The UK Investigatory Powers Tribunal has ruled that GCHQ (the UK's domestic surveillance apparatus) illegally engaged in mass surveillance for more than a decade (starting after 9/11), during which time the foreign secretaries who were supposed to be overseeing their activities "delegated powers without oversight," allowing the spies to police their own activities. (Images: Defense Images, CC-BY-SA; Cryteria, CC-BY)
Watchdog: UK spies engaged in illegal surveillance from 2001-2012
Police have tools to crack encrypted smartphones
Most police have access to tools that can retrieve cleartext data from about 50% of the phones they confiscate, reports The New York Times. Phone-hacking tools typically exploit security flaws to remove a phone's limit on passcode attempts and then enter passcodes until the phone unlocks. Because of all the possible combinations, a six-digit iPhone passcode takes… READ THE REST
How coronavirus restrictions inadvertently lead to mass surveillance
Mashable has a great new piece — in video, and in text — about the intersections between COVID-19 restrictions and surveillance-style privacy invasions. The reporting by Tulika Bose and Jack Morse is smart and nuanced enough that it doesn't veer into anti-masker conspiracy theories, and rather, takes a rational skeptic's approach to the potential abuses… READ THE REST
China's Shenzhen Zhenhua Data Technology gathers info and social media posts of American VIPs and military
A small Chinese firm known as Shenzhen Zhenhua Data Technology has been systematically collecting personal data and crawling social media posts since 2017 for the stated purpose of providing intelligence to Chinese military, government and commercial clients, "according to a copy of the database that was left unsecured on the Internet and retrieved by an… READ THE REST
The 12 drone models are already on sale at Black Friday-level prices
If you're already stressing about holiday shopping, we get it. While we wouldn't normally advocate starting the holiday spending talk this early, there are too many big considerations happening right now to leave the finances and logistics of the season to the last minute this year. Since a drone is probably near the top of… READ THE REST
These noise-cancelling wireless headphones have a world of extra features — and they're over 25% off
Headphone quality often comes down to that old axiom of consumerism — you get what you pay for. When you try to cheap out and get a $20 pair of over-ear headphones while premium brands sell for $150 to $200…well, there's a better than decent chance that your cut-rate tech won't have great sound, won't… READ THE REST
From the backyard to your desk, this infectious hook and ring game will keep you entertained
From Europe to the islands of the Caribbean, it's gone by many names over the years. Some say when English Crusaders brought it back to their home country from Jerusalem in the 12th century, it was called Ring the Bull. When the game was introduced to Jamaica, possibly by author Ernest Hemingway in the 1940's,… READ THE REST
