Politics

Dominican investigative journalist targeted with NSO Pegasus spyware, report says

Published

4 weeks ago

May 3, 2023

Amnesty International has revealed that a prominent female journalist in the Dominican Republic has been targeted by NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. Nuria Piera’s mobile device was infected with Pegasus, which provides complete and unrestricted access to a device, three times between 2020 and 2021, according to Amnesty International’s Security Lab analysis. Piera, who has focused on issues of corruption and impunity in the country throughout her career, was conducting high-profile investigations around the time her device was infected. The Dominican Republic is the third country in the Americas, after Mexico and El Salvador, where Amnesty International has confirmed the use of Pegasus to target journalists and human rights defenders.

Amnesty International’s investigation found evidence that Piera’s device was first compromised with Pegasus in or around July 2020. She was also notified of the spyware’s presence in September and October 2021. Piera stated that she had never received a judicial order or formal notification from the Dominican authorities that she was under surveillance. The revelation means that there are now at least 18 countries where it has been confirmed that journalists were targeted with spyware, although the actual scale of the abuse of surveillance technology is likely to be much higher. Amnesty International is calling on states to adopt a global moratorium on spyware.

The lack of transparency around the use of surveillance and spyware makes it challenging for victims to obtain information or seek accountability. Amnesty International spoke to dozens of journalists and human rights defenders in the Dominican Republic who suspected they had been targeted for surveillance because of their work. Most thought that intelligence officers were targeting them using traditional forms of surveillance, such as wiretapping. In the Dominican Republic, there are no clear avenues for adequate remedies in the event of unlawful targeted surveillance. The constitutional avenue for data and privacy protection, Habeas data, and the criminal remedy available under Law 53-07 on Crimes of High Technology (Ley 53-07 sobre Crímenes y Delitos de Alta Tecnología), can only be used when the identity of the surveilling party is known, which is not always possible without the necessary technical skills.

Politics

Trudeau announces Canada is banning assault-style weapons

Published

3 years ago

May 2, 2020

Humanity Post

Canada has banned assault-style weapons following the murder of 22 people in the worst mass shooting in the country’s history, Justin Trudeau announced on Friday.

“These weapons were designed for one purpose and one purpose only: to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time. There is no use and no place for such weapons in Canada,” said the prime minister. “Effective immediately, it is no longer permitted to buy, sell, transport, import or use military-grade assault weapons in this country.”

After the Nova Scotia shooting last week, Trudeau said his government intended “strengthen gun control” to fulfill a campaign promise to restrict certain weapons – a plan that had initially been derailed by the coronavirus pandemic.

the government implemented the ban immediately, and without the need for legislation in Parliament, by reclassifying about 1,500 firearm models as prohibited. A program that will buy back banned firearms from current owners is also in the works.

In the meantime, a two year amnesty is now in effect for Canadians who own the banned firearms and government officials said gun owners will also have the option to be “grandfathered” in with weapons they currently own, although no details were available for that program yet.

#Canada #guncontrolnow #triggerchange #cdnpoli

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Politics

The Queen Makes Historic Speech to The Nation

Published

3 years ago

April 14, 2020

Humanity Post

The Queen Makes Historic Speech to The Nation

In a rare move – one that has only been done four times for the monarch – the Queen delivered a speech to the country amid the Coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking from Windsor Castle in a pre-recorded message where only one camera person wearing protective clothing was present, the Queen rallied the country saying we will ‘succeed’ in overcoming Covid-19 and thanked NHS staff and key workers for their tireless sacrifice. One of the most stirring comments was one of hope from the 93-year-old Queen: ‘We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.’

The speech was watched by 24 million viewers, according to reports.