A bill that would allow police in France to spy on suspects by remotely activating cameras, microphone including GPS of their phones has been passed.

  • @[email protected]
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    732 years ago

    The US federal government has been doing this since the 00’s. Snowden exposed them and the public responded with hatred towards Snowden. Unfortunately the average citizen just doesn’t seem to care.

    • @[email protected]
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      482 years ago

      I don’t think the majority of people KNOW what Snowden was even trying to tell them. I remember when this came out and the news media was clutching their pearls over the act of leaking information rather than discussing the contents. I’m still learning about what was contained in those leaks to this day. It is so heavily propagandized that we need a new word for it.

      • @[email protected]
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        182 years ago

        That’s an erroneous understanding of our era. The younger generations are gods at liking and commenting on social networks, but they just don’t care about privacy. They flock like birds to litteral spyware just for a quick meme fix.

        Not everything you think is wrong has to do exclusively with boomers.

        • @[email protected]
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          52 years ago

          I think it’s a bit of A and a bit of B. Boomers and younger gens have both embraced the rampant violation of privacy, particularly in the US.

    • Eggyhead
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      92 years ago

      Not public, propaganda. The public result was confusion and ultimately apathy.

  • @[email protected]
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    452 years ago

    At least they have the decency to tell you they are doing it.
    In the US it took Snowden to leak this to the public that the government has been doing it for ages behind their backs.

    • @[email protected]
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      252 years ago

      Modern hardware is likely exploitable by state actors via firmware/hardware vulnerabilities that can’t be mitigated at a software level.

      • @[email protected]
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        172 years ago

        Ya just look at the Intel management engine. Or the AMD platform security processor. Lot of spooky shit like secret op-codes.

        We need more open source HW.

    • mycus
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      182 years ago

      Wasn’t a guy convicted on france not long ago and the deciding factor the judge used was because he used linux? WTF is going on there?

    • sadreality
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      172 years ago

      Linux and encrypted messengers too lol

      If you don’t share dick pic you sent to your partner with the spooks… You go to the gulag labour camp until you redeem yourself.

    • @[email protected]
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      202 years ago

      I can’t even reconize my country values for the past few months and yet it’s only the beginning for the current government, we still have 4 years to go with Macron. Who knows what ideas they hold for the future.

      • Admin
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        42 years ago

        Preach. The shitshow is only getting started.

  • @[email protected]
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    172 years ago

    How is this even feasible on Android or iPhones? Are they going to force everyone to download Team Viewer or something?

    • @[email protected]
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      282 years ago

      Everyone causally saying the government can just do it with Pegasus is ignoring the fact that Pegasus itself is an exploit. It is a hack, to breach your personal device. If I used the same methods to get into a bank’s systems it would be a violation of the law. Same if I created this software and gave it to you for the same purpose. Ask yourselves why it would be permissible to sell this software then commercially? And, why is it permissible for the government to use it to hack your own devices. Let’s not just brush over this discussion like it’s nothing.

      • @[email protected]
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        192 years ago

        Nobody ignores the fact that government is doing something illegal when the conversation about their rampant spying happens. You may just be late to the party. We all know it’s illegal, unethical, and immoral. It basically comes down to this:

        What are you going to do about it?

        We’re living in objectively dystopian times. Our government does illegal shit literally all the time and gets away with it.

        • Spzi
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          132 years ago

          What are you going to do about it?

          The very least people can do is talk about it and acknowledge it’s bad.

          Acceptance and normalization support the other side.

          • @[email protected]
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            62 years ago

            My generation has talked it to death. It’s pretty agreed upon that we’re being fucked and have very little power to stop it. Eventually you don’t have time to rehash all the heinous shit that happens because you realize there’s a constant deluge of it. Has nothing to do with “supporting the other side” lol. If reality has got you feeling insane, well, you’re on the right track.

            • @[email protected]
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              72 years ago

              We have everything we need to stop it, we’re just spun and poorly organized (by design).

                • @[email protected]
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                  12 years ago

                  Tangential quote: We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. -JFK

                  The fact that things are the way they are by design makes it harder for us to overcome them, but it should also make it abundantly clear it’s on us to do so.

                  I empathize with the feeling of powerlessness. And I encourage reaching past that from time to time to see where action is already taking place that only requires the slightest nudge from you to boost. Many hands make light work when those hands are pushing/pulling in the same direction.

      • @[email protected]
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        32 years ago

        Wonder if Google, Apple, or SoC makera are asked or secretly mandated to leave certain backdoors in. I know mobile providers have quite a bit they can see on their end.

        It’s a good thing we’re always presented with two choices for everything, like mobile OS’s, to control our choices like we’re toddlers.

        • @[email protected]
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          22 years ago

          Mobile operators have baseband which is why we have modem isolation. And some of us can see quite a bit on our end, too.

        • @[email protected]
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          22 years ago

          They don’t really need to, the company making Pegasus is very very skilled, they however get paid for that as well, its absolutely not worth it for a normal person usually.

      • @[email protected]
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        22 years ago

        How do you get Pegasus onto LineageOS or GrapheneOS? Especially on hardware with modem isolation?

        • @[email protected]
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          72 years ago

          Linux and similar Systems are harder to hack but not impossible, i cant tell more, cause i don’t know more.

        • Pili
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          42 years ago

          From the Guardian article somebody else linked:

          One of the most significant challenges that Pegasus presents to journalists and human rights defenders is the fact that the software exploits undiscovered vulnerabilities, meaning even the most security-conscious mobile phone user cannot prevent an attack.

          • @[email protected]
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            22 years ago

            This isn’t even wrong. What is the attack vector? They send a magic message that 0wns Signal, and then cleans up? At scale? With nobody noticing? This doesn’t happen.

            • RandomBit
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              62 years ago

              A few comments, they don’t need to have a Signal vulnerability, just an OS vulnerability since that would allow access to decrypted Signal messages. In the past, there have been zero click SMS and iMessage vulnerabilities. There have also been web vulnerabilities.

              The attacks are not sent at scale to avoid detection. They are used on specific dissidents and journalists.

    • Spiracle
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      2 years ago

      While this news article is, apparently, not trustworthy, in general, France could demand every phone sold in the country include some kind of spyware. Many sellers already add a lot of programs by default anyway, so this would be how I image it might be implemented.

      Given that 7 people were recently arrested for using privacy respecting tools like the Signal messenger and Protonmail, removing that bloatware/spyware might then be cause enough to arrest you. After all, only terrorists want to have privacy, right?

  • Boabab
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    132 years ago

    There is so much news like this coming from France lately. What is going on over there?

    • Tigbitties
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      202 years ago

      Huge wealth gap. Poor people are treated like shit. They’re are hungry and angry. Historically, the French are quick to protest and the rich are doing what they can to stop it. I believe we’re getting a glimpse of what is going to happen all over the world soon.

    • FrostBolt
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      32 years ago

      Likely an overreaction to the current protests / social unrest / whatever you want to call it

  • @[email protected]
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    82 years ago

    The oppression will continue until revolt stops!

    Things didn’t go very well for Ceaușescu, so I’m sure Macron won’t repeat any of the same screwups.

  • /home/pineapplelover
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    52 years ago

    I mean how are they really going to stop FOSS? They’ll ban linux and then nobody can use the internet.

    • @[email protected]
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      42 years ago

      They don’t care about us. We sometimes forget we techies are a tiny fraction of the people they want under their boot.

      If they can’t hack you they’ll get you other ways, if they want you.

      Take solace that people in France and the USA aren’t falling out of windows every other day. Yet.

  • @[email protected]
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    42 years ago

    Nice society we live in. All those sci fi movies was just giving ideas for the people who wants everyone to be under their boot.

  • @[email protected]
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    32 years ago

    A Google search for “France phone camera” only gives this posted link and dailymail.co.uk article, both of which are not really trustworthy sources, IMO.

    So I’m gonna go with “this is very possibly fake news”.

    • guyrocket
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      32 years ago

      I would suggest getting one of those faraday bags that block the signals to/from the phone. Then, if you really need it, you can still use it.

      • albatros
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        12 years ago

        If you get arrested during a protest, they can force you to unlock the phone (it can be a felony to refuse) , so better not to bring it at all.

          • albatros
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            12 years ago

            Completely depends on the country

            Yes but this thread is about something happening in France, so I wasn’t talking about US laws…

          • sadreality
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            02 years ago

            Better not use biometrics lol

            They can force it then and good luck crying to the courts about it.

    • Flying Squid
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      32 years ago

      There is something to be said for bringing your phone to protests so you can livestream them to the world when the authorities use heavy-handed, violent tactics to stop them.

      • snooggums
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        22 years ago

        In all honesty, it would probably be best to have a dedicated device for that situation as well so that if they choose to search it then all they will get is the footage from the event.

        Edut: Didn’t scroll down to see you suggested the same thing!

      • Naja Kaouthia
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        02 years ago

        While I agree that filming is important, it’s also important to remember that between the J6ers being dumb fucksticks and their social media site being absolute dogshit, a lot of them were caught because EXIF data wasn’t scrubbed. Having one’s phone with you could end up being the thing that gets you prosecuted.

        • Flying Squid
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          32 years ago

          Maybe the solution is to get a burner phone for protests? Because being able to livestream them is pretty important these days.