Josh Franco

To Catch a Predator: Leak exposes the internal operations of Intellexa’s mercenary spyware - Amnesty International Security Lab Drawing on leaked internal company documents, sales and marketing material, as well as training videos, the “Intellexa Leaks” investigation gives a never-before-seen glimpse of the internal operations...

Our full report can be found here: securitylab.amnesty.org/latest/2025/...

Haaretz - www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

InsideStory - insidestory.gr/article/inte...

Inside-IT - www.inside-it.ch/intellexa-le...

🚨 - New report by Haaretz, Inside Story, Inside-IT and Amnesty International release the Intellexa Leaks. Which exposes Intellexa support staff had access through Teamviewer to customer deployments and confirms found IOC's in the past by civil society. 🧵👇

The EU’s Digital Omnibus Must Be Rejected by Lawmakers. Here is Why. | TechPolicy.Press The Omnibus leaves gaps that undermine a rights-centred approach and expand room for dominant actors, writes Itxaso Domínguez de Olazábal.

Behind the rhetoric of “competitiveness,” the Digital Omnibus embeds deregulatory changes that weaken GDPR, narrow ePrivacy, fragment protections, and tilt the ecosystem further toward powerful actors, writes Itxaso Domínguez de Olazábal.

Why Civil Society Is Sounding the Alarm on the EU’s Omnibus Rollback | TechPolicy.Press Under the guise of “simplification,” a corporate-backed wave of weakening digital rules is underway that threatens all of our rights, writes Joshua Franco.

The European Commission seems to believe that rights are an obstacle to competitiveness and innovation, but real innovation means finding ways to make new technologies work for everyone’s benefit, writes Amnesty Tech's Joshua Franco.

Why Civil Society Is Sounding the Alarm on the EU’s Omnibus Rollback | TechPolicy.Press Under the guise of “simplification,” a corporate-backed wave of weakening digital rules is underway that threatens all of our rights, writes Joshua Franco.

Why Civil Society Is Sounding the Alarm on the EU’s Omnibus Rollback
www.techpolicy.press/why-civil-so...

New Amnesty report out today details how online harassment, fear of surveillance, unlawful use of force, disappearances, AI smear campaigns and more worked together to undermine the youth-led Gen Z protests in Kenya: www.amnesty.org/en/documents...

Amnesty International, S.T.O.P. Lawsuit Reveals NYPD Surveillance Abuses Records obtained by Amnesty International and S.T.O.P. reveal concerning surveillance abuses against protesters and communities of color, including the frequent use of rights-violating facial recognit...

🚨Today, @stopspyingny.bsky.social and @amnesty.org are publishing the 2,700 docs we’ve forced the NYPD to release on their use of facial recognition against New Yorkers🚨

@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social you might want to see this…
@jumaane.bsky.social

www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...

The EU must uphold hard-won protections for digital human rights What is being presented as a “technical streamlining” of EU digital laws is, in reality, an attempt to covertly dismantle Europe's strongest protections against digital threats.

Under the guise of “simplification” the EU want to roll back digital rights to appease Big Tech.

Joint statement: www.amnesty.eu/news/eu-must...

The EU has let US tech giants run riot. Diluting our data law will only entrench their power | Johnny Ryan and Georg Riekeles The GDPR is Europe’s defence against digital oligarchy and child harm. Deregulation plans are misguided, say Johnny Ryan and Georg Riekeles

The EU has let US tech giants run riot. Diluting our data law will only entrench their power | Johnny Ryan and Georg Riekeles

Text of recommendation stating: Prohibit, through the appropriate regulatory authority, the acquisition, import, and use of commercial spyware technologies lacking technical safeguards to limit functions to specific, necessary, and proportionate surveillance objectives

Inter-American SR on Free Expression calls for a ban on highly-invasive spyware like Pegasus which violates human rights by design.
www.oas.org/en/iachr/exp...

“In Pakistan, surveillance is part of the cost of being a journalist” In my experience, surveillance is never simply confined to one person. It is directed at your family, colleagues and sources. People around me have had to pay the price for my journalism. In the wake ...

“In Pakistan, surveillance is part of the cost of being a journalist”

www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ca...

Pakistan: Mass surveillance and censorship machine is fueled by Chinese, European, Emirati and North American companies Pakistan’s unlawful mass surveillance and censorship expansion is powered by a nexus of companies based in Germany, France, United Arab Emirates (UAE), China, Canada, and the United States, Amnesty In...

New research out today from Amnesty Tech shows how the shadowy trade in surveillance and censorship tech is fueling a human rights crisis in Pakistan: www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...

Why are Big Tech companies a threat to human rights? Our new briefing, ‘Breaking up with Big Tech,’ outlines how big technology companies influence how we access the internet and how their power affects human rights.

Big Tech or big technology companies like Meta, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple influence how we access and interact on the internet.

Here's why Big Tech companies are a threat to human rights ⬇️

Amnesty launches ‘Breaking up with Big Tech’ briefing Amnesty International has launched a new briefing calling on governments to rein in the power of Big Tech companies in order to safeguard human rights.

"Breaking up with Big Tech" - is in the world today, thanks to the brilliant @hannahstorey.bsky.social

Human rights and anti-competition law need to work together to address the harms that tech monopolies cause: www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...

USA/Global: Tech made by Palantir and Babel Street pose surveillance threats to pro-Palestine student protestors & migrants The US authorities are using automated artificial intelligence (AI)-powered surveillance tools to deliberately target non-US citizens and pose risks to those who speak out for Palestinian rights, said...

New @amnesty.org research uncovers the role of Palantir and Babel in Trump's mass deportations and targeting pro-Palestine protest www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...

The report is available in Danish, Arabic, and English.

Developing an easy-to-read version of the report is a first for Amnesty Tech and reflects our continued commitment to finding ways to make our work more accessible. Read more:

www.amnesty.org/en/documents...

New! If you are curious about how automation in welfare services effects people’s rights in Denmark, check out the easy-to-read version of Amnesty International’s investigation "Coded Injustice: Surveillance and Discrimination in Denmark’s automated welfare state".

Can Facebook Be Held Responsible for Violence in Africa? Kenya’s Courts Say Yes | OkayAfrica Ethiopian plaintiffs take on Meta in a landmark Kenyan lawsuit that could redefine Big Tech's accountability for fueling violence in Africa.

I spoke to OkayAfrica about the landmark Kenya lawsuit in which a judge recently rule the court has jurisdiction to hear a case against #Meta for its contribution to violence in #Ethiopia about the avenues this opens up for community accountability

Read more here: www.okayafrica.com/kenya-ethiop...

Last week, I was starstruck and positively stoked to sit down w @alixdunn.com and three incredible co-panelists to talk UK politics and broligarchy at the Computer Says Maybe live show in London. The show is now available on CSM's podcast feed – take a listen!

www.saysmaybe.com/podcast/ai-c...

Journalists targeted with Pegasus spyware - Amnesty International Security Lab Amnesty International has found evidence that two journalists at the Serbia-based Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (“BIRN”), an award-winning network of investigative journalists, were targeted ...

📢 NEW: Investigative journalists in Serbia targeted with Pegasus spyware

Our team at @amnesty.org's Security Lab have found new evidence that Serbian authorities continue using NSO Group's Pegasus spyware against Serbian civil society.

securitylab.amnesty.org/latest/2025/...

Hungary's new anti-LGBTQ+ law bans Pride events and sparks protests The law, supported by Orbán’s Fidesz party and their minority coalition partner the Christian Democrats, was pushed through parliament in an accelerated procedure after being submitted only a day earl...

Hungary has banned pride events and is allowing authorities to use face recognition to find the people who attend.

THIS is exactly the future we’ve been warning about as a movement to ban government use of face recognition has been working tireless to ban it at the local and state level.

Must read: Mahmoud Khalil speaks out for the first time since his arrest by the Trump administration in an exclusive letter, dictated over the phone to his family, from ICE detention in Louisiana.

U.S. authorities must release Mahmoud Khalil immediately

The arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student activist and lawful permanent resident, is another attack on human rights by the Trump administration.

Freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are human rights, not grounds for deportation.

Last week Amnesty joined the case of Brejza v. Poland at the ECHR.

Spyware like Pegasus violates human rights by design - it's time for a ban.

www.amnesty.org/en/documents...

Apple threat notifications: What they mean and what you can do Apple threat notifications: What they mean and what you can do

🔔NEW: Apple threat notification 🔔

Apple have just sent new notifications to individual's targeted by highly-invasive mobile spyware!

Reach out to our team at @Amnesty's Security Lab or trusted experts if you received this critical warning

www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...

[PÉTITION] Agissons avant que la reconnaissance faciale devienne une réalité en France En France, le recours aux technologies de surveillance se multiplie. La prochaine étape, la reconnaissance faciale ? L'inquiétude est réelle.

Il est urgent d'adopter une approche critique du technosolutionnisme de la France et de poser des limites claires à l'utilisation d'outils qui, au nom de la sécurité, menacent nos droits fondamentaux.

Pour agir ✍️👇
www.amnesty.fr/petitions/la...

JO de Paris 2024 : certaines des mesures de sécurité jugées « disproportionnées » et « illégales » par des experts mandatés par l’ONU Pour ces experts « dans de trop nombreux cas, les mesures de sécurité semblent avoir été appliquées de manière indiscriminée », comme le recours aux drones de surveillance ou encore à la vidéosurveill...

Des experts de l’ONU estiment non nécessaire et non proportionnée la vidéosurveillance algorithmique déployée pendant les JO 2024. #VSA

Des critères pourtant imposés par le droit international pour toute intrusion dans le droit à la vie privée.
www.lemonde.fr/societe/arti...

**Major** update to this story, and something I'll continue reporting on through the weekend:

🚨 The new acting IRS commissioner has indicated she plans to comply with DHS's request for the addresses of 700,000 suspected undocumented immigrants. 🚨

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Serbia: Cellebrite halts product use in Serbia following Amnesty surveillance report Cellebrite has stopped the use of its digital forensic equipment in Serbia following Amnesty International's surveillance report.

www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...

New @amnestyuk.bsky.social report on a phenomenon at the core of racist policing in many countries.

Imposing a “crime label” based on racist data keeps feeding the cycle of harm. Read about the stories of people having their life impacted because of the use of racist data by the police.