(July 29, 2025)
The UK Labour Party has previously hinted at potential bans on VPN usage, signalling further crackdowns may be on the horizon.
Archiv: Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
Exposed: How Israeli Spies Control Your VPN
(September 11th, 2024)
Kape Technologies is a major player in the online privacy world, one of the three giants that collectively control the market. It owns many of the world’s top VPNs, including ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, ZenMate, Intego Antivirus, and a host of tech websites that promote its products.
(…)
Although it is headquartered in London and employs more than 1,000 people worldwide, Kape Technologies maintains a distinctly Israeli flavor. This begins with its owner, Teddy Sagi. Born in Tel Aviv, the tycoon, who previously spent time in prison for financial crimes, is estimated to be worth $6.4 billion, making him among the top ten richest Israelis.
(…)
Company co-founder and longtime CEO Koby Menachemi began his tech career as a developer for Unit 8200, while Liron Peer, the company’s current head of accounting, also served three years in the controversial military unit. Meanwhile, Menachemi’s successor as Kape CEO, Ido Erlichman, is a veteran of Unit 217, the Duvdevan Unit, an elite commando group that carries out intelligence operations and assassinations against the local Arab population.
(…)
Facebook’s collaboration with Unit 8200 goes far deeper, however. This author’s 2022 MintPress News investigation found that a vast number of Unit 8200 veterans had gone on to work in senior positions at Meta, Facebook’s parent company.
(…)
The same investigation found at least 99 former Unit 8200 agents working at Google. These included Google’s head of strategy and operations, Gavriel Goidel; its head of insights, data and management, Jonathan Cohen; and Google Waze’s head of global self-service, Ori Daniel.
Microsoft, meanwhile, hired at least 166 Unit 8200 veterans to fill its ranks, including many that went straight from the military into the company, suggesting that it is actively recruiting from the regiment.
What countries are in the 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes, and 14 Eyes agreements?
Fourteen Eyes agreement countries
Fourteen Eyes (or 14 Eyes) refers to the intelligence group that consists of the Five Eyes member countries plus:
– Belgium
– Denmark
– France
– Germany
– Italy
– The Netherlands
– Norway
– Spain
– Sweden
These countries participate in SIGINT sharing as third parties. The official name of the Fourteen Eyes is the SIGINT Seniors of Europe (SSEUR), which has existed in one form or another since 1982. Similar to the UKUSA Agreement, its original mission was to uncover information about the USSR.
A SIGINT Seniors Meeting is attended by the heads of the SIGINT agencies (NSA, GCHQ, BND, the French DGSE, etc.) and is where they can share intelligence and discuss related issues. While this group has many of the same members as the “Nine Eyes”, it is a different group. According to leaked documents, the Fourteen Eyes is not a formal treaty but rather an agreement made between SIGINT agencies.
A Surveillance Primer: 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes, 14 Eyes
(August 15, 2022)
The Five Eyes (FVEY) surveillance alliance includes the following countries:
– Australia
– Canada
– New Zealand
– United Kingdom
– United States
(…)
The Nine Eyes countries include:
– 5 Eyes countries +
– Denmark
– France
– Netherlands
– Norway
(…)
The 14 Eyes surveillance countries include:
– 9 Eyes countries +
– Germany
– Belgium
– Italy
– Sweden
– Spain
Five Eyes, Six Eyes, Europe’s Eyes? Europe-Five Eyes Cooperation in the Face of China
(Mar 27, 2021)
In the short term, Europe may be able to shrug off the illegality of its data-sharing practices under the GDPR, and please privacy advocates with adequacy reviews, but in the long term the violation of Europe’s own data privacy crownpiece is sure to harm its international credibility.
The race to save the Internet from quantum hackers
(08 February 2022)
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Europe’s Moral Crusader Lays Down the Law on Encryption
Arrayed against her is a fierce coalition of privacy advocates, American YouTubers, German soccer fans, and tech executives who argue that the proposal would severely impact online privacy. They call it the “chat control” bill and warn that it would open dangerous backdoors into encrypted apps. Because Johansson has made herself the face of this bill, criticism is lobbed at her personally. “Either she’s stupid or she’s evil,” says Jan Jonsson, CEO of Swedish VPN service Mullvad. In February, she was given a dubious “prize” at the Dutch Big Brother Awards, an event organized by digital rights group Bits of Freedom, which identifies heroes and villains in the fight for privacy.
G7 calls for developing global technical standards for AI
The agreement came after the European Union, which participates in the G7, inched closer this month to passing legislation to regulate AI technology, potentially the world‘s first comprehensive AI law that could form a precedent among the advanced economies.
„We want AI systems to be accurate, reliable, safe and non-discriminatory, regardless of their origin,“ European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday.
Live-Überwachung: Mehrheit der EU-Staaten drängt auf Audio-Chatkontrolle
(17.95.2023)
Eine solche Ausweitung der von der EU-Kommission geplanten „Aufdeckungsanordnungen“ für Provider auch auf gesprochene Kommunikation dürfte sehr weitreichende Folgen haben. So könnten etwa neben Sprachnachrichten über Messenger-Dienste auch auf Online-Anrufbeantwortern hinterlassene Botschaften oder Telefonanrufe umfasst sein.
Chatkontrolle: Justizminister Buschmann mobilisiert EU-Kolleg:innen
Zusammen mit vier Amtskolleg:innen aus Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Österreich und Schweiz hat Bundesjustizminister Marco Buschmann einen Brief an die Justizminister:innen der EU-Länder geschrieben. Sie sollen sich gegen die Chatkontrolle in die Diskussion einbringen – auch wenn die Innenministerien die Verhandlung führen. Wir veröffentlichen den Brief im Volltext.
EU-Beitritt oder Freihandelsabkommen – das wären die Folgen für die Schweiz
(28. Februar 2023)
Eine neue Studie zeigt nun, was der Schweiz ein Freihandelsabkommen, eine Drittstaatenregelung oder ein kompletter Beitritt bringen würde. Die Studie kommt vom Institut für Schweizer Wirtschaftspolitik in Luzern, vom Kiel Institut für Weltwirtschaft und vom österreichischen Wirtschaftsforschungsinstitut in Wien.
Trotz Neutralität: Schweiz erwägt Beitritt zu EU-Verteidigungsprojekten
(04.05.2023)
Cyberangriffe seien eines der Instrumente, die für „Wettbewerb, Einschüchterung und Zwang“ eingesetzt werden, so die EU in ihrer im vergangenen Jahr veröffentlichten Sicherheitsstrategie, die darauf hinwies, dass „in den letzten Jahren die klassische Unterscheidung zwischen Krieg und Frieden immer mehr abnimmt.“
Auch die NATO hat den Cyberspace zu einem Bereich erklärt, in dem ein gewisses Maß an Angriffen als Bedrohung definiert werden könnte und ein Mitglied des Militärbündnisses dazu veranlassen könnte, sich auf die Klausel der kollektiven Verteidigung nach Artikel 5 zu berufen.
Hello world! The internet is blocked in Pakistan again, but we are publishing this using a VPN
(May 10, 2023)
The interior ministry has turned the switch off yet again. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has said that mobile broadband services will remain suspended nationwide for an “indefinite period” on the interior ministry’s instructions, amid protests following PTI chief Imran Khan’s arrest on Tuesday.
Gutachten des EU-Ministerrats: Verdachtslose Chatkontrolle ist zum Scheitern verurteilt
Das offizielle Gutachten des Juristischen Dienstes des EU-Ministerrats über die Rechtmäßigkeit der vorgeschlagenen Verordnung über sexuellen Kindesmissbrauch (CSAR), auch Chatkontrolle genannt, wurde geleakt. Es stellt fest, dass die geplante verdachtslose Chatkontrolle samt Ausleitung an eine EU-Behörde grundrechtswidrig ist. (…)
„Nach der vernichtenden Kritik der eigenen Berater wird es zunehmend einsam um Bundesüberwachungsministerin Faeser, die illegale verdachtslose Chatkontrollen bei unverschlüsselten E-Mails, Nachrichten und Chats ausdrücklich unterstützt. Ihre Position ist mit dem offiziellen Ratsgutachten endgültig unhaltbar geworden, denn niemand hilft Kindern mit einer Verordnung, die unweigerlich vor dem Europäischen Gerichtshof scheitern wird.
Stasi 2.0: SPD-Bundesinnenministerin #Faeser will durch nationale Umsetzung der EU-#Chatkontrolle eine anlasslose Massenüberwachung der gesamten privaten Kommunikation im Internet. Damit bricht sie zugleich den Koalitionsvertrag. Wir #PIRATEN wollen die Chatkontrolle stoppen!
Return of the EARN IT Act rekindles encryption debate at critical moment for privacy-protecting apps
Additionally, the FBI and Interpol both recently spoke out against encrypted chat apps and lawmakers in the U.K. and European Union are considering laws like the EARN IT Act that could also decrease the availability of encryption.
All these developments could open the next front in the war over encryption that has flared up over the past decade, often pitting law enforcement against civil liberties groups in the U.S. and abroad.
Why child safety bills are popping up all over the US
The laws also expose the lack of federal protections for everyone’s security, privacy, and freedoms online, regardless of age, says Bailey Sanchez, policy counsel at the Future of Privacy Forum, another DC-based think tank. (Current federal laws prohibit websites from collecting data on users under the age of 13.)
“Someday that 17-year-old is going to turn 18, and unless they’re in a handful of states, there is no privacy law that applies to them,” she says.
Citing Privacy Concerns, WhatsApp, Signal Wage Media Campaign Against UK Online Safety Bill
(April 25, 2023)
WhatsApp and Signal, two of the largest privacy-focused messaging apps, have joined forces to petition against the United Kingdom’s proposed Online Safety Bill due to privacy concerns. They are accompanied in this effort by several other smaller privacy apps, such as Viber and Wire, who have signed on to an open letter directed to UK legislators.
UK Introduces Mass Surveillance With Online Safety Bill
(30.03.2023)
The anomaly is that if the government can access the content, criminals and foreign governments will almost certainly be able to use the same backdoor. (…)
This law will already affect US firms. The real danger is its arguments may spread like a contagion to be used by other governments.
Stop CSAM Act: Neues Gesetz in den USA könnte Verschlüsselung schwächen
Hinzu kommt laut der Bürgerrechtsorganisation auch ein neuer zivilrechtlicher Anspruch, der Privatklagen gegen Internetunternehmen und App-Stores wegen der „Förderung oder Erleichterung“ der Ausbeutung von Kindern, des „Hostings oder Speicherns von Kinderpornografie“ oder des „Zugänglichmachens von Kinderpornografie für jedermann“ ermöglichen soll. Dies geschehe alles auf der Grundlage eines sehr niedrigen Fahrlässigkeitsstandards, so die EFF.
Außerdem wird ein Benachrichtigungs- und Löschsystem geschaffen, das von einem neu geschaffenen Ausschuss für den Schutz von Kindern im Internet beaufsichtigt wird und von den Anbietern verlangt, Inhalte auf Anfrage zu entfernen oder zu deaktivieren, noch bevor eine administrative oder gerichtliche Entscheidung vorliegt, dass es sich bei den Inhalten tatsächlich um CSAM handelt.
Damit geht das geplante Gesetz lange nicht so weit wie die europäische Chatkontrolle oder der britische Online Safety Act, welche derzeit von den Anbietern verlangen, die Kommunikationsinhalte und gespeicherte Dateien vor der Verschlüsselung zu durchsuchen. Dennoch sieht die EFF in den Formulierungen des Gesetzes große Fallstricke:
Senator Durbin’s ‘STOP CSAM Act’ Has Some Good Ideas… Mixed In With Some Very Bad Ideas That Will Do More Harm Than Good
(18.04.2023)
It’s “protect the children” season in Congress with the return of KOSA and EARN IT, two terrible bills that attack the internet, and rely on people’s ignorance of how things actually work to pretend they’re making the internet safer, when they’re not. Added to this is Senator Dick Durbin’s STOP CSAM Act, which he’s been touting since February, but only now has officially put out a press release announcing the bill (though, he hasn’t released the actual language of the bill, because that would actually be helpful to people analyzing it). (…)
Notice what’s not talked about? It’s not mentioned how much law enforcement has done to actually track down, arrest, and prosecute the perpetrators. That’s the stat that matters. But it’s missing.
The STOP CSAM Act Would Put Security and Free Speech at Risk
(21.04.2023)
– It makes it a crime for providers to “knowingly host or store” CSAM or “knowingly promote or facilitate” the sexual exploitation of children, including the creation of CSAM, on their platforms.
– It creates a new civil claim and corresponding Section 230 carveout to encourage private lawsuits against internet companies and app stores for the “promotion or facilitation” of child exploitation, the “hosting or storing of child pornography,” or for “making child pornography available to any person”—all based on the very low standard of negligence.
– It requires providers to remove (in addition to reporting and preserving) “apparent” CSAM when they obtain actual knowledge of the content on their platforms.
– It creates a notice-and-takedown system overseen by a newly created Child Online Protection Board, requiring providers to remove or disable content upon request even before an administrative or judicial determination that the content is in fact CSAM.
(…)
Because the law already prohibits the distribution of CSAM, the bill’s broad terms could be interpreted as reaching more passive conduct like merely providing an encrypted app.
(…)
Not every platform will have the resources to fight these threats in court, especially newcomers that compete with entrenched giants like Meta and Google.
Durbin Introduces Stop CSAM Act to Crack Down on the Proliferation of Child Sex Abuse Material Online
(19.04.2023)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today introduced the Strengthening Transparency and Obligation to Protect Children Suffering from Abuse and Mistreatment Act of 2023 (STOP CSAM Act), legislation to crack down on the proliferation of child sex abuse material online. To combat this horrific crime, the STOP CSAM Act supports victims and increases accountability and transparency for online platforms.
A Surveillance Primer: 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes, 14 Eyes
(August 15, 2022)
The Five Eyes (FVEY) surveillance alliance includes the following countries:
– Australia
– Canada
– New Zealand
– United Kingdom
– United States
(…)
The Nine Eyes countries include:
– 5 Eyes countries +
– Denmark
– France
– Netherlands
– Norway
(…)
The 14 Eyes surveillance countries include:
– 9 Eyes countries +
– Germany
– Belgium
– Italy
– Sweden
– Spain
Five Eyes, Six Eyes, Europe’s Eyes? Europe-Five Eyes Cooperation in the Face of China
(Mar 27, 2021)
In the short term, Europe may be able to shrug off the illegality of its data-sharing practices under the GDPR, and please privacy advocates with adequacy reviews, but in the long term the violation of Europe’s own data privacy crownpiece is sure to harm its international credibility.
A Surveillance Primer: 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes, 14 Eyes
(August 15, 2022)
The Five Eyes (FVEY) surveillance alliance includes the following countries:
– Australia
– Canada
– New Zealand
– United Kingdom
– United States
(…)
The Nine Eyes countries include:
– 5 Eyes countries +
– Denmark
– France
– Netherlands
– Norway
(…)
The 14 Eyes surveillance countries include:
– 9 Eyes countries +
– Germany
– Belgium
– Italy
– Sweden
– Spain
Swisscows – Anonymous search engine
TeleGuard
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A Surveillance Primer: 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes, 14 Eyes
(August 15, 2022)
The Five Eyes (FVEY) surveillance alliance includes the following countries:
– Australia
– Canada
– New Zealand
– United Kingdom
– United States
(…)
The Nine Eyes countries include:
– 5 Eyes countries +
– Denmark
– France
– Netherlands
– Norway
(…)
The 14 Eyes surveillance countries include:
– 9 Eyes countries +
– Germany
– Belgium
– Italy
– Sweden
– Spain
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ULTRASURF
Why Use Ultrasurf?
– Circumvent internet censorship
– Encrypt online communications
– Hide your IP from websites visited
– Fast page loads
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ULTRASURF
Why Use Ultrasurf?
– Circumvent internet censorship
– Encrypt online communications
– Hide your IP from websites visited
– Fast page loads
– Easy to use