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Jul 9, 2020 5 tweets 2 min read Read on X
NEW: Leveraging close ties to Twitter, Dataminr helped law enforcement agencies digitally monitor the protests following the killing of George Floyd, tipping off police to social media posts with the latest whereabouts and actions of demonstrators. interc.pt/2ZWeAxl #BLM
Twitter, up until recently a longtime investor in Dataminr alongside the CIA, provides the company with full access to a content stream known as the “firehose” — one that lets Dataminr, recently valued at over $1.8 billion, scan every public tweet as soon as its author hits send.
Based on interviews, public records requests, and company documents reviewed by The Intercept, Dataminr continues to enable what is essentially surveillance by U.S. law enforcement entities, contradicting earlier assurances to the contrary.
Despite Dataminr’s claims that its law enforcement service merely “delivers breaking news alerts,” the company has facilitated the surveillance of recent nonviolent protests, siphoning vast amounts of social media data and converting it into tidy police intelligence packages.
Both companies denied that the protest monitoring meets the definition of surveillance.

Read the full story by @samfbiddle, with research assistance by W. Paul Smith. interc.pt/2AN1XMM #BLM #GeorgeFloydProtests

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More from @theintercept

Nov 11, 2023
Israeli spyware company NSO Group took a big hit over the last two years after its phone hacking software was shown to play a role in serious human rights abuses.

Now, amid the Gaza war, NSO is lobbying for an urgent meeting with @SecBlinken. theintercept.com/2023/11/10/nso…
NSO Group, infamous for its Pegasus phone-tapping technology, was blacklisted by the U.S. Department of Commerce in November 2021.

A month later it was revealed that Pegasus had been used to spy on American diplomats.
With the war against Hamas raging, NSO has seen a flurry of positive press for its work with the Israeli military on Gaza — a nod to the close relationship between the Israeli government and the notorious cyber spying company.
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Oct 19, 2022
As Vladimir Putin has sought to replenish the ranks of Russia’s military, his close associate Yevgeny Prigozhin appears to have done the same with the Wagner Group, the infamous mercenary organization he founded, including by recruiting in Russian prisons. theintercept.com/2022/10/19/rus…
Prigozhin was encouraging them to join the Wagner Group and fight in Ukraine as a way out of prison.
Wagner mercenaries are believed to have been behind a series of so-called false flag attacks in eastern Ukraine before the invasion, intended to give Russia a pretext to attack.
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Mar 1, 2022
Before Russia’s tanks started rolling into Ukraine, we were already hearing that the best way to stop Putin’s aggression is to ramp up fossil fuel production in North America, writes @NaomiAKlein. theintercept.com/2022/03/01/war…
“Within hours of the invasion, every planet-torching project that the climate justice movement had managed to block over the past decade was being frantically rushed back onto the table by right-wing politicians and industry-friendly pundits.”
But of course the push for new fossil projects is not about helping Ukrainians or weakening Putin. The real reason all the old pipe dreams are being dusted off is far more crass, writes Klein: This war has made them vastly more profitable overnight.
Read 5 tweets
Feb 12, 2022
The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Prisoners are some of the most vulnerable to the climate crisis given that they’re at the mercy of a prison system plagued with problems.

Climate and Punishment: interc.pt/prisonclimate
Texas is ground zero in the fight over air conditioning in prisons.

Data compiled and analyzed by The Intercept shows that Texas has more jails, prisons, and detention centers impacted by severe heat than any other state. interc.pt/3BeZOnG
Nine in 10 of Texas's carceral facilities are in places with 50 or more days a year of 90-plus-degree heat indexes; projections show that temperatures will only rise. Image
Read 12 tweets
Dec 23, 2021
Yesterday, @Google's search engine removed all mentions of this @theintercept investigation by @radleybalko into Little Rock's police department and the FOP's efforts to unseat Keith Humphrey, a Black police chief appointed by the city’s first Black mayor.
Although the notice of DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) removal we received from Google says the takedown is tied to a copyright claim, no violation was cited by the company. Our reporting remains suppressed from Google search globally.
.@TheIntercept demands an explanation for this act of censorship and urges @Google to allow this important investigation to be visible on its search engine –– and accessible to the public whose interests are served by @radleybalko's reporting.
Read 4 tweets
Dec 18, 2021
A reformist Black police chief faces an uprising of the old guard interc.pt/3GZYXct by @radleybalko
Keith Humphrey was appointed Little Rock police chief in April 2019 by Mayor Frank Scott, the city’s first Black elected chief executive.
Scott made police reform a central part of his campaign. It was an ugly and contentious race, with the Fraternal Order of Police vocally opposed to Scott. Scott ultimately won and appointed Humphrey to implement his promised reforms. Then the real battle got underway.
Read 12 tweets

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