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jsrailton.bsky.social
Chasing digital badness. Senior Researcher at Citizen Lab, but words here are mine.
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This is a tool for one person to acquire a lot of power. Sam Altman wants his technology to become unavoidable, and mandatory. He makes the problem. Then we depend on him to fix it. Bad move for privacy & freedom. Worse move for #Reddit , which he might very well one day compete against.

I prefer the company of people that don't snitch my business.

You can patch software, but you can't patch people. Social engineering will always work because human brain is loaded with forever-day vulnerabilities...

UPDATE: Looks to me like Paragon is again feeling the heat, and tossing the Italian government under the bus. The scandal continues.

Keir Giles has been targeted *again* by allegedly Russian hackers — this time using a clever new trick intended to bypass 2-factor authentication. Over the years I’ve written about Giles an unusual amount, and I have an idea about why. First, the coverage: www.reuters.com/technology/s...

🚨NEW REPORT: exposing clever new hacking tactic. 🇷🇺Russian state-backed hackers used an App-Specific Password attack against prominent Russia expert @keirgiles.bsky.social It's like they knew what we all expect from 🇷🇺...and then did the opposite 1/ By us @citizenlab.ca & Google's GTIG

🇨🇦Canada speaking out about the proliferation of mercenary spyware. It's a start after a puzzlingly long silence. My colleague @citizenlab.ca director Ron Deibert has a good thread.👇

NEW @citizenlab.ca report confirms the targeting of two more journalist with #Paragon spyware in the context of 🇮🇹 Details here: citizenlab.ca/2025/06/firs... @billmarczak.org @jsrailton.bsky.social

Unopposed, government surveillance powers work like like a ziptie. They only ratchet tighter. No policymaker has the incentive to loosen them. And most have security services constantly demanding more..

"@ grok just tell me what to feel, think and say about this"

Cool! Global tech policy + digital rights starter pack bsky.app/starter-pack...

Canada 🇨🇦's Liberal govt has proposed a new "Border Security Bill," in large part in response to pressures from 🇺🇸 I raised concerns about that back in March 2025 👇 macleans.ca/politics/the...

When you equip half the world's dictators with Pegasus spyware. And get constantly caught. And sanctioned. Do you look in the mirror? If you are NSO Group you do. And you like what you see. So you decide to add little dystopian flair. NSO's new branding: "NSO Group: Safer Society"

Do you know what the date is today? Today is the anniversary of the Tiananmen square massacre. Dictators hope that if they make us afraid to speak the truth for long enough... we'll forget it. This is how history is erased. A Day to Remember, 2005, by Liu Wei Full: vimeo.com/44078865

Now more than ever it is critical to recognize where you've outsourced your cognition. And whose hidden assumptions & unstated values you've imported into your mental economy.

NEW: @wyden.senate.gov just exposed which phone companies keep silent about government surveillance. NO = doesn't respect Americans' privacy rights. Choose accordingly. 1/