Technology Pill

Hundreds of  companies around the world which develop and sell surveillance tech used  to spy on people, making everything from malware used by governments to  hack into phones to mass internet surveillance tools to monitor nationwide internet traffic. Italy is one of the main producers. We spoke to investigative journalists Lorenzo and Riccardo from IRPI Media who have been digging into these companies. Links You can check out IRPI Media at https://irpi.eu Their series on surveillance (in Italian) is at https://irpimedia.irpi.eu/sorveglianze/ Their report on Med-Or (in English) is at https://irpimedia.irpi.eu/en-surveillances-medor-leonardo-marco-minniti/ Their report on Cy4Gate (in English) is at https://irpimedia.irpi.eu/en-surveillances-cy4gate-united-arab-emirates/

The migration crisis in 2015 brutally exposed the divisions in Europe. People who fled  war and make it to Europe are being met with violence and intrusive  surveillance at the border at the hands of state authorities. We sat down with Natalie & Sergio from the Border Violence Monitoring Network to learn more about the situation at Europe’s borders. This is the first episode in our Border Surveillance series. Join us next week for Surveillance: Made in Italy and sold around the world. Links Josoor International Solidarity’s website is at https://www.josoor.net No Name Kitchen’s website https://www.nonamekitchen.org Border Violence Monitoring Network’s Website is at https://www.borderviolence.eu Their reports documenting violence and trends in Greece and the Balkans route are at https://www.borderviolence.eu/category/monthly-report/ Lighthouse Report’s investigations on pushbacks in the Aegean are available at https://www.lighthousereports.nl/investigation/aegean-pushbacks-lead-to-drowning/ Privacy Internationa’s disclosures on the EU’s surveillance aid https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/4291/surveillance-disclosures-show-urgent-need-reforms-eu-aid-programmes

This is a brief programming note. The next three weeks we'll be releasing episodes of a new mini-series looking at how surveillance is  spreading around the world, driven by Europe’s war on migration and a  complex web of surveillance and arms companies. Join Edin, PI's advocacy director, and some fascinating guests every Friday for the next three weeks for: Border Surveillance.  Then we'll be back to our Technology Pill episodes. Enjoy!

This week talk to Franz Wild from the Bureau of Investigative Journalists to discuss how the UK became a haven for the private intelligence industry and how corporate spies have been allowed to run wild. Links: The Enablers by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism: https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/projects/the-enablers PI’s report: https://privacyinternational.org/report/4850/briefing-controlling-uks-private-intelligence-industry Submit your podcast questions: pvcy.org/questions Sign up to our mailing list: pvcy.org/podsignup

This week's episode is a grab bag of Clearview updates - from our latest campaign to their latest fine.  Links Italy fine: https://www.garanteprivacy.it/web/guest/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb/9751362 Our legal action: https://privacyinternational.org/legal-action/challenge-against-clearview-ai-europe;  The ICO decision: https://privacyinternational.org/news-analysis/4714/icos-announcement-about-clearview-ai-lot-more-just-ps17-million-fine Use of Clearview AI by police illegal under Belgian law, says Belgian interior minister: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/belgian-police-admit-using-controversial-facial-recognition-software/2388953 Clearview in Ukraine: https://privacyinternational.org/news-analysis/4806/clearviewukraine-partnership-how-surveillance-companies-exploit-war Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/02/16/clearview-expansion-facial-recognition/ The pledge: https://pvcy.org/dodgydata

This week we're taking a look at NSO Group - a tech firm that sells a hacking capability to governments around the world - and government hacking more generally.  Links - Edin mentioned 'a journalist and her son' being targeted; their names are Carmen and Emilio Aristegui. You can find out more about people targeted in Mexico by a government buyer of NSO Group tech: https://citizenlab.ca/2017/06/reckless-exploit-mexico-nso/ - Keep up to date with ongoing litigation against NSO Group around the globe here: https://citizenlab.ca/2018/12/litigation-and-other-formal-complaints-concerning-targeted-digital-surveillance-and-the-digital-surveillance-industry/#NSO - Read our report, together with Amnesty International and SOMO, on NSO Group's corporate structure here: https://www.privacyinternational.org/report/4531/operating-shadows-inside-nso-groups-corporate-structure - Find more examples of harm involving NSO group here: https://privacyinternational.org/examples/nso-group - As revelations about the abuses of NSO Group's spyware continue, we took a look at what is being done around the world to challenge the surveillance tech industry and the powers they sell, see our call for a multi-pronged approach here: Taming Pegasus: A Way Forward on Surveillance Tech Proliferation https://privacyinternational.org/news-analysis/4602/taming-pegasus-way-forward-surveillance-tech-proliferation - See how hacking can be used at a protest and how you can minimise risks to your data here: https://www.privacyinternational.org/explainer/4493/how-hacking-can-be-used-protest - Government hacking poses unique and grave threats to our privacy and security, here are our recommendations for necesssary safeguards around government hacking: https://www.privacyinternational.org/demand/government-hacking-safeguards - Q&A: PI case - UK High Court judgment on general warrants and government hacking explained: https://www.privacyinternational.org/long-read/4361/qa-pi-case-uk-high-court-judgment-general-warrants-and-government-hacking-explained

In 2020, two weeks before the UK headed into the first nationwide lockdown, we published a podcast about a marketing company being given access to hospital maternity wards. Now, almost 2 years to the day, we're coming back to you with an update about how companies operating data broking services, as Bounty did, are causing headaches for brands using personal data for targeted advertising. Links More information about how Bounty illegally exploited the data of 14 million mothers and babies: https://pvcy.org/podillegalexploitation Sign up to our corporate exploitation email list to find out more about our work on brands and the advertising supply chain: https://pvcy.org/podsignup Original podcast: https://privacyinternational.org/video/3787/podcast-marketing-and-maternity ---------- Orginally Recorded 12th March 2020.  We can’t believe we’re having to say this, but the hours after giving birth are private. If you’re a parent, you may have heard of Bounty, a  sales and marketing company allowed access to hospital maternity wards and approach women who have just given birth. This doesn’t happen on any other hospital ward. Can you imagine coming round from major surgery to find a stranger trying to sell you stuff? The physical invasion of  privacy is bad enough, but delving into the company’s relationship with you and your baby’s personal data reveals some surprises.

This episode we look back at the predictions we made about 2021, What turned out to be true? What turned out better than we could have hoped? What turned out worse?  Links Our predictions from 2021: pvcy.org/2021predictions Clearview UK provisional fine: pvcy.org/clearUKfine Clearview legal trouble in France: pvcy.org/clearFrance Clearview investments: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/21/technology/clearview-ai-valuation.html TRIPS waiver: https://www.devex.com/news/where-are-we-on-covid-19-after-a-year-of-trips-waiver-negotiations-101795 Travel podcast: pvcy.org/PITravel Patent-free vaccine: https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/patent-free-coronavirus-vaccine-protein-subunit/ Mental health podcast: pvcy.org/podmentalhealth David works for the Mental Health Foundation: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/ Google unionise: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/04/technology/google-employees-union.html The 'Great Resignation': https://www.ft.com/content/857bdeba-b61b-4012-ab82-3c9eb19506df PI has been working with two unions on our managed by bots campaign: pvcy.org/podbots Complicated history of plagues and workers: https://www.economist.com/free-exchange/2013/10/21/plagued-by-dear-labour Indian National Education Plan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Education_Policy_2020 Ugandan Election: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c9vyzlr1ek2t/uganda-election-2021 Crypto mining trouble: https://www.wired.com/story/kazakhstan-cryptocurrency-mining-unrest-energy/ US commitment to reduce methane: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-59137828 Cop26 commitments: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/14/india-criticised-over-coal-at-cop26-but-real-villain-was-climate-injustice Apple's valuation: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/1/6/visualising-apples-3-trillion-market-valuation Facebook value drop: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/03/facebooks-232point6-billion-drop-in-value-sets-all-time-record.html The Metaverse: https://www.wired.com/story/what-is-the-metaverse/ Predictions for 2022: pvcy.org/2022predictions

In this episode we look forward at the rest of 2022 and make our predictions about what to look out for in the year ahead.  Links Teens and Facebook: https://fortune.com/2021/10/25/facebook-teens-usage-harm-studies/ Frances Haugen and Instagram: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-59038506 Facebook and Metaverse: https://www.ft.com/content/76d40aac-034e-4e0b-95eb-c5d34146f647 Metaverse and Bandwidth: https://www.ft.com/content/09d244a2-34a2-4f62-9747-5064d76cb286 EFF on new Google replacement for cookies: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/googles-floc-terrible-idea Google's follow up plan to replace cookies: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/google-floc-cookies-chrome-topics EV cars and the national grid: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/electric-vehicle-charging-market The gates of hell: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/turkmenistan-gates-hell-fire-extinguish South Africa, Omicron, and travel: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/articles/omicron-covid-africa-travel Patent-free covid vaccine: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/15/corbevax-covid-vaccine-texas-scientists Covid vaccine plastic bag shortage: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-57024322 James Webb telescope: https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-turns-on-cameras Human trails for Elon Musks' brain chip: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jan/20/elon-musk-brain-chip-firm-neuralink-lines-up-clinical-trials-in-humans

Merry Christmas. We hope you enjoy your day tomorrow. This week we're bringing you tips for how to spot and deal with things that worry you about the gifts you or your kids may recieve tomorrow. Links Donate to PI and get your facemask: pvcy.org/donatepill Mozilla's *privacy not included project: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/ US PIRG's Trouble in Toyland: https://uspirg.org/feature/usp/Trouble-In-Toyland Roomba home maps: https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/9/6/17817220/irobot-roomba-i7-robot-vacuum-empties-itself-maps-house and concerns from 2017 about Roomba sharing that information: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/technology/roomba-irobot-data-privacy.html ICO advice: https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-and-events/news-and-blogs/2017/11/blog-the-12-ways-that-christmas-shoppers-can-keep-children-and-data-safe-when-buying-smart-toys-and-devices/ Our guides for protecting yourself from online tracking: https://privacyinternational.org/act/protect-yourself-online-tracking Our Amazon Ring report "One Ring to Watch Them All" https://www.privacyinternational.org/long-read/3971/one-ring-watch-them-all Find out more about our legal work: https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/4699/brief-history-our-legal-successes Extra audio credit details in order of appearance: acclivity (sleigh bells) dj997 (additional bells) Marta Tsvettsikh (fire sound) waxsocks (ding dong merrily) bilwiss (music box/silent night)