Hey, howdy, hallo,
I know some (maybe even most) of my readers aren’t from the United States, but it would feel disingenuous to send out a newsletter and pretend everything is perfectly fine here. When federal agents from ICE and Border Patrol kill people in the street, like Renée Good and Alex Pretti, all while the government tells you that what you saw with your own eyes isn’t what happened, it becomes hard to argue that nothing is wrong.
This isn’t just about isolated incidents or bad actors. It’s about how fear, misinformation, and expanding surveillance systems reinforce each other. Privacy and security are no longer optional concerns.
Surveillance technologies are rapidly expanding, both in the United States and abroad.
One example of this globalization is a tool called Gotham. It was developed by the US company Palantir and has begun making its way into Germany and the EU. Gotham lets police agencies pour large amounts of data from different sources into a single system and analyze it at scale.
In practice, this means a private company is sitting in the middle of massive amounts of data governments collect about their citizens. Palantir does not make decisions itself, but it controls how that data is combined, searched, and made available to law enforcement.
Then you have agencies like ICE using apps such as Mobile Fortify to verify a person’s immigration status. ICE can take a picture of an individual’s face (citizen or not), search through hundreds of millions of photos for a match, and return their status. Photos are reportedly kept for 15 years in some random and unverifiable databases. I do not think I need to spell out the implications here. If you are subscribed to this newsletter, you likely already understand the importance of privacy and security. This is government invasion of privacy at its finest.
This is only a tiny part of a much larger trend, so I wanted to put some words on a page about it in case you weren’t aware.
That’s all I have this month, see you in February.
-Josh
P.S. If where I stand bothers you, that’s fine. This newsletter is optional. There is a convenient unsubscribe link at the bottom :)
Some random painting games that are pretty fun.
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Is your phone being tracked? IMSI Catchers (EFF Rayhunter Setup Guide)
How to Install Home Assistant on Raspberry Pi (Connect ZBT-2 Tutorial)
Why I’m Leaving macOS for Qubes OS
A few things I make and work on:
Membership Site — Bonus content, monthly livestream Q&A, and more.
Consulting — Personalized help for individuals and teams.
Yellowball — Podcast hosting. No BS, no tracking.
"You can’t change the world, but you can make a corner of it pretty nice."
-Dave Chappelle
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