The emergence of sensor and other technologies that let businesses track, listen to and even watch employees while on company time is raising concern about corporate levels of surveillance.

The arrest Thursday of Julian Assange eviscerates all pretense of the rule of law and the rights of a free press. The illegalities, embraced by the Ecuadorian, British and U.S. governments, in the seizure of Assange are ominous. They presage a world where the internal workings, abuses, corruption, lies and crimes, especially war crimes, carried out by corporate states and the global ruling elite will be masked from the public. They presage a world where those with the courage and integrity to expose the misuse of power will be hunted down, tortured, subjected to sham trials and given lifetime prison terms in solitary confinement.

Communist Youth League students to ‘spread civilisation’ in countryside and ‘promote technology’

With billions of hours of YouTube content viewed daily, this social media network is a key enabler for anti-vaxxers to espouse anti-vaccination sentiments.  According to a new study published in Vaccine on April 3, 2019, much of this content is meant to influence or reinforce public opinion on a variety of topics, including vaccines.

Former Mozilla CTO Andreas Gal says he was interrogated for three hours by America's border cops after arriving at San Francisco airport – because he refused to unlock his work laptop and phone. Gal, now employed by Apple, today claimed he was detained and grilled on November 29 after landing in California following a trip to Europe. He had attempted to pass through US customs via a Global Entry electronic kiosk. He wasn't expecting a problem, since the Hungarian-born techie is now an American citizen, but it was not to be.

“He is uniquely proud of such aggressive, anti-speech tactics to suppress people of color. This is a war of personal attacks.”

The much-criticized ‘upload filter’ and ‘link tax’ will soon become law in EU nations. By James Vincent.

The whistleblower is back behind bars as the government continues to try to hide its crimes. By Chris Hedges.

Sophisticated surveillance, once the domain of world powers, is increasingly available on the private market. Smaller countries are seizing on the tools — sometimes for darker purposes. By Mark Mazzetti, Adam Goldman, Ronen Bergman and Nicole Perlroth.

Law enforcement in Davao City familiar with the IBM program said the technology had assisted them in carrying out Duterte’s controversial anti-crime agenda. By George Joseph.

Why does the US government always crack down on Huawei? To achieve this, it even uses some disgraceful measures, including slandering the company by exerting its national power. The US moves have sparked questions as to why the US fears the Chinese company so much. Why does the company annoy the US?

Online community speculates government pressure is behind the move

About half are in civilian hands.

Yoshua Bengio, a Canadian computer scientist who helped pioneer the techniques underpinning much of the current excitement around artificial intelligence, is worried about China’s use of AI for surveillance and political control.

A friend of mine, who runs a large television production company in the car-mad city of Los Angeles, recently noticed that his intern, an aspiring filmmaker from the People’s Republic of China, was walking to work. When he offered to arrange a swifter mode of transportation, she declined. When he asked why, she explained that she “needed the steps” on her Fitbit to sign in to her social media accounts. If she fell below the right number of steps, it would lower her health and fitness rating, which is part of her social rating, which is monitored by the government. A low social rating could prevent her from working or traveling abroad.

New information from Lookout has given the public unique insights into how nation-states buy and develop surveillance exploits. By Greg Otto.

Shoshana Zuboff’s new book is a chilling exposé of the business model that underpins the digital world. Observer tech columnist John Naughton explains the importance of Zuboff’s work and asks the author 10 key questions.

Would the F.B.I.’s smear campaign against Martin Luther King Jr. work today? By Beverly Gage. (Nov. 11, 2014)

Trump's AG pick was top cop during the federal siege and killing of Randy Weaver's wife and son. By James Bovard.

From James Baldwin to Susan Sontag: the American authors labelled enemies of the state. By Douglas Kennedy.