How US vote to extend NSA program could expose journalists to surveillance
The U.S. Senate last week approved a six-year extension to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act (FISA), in a move that could put journalists at risk. Because people targeted by Section 702 are often of interest to the press as well as the NSA, journalists are more likely than most to have…
Ukraine’s security service deports Russian journalist
New York, August 30, 2017– Russian journalist Anna Kurbatova was today grabbed on the street in the center of Kiev by unknown people and later deported, according to her employer Russian state television’s Channel One. Ukraine’s security service (SBU) said authorities have banned the journalist from entering Ukraine for three years.
Expanded surveillance powers could threaten work of journalists in UK
Brussels, May 5, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by news reports that the U.K. government wants to push telecommunication companies to introduce real-time surveillance and the removal of encryption. On Thursday, The Register published leaked draft regulations detailing how telecommunications operators would be required to grant real-time access to individuals under warrant within…
Mexican president pledges to prioritize journalist safety and combat impunity
Mexico City, May 4, 2017– Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto today pledged to prioritize combating impunity in the murders of journalists for the remainder of his term, which ends next year. He said the safety and protection of journalists would also be a priority.
CPJ welcomes UN Human Rights resolution on releasing jailed journalists, right to encryption
Washington, September 29, 2016–The United Nations Human Rights Council’s annual resolution on journalist safety for the first time urges all states to release arbitrarily detained journalists. The resolution, co-sponsored by 87 countries and adopted today in Geneva, raises new concerns about mounting attacks on journalists during elections and calls for states to protect the confidentiality…
Apple vulnerability is surprising, but journalists should stick with iPhones
A rare and serious vulnerability in Apple’s iOS operating system has been discovered by researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, which today published a report detailing its findings. It is the first known remote iOS vulnerability of its kind. Disturbingly, the company behind malware designed to exploit the security flaw may have also…
Video: Protecting journalism (not just journalists) takes tech that’s safe for everyone
On July 23, I gave a presentation as part of the HOPE XI hacker conference at the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City. My talk, entitled “Won’t Somebody Please Think of the Journalists?” described the challenges of protecting journalists in a world where journalism is no longer conducted only by professionals. I exhorted the technologists…
Pentagon’s revised Law of War Manual recognizes role of independent journalists
Washington, July 22, 2016–The Pentagon no longer considers journalists operating independently of U.S. military forces as potential spies, terrorists, or saboteurs, according to U.S. military officials who have rewritten the military’s Law of War Manual.