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Antonella Napolitano

@svaroschi.bsky.social

1.9K followers 1.1K following 380 posts

Working on surveillance technology, migration, welfare. Collaborating with public interest newsrooms and human rights orgs. Bridging and connecting. Previously at Privacy International, Open Migration, TechPresident.

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Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 17d

Without a shift in policy, the dominant trajectory of technology in immigration will continue to be digital surveillance. It doesn't have to be that way.

Very glad to talk about our global research on technology and alternatives to detention on @techpolicypress.bsky.social.

Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 17d

Companies are marketing “alternatives” to immigration detention such as ankle monitors, GPS-enabled watches, and biometric reporting apps. But research by Petra Molnar, Daniel Ghezelbash, Carolina Gottardo, and Antonella Napolitano finds that tech doesn’t dismantle detention—it expands it.

Technology is Turning Immigration Detention into an Invisible Leash | TechPolicy.Press

Rights-based and community-centered alternatives to detention are possible, write Petra Molnar, Daniel Ghezelbash, Carolina Gottardo, and Antonella Napolitano.

www.techpolicy.press

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Reposted by Antonella Napolitano

Vas Panagiotopoulos @vaspanagiotopoulos.com · 57m

NEW: ⚠️ Andrea Orcel, CEO of UniCredit – one of 🇮🇹 Italy’s largest and most influential banking groups – was also targeted with Graphite #spyware by the Israeli firm #Paragon Solutions, according to @irpimedia.eu & @lastampa.bsky.social.

✍️ @faffa42.bsky.social

irpimedia.irpi.eu/paragon-colp...

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Reposted by Antonella Napolitano

Privacy International @privacyinternational.org · 14h

🚨 BREAKING: Microsoft illegally tracked students, data watchdog finds.

The Austrian DPA has ruled that Microsoft 365 Education used tracking cookies without consent — illegally collecting student data - following a complaint supported by @noyb.eu

noyb.eu/en/noyb-win-...

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Reposted by Antonella Napolitano

Privacy International @privacyinternational.org · 22h

📢 New research alert: SMEX has published an investigation about WANA's principal commercial spyware vendors (CSVs).

🕵️ The report notes that one of today’s biggest violators of personal privacy is the commercial spyware industry.

📖 Read more smex.org/new-research...

New Research: Click, Load, Kill: A Look into the Cyberweapon Industry in the WANA Region - SMEX

New Research: Click, Load, Kill: A Look into the Cyberweapon Industry in the WANA Region

smex.org

Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 23h

From 14 to 16 October, officials from Frontex and DG HOME will meet with delegates from eastern and western Libya in Warsaw and Brussels.

It's the first Frontex visit for officials from eastern Libya, under General Haftar.

@irpimedia.eu has the scoop:
irpimedia.irpi.eu/missione-ris...

Missione riservata in Europa: Frontex riceve per la prima volta funzionari libici di Haftar

La delegazione sarà composta da uomini di Tripoli e Bengasi, insieme. La Libia divisa si mostra unita con l’Europa, che vuole più controlli alle frontiere e più rimpatri. Dopo Varsavia (quartier gener...

irpimedia.irpi.eu

Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 1d

So much this. As a former comms professional in politics and for the private sector: the problem with comms is never the comms.
(then of course there are good and bad ways to implement, and good and shitty professionals etc)

Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 1d

I agree. I was prepared as I had read the book but still (the book is amazing, I read it in 3 days, only because I had to work in the meantime)

Reposted by Antonella Napolitano

IrpiMedia @irpimedia.eu · 2d

Il 31 gennaio WhatsApp ha avvisato 90 utenti nel mondo di essere stati colpiti da uno spyware. Tra i numeri coinvolti ci sono quelli di attivisti come Luca Casarini e Beppe Caccia (Ong Mediterranea) e del giornalista Francesco Cancellato, direttore di @fanpage.it.web.brid.gy
🧵

Anche Caltagirone tra i bersagli dello spyware di Paragon

L’imprenditore ha ricevuto un messaggio da Whatsapp il 31 gennaio, come altre 90 utenze in tutto il mondo. Da fine 2024, Caltagirone è al centro di un’importante operazione bancaria che coinvolge il g...

irpimedia.irpi.eu

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Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 2d

The Graphite case came to light after Francesco Cancellato revealed that he had been alerted to the attack by Meta. The government has denied any involvement in that operation, while admitting to conducting intelligence activities targeting Mediterranea activists.
irpimedia.irpi.eu/prominent-it...

Prominent Italian businessman also among the targets of Paragon spyware

Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone received a WhatsApp message on January 31, along with 90 other users around the world. Since the end of 2024, he has been at the center of a major banking operation invol...

irpimedia.irpi.eu

Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 2d

Several experts familiar with the issue agree that targeting a specific individual in such an attack costs around half a million euros. These operations are always highly targeted.

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Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 2d

The spyware was delivered through a vulnerability in WhatsApp. Caltagirone was reportedly added, without his knowledge, to a chat in which a Pdf file containing the spyware was shared.

irpimedia.irpi.eu/prominent-it...

Prominent Italian businessman also among the targets of Paragon spyware

irpimedia.irpi.eu

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Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 2d

Caltagirone, one of the richest men in Italy, has been at the center – since the end of 2024 – of a banking operation involving the government, aimed at creating the country’s third-largest banking group, based in Rome.

www.reuters.com/business/fin...

www.reuters.com

Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 2d

@citizenlab.ca determined that the malware used in these attacks is Graphite, developed by the Israeli company Paragon Solutions.
citizenlab.ca/2025/03/a-fi...

Virtue or Vice? A First Look at Paragon’s Proliferating Spyware Operations - The 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 t...

citizenlab.ca

Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 2d

On January 31, WhatsApp sent a message to inform 90 users worldwide that they had been targeted by spyware. Italian users identified so far were the phone numbers of activists such as Luca Casarini of the ngo Mediterranea, and journalists including Fanpage’s editor-in-chief Francesco Cancellato.

Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 2d

NEW Prominent Italian businessman among the targets of Paragon spyware

🧵 Francesco Caltagirone received a WhatsApp message on January 31. He has been at the center of a major banking operation involving the government.
@faffa42.bsky.social on @irpimedia.eu

irpimedia.irpi.eu/prominent-it...

Prominent Italian businessman also among the targets of Paragon spyware

irpimedia.irpi.eu

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Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 2d

Oh sorry :(
Have you watched "Say Nothing" on Disney+ (from the Patrick Radden Keefe's book)? Department Q on Netflix is also quite fun to watch

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Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 2d

NEW Paragon target identified in Italy: Francesco Caltagirone, one of the country's most prominent businessman, at the center of a major banking operation involving the government

@faffa42.bsky.social on @irpimedia.eu has the scoop - with @lastampa.bsky.social
irpimedia.irpi.eu/caltagirone-...

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Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 2d

It's a miracle she's still alive tbh :D

Reposted by Antonella Napolitano

Corporate Watch @corporatewatch.bsky.social · 3d

"Big Tech firms...exploited people’s data; and now their tools are helping governments wage war." - @privacyinternational.org

We're glad to be part of an important new project alongside PI & other partners challenging the Militarisation of Tech: www.privacyinternational.org/campaigns/mi...

Challenging the Militarisation of Tech | Privacy International

War and conflict must not dominate our societies and technologies.

www.privacyinternational.org

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Reposted by Antonella Napolitano

Sam Cole @samleecole.bsky.social · 3d

Cops misled journalists about using a powerful surveillance tool to track a woman across state lines because she had an abortion, then tried to cover it up when we found out the truth. Huge story from @jasonkoebler.bsky.social and @josephcox.bsky.social this morning: www.404media.co/police-said-...

Police Said They Surveilled Woman Who Had an Abortion for Her 'Safety.' Court Records Show They Considered Charging Her With a Crime

Court records show that the narrative Flock and a Texas Sheriff's Office has told the public isn't the whole story, and that police were conducting a 'death investigation' into the abortion.

www.404media.co

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Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 4d

@andreipopoviciu.bsky.social and @josebautista.bsky.social reported that the Senegalese government had deployed a security unit to violently suppress protests. The unit had been created, equipped and trained thanks to a 74 million euros project from the EU funds.
www.aljazeera.com/features/202...

How an EU-funded security force helped Senegal crush democracy protests

An elite EU-trained Senegalese police unit was meant to tackle cross-border crime. Instead it was used to quash protests

www.aljazeera.com

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Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 4d

The investigation Desert Dumps developed by @lighthousereports.com &partners (including @irpimedia.eu -note: I collaborate with them) exposed patterns of systematic abuse in Tunisia, Mauritania and Morocco and connected them to the EU funds that finance them
www.lighthousereports.com/investigatio...

Desert Dumps

Europe supports, finances and is directly involved in clandestine operations in North African countries to dump tens of thousands of Black people in the desert or remote areas each year to prevent the...

www.lighthousereports.com

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Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 4d

This builds on a longer report I wrote for EuroMedRights and on work (funds not limited to development aid) developed at @privacyinternational.org
euromedrights.org/wp-content/u...

Importantly, the effects, both on people on the move and on local population, are now evident (examples following)

euromedrights.org

Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 4d

Last week at @periodismomigra.bsky.social we had a great conversation w @gonzalofanjul.bsky.social @josebautista.bsky.social about development agencies and EU funds in externalization policies.

I wrote about the surveillance component of this EU approach to cooperation
gr.boell.org/en/2025/09/3...

Outsourcing surveillance: The technological side of border externalisation | Heinrich Böll Stiftung - Thessaloniki Office

One of the latest iterations of the border externalisation strategy includes the export of surveillance technologies and border control infrastructure. These tools – ranging from biometric databases a...

gr.boell.org

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Reposted by Antonella Napolitano

The Syllabus @the-syllabus.bsky.social · 9d

Larry Ellison's £257m patronage has reshaped the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) into a well-funded engine of techno-solutionism. Our essay of the week tracks the symbiotic relationship between the TBI and Oracle.

By @petergeoghegan.bsky.social & @maybulman.bsky.social

buff.ly/rt5ONlT

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Antonella Napolitano @svaroschi.bsky.social · 5d

This is so so pathetic