Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · 20h

And the surveillance vendor originates from ...Austria! Today it seems to be Austrian-German with affiliates in Indonesia and Dubai.

Much of the SS7 tracking went via Telecom Liechtenstein, back then owned by Telekom Austria (partly owned by the Austrian state):
www.derstandard.at/story/310000...

Big Brother aus Österreich: Die Firma, die Handys weltweit überwachte

Eine verdeckte Recherche legt offen, wie mit der Technik eines deutsch-österreichischen Unternehmens Politiker, Journalisten und Prominente getrackt wurden

www.derstandard.at

1 5

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · 21h

The surveillance system was used to track journalists, politicians, oligarchs, diplomats, prosecutors, managers, hollywood stars including in the US and Europe.

Clients included e.g. Belarus, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, UAE and Uzbekistan, according to the investigation.

1 2 1

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · 21h

70+ journalists from 14 outlets examined a set of 1.5m internal location tracking records that show how the company's tech was used to surveil 14,000 phones/people in 160 countries, mainly 2007-2014. Plus, the journalists made it undercover to ISS World:
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

1 2 1

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · 21h

"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"

Massive investigation into a SS7-based cellphone location tracking empire:
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

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.

www.motherjones.com

1 19 33

Reposted by Wolfie Christl

Andreas Proschofsky @sukahiroaki.bsky.social · 1d

Große internationale Recherche incoming: "Big Brother aus Österreich: Die Firma, die Handys weltweit überwachte". Eine ziemlich wilde Geschichte mit vielen spannenden Details, hier lang >>>
www.derstandard.at/story/310000... #SurveillanceSecrets

Big Brother aus Österreich: Die Firma, die Handys weltweit überwachte

Eine verdeckte Recherche legt offen, wie mit der Technik eines deutsch-österreichischen Unternehmens Politiker, Journalisten und Prominente getrackt wurden

www.derstandard.at

1 20 35

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · 4d

"Microsoft is introducing new Copilot adoption benchmarks to its Viva Insights platform, a move that lets managers monitor and compare how teams are using the company’s flagship AI assistant"

New Microsoft Tool Lets Your Boss Track If Your Team Uses AI "Sufficiently" - WinBuzzer

Microsoft's new Copilot benchmarks in Viva Insights let managers track AI adoption, raising privacy concerns reminiscent of its 2020 'Productivity Score' tool.

winbuzzer.com

1 7 13

Reposted by Wolfie Christl

Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 14d

New from 404 Media: ICE to buy tool that tracks locations of hundreds of millions of phones every day. Billions of pieces of location data. ICE previously stopped using data remotely harvested from smartphones. Now it's buying it again. Usually used w/o warrant
www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...

ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day

Documents show that ICE has gone back on its decision to not use location data remotely harvested from peoples' phones. The database is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data.

www.404media.co

20 250 340

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · 16d

"Phones in the data could be tracked back to specific residential addresses after entering ... military bases, and Leinster House, as well as sensitive locations like health clinics"

Another media investigation into commercial mobile/app location data in Ireland:
www.rte.ie/news/primeti...

Security concern as tens of thousands of phone locations for sale

Data showing the specific movement of tens of thousands of smartphones in Ireland is available to purchase within the digital marketing and advertising industries, an undercover Prime Time investigati...

www.rte.ie

1 1 3

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · 22d

I was really hoping things might get better with GDPR enforcement at its Irish lead regulator, but this is Ireland giving the middle finger to EU data protection and to a democratically governed digital society.
noyb.eu/en/former-me...

Former Meta lobbyist named DPC Commissioner: Meta now officially regulates itself

According to reports in the Irish news, Niamh Sweeney, a former senior Meta lobbyist, is set to join the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) as a commissioner in October

noyb.eu

4 25 90

Reposted by Wolfie Christl

Johnny Ryan @johnnyryan.bsky.social · Sep 1

If true, this update is astonishing.
The Commission climbed down from a planned break up of Google’s ad business to a mere fine, and then dropped even the fine for fear of offending Trump.

This is for market violations that have been proven in U.S. court.

4 69 99

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · Sep 1

"Algorithmisches Management via Smartphone. Digitale Steuerung und Kontrolle von Beschäftigten im Außendienst – von technischer Wartung bis mobile Pflege"

Die Studie gibts hier: crackedlabs.org/mobilearbeit

Algorithmisches Management via Smartphone

Digitale Steuerung und Kontrolle von Beschäftigten im Außendienst – von technischer Wartung bis mobile Pflege

crackedlabs.org

2 3

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · Sep 1

Kleiner Ö1-Beitrag über meine aktuelle Studie im Auftrag der @arbeiterkammer.at, es geht um Beschäftigtenüberwachung im Außendienst, Apps als digitale Peitsche und Stress im der Heimkrankenpflege. Irgendwann dann wieder mit weniger Wiener Dialekt ;)
oe1.orf.at/programm/202...

Überwacht vom digitalen Chef | MO | 01 09 2025 | 17:55

Wie Firmen ihre Außendienstmitarbeiter via App kontrollieren

oe1.orf.at

1 8 14

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · Aug 25

h/t @malteengeler.bsky.social via @dgolumbia.bsky.social

4

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · Aug 25

Langdon Winner (1997) on "cyberlibertarianism, a collection of ideas that links ecstatic enthusiasm for electronically mediated forms of living with radical, right wing libertarian ideas about the proper definition of freedom, social life, economics, and politics": dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1...

1 1 9

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · Aug 25

Don't use Copilot für anything with numbers in Excel ,)

Johanna @johannasa.bsky.social · Aug 25

Ah ja Copilot in Excel bitte nicht für dinge mit zahlen verwenden. 🙄

support.microsoft.com/en-us/office...

1 3 5

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · Aug 24

More than 40% of 543 data brokers registered under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) failed to respond to data access requests, "in an apparent violation of the CCPA".

"Consumer Beware!", the "first large-scale, systematic study of CCPA compliance": arxiv.org/pdf/2506.21914

10 9

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · Jul 23

I only know media reports (till now)

1

Reposted by Wolfie Christl

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · Jul 22

So, a German court said the German federal DPA cannot ban German government agencies from running FB pages (aka jointly processing data unlawfully for Meta's benefit), because whatever, and because only DPC Ireland, which hasn’t done anything relevant in years, could.

1 4 10

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · Jul 22

I was always against singling out public institutions, and I was always in favor of targeting Meta itself rather than joint controllers caught in broken digital infrastructure, but this is just another GDPR enforcement fail/farce.

1 8

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · Jul 22

So, a German court said the German federal DPA cannot ban German government agencies from running FB pages (aka jointly processing data unlawfully for Meta's benefit), because whatever, and because only DPC Ireland, which hasn’t done anything relevant in years, could.

1 4 10

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · Jul 17

"Resilience and Resistance in Times of Deregulation and Authoritarianism"

Great title.
edri.org/our-work/pri...

#PrivacyCamp25: Call for Sessions open - European Digital Rights (EDRi)

The 13th edition of Privacy Camp is set to take place on 30 September 2025, come and explore explore the theme Resilience and Resistance.

edri.org

6

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · Jul 8

"AI-based behaviour analysis in prisons: A multidisciplinary assessment of an Austrian case study.
...
In consequence, less intrusive measures such as mental health care or improving spatial conditions tend to be neglected in favour of technological innovation"
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

AI-based behaviour analysis in prisons: A multidisciplinary assessment of an Austrian case study - Robert Rothmann, Elisabeth Mayer, 2025

The present study addresses current developments in the field of AI-based surveillance to prevent violence and suicide in prisons. In doing so, we draw on resea...

journals.sagepub.com

1 2

Reposted by Wolfie Christl

Robin Wilton 🇱🇧 @komadori.bsky.social · Jun 18

Thread worth reading. The evidence and the enforcement options have been there for years, they've just been ignored.

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · Jun 17

After an on-site audit, the Berlin GDPR regulator found that Berlin-based location data broker Adsquare has been processing personal data unlawfully at scale, as disclosed in its annual report and confirmed to netzpolitik org:
www.datenschutz-berlin.de/jahresberich...
netzpolitik.org/2025/nach-un...

2 8

Reposted by Wolfie Christl

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · Jun 17

After an on-site audit, the Berlin GDPR regulator found that Berlin-based location data broker Adsquare has been processing personal data unlawfully at scale, as disclosed in its annual report and confirmed to netzpolitik org:
www.datenschutz-berlin.de/jahresberich...
netzpolitik.org/2025/nach-un...

2 21 44

Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · Jun 17

Btw. in 2020, @johnnyryan.bsky.social and I sent a submission on Adsquare's claimed data exploitation from the RTB bid stream in digital advertising to the Irish GDPR regulator. Nothing happened...

www.iccl.ie/wp-content/u...

1 4 13