Cyber

Editor’s note: People who confront the destruction of the planet find a legal system that prioritizes corporations and not uncommonly become the targets of police surveillance. Unless we take precautions, police surveillance tools can uncover our plans and organizational structures—and can contribute to a culture of paranoia that discourages action. This training, from the Freedom of the Press Foundation, consists of interactive materials for learning what sort of tools law enforcement agencies use against journalists, but the material is practically applicable for organizers as well. We encourage our readers to study this material and consider appropriate countermeasures. ...

We live inside a surveillance state that is unparalleled. As exposed in various leaks, the NSA, GCHQ, Chinese government, and other national spy agencies record and store every phone call, text message, email, and other signal that is available to them, then make these records easily searchable in databases cross-referenced with names, locations, buying habits, financial records, etc. We know that these agencies tap in directly to the data centers and undersea cables belonging to telecommunications corporations. And we know that these secret spy agencies are unregulated, operating outside the law and largely without oversight. ...

Anytime you browse the internet, your ISP (Internet Service Provider), government agencies such as the NSA and GCHQ, and most of the websites you visit are tracking everything you do. This data is often used to generate profiles of individuals preferences, purchasing behavior, travel, habits, etc, then packaged and sold to marketing companies, political advertisers, and other bidders. Politically, internet surveillance is used to suppress resistance movements, identify dissidents, and encourage self-censorship. ...

by Liam Campbell What Is GDPR? GDPR is a European legal framework intended to protect personal data, provide greater data transparency, and give people greater control over their data. It requires any group that stores or processes data to follow strict policies to ensure security. It also entitles individuals to request personal data reports and deletion, both of which must be completed within 30 days by any group holding the data. ...

Editor’s note: the following is a good reminder why privacy is so important for the average person. Revolutionaries need to take these considerations even more seriously. via Mozilla / Internet Health Report Photo “Karyotype” by Can H. (CC BY-NC 2.0). DNA testing is a booming global business enabled by the internet. Millions of people have sent samples of their saliva to commercial labs in hopes of learning something new about their personal health or heritage, primarily in the United States and Europe. In some places, commercial tests are banned. In France, you could face a fine of around $4,000 USD for taking one. ...

by Max Wilbert / Deep Green Resistance Those in power do not hesitate to assault, imprison, torture, and sometimes murder those who fight capitalism, patriarchy, racism, the murder of the planet, and other elements of global empire. In order to do this, they need information. State agencies, private military corporations, investigators, and far-right reactionaries want to gather as much information on revolutionaries as possible. The information they want includes where you live, who you associate with, where you go, where you work, and more. ...

by Andrew Nikiforuk / Local Futures By now you have probably read about the so-called “tech backlash.” Facebook and other social media have undermined what’s left of the illusion of democracy, while smartphones damage young brains and erode the nature of discourse in the family. Meanwhile computers and other gadgets have diminished our attention spans along with our ever-failing connection to reality. The Foundation for Responsible Robotics recently created a small stir by asking if “sexual intimacy with robots could lead to greater social isolation.” What could possibly go wrong? ...

by Max Wilbert / Deep Green Resistance We live in a surveillance state. As the Edward Snowden leaks and subsequent reporting has shown, government and private military corporations regularly target political dissidents for intelligence gathering. This information is used to undermine social movements, foment internecine conflict, discover weaknesses, and to get individuals thrown in jail for their justified resistance work. As the idea of the panopticon describes, surveillance creates a culture of self-censorship. There aren’t enough people at security agencies to monitor everything, all of the time. Almost all of the data that is collected is never read or analyzed. In general, specific targeting of an individual for surveillance is the biggest threat. However, because people don’t understand the surveillance and how to defeat it, they subconsciously stop themselves from even considering serious resistance. In this way, they become self-defeating. ...

by Max Wilbert / Deep Green Resistance We live inside an unprecedented surveillance state. Government and corporations monitor all non-encrypted digital communications for the purposes of political control and profit. Political dissidents who wish to challenge capitalism need to learn to use more secure methods for communication, research, and other digital tasks. This guide is aimed at serious dissidents and revolutionaries. It is not aimed at the everyday activist, who will likely find these practices to be overkill. ...

Featured image: JD Lasica, Flickr, c.c. 2.0 by Steven Gorelick / Local Futures Tucked within the pages of the January issue of the Agriview, a monthly farm publication published by the State of Vermont, was a short survey from the Department of Public Service (DPS). Described as an aid to the Department in drafting their “Ten Year Telecom Plan”, the survey contains eight questions, the first seven of which are simple multiple-choice queries about current internet and cell phone service at the respondent’s farm. The final question is the one that caught my eye: ...