New: here's how archivists are digging through the freshly scraped Parler data and using it to pinpoint crimes at the Capitol. Scripts for cleaning GPS data; extracting videos; more. vice.com/en/article/qjp…
Some of this involves parsing the scraped Parler data, taking the GPS coords, formatting those to JSON, plotting on a map. Can then see which specific pieces of content were uploaded from the Capitol vice.com/en/article/qjp…
Others are then, once having identified content from the Capitol, adding noteworthy and specific examples to docs to share later vice.com/en/article/qjp…
And there are a bunch of tools floating around on Github, some made in the last couple of days, that help clean the Parler data further. Extract specific pieces of data, usernames, etc vice.com/en/article/qjp…
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Found the hidden service version of solarleaks (claiming to offer FireEye, Microsoft material for sale) misconfigured its server, letting you see connecting IPs. Some exit nodes obviously but also residential IPs, an American university, a server linked to automated hack attempts
This was yesterday, when the server had been online for a few hours. A couple minutes after, the site admins made the server status private
solarleaks[.]net, the clear web version, resolves to 185.193.126.236. tezuvhalazdar.org also.
New: we've obtained a large dataset of the precise movements of people using a Muslim prayer app. People near mosques. Source was concerned this data could be abused. Company selling this data linked to supply chain to U.S. contractor which works with ICE vice.com/en/article/xgz…
We previously reported how Muslim Pro sold data to X-Mode which sold to U.S. military contractors. Now, through a leaked dataset and independent analysis, we've found another highly popular Muslim app called Salaat First also sold granular location data vice.com/en/article/xgz…
This leaked dataset of precise locations of Muslims shows not only the continued use of religious apps to harvest and sell location data without informed consent, but also just how easily this data is being traded in the location industry. vice.com/en/article/xgz…
New: Apple and Google are pushing location tracker X-Mode out of their app stores, telling app devs to remove the code. This comes after we found X-Mode collected location data from a hugely popular app called Muslim Pro, and sold data to U.S. military vice.com/en/article/g5b…
This is Google's statement on removing location tracker X-Mode from its Play Store after we found X-Mode collecting data from Muslim Pro. Giving app devs a deadline to remove code vice.com/en/article/g5b…
X-Mode is a particular popular company in the multi-billion dollar location data industry. It's unclear if the company can survive having its code removed from the app stores; their business is based on collecting location data from apps vice.com/en/article/g5b…
New: DEA abruptly cut-off its contract with Venntel, which sells access to location data harvested from ordinary apps installed on peoples' phones. While ICE, CBP are finding use for the tech, DEA seemingly didn't see the product as right for them vice.com/en/article/z3v…
DEA cancelled its contract for location data harvested from apps within the first 30 days of getting it vice.com/en/article/z3v…
It appears Venntel is more useful for tracking groups of people. IRS failed to track individuals it wanted. But, ICE has used the data to arrest people. It may be better for groups and particular locations vice.com/en/article/z3v…
New: leaked docs from inside Amazon’s Global Security Operations Center reveal company’s use of Pinkerton operatives—private intel—to spy on workers and the extensive monitoring of labor unions, environmental activists, and other social movements vice.com/en/article/5dp…
The documents offer an unprecedented look inside the security and surveillance apparatus of a company that has vigorously attempted to tamp down employee dissent and has previously been caught smearing employees who attempted to organize their colleagues vice.com/en/article/5dp…
Amazon sees environmental activism as a threat to its business, judging by leaked intel intelligence reports vice.com/en/article/5dp…
New: the U.S. military is buying granular location data of people harvested from ordinary smartphone apps. Through documents, sources, technical analysis, we also identified specific apps. The biggest: a Muslim prayer app with 98+ million downloads vice.com/en/article/jgq…
We uncovered two parallel streams of data sending location data from ordinary apps, through data brokers, and to the U.S. military. The first one is straight forward: Special Operations Command bought a product called LOCATE X for tracking phones vice.com/en/article/jgq…
The second stream needs explaining. A company called X-Mode pays app developers to put its location data collecting code into apps. A recent report named the endpoint (URL, basically) used to send data to X-Mode. I used that to try and find specific apps vice.com/en/article/jgq…