Via #TheGuardian @ 7:00am ET on Mar 19, 2025
Researchers have uncovered “possible links” between #Ontario’s provincial police force and an #Israel - based military-grade #spyware maker called #ParagonSolutions, raising questions about the extent and scope of #Canadian authorities’ use of #CyberWeapons.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/19/ontario-police-force-israeli-spyware
Responding to the publication of a #CitizenLab report identifying multiple cases involving the use of #Paragon #spyware against journalists and human rights defenders in Italy, the Head of Amnesty International’s Security Lab, Donncha Ó Cearbhaill, said:
“The alarming discovery that Paragon’s highly invasive #Graphite spyware has been used against human rights defenders and journalists in Italy underscores the worsening digital surveillance crisis across Europe 
https://securitylab.amnesty.org/latest/2025/03/europe-paragon-attacks-highlight-europes-growing-spyware-crisis/
Citizen Lab: ‘In our first investigation into Israel-based spyware company, Paragon Solutions, we begin to untangle multiple threads connected to the proliferation of Paragon’s mercenary spyware operations across the globe.’ https://citizenlab.ca/2025/03/a-first-look-at-paragons-proliferating-spyware-operations/ #tech #spyware #security #privacy #surveillance #humanrights
#meta 's #whatsapp is on such downfall in The Netherlands over #privacy concerns that they feel the need to make a statement.
Funnily enough the statement they make now on using the #metadata to #safeguard users against #spyware is such BS.
You should use #Signal too.
Signal has a feature to report spam by users too and actually can take action where required without sacrafising user privacy.
The governments of
Australia
Canada
Cyprus
Denmark
Israel
Singapore
are likely customers of Israeli #spyware maker #Paragon Solutions
The #CitizenLab, a group of academics and security researchers housed at the University of Toronto that has investigated the spyware industry for more than a decade, published a report about the Israeli-founded surveillance startup, identifying the 6 governments as “suspected Paragon deployments.”
https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/19/researchers-name-several-countries-as-potential-paragon-spyware-customers/
AWS late to act on #spyware leaks: AWS has failed to take down the servers of 3 spyware companies that are leaking victim data, weeks after initial reports
https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/13/amazon-is-still-hosting-stalkerware-victims-data-weeks-after-breach-alert/
Meta is seeking financial damages of $444,719 from Israeli #spyware maker #NSO Group
The sum represents response costs related to investigating a wave of WhatsApp account hacks in 2019 using an NSO exploit
Meta sued NSO in late 2019, and a US judge found the Israeli company liable for the hacks after years of stonewalling US courts
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/16395340/595/whatsapp-inc-v-nso-group-technologies-limited/
'My wife asked why I carry a gun around the house.
I looked at her and said "Spyware". She laughed, I laughed, Alexa laughed, I shot Alexa, it was a good time."
#Amazon #spyware #Alexa #Echo #HomeAssistant
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/everything-you-say-to-your-echo-will-be-sent-to-amazon-starting-on-march-28/
#Amazon is still hosting #stalkerware victims’ data weeks after breach alert
"Im Paragon-Spyware-Skandal Italiens wurden mindestens 90 Einzelpersonen, Journalisten und Aktivisten mit dem Spionageprogramm Graphite ins Visier genommen.
(...)
Im Zentrum des Skandals steht #Paragon Solutions, das israelische Unternehmen hinter der Spionagesoftware Graphite. Die Technologie soll auch an italienische Behörden verkauft worden sein.
Über den Messenger #WhatsApp sollen die Journalisten und Mitglieder der #Zivilgesellschaft mit der Software ausspioniert worden sein...."
"Privacy respecting ads"
｢ Shortly after, balenaEtcher started displaying ads. Although we didn't like that, we initially didn't view it as a significant privacy risk and had no better alternative at the time.
However, in 2024, the situation changed: balenaEtcher started sharing the file name of the image and the model of the USB stick with the Balena company and possibly with third parties ｣
From Malpensa to Tel Aviv: Italian police use Israeli software to spy on anti-deportation activsts
„Police violence is about more than batons. It also manifests itself through interference and encroachment into private life. Police have always used an odious set of tools to achieve this. They follow people’s movements and observe and listen to their daily lives.
Today, however, access by police forces and governments to confidential, detailed and sensitive information can be much more pervasive than one might imagine. The spyware system Paragon, that has recently come to light, is one example of this. The services provided by the Israeli company Cellebrite are another, albeit different, example.
We have written this text because we believe it may help people protect themselves from the pervasive surveillance by the authorities. We invite you to share it widely.…“
Happy 10th anniversary to Spyware 2.0 – the video we released at the launch of Ind.ie (what is now Small Technology Foundation¹).
Have we learned any lessons in those ten years, I wonder.
#spyware #SiliconValley #BigTech #technology #fascism #technoFascism #peopleFarming #surveillance #capitalism #surveillanceCapitalism
Scientific article at the Trinity College proving that Google is illegal spyware.
"Cookies, Identifiers and Other Data That Google Silently Stores on Android Handsets"
https://www.scss.tcd.ie/Doug.Leith/pubs/cookies_identifiers_and_other_data.pdf
#Apple have just sent new notifications to individual's targeted by highly-invasive mobile #spyware
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/04/global-apple-threat-notifications-what-they-mean-and-what-you-can-do/
Court in Spanish 
region of Catalonia ordered prosecutors indict 3 executives at Israeli 
spyware maker #NSO Group
.. that 3 executives facilitated the unlawful surveillance of 63 Catalans following anti-government protests in the mid-2010s
.. are #NSO founders Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie, and Yuval Somekh, a manager at NSO's parent company Q Cyber Technologies
https://iridia.cat/en/three-executives-of-the-nso-group-charged-for-their-responsibility-in-the-pegasus-espionage-case/ #spyware
.. blamed Public Prosecutor's Office for trying to block the complaint and refusing to cooperate
Attention, logiciel espion de chez google !!!!
https://www.linternaute.com/hightech/mobile/7413856-article-application-google-securite/
So Microsoft introduced Recall some time ago. Seemingly most people have never heard of it. It takes a picture of your screen every 5s, so you are able to search for what you did on your computer. Personally I can not think of many uses for this functionality and none that outweigh the privacy and security implications.
Would you care to enable such functionality on your computer?
