Spyware and Pegasus: How Democracies Spy on Their Citizens
Writing for the New Yorker, Ronan Farrow reports on Pegasus, "a spyware technology designed by NSO Group, an Israeli firm, which can extract the contents of a phone, giving access to its texts and photographs, or activate its camera and microphone to.....»»
Body-worn cameras are supposed to deter police brutality. Why didn"t that happen in Memphis?
There is wide consensus about the need to equip police officers with body cameras. Beyond simply documenting officers' interactions with citizens, the technology can improve trust between the police and the communities they serve, a 2018 Northeastern.....»»
Study: Modern arms technologies help autocratic rulers stay in power
Autocrats and dictators quickly acquire new arms technologies from abroad and often use them against their own citizens. Now a study of multiple nations during the period 1820–2010 shows that the spread of military technologies inhibits democratic.....»»
Spyware found stealing Iranian user data via infected VPN installer
Antivirus provider Bitdefender finds traces of spyware's scripts in Iran VPN 20Speed, with users at risk......»»
Study examines how the Spanish far right frames traditional perspectives as "love"
The rise of the far right in Western democracies in recent years has revived interest in how these movements and parties engage in politics. Given the generalizations that indicate that these ideologies are only constructed based on hate speech, two.....»»
Brits told not to mail anything abroad after cyber incident
A cyber incident has prompted the U.K.’s Royal Mail to ask the nation’s 67 million citizens not to send anything overseas for the time being......»»
US acceptance of COVID vaccines rises, now like other Western democracies
Despite the controversy, the US's vaccine acceptance looks very European. Enlarge (credit: Luis Alvarez) COVID vaccines remain the safest way to reduce the chance that SARS-CoV-2 can put you in the hospital and are a cri.....»»
WhatsApp just made it harder to censor citizens with Internet shutdowns
Report says 710 million people were impacted by Internet shutdowns in 2022. Enlarge (credit: SOPA Images / Contributor | LightRocket) To ring in the new year, WhatsApp introduced a new feature to help people circumvent g.....»»
Why aren"t children allowed to vote? An expert debunks the arguments against
Most people think democracy is something that adults do and regard the prospect of children voting as too silly to even contemplate. In the early 20th century, many democracies began (ostensibly) operating with universal suffrage, ensuring voting rig.....»»
Google Chrome and Android drop TrustCor support following privacy scare
Spyware and suspicious activity, which TrustCor says is “unsubstantiated”, has led Google to remove TrustCor as a root CA......»»
Webb captures luminous, face-on spiral galaxy NGC 7469
Webb's picture of the month for December is dominated by NGC 7469, a luminous, face-on spiral galaxy approximately 90,000 light-years in diameter that lies roughly 220 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus......»»
Wealthy democracies have looser immigration policies, researchers find
Does rising inequality lead to more-restrictive or less-restrictive immigration policies?.....»»
Greener cities promote social and climate inequalities: 28-city study
Cities creating or restoring greenspaces experience gentrification processes that exclude citizens from more vulnerable social groups. This is the finding of a scientific project by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Univers.....»»
How Chinese netizens swamped China’s Internet controls
Citizens protesting zero-COVID policies proved smartphones can help fuel mass action. Enlarge / Demonstrators cover their faces with sheets of blank paper while protesting China's zero-COVID policy in Hong Kong on November 28, 20.....»»
Democracy after COVID-19: Pandemic fatigue fueled political mistrust and conspiracy beliefs
Many of us found it hard to keep up with official restrictions as the COVID-19 pandemic dragged on. We experienced pandemic fatigue. And this fatigue led to widespread political discontent in Western democracies, according to a new study from Aarhus.....»»
Corellium"s iOS security tool used by rogue"s gallery of iPhone hacking
Despite vehement denials, virtual iOS tool creator Corellium sold its software to spyware and malware distributors, including the makers of the infamous Pegasus.CorelliumCorellium became known for producing a virtualized version of iOS to enable secu.....»»
Colorado drivers can now add a license or state ID to Apple Wallet
Colorado drivers can add their license to Apple Wallet for a digital experience as long as they have iOS 15 or later.Colorodo state ID inside WalletThe Colorado Department of Revenue announced Wednesday that citizens could add their driver's license.....»»
Researchers find that 60% of home "compostable" plastic doesn"t fully break down and ends up in our soil instead
In a UK-wide study, researchers have found that 60% of home-compostable plastics do not fully disintegrate in home compost bins, and inevitably end up in our soil. The study also found that citizens are confused about the labels of compostable and bi.....»»
This malicious VPN targets Android devices with spyware
Followers of a small religion are being targeted for their sensitive information, Kaspersky finds......»»
US ban on Americans aiding China chip firms narrower than feared
Washington's restrictions on US citizens assisting China's chip industry will be more narrowly enforced than feared, suggesting a smaller-than-expected impact on semiconductor companies doing business in the world's second-largest economy......»»
Citizens" Assemblies Are Upgrading Democracy: Fair Algorithms Are Part of the Program
Math helps to randomly select the fairest citizens’ assemblies since antiquity.....»»