Surveillance News

See our thread on Bluesky discussing why Proton is still a good option for many activists.

Check out our Spyware checklist for steps on how to protect yourself from these kinds of threats.

“I believe this to be a significant escalation of the criminal legal system against XR and find it very troubling,” said Ron Kuby, the Extinction Rebellion attorney. “This is usually the way we find out an actual investigation is underway and is often followed by other visits and other actions.”

By labeling this a “middle ground” between monitoring and full-blown undercover work, the DHS allows agents to infiltrate private digital spaces without the rigorous internal approvals and legal checks required for a formal undercover “sting.”

Lockdown Mode on iOS does a good job of making it more difficult for the cops to use forensic devices to break into your phone. That said, this article overstates the protections a little bit. Just because the FBI didn't keep trying to get access doesn't mean they don't have ways around Lockdown Mode.

“It doesn’t take that much to make people look over their shoulder, to think twice before they speak again,” said Nathan Freed Wessler, one of the ACLU attorneys. “That’s why these kinds of subpoenas and other actions — the visits — are so pernicious. You don’t have to lock somebody up to make them reticent to make their voice heard. It really doesn’t take much, because the power of the federal government is so overwhelming.”

Good summary of many of the recent surveillance advances and attack escalations against activists

Shows us how the witch hunt for "antifa" is beginning to look. Particularly interesting that this person knew no one at the protest, but the agents claimed that "your name came up." Which means he was surveilled in some other way.

Feds target "affinity" groups, informant networks, the Tides Foundation, and more.

See all publications related to this multi-newsroom reporting effort and the technical explanation of how this occurs.

Here is a direct link to the spreadsheet with all 200+ sites listed.

Highlights the fact that the NSA does in fact participate in surveillance of US citizens even though they are supposted to be focused on ferign threats.

Reminder about why it is important to enable encryption on your computer and phone.