Microsoft reportedly gave the FBI BitLocker recovery keys to unlock encrypted laptops in a Guam fraud probe. 🔐

I’m genuinely stunned. 🤯 Encryption should protect users — not defer to cloud-stored keys that can be handed over on demand. ⚠️

This raises deep concerns about trust, what “secure by default” means. 🧩

🔗 https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/23/microsoft-gave-fbi-a-set-of-bitlocker-encryption-keys-to-unlock-suspects-laptops-reports/

#TechNews #Microsoft #FBI #Privacy #Encryption #BitLocker #Cybersecurity #DataSecurity #DigitalRights #BigTech #UserControl #Cloud #Security #Surveillance

Microsoft Gave FBI Keys To Unlock Encrypted Data, Exposing Major Privacy Flaw

The tech giant said it receives around 20 requests for BitLocker keys a year and will provide them to governments in response to valid court orders.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2026/01/22/microsoft-gave-fbi-keys-to-unlock-bitlocker-encrypted-data/

#Microsoft #Bitlocker #privacy #security #datasecurity #surveillance #dataleak #encryption #technology

TikTok’s new age-detection tech seems like a better solution than automatically banning youth accounts. But experts say it still requires social platforms to surveil users more closely.

Alt...

Age Verification Is Reaching a Global Tipping Point. Is TikTok’s Strategy a Good Compromise?

If you are using Microsoft for anything secure, it might be time to really re-evaluate some choices.

Microsoft Gave FBI BitLocker Encryption Keys, Exposing Privacy Flaw

https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2026/01/22/microsoft-gave-fbi-keys-to-unlock-bitlocker-encrypted-data/

#Microsoft #FBI #Bitlocker #Encryption #Privacy #Security #Surveillance #Tech

RE: https://mastodon.social/@adastra1930/115907889643635879

If it CAN be used for surveillance, it WILL be used for surveillance - it's only a question of when.

People kept saying it & were called alarmist & hyberbolic & worse.

God, how I wish we were learning from our mistakes, world. Pleeze. Pleeeeze.

#tech #surveillance #capitalism #fascism #privacy

The trouble with facts is that they cannot be directly observed.
https://philosophics.blog/2026/01/22/the-trouble-with-facts/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social
#philosophy #epistemology #ontology #facts #objectivity #mediation #interpretation #causation #abduction #posthoc #cognitivebias #perception #sensemaking #philosophyofscience #philosophyoflaw #legalreasoning #intent #responsibility #evidence #experts #surveillance #mapandterritory #languageinsufficiency #disintegration #antimodernity #blog #podcast #science

Google’s Gemini A.I. now scans your entire inbox to “help” you summarize, reply & organize. 📬
That’s not assistance — that’s surveillance wrapped in productivity branding. 🔍

If your emails need an opt‑out clause, maybe the feature shouldn’t exist by default. ⚠️

🔗 https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/technology/personaltech/gmail-gemini-ai-email-inbox.html

#TechNews #Privacy #AI #Google #Gmail #Surveillance #Data #Security #UserRights #BigTech #DigitalEthics #OnlinePrivacy #TechPolicy #Accountability #AIethics #Cybersecurity #Gemini #Email

Mass surveillance didn’t land with a coup; it slipped in through “free” apps and default settings that monetize every click and movement.
Big tech and data capitalism turned convenience into infrastructure‑level monitoring, threatening our autonomy and democracy.
Read here: https://www.korte.co/2026/01/22/from-big-tech-to-mass-surveillance/
#surveillance #digitalsovereignty #cloud #bigtech

"Recording law enforcement in public is often a vital democratic check, especially when official narratives and reality conflict, as they have in Minneapolis since Jan. 7, 2026.

"But the camera in your pocket is also part of a maturing surveillance ecosystem, one that links video, facial recognition and location data in ways most people never consented to and often don’t fully recognize."
https://theconversation.com/filming-ice-is-legal-but-exposes-you-to-digital-tracking-heres-how-to-minimize-the-risk-273566

#ICE #surveillance

#Surveillance and #ICE Are Driving #Patients Away From Medical Care, Report Warns

A new EPIC report says data brokers, ad-tech surveillance, and ICE enforcement are among the factors leading to a “health #privacy crisis” that is eroding trust and deterring people from seeking care.

https://www.wired.com/story/surveillance-and-ice-are-driving-patients-away-from-medical-care-report-warns/

ICE's facial recognition app Mobile Fortify misidentified the same woman twice during a raid: returning two different, wrong names.

https://www.404media.co/ices-facial-recognition-app-misidentified-a-woman-twice/

#ice #mobilefortify #facialrecognition #app #biometric #privacy #surveillance #us
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A new EPIC report says data brokers, ad-tech surveillance, and ICE enforcement are among the factors leading to a “health privacy crisis” that is eroding trust and deterring people from seeking care.

Alt...

Surveillance and ICE Are Driving Patients Away From Medical Care, Report Warns

Amazing. W (I kid you not): A bunch of VC-funded European Big Tech assholes attempting to rewrite history by erasing the federated European alternatives that already exist to create their own centralised, surveillance-ridden X clone.

Same shit, different flag.

And I’m sure the usual fools will flock to it the moment it’s ready.

Fuck these people.

#EU #bullshit #W #BigTech #surveillance #capitalism #peopleFarming @nicolasvivant https://colter.social/@nicolasvivant/115929963687586528

La publicité est néfaste. À tous les points de vue.
C'est néfaste pour notre libre-arbitre, ça pousse à la (sur)consommation, ça influe sur nos imaginaires et notre culture et __en plus__ ça facilite la surveillance étatique.

https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2026/01/21/comment-l-industrie-de-la-publicite-en-ligne-alimente-en-secret-la-surveillance-d-etat_6663454_4408996.html

#Antipub #DonnéesPersonnelles #Cybersurveillance #Surveillance

RE: https://social.data.coop/@cryptohagen/115931660323506846

In light of the fact that Ireland is basically a subsidiary to the Silicon Valley Broligarchy™️this is profoundly disturbing.

It is, after all, a move away from, rather than towards, greater privacy & security for the general public & we already know that corporations have a knack for twisting laws directly against their ostensible purpose.

In short, this strenghtens survelliance & weakens resistance at a principle level.

#surveillance #capitalism #privacy #Ireland

RE: https://pnw.zone/@waprivacy/115930418503373903

Today's hearings on regulating Flock and other ALPRs were intense. I live-skeeted it on Bluesky ... here's a one-page version via a thread-unroller. It takes a few seconds to load, sorry about that.

It's clearly going to be a tough fight. The testimony from groups pushing to strength it -- including Lavender Rights Project, OneAmerica, ACLU of Washington, Pro-Choice Washingotn, and Planned Parenthood, and NYU Project on Policing -- was great. (I didn't get to testify at either hearing and neither did several others pushing to strengthen it, sigh.) But, there was also a lot of testimony by Flock, law enforcement, and their allies pushing to weaken it. The sponsor talked about finding a middle path which is very frankly not what I want to hear when it comes to surveillance and keeping data from getting to ICE/CBP.

So we're going to need some strong advocacy here. If you're in Washington state, you have until tomorrow morning to provide written testimony -- the actions in the quoted tweet and its reply have links and talking points.

#waleg #flock #surveillance

Protecting Yourself In A Surveillance State

Shoutouts to @eff and the @ACLU

#News #TechNews #Privacy #Surveillance

https://youtu.be/9DFKaypFgyg

Daily podcast: Protecting Yourself In A Surveillance State

Shoutouts to @eff and the @ACLU

#News #TechNews #Privacy #Surveillance #podcast

https://soundcloud.com/nickaesp/pss

Newly Unveiled Photos of #MLKJr. Show Depth of #NYPD’s #Surveillance

By Joshua Clark Davis
Nov 29, 2025

Excerpt: "Just as Donald Trump demonizes leftist organizers today as #DomesticTerrorists, both federal officials and local police in the South and North condemned civil rights activists as #rioters and #insurrectionists. Just as Trump falsely disparaged Zohran Mamdani as a communist in recent months (before opting not to repeat the charges in a surprisingly friendly meeting with the mayor-elect in the Oval Office), Southern officials slandered King as a communist. And just as Trump’s Justice Department is indicting his political enemies on legally specious mortgage fraud charges, state officials in #Alabama unsuccessfully indicted King on #felony criminal charges for income tax perjury in 1960.

"But the NYPD — nor any other local police department — did not need to wait for encouragement from the feds to spy on King and his allies. A common misperception is that local police were content with physically assaulting protesters while leaving the sophisticated work of surveillance and slander to Hoover’s FBI. But police were far more experienced in spying on and sabotaging activists than we have acknowledged — so much so that the FBI’s notorious #COINTELPRO program against '#BlackExtremists,' launched in August 1967, should be recognized for federalizing efforts that local police departments had already undertaken to disrupt the #CivilRightsMovement."

Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2025/11/29/mlk-nypd-surveillance-photos/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/85j37

#MartinLutherKingJr #BlackHistory #ACAB #CivilRights #AmericanHistory

#BatonRouge Acquires a Straight-Up #Military #Surveillance #Drone

Baton Rouge is now one of the first local #police departments in the United States to deploy an unmanned aerial vehicle ( #UAV ) with such extensive surveillance capabilities — a dangerous escalation in the #militarization of local law enforcement.
#privacy

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/baton-rouge-acquires-straight-military-surveillance-drone

US anti-drug hysteria and how it tied in neatly with the right-wing surveillance state half a century ago.

Police corruption, celebrity hustlers, and children who told the police about their parents' drug use.

Oh, and police knew from the start that the DARE program made kids *more likely* to use drugs.

Based on an in-depth book about DARE:
https://youtu.be/LzrGCk-F7FY

#corruption #police #surveillance

New legislation would sharply limit ICE's facial recognition app, Mobile Fortify.

https://www.404media.co/new-legislation-would-rein-in-ices-facial-recognition-app/

#ice #mobilefortify #legislation #facialrecognition #privacy #surveillance
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Facebook is listening to our personal conversations showing content related to in-person, in-home, private chats

This is not predictive - it's active listening, surveillance. The microphone is also off (smartphone: Facebook settings); there is a laptop nearby with a Facebook account.

How can I stop this? #capitalism #surveillance #Facebook #spyware

Claude Sonnet 4.5
https://claude.ai/share/4f882859-8d8e-4c71-98cc-e3706afc1339

Google Gemini
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JCU1K1zMp53p8STekHt_vvaQ65tjXVramjbbOhl1JYg/edit?usp=sharing

Kimi K2
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19k9BKayaZPv9m_DnOAwNZdzQc4-KB1q-EBZPs8irfB0/edit?tab=t.0

Age verification is spreading like cancer.

First they came for adults site and social media; now they are already discussing about putting VPNs and app stores behind #AgeVerfication 🇬🇧🇦🇺

What’s sold as “online safety” means #surveillance via IDs checks or face scans.

Privacy & anonymity protect journalists, whistleblowers & activists.

We must fight against age verification - or the free web dies!

👉 More: https://tuta.com/blog/age-verification-kills-anonymity

Alt...

First they came for Adult sites And I did not speak out Because I was not interested in Adult sites Then they came for Social Media And I did not speak out Because I was not interested in Social Media Then they came for the VPNs And I did not speak out Because I was not interested in VPNs Then they came for chat apps And I did not speak out Because I was not  interested in chat apps Then they locked the whole web behind ID verification And there was no one left To speak up against this

Are you being tracked by the police?

Police Unmask Millions of Surveillance Targets Because of Flock Redaction Error

https://www.404media.co/police-unmask-millions-of-surveillance-targets-because-of-flock-redaction-error/

#Police #ACAB #Flock #Surveillance #Security #Privacy #Flock #Tech