Bruce MacDonaldAP: "This active role beyond the borders is part of the quiet transformation of its parent agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, into something more akin to a domestic intelligence operation. Under the Trump administration's heightened immigration enforcement efforts, CBP is now poised to get more than $2.7 billion to build out border surveillance systems such as the license plate reader program by layering in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies."
https://abc7news.com/post/border-patrol-is-monitoring-us-drivers-detaining-suspicious-travel-patterns/18180071/
CDT EuropeNew week, new highlight of a member of our Advisory Council!
@andre_meister is an investigative journalist for @netzpolitik_feed focusing on #encryption, #dataretention & #statesurveillance in Europe.
He is also a founding member of @digiges and @Freiheitsrechte.
🌟 Excited to have him on board!
Charlie McHenryIn 2007, I wrote about Admiral John Poindexter, convicted felon and the federal government’s uber #Geek at the time. He’s the database-loving govt #dev who pioneered #StateSurveillance in the US, laying the foundation for later private companies to pick up the #surveillance baton and run with it. I met him at a #developers conference and then again at a #tech trade show. Quiet and meek in appearance, but a really scary guy. #programming http://popimpulse.blogspot.com/2007/04/john-poindexter-feds-uber-geek.html
bignoseBreyer concluded with an appeal:
“Today proves that our protest has the power to stop a totalitarian #surveillance system that has no equal in the free world. But the threat is not gone.
“The proponents of #ChatControl will use every trick in the book and will not give up easily. We will keep fighting until this proposal is defeated once and for all, and the #privacy of our digital lives is secure for everyone.
“Freedom is only as valuable as our willingness to fight for it. Now is the moment to support the #CivilRights organizations that made this victory possible, so we are prepared for the fight ahead.”
Citizen Protest Halts Chat Control; Breyer Celebrates Major Victory for Digital Privacy
In a major breakthrough for the digital rights movement, the German government has refused to back the EU's controversial Chat Control regulation today after facing massive public pressure. This blocks the required majority in the EU Council, derailing the plan to pass the surveillance law next week
Karisoh, and..
if at any one point your devices are seized or are in the possession of any state security apparatus, rule of thumb is that they are to be considered forever compromised..
#StateSurveillance #Privacy #Security #AbolishThePolice #Kenya #RutoMustGo
All Things SecuredChina Accused me of Being a Spy (true story)
China Accused me of Being a Spy (true story)
Cheesy and TiredA GIS site where you can see how many Flock surveillance cameras may be in your area. See how many thousands of dollars (each start at $2500 a pop) your municipality wastes on this fascist junk
DoomsdaysCW#VictoriaAustralia’s draconian new #AntiProtest laws will have a chilling effect on #FreeSpeech — and won’t keep anyone safe
Far-reaching anti-protest measures and giving police more repressive powers only serve to increase the risk of escalating violence.
by Sarah Schwartz, Jul 9, 2025
"In response to the weekend’s attack on the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has announced she will forge ahead with new anti-protest measures and more #police powers.
"In doing so, she is following what has become the new normal for state governments across the country: using acts of racism and violence as a pretext to #ClampDown on unrelated democratic rights.
"Taking to the streets in peaceful protest is one of the main ways for people to come together and express our political views when our representatives aren’t listening to us. But this right is not without limits. Every person has a right to worship in safety. The attack on East Melbourne Synagogue was not a protest; it was an act of antisemitism. The suspect has been apprehended and charged with a multitude of criminal offences.
"Two other incidents over the weekend, the targeting of a business with ties to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — a US-backed #Israeli organisation linked to the massacres of unarmed #Palestinians seeking aid — and a weapons company with links to the Israeli military, are also being referred to as justifying new laws. It is important not to conflate these actions against Israel with an attack against a Jewish place of worship. International human rights law, as well as our current laws, already place limits on protests that involve intimidation and violence.
"So what is actually being proposed in response? The Allan government is suggesting the creation of a new criminal offence for wearing a #FaceCovering at peaceful protests, banning 'dangerous attachment devices' (e.g. a #chain, a #BikeLock) — which have long been used in non-violent civil disobedience — and #criminalising peaceful protests around places of religious worship.
"The ban on face coverings would be a first in #Australia. It would mirror measures used in #authoritarian states that force people to submit themselves to various forms of #StateSurveillance.
"#VictoriaPolice has been using facial recognition software for years without any regulatory or legislative framework to prevent breaches of privacy. This technology, combined with a ban on face coverings at protests, would essentially amount to an obligation on behalf of individuals to submit to surveillance by the state, corporations and other groups that surveil protesters.
"Unless you’re a #MiningCompany spending hundreds of millions buying politicians’ favour or can wine and dine decision-makers, peaceful protest is one of the main ways for people to hold governments and corporations to account. Protests for the eight-hour workday, #WomensRights, #FirstNationsRights and the #AntiWar movement have led to significant improvements in all of our lives.
Know something?
"Many people attending protests wear face coverings to protect their privacy and anonymity. For temporary migrants, the consequences of identification can include visa cancellation and detention. #FarRight groups, abusers of gender-based violence and other political groups have all been documented as engaging in doxing, surveillance and retaliatory violence against people identified at peaceful protests.
"Even with exemptions, a ban would mean that people who wear facemasks for reasons of health, disability status, or religious or cultural reasons would be at risk of police targeting and made to justify their use of a face mask.
"Adding new repressive police powers against peaceful protesters only serves to increase the risk of escalating violence at already heightened public demonstrations. People will not stop taking to the streets on issues they care about, even if the state tries to stifle their voices. Donald #Trump’s deployment of the #NationalGuard in response to protests in LA shows us how deploying more state force at protests increases rather than decreases the risk of violence.
"A ban on protests outside or within a certain proximity to places of worship would mean police could arrest those engaging in peaceful protests for a genuine, non-discriminatory purpose — for example, protests by survivors of #ClergySexualAbuse or by congregants against the political activities of their own religious institutions.
"It would also have the unintended consequence of rendering large areas of the state no-go zones for peaceful protest, due to the high number of places of worship. Similar laws in #NSW are already being challenged for their #unconstitutionality.
"Taken together, this suite of laws, which would provide police with extraordinary powers against people peacefully raising their voices against #injustice, would have a chilling effect, deterring #MarginalisedGroups from attending protests and exercising their rights to freedom of expression, which the Victorian government has sought to protect.
"Ultimately, banning face coverings at peaceful protests and banning protests outside places of worship would not have done anything to prevent what occurred over the weekend. Premier Allan knows this. Yet she is stuck in the same reactive law-and-order merry-go-round that saw NSW Premier Chris Minns enact fear-based, repressive anti-protest measures in response to what we now know was an opportunistic criminal conspiracy.
"Encouraging people to express their political views peacefully is the antidote to non-peaceful forms of protest and is something that all governments should be encouraging and facilitating. At times like this, we should be able to trust our politicians not to fuel division and panic through misguided and knee-jerk responses, but to take measures to address the root causes of racism and hatred."
#AntiProtestLaws #ProtestLawsAustralia #ACAB #SilencingFreeSpeech #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #Authoritarianism
Catherine Collingwood EstesThe development comes after several years of ongoing #StateSurveillance of some #Atlanta residents opposed to the $109m police training center. #BigBrotherIsWatching #Georgia #1stAmendment #4thAmendment https://buff.ly/4jWgiXX
Gondor@randahl 2/2 It'll be very likely a CDU (conservative/right wing) led government. May be even with a "supporting" #fckAFD
The worst case, since CDU already tends to rewind a lot of policies like "back to the fifties", pretty much like copying Trump policies. #gender #energy #labor #climaterelated #socialcuts #statesurveillance ...
The worst case, since CDU already tends to rewind a lot of policies like "back to the fifties", pretty much like copying Trump policies. #gender #energy #labor #climaterelated #socialcuts #statesurveillance ...