Global Investigative Journalism Network (https://archive.gijn.org/tag/spyware/page/2/)
Throughout 2021, reporters from around the Arab world produced excellent investigative work, some as part of transnational reporting collaborations on human rights, financial investigations, and phone hacking. With a salute to our colleagues who work in this very tough neighborhood, we are proud to highlight some of the best investigative journalism from the past year.
Investigative journalists went all out last year in covering surveillance issues. From a deep-dive into the dark side of pandemic tech in Singapore’s techno-utopia to an in-depth look at how schools are spending thousands on unreliable “aggression detectors” in the name of student safety, global reporters have been holding Big Tech accountable for its role in fueling authoritarianism worldwide.
In 2021, as the mainstream Indian media continued to transform into the propaganda arm of the ruling party, intrepid digital platforms, mainly from the English-language press, have published some groundbreaking investigative stories and forced the rest of the legacy media to follow their lead.
The digital security risk to investigative journalism was reaffirmed this month with the release of the Pegasus Project. This involved collaborative reporting by 17 global media outlets on a list of thousands of leaked phone numbers allegedly selected for possible surveillance by government clients of Israeli firm NSO Group. At least 180 journalists are implicated as targets. It also sheds light on four chilling cases profile here.
Si hay alguna consecuencia positiva de la pandemia para la prensa, es que la seguridad por fin se vuelve una práctica rutinaria, sobre todo para los periodistas que investigan temas sensibles.
প্রতিদিনকার যোগাযোগে আমরা যেসব সিস্টেম এবং অ্যাপ্লিকেশন ব্যবহার করছি, তাদের বেশিরভাগই অস্বচ্ছ এবং তাদের নিরাপত্তাও অপর্যাপ্ত। হোক তা হোয়াটসঅ্যাপ, জিমেইল, স্কাইপ বা ড্রপবক্সের মত প্রতিদিন ব্যবহার করা অ্যাপ। এই প্রতিবেদন আপনাকে সিদ্ধান্ত নিতে সাহায্য করবে, প্রথাগত অ্যাপ্লিকেশনের বদলে আপনি কোন ওপেন সোর্স প্রোগ্রাম ব্যবহার করবেন এবং কীভাবে।
Reporters Sans Frontieres published, for the first time, a list of press freedom’s 20 worst digital predators in 2020. Whether state offshoots, private-sector companies, or informal entities, they reflect a reality of power at the end of the 21st century’s second decade, in which investigative reporters and other journalists who cause displeasure risk being the targets of predatory activity by often hidden actors.
In an explosive report, Citizen Lab and their Mexican civil society partners identified more than 75 text messages sent to the phones of 12 individuals, most of whom are journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders in an effort to monitor the target’s devices. They say the findings are a flagrant and disturbing example of the abuse of commercial spyware.