This week, Morgan Marquis-Boire and Bill Marczak of the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab provided a disturbing look into the likely use of a commercial surveillance program, FinFisher, to remotely invade and control the computers of Bahraini activists. After the software installs itself onto unsuspecting users' computer, it can record and relay emails, screenshots, and Skype audio conversations. It was deployed against Bahraini users after being concealed in seemingly innocent emails.
This week, YouTube
announced a feature that should catch the eye of video journalists and bloggers
working in dangerous conditions. After uploading a video to YouTube, you can
now deploy a "blur faces" post-production tool that, in theory,
should disguise the visual identity of everyone on the screen. The Hindu
newspaper has an excellent how-to guide for their
readers.
Russia's State Duma has passed a number of new laws in the
past week, all seemingly aimed at reining in civil society and criticism of
public figures. The bills would re-criminalize defamation and impose limits and
labels on NGOs. They follow the introduction last month of excessive fines for
unauthorized protests.
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