Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 1h

Just dm’d you

Reposted by Gabriel Geiger

Crofton Black @cr0ft0n.bsky.social · 3h

People often ask what it's like behind the scenes at the world's top spy tech trade fair, ISS World. Turns out it's like this bsky.app/profile/ligh...

Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 5h

🧵What’s the biggest lie the surveillance industry tells? That they only sell to legal clients. That there are red lines. But what do these companies say when they think nobody is watching? We went undercover to find out

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Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 4h

Done

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Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 14h

Big fan of your work @crimew.gay

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Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 18h

Thanks so much Ryan!

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Reposted by Gabriel Geiger

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 21h

EXCLUSIVE: This tech has been used to track heads of state, journalists, and maybe even you.

@lighthousereports.com uncovered a vast surveillance empire whose untraceable tech has been used to target people in more than 100 countries.

It has operated under the radar for decades. Until now.

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Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 18h

Thanks so much Dhruv, learned a lot of this stuff from you!

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Reposted by Gabriel Geiger

Dhruv Mehrotra @dmehro.bsky.social · 18h

Come for the incredible reporting, stay for the “I think I felt like shitting my pants or something”: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfWy...

This Secret Tech Tracked World Leaders, a Vatican Enemy, and Maybe You

YouTube video by Mother Jones

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Gabriel Geiger

Dhruv Mehrotra @dmehro.bsky.social · 18h

Legendary work from @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social.

He and a team uncovered a trove of data from a surveillance firm — location data from thousands of phone numbers from nearly every country on Earth.

The firm had been tracking everyone from Erik Prince to journalists to Jared Leto.

The surveillance empire that tracked world leaders, a Vatican enemy, and maybe you

Inside the hidden world of First Wap, whose untraceable tech has targeted politicians, journalists, celebrities, and activists around the globe.

motherjones.com

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Reposted by Gabriel Geiger

Ron Deibert @rondeibert.bsky.social · 22h

The surveillance empire that tracked world leaders, a Vatican enemy, and maybe you www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

A stunning investigation by @lighthousereports.com of what I call "despotism as a service"👇

The surveillance empire that tracked world leaders, a Vatican enemy, and maybe you

We uncovered a massive data trove. It revealed the hidden world of First Wap, whose untraceable tech has targeted politicians, journalists, celebrities, and activists around the globe.

www.motherjones.com

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Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 20h

And of course thanks for the countless hours from my @lighthousereports.com colleagues @cr0ft0n.bsky.social @daniel-howden.bsky.social @emmanfre.bsky.social @orariccardo.bsky.social

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Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 20h

Have been having a blast working closely with
@revealnews.org @motherjones.com @danielschulman.bsky.social Michael Montgomery @luolkowski.bsky.social

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Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 20h

Pleasure working with @papertrailmedia.de @bastianobermayer.bsky.social, @vonelisa.bsky.social @rettermaria.bsky.social @hmnzngr.bsky.social @leahruschka.bsky.social @christobuschek.net

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Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 20h

Thank you!!

Reposted by Gabriel Geiger

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 22h

EXCLUSIVE: Our friends at @lighthousereports.com obtained a secret data trove.

It revealed a vast global surveillance empire whose tech has been used to target politicians, journalists, tech execs, and Jared Leto.

The story only gets wilder from there.

The surveillance empire that tracked world leaders, a Vatican enemy, and maybe you

We uncovered a massive data trove. It revealed the hidden world of First Wap, whose untraceable tech has targeted politicians, journalists, celebrities, and activists around the globe.

www.motherjones.com

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Reposted by Gabriel Geiger

Riccardo Coluccini @orariccardo.bsky.social · 20h

Se mesi fa su Google cercavi First Wap, azienda che fa prodotti di sorveglianza da circa 20 anni, trovavi poco—negli ultimi giorni nulla. Oggi con @lighthousereports.com @papertrailmedia.de @irpimedia.eu
e altri partner riveliamo tutto #SurveillanceSecrets www.lighthousereports.com/investigatio...

Surveillance Secrets

Trove of surveillance data challenges what we thought we knew about location tracking tools, who they target and how far they have spread

www.lighthousereports.com

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Reposted by Gabriel Geiger

Lu Olkowski @luolkowski.bsky.social · 20h

Very happy to be bringing this story to @revealnews.org this weekend.

Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 20h

On a Saturday night I stumbled across something on the internet that made me feel like ****** my pants. A giant dataset of real surveillance operations targeting 1000s of people across nearly every country. Unraveling it and the mysterious company behind it has consumed 1.5 years of my life

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Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 20h

If you want to read about how we analyzed 1.5 million rows of tracking data, we’ve written a methodology here. www.lighthousereports.com/methodology/...

How First Wap Tracks Phones Around the World

From telecom protocols to a 1.5 million row dataset, here’s how we uncovered the reach and tactics of a mercenary phone-tracking company

www.lighthousereports.com

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Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 20h

We’re publishing this story with media partners across the world. To read their stories, check out our link here. lighthousereports.com/investigatio...

Surveillance Secrets

Trove of surveillance data challenges what we thought we knew about location tracking tools, who they target and how far they have spread

lighthousereports.com

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Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 20h

But it went beyond politically-motivated use. We also found this government-grade surveillance being used by corporate investigators digging up dirt for private clients and to stalk a Russian businesswoman in the UK www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

The surveillance empire that tracked world leaders, a Vatican enemy, and maybe you

We uncovered a massive data trove. It revealed the hidden world of First Wap, whose untraceable tech has targeted politicians, journalists, celebrities, and activists around the globe.

www.motherjones.com

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Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 20h

Tracking dissidents abroad? No problem. Tracking environmental protestors for a private mining company. Sure thing! Selling to an individual under sanction? “We can find a way.” Watch it for yourself.

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Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 20h

Having reported on this industry, I knew there were shady actors. But part of me thought, surely they can’t be that bad, surely there are red lines. The world isn’t a comic book. When we went behind closed doors, I realized… sometimes it is www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfWy...

This Secret Tech Tracked World Leaders, a Vatican Enemy, and Maybe You

YouTube video by Mother Jones

youtube.com

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Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 20h

First Wap’s flagship product is called Altamides, it can track any phone anywhere in the world without leaving a trace - at an enormous scale. The dataset I found contained 1.5 million rows of tracking data from Altamides, including phone numbers, dates and real locations.

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Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 20h

At the center of it all, the company First Wap. Hidden behind hideous 2000s web design is a ruthless surveillance pioneer that has operated in the shadows for more than two decades.

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Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 20h

We found journalists, activists, actors, musicians, titans of industry, heads of state targeted. The stories that emerged tied these surveillance operations to a top level assassination of a Rwandan dissident, a journalist investigating the Vatican, and a billionaire Silicon Valley founder.

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