hotels or locked down at home. (On Friday, China announced a limited easing of some measures — though no mention of when the changes would take effect.)
Students in many cities in China are back to remote learning. My 5-year-old daughter is on her second week off school after her kindergarten closed due to restrictions related to COVID-19. At this point, she has spent more time at home in 2022 than in the classroom.
While I fully agree that China’s hard-line approach to COVID-19 containment has saved lives, the policy’s impacts are beginning to seem worse than the disease. Economically speaking, all is not well in China, and the situation is at least partially to blame on China’s uncompromising stance on COVID-19.
Apple Sued for Tracking Users’ Activity Even When Turned off in Settings
Over the past couple of years, Apple has centered its focus on user privacy. The iPhone maker has sparred with other Big Tech companies, most notably Facebook owner Meta, about the issue. Apple’s efforts to protect users’ data has cost platforms like Facebook billions of dollars in revenue.
But, as it turns out, Apple has been collecting user data itself, even if its customers had explicitly changed their settings to stop the company from doing so. Now, Apple is being sued.
A class action lawsuit was filed on Thursday claiming that Apple’s actions violate the California Invasion of Privacy Act. The lawsuit doesn’t focus so much on the fact that Apple is collecting this data. The suit hones in on Apple’s settings, such as “Allow Apps to Request to Track” and “Share Analytics,” which give users the perception that they can disable such tracking.
It shouldn’t be too surprising that Apple, or any tech company, collects user data. However, as the team at the software company Mysk discovered, Apple is collecting this data regardless of a user’s settings where they are given the option to turn data collection off, possibly giving them a false sense of privacy.
Amazon to Fire 10,000 Employees, Largest Layoff in Company History
Over the past month, technology companies have laid off tens of thousands of employees. And the momentum in layoffs only appears to be worsening.
According to a new report via The New York Times this morning, Amazon could add to the count this week as approximately 10,000 people in corporate and technology jobs will be slashed, in what could be the most significant job cut in the company’s history.
People with direct knowledge of the layoff plan said job cuts would be focused on Amazon’s devices organization, including the voice-assistant Alexa, its retail division and human resources.
