Lighthouse Reports

This reporting by @tomasstatius.bsky.social @oliviasolon.bsky.social follows our previous exposé of a related EU biometric border system fiasco involving French industrial group Atos bsky.app/profile/ligh...

While contracting giant Sopra Steria and agency EU-Lisa quibbled about costs, issues that should have been fixed in 2 months were sometimes taking more than 5 years

Schengen Information System II, meant to enforce border control, was found to have 1000s of “high severity” security issues by EU audit, making it vulnerable to hackers

Cybersecurity Flaws Plagued EU Border Control System, Audit Shows An information-sharing system used by EU border forces to flag illegal immigrants and suspected criminals in real time was rife with software and security vulnerabilities, according to emails and conf...

A critical EU security database with biometric info on 1.7m people is in chronic disarray, exclusive docs from @lighthousereports.com and @bloomberg.com show www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Three cheers for a huge collaborative effort @lighthousereports.com, Africa Uncensored, @lemonde.fr, @theguardian.com,‬ @thenewlede.bsky.social @newhumanitarian.bsky.social @thecontinent.org ABC News, @thewire.in @premiumtimesng.bsky.social‬ @amywestervelt.bsky.social @vjharmsen.bsky.social

Honoured that our investigation Poison PR won the Environmental Reporting prize at @oneworldmedia.bsky.social last week, and to see key collaborator Cynthia Gichiri shortlisted as Journalist of the Year for her amazing work with Africa Uncensored.

Two Factor Insecurity How Google, Amazon, Meta and thousands of other companies leave customers vulnerable over one-time codes to save time and money

For the full story and background on how we did this investigation check the link. Reporting by @rjgallagher.co.uk @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social @cr0ft0n.bsky.social

We found sensitive logins for over 1000 companies routing through Fink’s network. @privacymatters.bsky.social describes it as “a shocking example of why companies should not be sending account authentication codes by text message”

Ghost in the network How a Swiss tech expert runs a global phone surveillance system

In reporting this story we analysed a vast leak of nearly 100mn raw data packets passing through Fink Telecom – a small company based in Switzerland. In 2023 we revealed how it acted as a surveillance contractor for governments and spy companies

The nature of the SMS industry means that nobody is immune. Even security-first companies like @signal.org can’t or don’t prevent their logins from travelling via untrustworthy routes

Tech companies care more about cost than security on 2FA. This means outsourcing message delivery to whoever can get the job done quickest and cheapest. The result is a chain of subcontractors, invisible at both ends, functioning without accountability or oversight

How a Tiny Middleman Could Access Two-Factor Login Codes From Tech Giants An investigation into the complexity of the global telecom system shows weaknesses in the transmission of secret codes sent via SMS.

We teamed up with @bloomberg.com to investigate how the world’s largest tech companies send their “secret” passwords. We found a marketplace that feeds an opaque and sprawling network of untrusted middlemen – including a notorious surveillance enabler

You’ve seen the “don’t share this code with anyone” SMS messages when you log in to your most sensitive online accounts: banking, messaging, #Google , #Meta, #Amazon. But who else might have seen them before you?

Kudos to @eileenguo.bsky.social @jeroenvanraalte.bsky.social @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social @jusbraun.bsky.social @asilverman.bsky.social

How we investigated Amsterdam’s attempt to build a ‘fair’ fraud detection model Amsterdam spent years trying to build an unbiased welfare fraud algorithm. Here’s what we found when we analyzed it.

We’re committed to showing how we work. Our full methodology and the underlying code are available on Github.

To answer it, we interviewed welfare recipients, civil servants, data scientists and experts. We obtained code, documentation, and internal records.

Amsterdam wilde met AI de bijstand eerlijker en efficiënter maken. Het liep anders Al vaker ging de overheid de mist in met algoritmes bedoeld om uitkeringsfraude te bestrijden. De gemeente Amsterdam wilde het allemaal anders doen, maar kwam erachter: een ethisch algoritme is een il...

And in Dutch with partner @trouw.nl

Inside Amsterdam’s high-stakes experiment to create fair welfare AI The Dutch city thought it could break a decade-long trend of implementing discriminatory algorithms. Its failure raises the question: can these programs ever be fair?

Read what happened in English with partner @technologyreview.com

And it invited @lighthousereports.com to watch as it unfolded. They gave us full access to their system, including code, ML models and comprehensive data.

Amsterdam spoke to academic experts. Audited for bias. Reweighted data. Spents 1000s of € on consultants. Chose explainable models over black boxes. It even consulted welfare recipients for feedback.

Our investigation tackles a simple but urgent question: Can Responsible AI that makes sensitive decisions about people’s lives actually work in the real world?

The Limits of Ethical AI Unprecedented access to high-stakes algorithmic experiment tests promise of Ethical AI

With @technologyreview.com and @trouw.nl we tell the story of an ambitious attempt at building an ethical system, one built on the “Responsible AI” playbook. Why did it collapse and what does this mean for AI coming to a gov near you.

Amsterdam spent years trying to build a fair algorithm to detect welfare fraud. It hired consultants, ran bias audits, consulted citizens & even contacted @lighthousereports.com. In the end it failed — we wanted to understand why.

Most reporting on AI examines worst-case systems deployed under the guise of efficiency. But what would a good faith effort at Ethical AI look like? For two years, we’ve been looking over the shoulder of a city trying to do things differently.

What journalists can learn from content creators We dive into how news content creator journalists are building trust, communicating complexity, and making journalism not just informative, but engaging.

Listen to the episode here www.lighthousereports.com/what-journal...

Tessa and Beatriz speak with Johanna Rüdiger, Johnny Harris, and Adam Cole from Howtown – three journalists and news content-creators who are combining deep research with creative storytelling to make news more accessible, engaging, and audience-first.

What would journalism look like if it wasn’t written for an editor, but for your best friend over dinner?

In this Backlight episode, we dive into how news content creator-journalists are redefining the way stories are told and what traditional journalists can learn from them.

It’s always nice when the govt is forced to release docs/info that show they were hiding the truth from you before

Evidence disclosed in court this week reveals what was going on behind the scenes as 100s of Afghan commandos were being wrongly denied relocation to the UK

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Proud that our investigation with @lighthousereports.com is a finalist for this prestigious award - alongside other amazing, mostly consortium-led projects. A testament to the power of collaboration

This is somewhat concerning in light of the fact that Jenkins oversaw the rejection of resettlement applications from Afghan commandos who served alongside the SAS, many of whom were present during night raids where alleged unlawful killings by Brit troops took place www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...