Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Jurre van Bergen

Lena Rohrbach @artepovera.bsky.social · 1d

Alle - Kinderschutzbund, Jurist*innen, IT-Unternehmen, NGOs, Sicherheitsbranche - sind sich einig: Die #Chatkontrolle ist ineffektiv und gefährlich. Hier die Kritik von @amnesty.de

Ausschnitt Netzpolitik.org: "Lena Rohrbach, Expertin für Menschenrechte im digitalen Zeitalter bei Amnesty International sagt: „Bei der Chatkontrolle stimmt gar nichts: Als anlasslose Massenüberwachung trifft sie alle Menschen in der EU – außer Straftäter:innen, die sie umgehen werden.“ Das Vorhaben der Chatkontrolle „gefährdet die Demokratie, weil sie eine beispiellose Kontrolle unserer Kommunikation ermöglicht, die leicht missbraucht werden kann.“ Auch sie weist darauf hin, dass Kinder „echten Schutz durch Prävention und zielgerichtete Ermittlung“ benötigen würden."

2 10 20

Reposted by Jurre van Bergen

Lena Rohrbach @artepovera.bsky.social · 1d

📢 Last Call für die Rettung der freien Kommunikation vor der #Chatkontrolle!

BMI & BMJ entscheiden jetzt, wie Deutschland i.d. EU am 14.10. abstimmt - als Zünglein an der Waage.

💥Jetzt Ministerien kontaktieren: chat-kontrolle.eu/index.php/20...
💥& unterschreiben: weact.campact.de/petitions/ch...

Chatkontrolle stoppen!

Die EU-Kommission will Messenger-Dienste wie WhatsApp und Signal zwingen, alle privaten Nachrichten und Fotos in Echtzeit zu scannen. Angeblich zum Kinderschutz. In Wahrheit bedeutet die Chatkontrolle...

weact.campact.de

1 18 26

Reposted by Jurre van Bergen

Amnesty Business & Human Rights @amnestybhr.bsky.social · 1d

🚨A NEW POLL released by @amnesty.org &
@globalwitness.org suggests majority of Europeans favour human rights & environmental protection yet @ec.europa.eu is trying to roll these back #EU #CSDDD #HumanRights #climatejustice 🧵

Full results here: amn.st/eupublicopin...

[1/8]

EU: New research suggests majority of Europeans favour human rights and environmental protection in face of EU rollback

New polling by Ipsos reveals that a large majority of people (75%) across 10 European countries think it is important that the European Union (EU) uphold its own environmental laws. The new survey of ...

amn.st

1 5 5

Reposted by Jurre van Bergen

Etienne - Tek @tek.randhome.io · 2d

Technical Writeup: Signal Account Takeovers Phishing Campaign Targets Exiled Belarusian Activists 2025 – RESIDENT.NGO THREAT LAB https://resident.ngo/lab/writeups/signal-phishing-belarus-2025/

Technical Writeup: Signal Account Takeovers Phishing Campaign Targets Exiled Belarusian Activists 2025 – RESIDENT.NGO THREAT LAB

resident.ngo

2 3

Reposted by Jurre van Bergen

Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 5d

NEW: ICE is planning to hire a team of nearly 30 people to surveil social media 24/7, build dossiers on people, and flag them for arrest and deportation. @dell.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/ice-so...

ICE Wants to Build Out a 24/7 Social Media Surveillance Team

Documents show ICE plans to hire dozens of contractors to scan X, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms to target people for deportation.

www.wired.com

800 4.9K 6.5K

Reposted by Jurre van Bergen

Johnny Ryan @johnnyryan.bsky.social · 5d

This peculiar and alarming.

Labour leader @ivanabacik.bsky.social Ivana Bacik asks Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan what he has done to ensure the DPC finally acts against the data free-for-all that sends people's movements to countless data brokers.

vimeo.com/1124123069?f...

Irish Minister for Justice asked about RTB data by Labour Leader in Parliament

1 October 2025 source https://video.oireachtas.ie/hourly/dail/dail_20251001T1200.mp4

vimeo.com

1 6 13

Reposted by Jurre van Bergen

FIND @find.ngo · 6d

Spyware sold as “crime-fighting tech” is used to target journalists, activists & dissidents. Between 2011–23, 1/3 of countries bought it, with nearly every WANA state implicated. With @smex.org, we mapped vendors & profiteers so civil society and policymakers can pursue accountability.

Vas Panagiotopoulos @vaspanagiotopoulos.com · 6d

A new report by @smex.org, with support from @find.ngo & @accessnow.org, concludes that NSO Group, Cytrox/Intellexa, Cellebrite, and Saito Tech/Candiru are the most active commercial #spyware vendors in West Asia & 🌍North Africa.

smex.org/new-research...

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

<p>One of today’s most dangerous violators of personal privacy is the commercial spyware industry—made up of vendors that design, market,…</p>

smex.org

1 2

Jurre van Bergen @jurrevanbergen.nl · 7d

Utimaco's 'lawful interception" division (that makes the LIMS software we just covered in our Shadows of Control report) got acquired by Invision AG and PINOVA. www.invision.ch/en/invision-...

Invision AG and PINOVA acquire Utimaco’s Lawful Interception Business

The transaction represents a carve-out of Utimaco Telecom Solutions (UTS), a business unit of the Utimaco Group.

Stefan Auerbach, CEO of Utimaco, shared:
“UTS has been an important and valuable part of Utimaco’s development for many years. We believe separating the business units and allowing each to focus fully on their core competencies is the right step to optimally position both companies for the future. With INVISION and PINOVA, two new owners have been found who understand and want to expand the value and potential of the Utimaco TS business. We are confident in the success of the new company and will remain connected to our former colleagues as partners in ongoing and new projects.”

🔗 Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eHZxf9Ey

4

Jurre van Bergen @jurrevanbergen.nl · 8d

Deze gaat hard

2

Jurre van Bergen @jurrevanbergen.nl · 8d

Some companies don't reply to questions, but they change their website to remove any incriminating projects they work on :)

1

Jurre van Bergen @jurrevanbergen.nl · 9d

The Pakistani PTA just reacted to our reporting on the firewall (WMS 2.0). Which they denied is true, but at the same time they're admitting using it as a surveillance tool: www.arabnews.pk/node/2616727...

The government has denied it is using an Internet firewall to censor critics, while official said it would be used to protect government networks from attacks and to allow authorities to identify IP addresses associated with “anti-state propaganda.”

2 2

Jurre van Bergen @jurrevanbergen.nl · 9d

They all want to be China so bad.

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 10d

Larry Ellison envisions a surveillance state in which techbros rule. '“Citizens will be on their best behavior, because we’re constantly recording and reporting everything that is going on,” Ellison said in an hour-long Q&A during Oracle’s Financial Analyst Meeting last week.'

Larry Ellison predicts rise of the modern surveillance state where ‘citizens will be on their best behavior’ | Fortune

Oracle's Larry Ellison believes citizens and police alike will be under constant surveillance of each other.

fortune.com

1 1

Reposted by Jurre van Bergen

Julian-Ferdinand Vögele @julianferdinand.bsky.social · 10d

If you're based in Berlin, there's an event this Tuesday on spyware, hosted by @amnestyuk.bsky.social and @papertrailmedia.de. It includes workshops by @donncha.is, @jurrevanbergen.nl, and others, drop-in sessions, and a panel. Tickets are still available: www.hebbel-am-ufer.de/programm/pde...

Amnesty International

Digital Surveillance: How States Are Spying on the Resistance

www.hebbel-am-ufer.de

5 4

Jurre van Bergen @jurrevanbergen.nl · 12d

Why is Interpol part of an international forensics challenge together with Datatiko/SDIC Intelligence (formerly known as Meiya Pico) in Hong Kong? Meiya Pico is known aiding oppression in both Tibet, Xinjiang, Ningxia and Yunnan: turquoiseroof.org/download/a-l...

A long shadow: the expansion and export of China’s digital repression model in Tibet

Recent procurement documents reveal that Meiya Pico, a Chinese state-owned digital forensics firm, will provide an offensive cyber operations training environment and digital forensic laboratory to…

turquoiseroof.org

1

Jurre van Bergen @jurrevanbergen.nl · 12d

Very interesting development! SECO confirmed to us there was an investigation last year into the "intellexa world". Now it shows that Gambazzi was raided and was trying to keep the Swiss AG to not review seized documents. He lost the case. A first step into accountability!

Vas Panagiotopoulos @vaspanagiotopoulos.com · 12d

A decision by the Swiss Supreme Court has revealed an ongoing investigation by the 🇨🇭 Office of the Attorney General into exports of #spyware to various countries in breach of Swiss export control laws. The investigation relates to the company Thalestris Switzerland.

www.lexology.com/library/deta...

Switzerland - investigation into alleged spyware exports

As reported by GIR (behind a paywall) a decision by the Swiss Supreme Court has revealed an ongoing investigation by the Swiss Office of the Attorney…

www.lexology.com

1

Reposted by Jurre van Bergen

Lena Rohrbach @artepovera.bsky.social · 12d

Join us?

💥Workshops w/ @papertrailmedia.de @amnesty.de @interseclab.bsky.social

💥Dig. Security Clinic w/ @accessnow.org, @pressefreiheit.bsky.social&Tact. Tech

💥Panel w/ @donncha.is @sophieintveld.bsky.social @davidyambio.bsky.social @anjaosterhaus.bsky.social

&Art by @forensicarchi.bsky.social

Weißer Text auf schwarzem Grund: Digital Surveillance: How States are Spying on the Resistance, mit Logos von HAU und Amnesty International

1 22 33

Jurre van Bergen @jurrevanbergen.nl · 13d

“In Pakistan, surveillance is part of the cost of being a journalist”

www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ca...

“In Pakistan, surveillance is part of the cost of being a journalist”

In my experience, surveillance is never simply confined to one person. It is directed at your family, colleagues and sources. People around me have had to pay the price for my journalism. In the wake ...

www.amnesty.org

3 3

Jurre van Bergen @jurrevanbergen.nl · 13d

fwiw, first thing spyware detects is if it's jailbroken ;-)

1 2

Reposted by Jurre van Bergen

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 13d

If you were concerned about Kimmel, here's another for you…

Journalist Mario Guevara has been detained for 100+ days, ironically arrested as he reported on a "No Kings" protest.

The Trump-Vance admin just issued an order of final removal, to send him to El Salvador—where he fled from 21 years ago.

40 3.8K 6.4K

Reposted by Jurre van Bergen

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 15d

Trump's Executive Order on Antifa is written such that someone recording masked agents snatching people off the streets, or asking these agents what they're doing, can be deemed a "terrorist."

Section 1. Antifa as a Terrorist Threat. Antifa is a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law. It uses illegal means to organize and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide to accomplish these goals. This campaign involves coordinated efforts to obstruct enforcement of Federal laws through armed standoffs with law enforcement, organized riots, violent assaults on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement officers, and routine doxing of and other threats against political figures and activists. Antifa recruits, trains, and radicalizes young Americans to engage in this violence and suppression of political activity, then employs elaborate means and mechanisms to shield the identities of its operatives, conceal its funding sources and operations in an effort to frustrate law enforcement, and recruit additional members. Individuals associated with and acting on behalf of Antifa further coordinate with other organizations and entities for the purpose of spreading, fomenting, and advancing political violence and suppressing lawful political speech. This organized effort designed to achieve policy objectives by coercion and intimidation is domestic terrorism.

68 340 800

Reposted by Jurre van Bergen

The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 15d

A leaked Project 2025 questionnaire database appears to reveal the books, thinkers, and dictators some Trump appointees most admire.

The Trump Admin Appointees Who Love Buchanan and Bukele

A leaked Project 2025 questionnaire database appears to reveal the books, thinkers, and dictators some Trump appointees most admire.

www.thebulwark.com

4 90 170

Jurre van Bergen @jurrevanbergen.nl · 15d

There we have it. Reuters is exclusively reporting that the U.S might sanction the whole ICC. www.reuters.com/world/europe...

Exclusive: US could hit entire International Criminal Court with sanctions soon

The United States is considering imposing sanctions as soon as this week against the entire International Criminal Court, putting the court's day-to-day operations in jeopardy in retaliation for investigations of suspected Israeli war crimes.

www.reuters.com

Jurre van Bergen @jurrevanbergen.nl · 18d

🤩🤩

Reposted by Jurre van Bergen

FIND @find.ngo · 29d

📢 FIND is proud to have contributed to Amnesty International’s new report Shadows of Control: Censorship and Mass Surveillance in Pakistan.

We supported the investigation by sharing and verifying open-source company and trade data.

🔗 Read the full report: www.amnesty.org/en/documents...

Jurre van Bergen @jurrevanbergen.nl · 29d

BREAKING: Amnesty International research found illegal surveillance mass targeted surveillance with LIMS from Utimaco and Datafusion and Chinese commercialized Great Firewall provider active in Pakistan through a leak of documents of Geedge Networks. 🧵#BreakTheFirewall

1 1 1

Reposted by Jurre van Bergen

FIND @find.ngo · 20d

New from our partners at WAV, published with WOZ:

Swiss-based surveillance tech firms linked to repressive regimes. FIND mapped corporate networks and supply chains to understand how these technologies are developed and traded. More research to follow.

👉 Full story: www.woz.ch/2535/ueberwa...

1 2