Most of the talk about OpenAI, Anthropic and “mass surveillance” neglected to mention that widespread scraping of the web is in itself mass surveillance.

"Anthropic has much more in common with the Department of War than we have differences."

And bc shutting down the internet is unfortunately part of the playbook in Iran & countless other countries, policymakers & companies should explore technical & regulatory measures to help civilians access the internet inc by building out satellite connectivity. Some ideas 👉 www.direct2cell.org

Amid US/Israeli airstrikes & brutal repression, Iranians are entering day 8 of an internet shutdown, placing civilians at risk, restricting their ability to access lifesaving info & reach loved ones, and contributing to psychological harm.

Iranian authorities should urgently restore internet access

Watched, Tracked, and Targeted in Gaza Life under Israel’s all-encompassing surveillance regime.

A harrowing account by Mohammed Mhawish on surveillance tech, supported in part by US tech companies, is rewriting Gaza in real time — and what it’s doing to the people inside.

nymag.com/intelligence...

X’s Location Disclosure Undermines User Safety Since November 21, social media company X has been rolling out a new feature called “About this account,” which displays information about users that was previously not publicly disclosed.

X has rolled out a new feature called “About this account,” which displays the country where an account was created, is based, the date it joined X, and username changes.

The feature raises serious concerns about user privacy and safety. Learn more:

Joint Statement on the Signing of the UN Convention on Cybercrime We, the undersigned organizations, remain deeply concerned that the UN Convention Against Cybercrime (UNCC) will facilitate human rights abuses across borders.

This weekend, governments will head to Hanoi to sign the deeply flawed UN Convention on Cybercrime. @hrw.org and partners issue new recommendations on how governments can prevent and mitigate the human rights risks posed the treaty

www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...

UN Treaty Signing Highlights Vietnam’s Curb on Online Dissent The Cybercrime Convention will further entrench control and surveillance over peaceful expression of dissent online beyond the borders of repressive states.

Vietnam’s long record of cracking down on online dissent sadly makes it a fitting host for the signing ceremony of the deeply flawed UN Convention against Cybercrime this weekend. Read more in this @thediplomat.com oped by @hrw's @deblbrown.bsky.social & me thediplomat.com/2025/10/un-t...

Israel/Palestine: Microsoft Should Avoid Contributing to Rights Abuses Microsoft should suspend business activities that are contributing to grave human rights abuses and international crimes by the Israeli military and other Israeli government bodies, Human Rights Watch...

Microsoft should suspend business activities that are contributing to grave human rights abuses and international crimes by the Israeli military and other Israeli government bodies.

There is no time to delay.

Israel/Palestine: Microsoft Should Avoid Contributing to Rights Abuses Microsoft should suspend business activities that are contributing to grave human rights abuses and international crimes by the Israeli military and other Israeli government bodies, Human Rights Watch...

New calls on Microsoft to suspend business activities that are contributing to grave human rights abuses & international crimes by the Israeli military & other government bodies
www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...

@hrw.org @accessnow.org @amnesty.org @7amleh.bsky.social @eff.org @fightforthefuture.org

What Palestinians in Gaza are going through brings back all the trauma of my childhood in Bosnia | Opinion In the early 1990s as Serb armed forces besieged towns, the local people and displaced people like me and my family experienced severe and persistent food shortages, writes Emina Ćerimović.

If you read one thing today, let it be this by @eminacerimovic.bsky.social

Survivors of genocide and starvation should not have to retell their stories and relive their trauma. But when they do, we should listen. And act.

archive.ph/NCbTj

How My Reporting on the Columbia Protests Led to My Deportation As an Australian who wrote about the demonstrations while on campus, I gave my phone a superficial clean before flying to the U.S. I underestimated what I was up against.

The deportation of dissent. Important read of one journalist’s account
www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

Why are governments talking about killer robots? 🔊 ⤵️

Governments should seize the opportunity to adopt a new international treaty to address killer robots' threats to human rights.

#StopKillerRobots

US: Major Companies Violate Gig Workers’ Rights Major digital labor platforms, also known as gig companies, operating in the United States misclassify gig workers as independent contractors, denying them labor rights.

New @hrw.org report: a deep dive on the gig economy in the US, by @lenasimet.bsky.social, @amostoh.bsky.social + me. It looks at 7 major platform companies, the extractive business model, and a growing workforce reliant on precarious work that denies them hard-won rights. www.hrw.org/news/2025/05...

We hosted an event on “digital authoritarianism and democratic freedom” last night at Columbia. Meanwhile there were NYPD helicopters overhead, strange surveillance vehicles like this outside, and eventually a battalion of NYPD special ops called in to end a student occupation of the library.

Will do! <3 Nicole

@hrw.org @article19.bsky.social and IFOD wrote to Meta, TikTok, YouTube, and X urging them to uphold the right to freedom of expression of your users in Türkiye and resist Turkish state censorship 👇

www.hrw.org/news/2025/05...

Turkish authorities have escalated their crackdown on free expression & social media companies are complying with arbitrary requests. On May 8 X blocked access to the account of jailed Istanbul Mayor İmamoğlu

Social media companies should resist Turkish state censorship
www.hrw.org/news/2025/05...

Excited to join this fantastic line up of speakers for the launch of the 2025 Ranking Digital Rights index. No better time to reflect on lessons learned from a decade of pushing for accountability for tech companies. Not in DC? tune in online today at 10am ET 👇

forms.office.com/pages/respon...

One argument that I make repeatedly in my work is that many of the things that technologists call “inefficiencies” are moments where people are able to take back power from the state. You don’t want the state to have a monopoly on data because the state is not always a positive or even neutral actor

Those of us who live or have lived in authoritarian regimes will tell you that data collection is an obsession of authoritarianism. Not that data collection is inherently bad - but that authoritarian regimes rely on procedurality to mask the cruel reality of what they do - self absolution.

A sobering and dark, but essential read. This was a herculean effort by @hrw.org colleagues 👇
100 Human Rights Harms in 100 Days: The Trump Administration’s Assault on Rights in the US and Abroad www.hrw.org/feature/2025...

DOGE's Growing Reach into Personal Data: What it Means for Human Rights Congress should update the Privacy Act to prevent DOGE from violating U.S. international rights obligations by creating a massive database.

My latest for @justsecurity.org on what Trump's call to eliminate “information silos” within government means for human rights. This dangerous and dystopian move underscores the desperate need for comprehensive privacy and data protection laws in the US @hrw.org
www.justsecurity.org/110133/what-...

Terrifying read. Sensitive personal data left exposed. Labor rights undermined. Intimidation of a whistleblower. Basic cybersecurity principles violated.

Pressuring Migrants to ‘Self-Deport,’ White House Moves to Cancel Social Security Numbers By placing migrants in Social Security’s “death master file,” the Trump administration is seeking to cut off their access to credit cards, bank accounts and other financial services.

Now a social security database being weaponized to cut people off from essential financial services so that they “self deport”. Putting aside the inhumanity of the approach, the list included a 13 yo & 7 other minors and may rely on faulty data
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/u...

Information Silos exist for very good reasons.

Do you want your medical data, tax data, social media days, etc combined in one place and made available to anyone in the federal government?

In yet another crackdown on LGBT rights, Hungary’s parliament has passed a law that will outlaw LGBT Pride and similar events.

The law, which penalizes organizers and attendees, also authorizes the use of facial recognition technology to identify attendees.

#Egypt: UN Experts call for release of Alaa Abd El-Fattah, as his mother's life is in danger after 148 days of hunger strike

@eudiplomacy.bsky.social: stop ignoring flagrant crackdown on free speech, make human rights core in future relationship

www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel... @euinegypt.bsky.social

A new McCarthy era is upon us. Stupid, depressing, and dangerous as ever. I wonder whose name will carry the dunce cap in the history books. Too many are complicit. I’ll need to find upset and action, but for now I’m feeling grief at the dehumanization inherent to all this.

Judge: US gov’t violated privacy law by disclosing personal data to DOGE Disclosure of personal information to DOGE “is irreparable harm,” judge rules.

“This continuing, unauthorized disclosure of the plaintiffs' sensitive personal information to DOGE affiliates is irreparable harm that money damages cannot rectify," the judge wrote.