surveillance

A woman takes part in a march to mark the anniversary of the disappearance of the 43 students of Ayotzinapa College Raul Isidro Burgos a in the state of Guerrero in Mexico City, Mexico February 26, 2017.

Mexican officials turned spyware on international investigators

Adding to a snowballing scandal over government spying on journalists, activists and other public figures in Mexico, computer security experts confirmed that an independent investigation into the disappearance and alleged massacre of 43 students in 2014 was targeted with highly invasive spyware known as Pegasus.

Mexican officials turned spyware on international investigators
Bag-check kiosk.

Facial recognition technology will soon make airport check-ins a breeze

Facial recognition technology will soon make airport check-ins a breeze
Newspaper clippings in scrapbook about the attack on Pearl Harbor

At Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were victims of the attack — and their own government

At Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were victims of the attack — and their own government

She Sees Your Every Move

She Sees Your Every Move
DiNapoli and Nadler

USA Freedom Act co-sponsor calls the bill a good step — but says more must be done

USA Freedom Act co-sponsor calls the bill a good step — but says more must be done
A view of sensor arrays at a former NSA monitoring base in Bad Aibling in Bavaria, Germany.

The NSA's bulk collection program may soon end, but they may not care

The NSA's ability to collect mass amounts of phone data might be coming to end as a bill on the topic moves through Congress. A former CIA head says it's a necessary check against abuse, but one journalist thinks the agency has moved beyond the program altogether.

The NSA's bulk collection program may soon end, but they may not care
Municipal police officers watch screens in the video surveillance control room of the municipal police supervision centre in Nice February 9, 2015.

The French government's new surveillance law opens the door to NSA-style mass surveillance

A new bill that will increase intelligence-gathering was passed in the French parliament today. This is not making supporters of civil liberties and privacy in France happy.

The French government's new surveillance law opens the door to NSA-style mass surveillance
Police officers secure access to a residential building during investigations in the eastern French city of Reims on January 8, 2015, after the shooting against the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical newspaper.

How the Kouachi brothers fell through the cracks

Both French and American authorities are facing serious questions over the failure to prevent this week's Paris siege. The answers may be matters of intelligence and diplomacy — but they could also come down to simple matters of time and money.

How the Kouachi brothers fell through the cracks
A man assembles police observation cameras near the Bayerischer Hof hotel before the start of the 50th Conference on Security Policy in Munich on January 31, 2014

The year of surveillance is finally over

Surveillance was all over the news in 2014, and we learned plenty of new ways governments and companies have found to track everyday users. Here's a list of eight ways we found out our privacy was under attack this year.

The year of surveillance is finally over
Mohamed was important in Libyan's revolution, helping to defeat and ultimately capture Muammar Gaddafi. His younger brother missed out on Libya's revolution — so he decided to make his own fame by going to Syria to fight in the violent revolution there.

2014 was the year youth protesters found their voice and hacking became an everyday fear

From the Sony hack to #BringBackOurGirls, here are the top international security, privacy, digital diplomacy online activism and cyber-warfare stories of 2014.

2014 was the year youth protesters found their voice and hacking became an everyday fear
A man uses his phone to read updates about former American NSA contractor Edward Snowden answering users' questions on Twitter.

To see the changes Edward Snowden wrought, just look at your smartphone

Edward Snowden's biggest legacy may not come from changed laws or powers — it may just be the way that the debate over privacy has forced big companies like Apple and Google to safeguard its customers' information in more ways.

To see the changes Edward Snowden wrought, just look at your smartphone
Satellite dishes at GCHQ's outpost at Bude, close to where trans-Atlantic fiber-optic cables come ashore in Cornwall, southwest England.

Why British intelligence wants your Facebook data

Facebook said this week that governments are upping their demands for user data, renewing the focus on Internet privacy. But in the UK, the intelligence community's position is clear: The Internet is a breeding ground of crime and terror, and privacy should take a backseat.

Why British intelligence wants your Facebook data
The famous "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada" sign on the south end of the Strip lit up on June 15, 2014. Casinos in Sin City are using big data to track customers with the goal they will keep coming back.

What happens in Vegas, stays in a Vegas casino's database

We all know the saying about Vegas, but be aware that all of things that stay in Vegas still end up in the huge data repositories of casinos. Adam Tanner's new book tracks how they're vacuuming up every bit of information they can on their customers to keep people coming back.

What happens in Vegas, stays in a Vegas casino's database
The fictional film TRUE LIES featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis bears an uncanny resemblance to a real case of some British police officers who stand accused of deceiving and having sexual relationiships with women while working undercov

Here's what happens when a spy sleeps with his targets

This is the story of Bob and Jacqui — Bob Lambert was a British police spy who worked in counterterrorism and Jacqui fell in love with the man she thought was a Greenpeace activist. Now, decades later, their relationship is at the center of a lawsuit over "rape by the state."

Here's what happens when a spy sleeps with his targets
A WeChat user shows off the popular app on her phone.

If you use WeChat, China wants to know your real name

WeChat does it all for almost 400 million users, from texting to paying bills. Now China's government will force Chinese users to register using their real names, sparking fears that the order is an attempt to clamp down on speech and privacy.

If you use WeChat, China wants to know your real name