Blogging for the 5th of July Foundation on Security, Privacy and Liberty
The underlying principle is that a government trojan is only allowed to operate in ways that have been explicitly authorized by an Italian judge’s signed warrant.
And there are lots of security requirements.
Techdirt: Italy Proposes Astonishingly Sensible Rules To Regulate Government Hacking Using Trojans »
The drama surrounding the US »travel ban« underlines the importance of separation of powers. Wikipedia:
Separation of powers is a political doctrine originating in the writings of Montesquieu in The Spirit of the Laws where he urged for a constitutional government with three separate branches of government. Each of the three branches would have defined abilities to check the powers of the other branches. This idea was called separation of powers. This philosophy heavily influenced the writing of the United States Constitution, according to which the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of the United States government are kept distinct in order to prevent abuse of power. This United States form of separation of powers is associated with a system of checks and balances.
This principle will, no doubt, be stress-tested under president Trump.
Donald Trump might be impulsive and be shooting from the hip. This is problematic, as both Democrats and Republicans have granted the President extensive powers. (E.g. killing and detaining people, including US citizens, without due process.)
Those powers ought to be limited. But still, the larger picture is that there is a separation of powers and that the system is working. For now.
And this is where we should be vigilant. President Trump might do stupid and dangerous things. Mainly, these are issues for the everyday political discourse. But if he will try to limit the separation of powers – he will pass a red line. Then, the issue at hand will concern a cornerstone of democracy itself.
This is what is really important, interesting and worrying about the travel ban drama: A new president challenging the separation of powers from start.
/ HAX
The letter states that there is no need to publish any more reports. It states the first report in 2014 was good enough because it provided an overview and created a basis for further work.
EU Observer: EU commission drops anti-corruption report »
Do criticize and protest against president Trump. He deserves it.
But do not forget that you were warned against mass surveillance and other forms of Bigbrotherism long before Trump.
When people now react to the Trump-administrations ideas of having all who travel to the US to hand over social media information and cell phone contacts…
Miller also noted on Saturday that Trump administration officials are discussing the possibility of asking foreign visitors to disclose all websites and social media sites they visit, and to share the contacts in their cell phones. If the foreign visitor declines to share such information, he or she could be denied entry.
…they should remember that this is the brainchild of the Obama administration. Then it was voluntarily, but none the less.
A bad idea is a bad idea, whoever comes up with it. This should have been stopped in its tracks, from the beginning.
It’s not about liking or trusting a certain politician or a political party. It’s a matter of principle.
You should never give government tools for mass surveillance (or other tools that can be used to oppress the people) that wouldn’t be safe regardless of whose hands it ends up in.
Ignorance and partisanship brought us here.
And yet, we have no idea of how President Trump is going to use or abuse the powers of the CIA and the technical capabilities of the NSA.
/ HAX
Kosinski and his team continued, tirelessly refining their models. In 2012, Kosinski demonstrated that from a mere 68 Facebook likes, a lot about a user could be reliably predicted: skin color (95% certainty), sexual orientation (88% certainty), Democrat or Republican (85%). But there’s more: level of intellect; religious affiliation; alcohol-, cigarette-, and drug use could all be calculated. Even whether or not your parents stayed together until you were 21 could be teased out of the data. (…)
The process is identical to the models that Michal Kosinski developed. Cambridge Analytica also uses IQ-Quiz and other small Ocean test apps in order to gain access to the powerful predictive personal information wrapped up in the Facebook likes of users. And Cambridge Analytica is doing precisely what Kosinski had warned about. They have assembled psychograms for all adult US citizens, 220 million people, and have used this data to influence electoral outcomes.
Antidote Zine: Trump Knows You Better Than You Know Yourself »
Update, another piece, at Motherboard: The Data That Turned the World Upside Down »
Many people fear the new U.S. president, Donald Trump. They might be right. Or not. But I think that we might oversimplify this issue.
Yes, Mr. Trump has the image of a despot. But it might be dangerous to judge a book by its’ cover. Not that we should »underestimate« Trump – but because it might lead to a false sense of security in other cases.
Presidents Bush and Obama were the ones expanding the Surveillance State that has now been handed over to the new administration. Their responsibility is immense. And the way they themselves used mass surveillance justifies very strong criticism.
In Europe, democratically elected leaders are rolling out the most massive mass surveillance regime in history. May in the UK, the »Großkolaition« in Germany and the French – they are all creating tools that can very easily be used to oppress the people. This even goes for countries with strong(ish) democratic and human rights credentials, like Sweden.
The EU is setting up the first major system for selective censorship of the Internet. And it’s being done outside the democratic process and institutions, outside the rule of law.
There is every reason to closely watch what the new U.S. administration is up to. But there are equally strong reasons to watch what is going on in the rest of the western world, under the cloak of parliamentary democracy.
It’s not just about what first meets the eye, but what is being done.
/ HAX
Blocking a website is like trying to stop lots of trucks from delivering a banned book; it requires an infrastructure of technical tools (things like China’s “Great Firewall”), and enterprising users can often find a way around it. Banning an app from an app store, by contrast, is like shutting down the printing press before the book is ever published. If the app isn’t in a country’s app store, it effectively doesn’t exist. The censorship is nearly total and inescapable.
NYT » Clearing Out the App Stores: Government Censorship Made Easier »
The old adage goes ‘if you’ve got nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear’, but a detailed analysis of the human rights cost of the fast-expanding security state in Europe suggests otherwise. (…)
Overly broad definitions of terrorism are a big part of the problem. Because there is no universally agreed definition, states and international bodies have created their own. But in that process, definitions of terrorism have become increasingly vague, so that they can be arbitrarily applied, meaning law-abiding citizens can be subjected to unwarranted surveillance, administrative orders which restrict their liberties, intrusive searches and worse.
Amnesty International » Dangerously disproportionate: The ever-expanding National Security State in Europe »
Ida Auken at World Economic Forum: Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better. »
German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere has announced a series of proposals that revolve around giving the German federal government more power over security agencies, cyber attacks, policing and deportations; permitting the deployment of the military internally; expanding the scope of the proposed EU Entry/Exit System and loosening the the EU definition of “safe third countries”.
There is this German proverb: History does not repeat itself. But it rhymes.
Statewatch » Interior ministry “wish list”: strengthen central government security, policing and deportation powers »