What is spyware and how is it different to malware?

Broadly, malware is malicious code that does something harmful or undesirable on a user's system that runs without their consent. Most people will be familiar with the concept of viruses, trojans, crimeware and even ransomware, which encrypts your data and tries to 'ransom' it back to you. Over the last few years there has been a rise in awareness of malware used for surveillance, or spyware. This is software installed on a victim's computer by state actors, spies and police, rather than cyber criminals. It gives them access to the victim's online communications and, as so much of our lives is now online, this is where most state surveillance now occurs.

How much can they see?

It depends on what you do on the device that has been compromised. For example, as mobile phones have become less about making phone calls and more about general online communication, we've seen a corresponding market for so-called 'lawful intercept' mobile spyware. If you have this type of software surreptitiously installed on your phone it allows people to track your location via GPS, access your contacts list, spy on your SMS messaging, record your phone calls, see what you're talking about on Facebook chat and more.

Spyware on your phone allows people to track your location via GPS, access your contacts list, spy on your SMS messaging and record your calls.

Morgan Marquis-Boire

Who is being targeted?

A group of Moroccan journalists and activists known as Mamfakinch were targeted with malwarethat appears to have been deployed by the Moroccan authorities. They were sent a "bait" document" in the form of a communication pretending to be a news "scoop". When analysed, I found the document contained malicious code that secretly installed spyware on their devices, so the government could see what Mamfakinch were going to be writing and who their sources were.

I also discovered that Ahmed Mansoor, a prominent human rights defender in the United Arab Emirates, has been tracked using commercial spyware. He's constantly subjected to physical andelectronic surveillance, and has been beaten and physically assaulted. He has also received numerous death threats because of his peaceful activism.

During the Arab Spring, the government of Bahrain used spyware sold to them by a UK firm to monitor a group called Bahrain Watch, which tracks arms sales. And in the US, a satellite television station ESAT which reports on Ethiopia was targeted by spyware created by another European company.

Who are the companies selling spyware?

There are smaller players that have become notorious for their sales to repressive regimes. A British-German company Gamma International distributed the spyware used to monitor the activists in Bahrain. Then there's Hacking Team, an Italian company involved in the attack on Mamfakinch and who have previously sold spyware to a variety of repressive governments, including Sudan, Ethiopia, Bahrain, Egypt, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia. A recent leak showed that they were contemplating selling to Libya as recently as May this year. And then there are the bigger multinational companies, such as Lockheed-Martin, BAE Systems and Raytheon, who also make this type of technology. This map shows many more of the players operating in the shady surveillance industry.

What can activists and journalists do about it?

The use of protective technologies like encryption, anonymization and privacy tools is pretty low among human rights activists. A lot of people have a good idea of the sensitive information – documents, communications, research – they might want to protect. So the next step is to educate yourself and start thinking sanely about security. There are a number of resources online, such as EFF's comprehensive surveillance self-defence kit. For a quick and simple guide, you can also read this blog post by a colleague from Citizen Lab.

I tend to shy away from broadly advocating individual tools as if they're a panacea, because nothing is a universal surveillance cure-all. People also need to realise they're not only making that decision for themselves, but for other people they're communicating with who may be in a more dangerous situation.

What should Amnesty be doing about it?

I think it's really positive that organisations like Amnesty are starting to speak out about the dangers of surveillance for human rights groups. Amnesty, who have themselves been spied on, know directly what a harmful trend this is. I'm hoping that this will promote a more positive 'security hygiene' in this space. And it's also great that Amnesty is lobbying for more positive policy change in this area too. I'd love to see more transparency around the use of this type of surveillance by governments, as well as a raised awareness among individuals and small organisations about the security measures they should be taking.

What will happen in the future?

It's difficult to look too far in to the future since this is a rapidly changing area of technology. We've seen the NSA say they're going to stop collecting metadata from mobile phones, but on the other side the UK government and the FBI have been fear-mongering about strong encryption on chat and messaging applications and arguing for greater access to users' private data. It's really difficult to predict how this will all pan out, but it's never been more important for people to get involved in the debate and scrutinise what governments are doing.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2015/08/how-governments-are-using-spyware-to-attack-free-speech/

By Ravi Nitesh

Despite being in the ranking of 'world's largest', democracy in India, unfortunately, has not brought uniformly distributed feeling of democratic independence, in all regions of present Indian territory. It is the same country where , it seems that state failed itself on the scale of democratic values, when it comes on 'special states' of 'North East Region in India' and of 'Jammu and Kashmir'. These states are under continuous monitoring and filled with heavy deployment of armed forces and facing a kind of 'military rule' where no one can complaint against soldiers, despite the acts of 'murders, rapes and other kind of such crimes' committed by them. It seems that a democratic state surrenders itself even in vocabulary, where it sees 'crimes' as acts done by civil population, while it does not categories acts of 'killings', 'rapes''torture' etc under 'crimes', if it is being done by state functionaries like armed forces.

It seems that 'killing' is not a crime in these states; instead it depends on who did it. Though the same practice has been adopted at many parts around globe, but there is a difference that in other parts (non AFSPA imposed regions), killing is not a crime, as it depends on who killed, and 'to whom, how and for what'. Unfortunately, world's largest democratic state feels shame to ask these questions of 'whom, how and what' in AFSPA imposed states. Not asking such question is carelessness and loophole on one side and on other, state denies its citizens to ask such questions or to raise voice against such acts through providing special provisions under Armed Forces Special Powers Act Section 6 where no inquiry, or criminal proceedings can be done against any armed force personals without pre sanction of central government. It is like developing a culture of being illogical, being unaccountable , being unquestionable, being opaque for armed forces and being under continuous oppression and fear for common citizens. It is discrimination of common civilians by state. It is something that not only violates human rights, but even denies the right to ask question, legality and fair inquiry against any act done by armed force personals.

Now, recently when AFSPA was repealed from Tripura, there was much happiness and celebration among people. While now, Ministry of Home Affairs extended AFSPA in Nagaland for another term by declaring that the whole state is disturbed area. Also on Arunachal Pradesh, government denied to provide information about AFSPA when it was asked by a RTI activist. Moreover, recent launch of Amnesty International India report named Justice Denied on Jammu and Kashmir, reported many such stories of victims where people faced extra ordinary powers granted to soldiers. By all such acts and reports, it is a clear message that state is incapable to deal the situation in these areas through civil police, and through ordinary rules of law and order that is applicable over whole country. Instead, state adopted a rigorous strategy to deal with, provided extra ordinary powers to 'armed forces' called and deployed in these areas.

When it comes to show what it achieved, it can be seen that it achieved so much discontent and dissatisfaction of common people in these areas, it made their lives uneasy and in continuous suspicion, fear and threats. State is happy (?) that it is continuously working on the same strategy since last many years, more than a decade in J&K and more than two decades in North East states and still , it is not providing impeccable service to citizens.

In this way, state is developing a contradiction on its own existence, where democracy and its meaning for people, comes under scanner. It is normalizing violence through adopting it as a tool, instead of adopting a long term non violent solution. Making such temporary measures of violence for such a long period in a region has made the whole region a land of conflict and affected with a disorder where violence is everyday story. It is something that no democracy ever wish to achieve, and it provides evidence that how understanding the value of democracy , speaking about democracy and being a democracy are different and still require a sense to be achieved , at least for India.

(The writer is Petroleum Engineer, Freelance writer, Convener- Save Sharmila Solidarity Campaign)

Kractivism

-Bridge the Gap Bring the Change

Bundelkhand- Not on the List, Several Dalits May Be Unable to Buy Grain #WTFnews

In Bundelkhand's Mahoba district, residents of Roorikala village have alleged that the local ration dealer has manipulated ration cardsand is distributing grain to those known to him in the village. Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards have been made out for the relatively well to do, and landless Dalit labourers have been left with fewer benefits and in some cases no ration cards at all.

Mintoo, one of the residents of Roorikala was at the Kulpahad Tehsil on 4 August to submit a formal complaint against the dealer, 'The local dealer Jwala Prasad has made BPL ration cards for those in the village that are known to him personally. These are well to do people who have pucca houses, even two-wheelers and land.' Most complainants who accompanied Mintoo were landless Dalits who work as labourers to earn their living. 'We used to have BPL cards where we were eligible to get grain and oil at lower rates. This year when the list was prepared for new ration cards to be made, our names were on theAbove Poverty Line list. From Rs. 4.65 per kg for wheat and Rs. 6.15 per kg for rice now they want us to suddenly start paying Rs. 6.60 per kg for wheat and Rs. 8.45 for rice. We cannot afford these rates,' said Nand Kishor, another resident of the village who was at the Tehsil to register a complaint.

KL spoke also to Kalka, Leeladhar and Bhan Pratap, who were in shock as they discovered their names were no longer on the list of ration card recipients, apropo of no change in their economic status. This means that they are no longer eligible for grain or kerosene at subsidized rates under the Public Distribution System in the state. They also alleged that money was paid by some villagers to the local dealer to manipulate the list. 'The village head first prepares the list of beneficiaries. Here too, if the village head so pleases he can add names of his relatives or those from his community to the Below Poverty Line list so they get grains at a much lower price. This list is then given to the local dealer, who in turn can also add names of his own. No one comes to check. This list goes to the Department that issues ration cards accordingly. We are left at the mercy of the whims of the village head and the local dealer,' explained Mintoo.

With the latest Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) data pointing to the fact that only 9.7% of rural families have a salaried member, it is more important than ever for subsidized grain to be made available to the rural poor. But in several instances, Khabar Lahariya has found that the system for public distribution of grain in rural Uttar Pradesh is rampant with extensive corruption right from documenting the poorest and neediest families to the actual distribution of grain. In January 2015, Khabar Lahariya had reported about 200 fake ration cards that were discovered in Mahoba's Raipura village. Here too, residents had complained that the local dealer had been distributing less grain than the statutory amount and was found to be in possession of fake ration cards. An enquiry was ordered but no definitive steps were taken.

The absence of a transparency and accountability mechanism in the system has often spelt trouble for Dalits, the most disadvantaged in the village power hierarchy. In July this year, villagers from Mahoba's Jaitpur block had alleged that the local dealer in their village would open the shop as and when he desired. Those who suffered were mostly Dalits. The caste dynamic at the local level works against them as most dealers are usually 'higher caste' and people are forced to wait for higher officials in the local administration to order an enquiry.

The Public Distribution System in rural India has always been notorious for the corruption at each stage. Every five years, a survey is conducted to determine the list of beneficiaries under BPL and APL and accordingly ration cards are prepared. Often, there are families who either have no ration cards or are missed out in these surveys. According to a Khabar Lahariya report, last year many villagers from Mahoba's Supa village had complained that despite their village being surveyed, they had not been given any ration cards. In other instances, the survey lists have failed to reflect the actual economic status of rural households, leaving those with little or no means to provide sufficient food for the family out of the BPL list. Conducted at a local level with few checks and verifications, this has been easy for those who stand to gain from siphoning off grain and dictating who should be in which list as beneficiaries. Many activists working on the Right to Food have also argued for a Universal Public Distribution System wherein all beneficiaries can avail of the same benefits.

Click here to read original Bundeli story

• RUKMINI S.
• VIJAITA SINGH 

Pic courtesy- rediff.com

By Medha Deo

In these days of high profile political campaigning and mud slinging inBihar, it is ironic how no political party, worth its salt, has raised any concern on the blatant and unapologetic confessions made by members of the Ranveer Sena ("Sena") in the videos released by Cobrapost. Whilst popular opinion in urban elite circles and social media has already discredited the revelations as 'politically motivated', the eerie political silence that exists around the issue, clearly indicates the discomfort of all political leaders, some of whom have posed as messiahs of the dalits, in addressing issues of dalit assertion of rights.

To label caste massacres carried out by the Sena as a mere attempt tomurder individuals for revenge would be a huge understatement of its killings. Revisiting narratives from the scene of occurrence of the massacres, one realizes that the assaults by the Sena were not results of clashes between warring groups in the heat of the moment. On the contrary these massacres were orchestrated with impeccable cold blooded planning to ensure maximum damage.

In reporting the details of one of such massacres, the Frontline in its coverage of the Bathani Tola massacre wrote :

"….The enormity of the caste massacre had horrified the nation and the international community. The killings went on for more than two hours from 2 p.m. on that day. There were three police pickets within a range of one kilometre, including one in the village itself, but no action was taken to prevent the crime. An 18-year-old woman was gang-raped. The breasts of a 25-year-old woman were chopped off before she was killed. A nine-month-old child was tossed in the air and chopped into two as she fell to the ground. A pregnant woman's womb was slashed open and the foetus impaled on a sword[1]…"

Similarly, in Lakshmanpur Bathe, the list of the dead included 27 women and 10 children, the youngest victim being a one year old. The assailants were on a spree of indiscriminate shooting, thereby killing every person they found in the habitation, including people who happened to be there accidentally[2]. Amongst the women who were killed, eight were pregnant whilst the bodies of five women were found in positions which indicated rape and three women had their breasts mutilated.

In carrying out these massacres, the Sena achieved its objective of creating everlasting images of violence which will remain etched with the survivors of the massacre and their communities for a lifetime. Given the gory visuals witnessed by the survivors, it is likely that the trauma of the massacre coupled with the deep vulnerabilities of the victims' communities will even affect the confidence of their future generations specifically in their dealings with the dominant castes. Thus, these massacres served the dual purpose for the Sena, that of establishing the hegemony of the upper castes (primarily Rajputs andBhumihars) unconditionally in the agrarian belts and of creating fear so intense that the dalit communities shudder to question the legitimacy of this hegemony for generations to come.

The Sena justified the series of massacres carried out by it as a 'desperate attempt' by helpless landlords to protect their life and property from the brewing naxalism in Bihar. A strong argument that emerged stressed that given the inefficiency of the police, the complete breakdown of law in the state – the prevailing 'jungle raj' and the anti upper caste approach of the then State Government, rising up in arms against the 'naxalites' was the sole alternative that remained before them to defend their life, land and honour.

Whilst the existence of the naxalite movement in the 90's cannot be denied, there has hardly been any piece of evidence linking the victims of the massacres by the Sena to any specific naxalite activity. Far from being underground naxalites, majority of the victims were women and children residing within the village with their families. Infact in most cases they were also under the employment of the same landlords who perpetrated the killings of their family members. The critical fact to be stressed here is that the chosen sites of the Sena's various attacks were located in and around hamlets where landless peasants working in the fields (and it is no co incidence that most of them were dalits) of the landlords had tried to assert their basic political and economic rights. These assertions on most occasions could have been demands as fundamental as demand for minimum wages for work, release from bonded labour, access to common property in village or freedom to exercise voting rights in parliamentary/legislative/ panchayat elections. Any such political assertion or refusal to submit to the existing hegemony by a dalit was a given assumption of his/her affiliation with the naxalite groups. It was a propaganda of this assumption, that facilitated the Sena's agenda of targeting any and all peasants specifically dalits and seeking credibility and sympathy for its intentions.

In the aftermath of the massacre, the support received from the state and its agencies were limited to ex-gratia payments from the state governments and employment for one member of the victim's family. Even in terms of subsequent affirmative action or special attention to be given to affected villages, the state has failed to take any major steps. What is even more hard hitting is that members off victims' families and other members of the community have had to return back to employment under the landlords' (some of whom were directly involved in the massacres), due to lack of alternate employment

The police and the prosecution have been accused of doing a slip shod investigation both by the courts and the witnesses, thereby leaving gaps within the evidence for the benefit of the defence arguments. The judiciary on the other hand has failed to balance the procedural need to establish the normative reality before law with the quest for establishing the truth and doing complete justice.

Consequently, all Sena members who were accused in the cases of Bathe, Bathani Tola, Miyanpur and Nagari Bazaar massacres have been acquitted by the Patna High Court. Similarly, all accused in the Shankarbigha case have been acquitted by the trial court at Arwal. This means that despite presence of numerous eye witness accounts, the Criminal Justice System functional in the state has failed to hold even one person conclusively responsible for the deaths of more than 145 dalits, killed in the above massacres cumulatively. Whilst appeals before higher courts are pending in the above cases, the current judicial trend leaves little hope of justice within these proceedings.

For the survivors, the above acquittals serve as a loud reminder of the ineffectiveness of systemic procedures in providing justice against oppression from the dominant castes. The cinematograph of bloodbath created by the Sena, serves as a huge deterrent against any demand for enforcement of rights. With these massacres, the Sena has successfully shown to the Dalits peasants, the probable consequence of their activism and awakening.

In a state comprising of 16 % of Dalit population and 17% EBCs, the promises in exchange for dalit votes even today are limited to announcements of welfare schemes and incentives for their 'upliftment'. A right based approach for empowering these marginalized sections does not even surface in mainstream political discussions, party agendas and election manifestos.

Massacres like the ones carried out by Sena and similar upper caste militia have occurred in the state from the early 70s. Perpetrators of these massacres have obtained patronage from different political parties at different times. State collusion with perpetrators of dalit massacres has remained an open truth, which no political party in power has either questioned or denied this involvement. The Amir Das Commission set which was set up to examine the political connections of Sena listed various names of politicians providing support to the Sena. The links that this Commission investigated cut across party lines, and included patronage networks deep within the BJP, the RJD, JD(U) and the Congress. Infact what needs to be understood is that most mainstream political parties act together as a political class providing patronage to the dominant castes.

Whilst parties in the likes of the CPI-ML have been consistently working towards providing support to victims of massacres on a case to case basis, their ability to bring any justice or create systems for ensuring a deterrent against future attacks remains very low due their limited political outreach.

Given the said background, it would infact be desirable that the revelations by Cobrapost live up to the allegations of being 'politically motivated'. That some political party wakes up with the conscience to address the injustices which have gone unaddressed. And that the debate around the political and economic identity of dalits in Bihar finally gains some momentum even if it is at the cost of allowing the opportunist ambitions of a given party.

[1] http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2912/stories/20120629291203200.htm

[2] Mr. Bijendra Thakur, who was visiting his friend and had decided to stay back was killed despite being an outsider in the village

http://www.countercurrents.org/deo200815.htm

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મોરબી, સુરત અને સાબરકાંઠામાં સ્થિતિ ફરી ગંભીર, રાજ્યમાં SMS, મોબાઈલ ઇન્ટરનેટ ઉપર પ્રતિબંધમંગળવારે પાટીદાર અનામત આંદોલનની રેલી કાઢવામાં આવી હતી. મંગળવારે રાત્રીના આશરે 8 વાગ્યા પછી હાર્દિક પટેલની...

Aug 26,2015 11:38:33 PM IST