Oliver Linow
@oliverlinow.bsky.social
Internet Freedom Specialist at Deutsche Welle (DW)
Reposted by Oliver Linow
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “did not comply” with the Pentagon’s policies when he used a private messaging app to discuss airstrikes by U.S. forces in Yemen earlier this year, the department’s inspector general said in a report released on Thursday. Here’s what else we learned from the report.
Takeaways From the Pentagon Investigation on Hegseth’s Use of Signal
www.nytimes.com
December 4, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “did not comply” with the Pentagon’s policies when he used a private messaging app to discuss airstrikes by U.S. forces in Yemen earlier this year, the department’s inspector general said in a report released on Thursday. Here’s what else we learned from the report.
Hello World! DW is dedicating its first Bluesky post to this great topic, which is of course particularly close to my heart. A totally useful app in this day and age. Many thanks to everyone involved at DW, as well as to @vinifortuna.com and the Outline team. #InternetFreedom
Access to independent information is under pressure worldwide. Internet shutdowns and censorship have intensified in countries like Iran, Russia and China.
DW has developed DW Access, a lightweight app that helps people stay informed even under the toughest conditions.
DW has developed DW Access, a lightweight app that helps people stay informed even under the toughest conditions.
December 2, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Hello World! DW is dedicating its first Bluesky post to this great topic, which is of course particularly close to my heart. A totally useful app in this day and age. Many thanks to everyone involved at DW, as well as to @vinifortuna.com and the Outline team. #InternetFreedom
Deutsche Welle is blocked in many countries. BigTech bans apps from their stores so that they can do business in autocracies.
DW is responding with ‘DW - Access’. It circumvents censorship, can be installed directly, and can be used during an internet shutdown. corporate.dw.com/en/dw-access...
DW is responding with ‘DW - Access’. It circumvents censorship, can be installed directly, and can be used during an internet shutdown. corporate.dw.com/en/dw-access...
December 1, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Deutsche Welle is blocked in many countries. BigTech bans apps from their stores so that they can do business in autocracies.
DW is responding with ‘DW - Access’. It circumvents censorship, can be installed directly, and can be used during an internet shutdown. corporate.dw.com/en/dw-access...
DW is responding with ‘DW - Access’. It circumvents censorship, can be installed directly, and can be used during an internet shutdown. corporate.dw.com/en/dw-access...
Reposted by Oliver Linow
Amazon has blamed today's massive outage on the "DNS resolution of the DynamoDB API endpoint in US-EAST-1."
@kentik.bsky.social observed a complete drop-off in traffic to this particular AWS service beginning at 06:55 UTC. Thousands of services around the world were impacted.
@kentik.bsky.social observed a complete drop-off in traffic to this particular AWS service beginning at 06:55 UTC. Thousands of services around the world were impacted.
October 20, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Amazon has blamed today's massive outage on the "DNS resolution of the DynamoDB API endpoint in US-EAST-1."
@kentik.bsky.social observed a complete drop-off in traffic to this particular AWS service beginning at 06:55 UTC. Thousands of services around the world were impacted.
@kentik.bsky.social observed a complete drop-off in traffic to this particular AWS service beginning at 06:55 UTC. Thousands of services around the world were impacted.
Since yesterday, the Taliban in Afghanistan have shut down the internet. Without the internet, many people are severely restricted in their daily lives. @ioda.live is a reliable source for tracking internet shutdowns. The measurement data is completely transparent and therefore quotable.
September 30, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Since yesterday, the Taliban in Afghanistan have shut down the internet. Without the internet, many people are severely restricted in their daily lives. @ioda.live is a reliable source for tracking internet shutdowns. The measurement data is completely transparent and therefore quotable.
The shutdown is still ongoing!
September 30, 2025 at 6:30 AM
The shutdown is still ongoing!
Reposted by Oliver Linow
Blackout in Afghanistan as Taliban orders internet service downed at 12:38 UTC (5:08pm local).
Earlier this month, Taliban banned fiber optic internet in a rural province to “prevent immorality.” This shutdown follows brief national outage minutes earlier from 11:33 to 11:53 UTC.
Earlier this month, Taliban banned fiber optic internet in a rural province to “prevent immorality.” This shutdown follows brief national outage minutes earlier from 11:33 to 11:53 UTC.
September 29, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Blackout in Afghanistan as Taliban orders internet service downed at 12:38 UTC (5:08pm local).
Earlier this month, Taliban banned fiber optic internet in a rural province to “prevent immorality.” This shutdown follows brief national outage minutes earlier from 11:33 to 11:53 UTC.
Earlier this month, Taliban banned fiber optic internet in a rural province to “prevent immorality.” This shutdown follows brief national outage minutes earlier from 11:33 to 11:53 UTC.
What is the impact? ...from Putin's perspective. What comes next?
#Russia: RSF has been declared an “undesirable organisation” in Russia. This unjust decision will not prevent the NGO from continuing to defend the right to news and information by documenting the Kremlin’s attacks on the media in Russia and Ukraine.
rsf.org/en/rsf-liste...
rsf.org/en/rsf-liste...
RSF listed as “undesirable organisation” in Russia, where Kremlin sees right to information as threat
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns its inclusion today, 14 August 2025, on the Kremlin’s list of “undesirable organisations,” a defamatory label designed to silence independent voices on the bo...
rsf.org
August 14, 2025 at 10:05 PM
What is the impact? ...from Putin's perspective. What comes next?
Reposted by Oliver Linow
⚡️ Today, we published a report documenting the shutdowns during the student uprising in #Bangladesh last year.
🔗 ooni.org/post/2025-ba...
Together with Digitally Right, we compiled a comprehensive timeline of blocks, outages, and political events that happened in the 22 days of the uprising.
🔗 ooni.org/post/2025-ba...
Together with Digitally Right, we compiled a comprehensive timeline of blocks, outages, and political events that happened in the 22 days of the uprising.
July 31, 2025 at 11:50 AM
⚡️ Today, we published a report documenting the shutdowns during the student uprising in #Bangladesh last year.
🔗 ooni.org/post/2025-ba...
Together with Digitally Right, we compiled a comprehensive timeline of blocks, outages, and political events that happened in the 22 days of the uprising.
🔗 ooni.org/post/2025-ba...
Together with Digitally Right, we compiled a comprehensive timeline of blocks, outages, and political events that happened in the 22 days of the uprising.
Reposted by Oliver Linow
LEO satellite operator Starlink currently experiencing a total outage beginning at 19:13 UTC today. #Starlinkdown
No word yet on cause of the outage.
No word yet on cause of the outage.
July 24, 2025 at 8:00 PM
LEO satellite operator Starlink currently experiencing a total outage beginning at 19:13 UTC today. #Starlinkdown
No word yet on cause of the outage.
No word yet on cause of the outage.
Reposted by Oliver Linow
Satellite #Internet provider Starlink is currently experiencing a network-wide outage. They have acknowledged the outage, but have not yet provided information on a cause.
x.com/Starlink/sta...
x.com/Starlink/sta...
July 24, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Satellite #Internet provider Starlink is currently experiencing a network-wide outage. They have acknowledged the outage, but have not yet provided information on a cause.
x.com/Starlink/sta...
x.com/Starlink/sta...
Reposted by Oliver Linow
Aserbaidschan verschärft das Mediengesetz erneut: Ausländischen Redaktionen droht Schließung, Presseagenturen brauchen 20 lokale Abos – in einem Land ohne unabhängige Medien. RSF fordert: Gesetz zurücknehmen, Journalist*innen freilassen!
#Pressefreiheit #Azerbaijan
#Pressefreiheit #Azerbaijan
July 17, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Aserbaidschan verschärft das Mediengesetz erneut: Ausländischen Redaktionen droht Schließung, Presseagenturen brauchen 20 lokale Abos – in einem Land ohne unabhängige Medien. RSF fordert: Gesetz zurücknehmen, Journalist*innen freilassen!
#Pressefreiheit #Azerbaijan
#Pressefreiheit #Azerbaijan
Reposted by Oliver Linow
⚡️ BREAKING: Zelensky announces next prime minister, launches government reshuffle.
"I have proposed that Yuliia Svyrydenko lead the Government of Ukraine and significantly renew its work," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"I have proposed that Yuliia Svyrydenko lead the Government of Ukraine and significantly renew its work," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
BREAKING: Zelensky announces next prime minister, launches government reshuffle
"I have proposed that Yuliia Svyrydenko lead the Government of Ukraine and significantly renew its work," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
kyivindependent.com
July 14, 2025 at 12:08 PM
⚡️ BREAKING: Zelensky announces next prime minister, launches government reshuffle.
"I have proposed that Yuliia Svyrydenko lead the Government of Ukraine and significantly renew its work," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"I have proposed that Yuliia Svyrydenko lead the Government of Ukraine and significantly renew its work," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Reposted by Oliver Linow
For more information on the situation in Iran, follow @ammir.bsky.social and his colleagues at @filter.watch:
bsky.app/profile/filt...
bsky.app/profile/filt...
1/2 Iran imposed sweeping internet restrictions in the first week of Israel’s military offensive. key findings from Filterwatch’s report:
🔻Full internet shutdowns,including blocking SSH ports that helped maintain access🔻Incoming international traffic blocked a move not even seen in November 2019👇
🔻Full internet shutdowns,including blocking SSH ports that helped maintain access🔻Incoming international traffic blocked a move not even seen in November 2019👇
June 20, 2025 at 2:17 PM
For more information on the situation in Iran, follow @ammir.bsky.social and his colleagues at @filter.watch:
bsky.app/profile/filt...
bsky.app/profile/filt...
Reposted by Oliver Linow
To put this in context, today's drop is in addition to the drop in traffic levels observed on June 13th.
June 17, 2025 at 3:17 PM
To put this in context, today's drop is in addition to the drop in traffic levels observed on June 13th.
Reposted by Oliver Linow
As we hear reports of mobile Internet shutdown in Iran, IODA measurements are showing loss of connectivity on mobile networks IranCell (AS44244) and RighTel (AS57218).
Follow connectivity in near realtime […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
Follow connectivity in near realtime […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
June 16, 2025 at 7:03 PM
As we hear reports of mobile Internet shutdown in Iran, IODA measurements are showing loss of connectivity on mobile networks IranCell (AS44244) and RighTel (AS57218).
Follow connectivity in near realtime […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
Follow connectivity in near realtime […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
Reposted by Oliver Linow
TikTok has breached EU rules for failing to disclose sufficient information about advertising on the platform, the European Commission said today.
TikTok breached digital advertising rules, European Commission says
ByteDance-owned TikTok is the second platform, after Elon Musk’s X, to get an EU warning under the Digital Services Act.
ow.ly
May 15, 2025 at 10:19 AM
TikTok has breached EU rules for failing to disclose sufficient information about advertising on the platform, the European Commission said today.
Teile der Trump Regierung nutzten einen israelischen Signal Clone mit eingebauter Backdoor für sensible Chats. Hierüber wurden komplette Chatverläufe unverschlüsselt an Server in der AWS Cloud übertragen. Wer welche Informationen abgegriffen hat ist unbekannt. Das war vermutlich nur der Anfang...
Despite misleading marketing, Israeli company TeleMessage, used by Trump officials, can access plaintext chat logs. My findings are based on TM SGNL's source code, and they are corroborated by hacked data micahflee.com/despite-misl...
Despite misleading marketing, Israeli company TeleMessage, used by Trump officials, can access plaintext chat logs
Despite their misleading marketing, TeleMessage, the company that makes a modified version of Signal used by senior Trump officials, can access plaintext chat logs from its customers.
In this post I ...
micahflee.com
May 6, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Teile der Trump Regierung nutzten einen israelischen Signal Clone mit eingebauter Backdoor für sensible Chats. Hierüber wurden komplette Chatverläufe unverschlüsselt an Server in der AWS Cloud übertragen. Wer welche Informationen abgegriffen hat ist unbekannt. Das war vermutlich nur der Anfang...
Reposted by Oliver Linow
Despite misleading marketing, Israeli company TeleMessage, used by Trump officials, can access plaintext chat logs. My findings are based on TM SGNL's source code, and they are corroborated by hacked data micahflee.com/despite-misl...
Despite misleading marketing, Israeli company TeleMessage, used by Trump officials, can access plaintext chat logs
Despite their misleading marketing, TeleMessage, the company that makes a modified version of Signal used by senior Trump officials, can access plaintext chat logs from its customers.
In this post I ...
micahflee.com
May 6, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Despite misleading marketing, Israeli company TeleMessage, used by Trump officials, can access plaintext chat logs. My findings are based on TM SGNL's source code, and they are corroborated by hacked data micahflee.com/despite-misl...
Only a limited amount of information is coming out of #Myanmar following the heavy #earthquake. Publicly available measurement data from @radar.cloudflare.com shows a significant drop in internet traffic in the country. This indicates that parts of the infrastructure has been destroyed.
April 1, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Only a limited amount of information is coming out of #Myanmar following the heavy #earthquake. Publicly available measurement data from @radar.cloudflare.com shows a significant drop in internet traffic in the country. This indicates that parts of the infrastructure has been destroyed.
There is not much information from #Myanmar after the #earthquake with the epicenter near the 2nd largest city, Mandalay. The internet is partly disrupted. This is shown by data from @ioda.live, @radar.cloudflare.com, e.g. from the provider MPT. Internet restrictions makes it harder to report.
March 28, 2025 at 8:08 AM
There is not much information from #Myanmar after the #earthquake with the epicenter near the 2nd largest city, Mandalay. The internet is partly disrupted. This is shown by data from @ioda.live, @radar.cloudflare.com, e.g. from the provider MPT. Internet restrictions makes it harder to report.
Reposted by Oliver Linow
In den Koalitionsverhandlungen fordert die Union, das #Informationsfreiheitsgesetz abzuschaffen. Verhandlungsführer bei diesem Thema ist ausgerechnet Philipp Amthor. Durch das besagte Gesetz wurden Dokumente von Amthors Augustus-Intelligence-Skandal öffentlich. #IFG
netzpolitik.org/2025/koaliti...
netzpolitik.org/2025/koaliti...
Koalitionsverhandlungen: Union will Informationsfreiheitsgesetz abschaffen
In den Koalitionsverhandlungen fordert die Union, das Informationsfreiheitsgesetz abzuschaffen. Verhandlungsführer bei diesem Thema ist ausgerechnet Philipp Amthor. Durch das besagte Gesetz wurden Dok...
netzpolitik.org
March 26, 2025 at 4:11 PM
In den Koalitionsverhandlungen fordert die Union, das #Informationsfreiheitsgesetz abzuschaffen. Verhandlungsführer bei diesem Thema ist ausgerechnet Philipp Amthor. Durch das besagte Gesetz wurden Dokumente von Amthors Augustus-Intelligence-Skandal öffentlich. #IFG
netzpolitik.org/2025/koaliti...
netzpolitik.org/2025/koaliti...
Of course, @signal.org is secure, even if you join a chat from a 🇷🇺 network, because it has a proofed end-to-end-encryption. Interesting that the US Gov is using Signal. It was founded with the support of the @opentechfund.bsky.social. One of the USAGM organizations whose funding Trump has frozen.
March 25, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Of course, @signal.org is secure, even if you join a chat from a 🇷🇺 network, because it has a proofed end-to-end-encryption. Interesting that the US Gov is using Signal. It was founded with the support of the @opentechfund.bsky.social. One of the USAGM organizations whose funding Trump has frozen.
