Mass surveillance

Photo: David McNew (Getty Images)In a nutshell, law enforcement agencies value transaction records because they can be used to paint an investigative picture and collect evidence of money laundering and fraud. Though the data on its own isn’t necessarily enough to make an arrest, supporters of the program say they establish a pattern and show the flow of funds potentially associated with criminal activity. These money transfer services, which are typically less regulated than larger banking institutions, have drawn…

U.S. Cyber Command head, National Security Agency Director and Central Security Service Chief Gen. Paul Nakasone arrives for a Senate Armed Services hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 5, 2022.Photo: Andrew Harnik (AP)Multiple military intelligence offices have paid a data broker for access to internet traffic logs, which could reveal the online browsing histories of U.S. citizens, Sen. Ron Wyden said in a letter Wednesday, citing an anonymous whistleblower that had contacted his office.At least four…

Photo: Public Domain/NSA/Wikimedia CommonsChina claims that America’s National Security Agency used sophisticated cyber tools to hack into an elite research university on Chinese soil. The attack allegedly targeted the Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi’an (not to be confused with a California school of the same name), which is highly ranked in the global university index for its science and engineering programs.The U.S. Justice Department has referred to the school as a “Chinese military university that is…

A mural depicting writer George Orwell, in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022.Photo: Darko Vojinovic (AP) “If we begin to feel that we’re being surveilled all the time, our behavior changes. We begin to do less. We begin to think about things less. We begin to modify how we think.” - Tim CookThe English language, novelist George Orwell once observed, “is in a bad way.”The critic and notoriously “crabby” grammarian likened the destruction of the written word to the spiraling depression of one caught up in thrall of…

Journalists gather outside the Paul S. Rogers Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in downtown West Palm Beach, Fla., to read a heavily blackout document released by The Justice Department Friday, Aug. 26, 2022.Photo: Jim Rassol (AP)A redacted version of the affidavit justifying the FBI’s extraordinary actions at Mar-a-Lago has been released to the public on the order of a federal magistrate judge. It contains multiple references to suspicion that Trump potentially had information in his residence that is specially…

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin departs after speaking during a media briefing at the Pentagon, Wednesday, July 20, 2022, in Washington.Photo: Alex Brandon (AP)The House of Representatives approved changes to next year’s military budget requiring the Department of Defense to start disclosing any purchases of smartphone or web browsing data for which a warrant would ordinarily be required last month.The House’s approval is asign that Congress is growing increasingly concerned with the military and federal government’s…

Gizmodo is 20 years old! To celebrate the anniversary, we’re looking back at some of the most significant ways our lives have been thrown for a loop by our digital tools.The year was 1998. Robert Dean, a labor lawyer based in Washington D.C., was out shopping for some lingerie. His life was about to be turned upside down by a chance encounter with an old classmate. He’d come into possession of some sensitive surveillance material desperately sought after by rogue government agents, footage that would prove radioactive to…

Photo: Anthony Kwan (Getty Images)New research claims that Hong Kong’s covid-19 contact tracing app has a host of security problems that could expose sensitive user data. The city’s response: We don’t know what you guys are talking about. The Hong Kong government launched the LeaveHomeSafe app in November of 2020 to help track and combat the pandemic. Available for iOS and Android, the app collects information on a user’s location as they travel around the city, culling the data from barcode scans at local restaurants.…