Luis Barrueto
@lebarrueto.bsky.social
From Guatemala, based in Berlin 🇩🇪 | 🏳️🌈 activist | Work in human rights and digital security
To be a historian is to speak ill of the dead and the rest of you should take more history classes and join us.
Join us tmrw. to discuss how actors engaged in protection efforts are stepping up to the challenge of addressing digital risks in conflict and crisis. Register: www.accessnow.org/event/digita... @mahsaalimardani.bsky.social @witnessorg.bsky.social @cloudflare.social @oxfaminternational.bsky.social
Access Now@accessnow.org · 3mo agoTechnology can amplify risks for civil society in the context of war and conflict — but centering digital rights can also enhance humanitarian and protection responses. Join our Digital Security Helpline’s webinar on May 19 to learn more 🔽 www.accessnow.org/event/digita...
Resistance is always embodied – whether on the frontlines of a protest or the defense of a river. So it is for resisting technoauthoritarianism: “In truth, anti-datacenter organizing is the real fight, one centered on an industry choke point that people can reach out and touch”
Astra Taylor@astra.bsky.social · 3mo agoThe anti-data center movement isn’t just about limiting local development—it represents a new front in the fight against tech-enabled authoritarianism. Where else can people push back on job-eating algorithms, distorting deep fakes, and autonomous drone strikes? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Truly honored to support and recognize my colleagues who, instead of bending to pressures, took a principled position to back dissenters and resist the further encroachment of civic space. We are stronger when we stand together ✊ @arzugeybulla.bsky.social @accessnow.org
Maura Elizabeth Cunningham@mauracunningham.bsky.social · 3mo agoAt Wired, @telliotter.bsky.social and @zeyiyang.bsky.social moved fast to get the inside story on the cancellation of RightsCon: sources say the PRC pressured Zambian authorities to exclude Taiwanese participants.
NEW: A hack-for-hire group targeted victims with Android spyware and with phishing attacks to break into iCloud backups. The group, codenamed BITTER, has alleged ties with Indian government, and attacked victims in the Middle East and North Africa, including journalists and government officials.
Hack-for-hire group caught targeting Android devices and iCloud backups | TechCrunch
Security researchers exposed a spying campaign by a hack-for-hire group that used Android spyware and phishing to steal iCloud credentials and hack victims’ devices.
techcrunch.com
Espionage enables repression! In collaboration with Lookout + @smex.org, our Digital Security Helpline exposes a hack-for-hire phishing campaign targeting journalists and dissidents in the MENA region. Here’s what we found, and what it means for civil society 🧵
The war in Iran could trigger a global food shock • More than 1.1mn tonnes of fertiliser and fertiliser inputs is currently stuck in the Gulf • Shortages are starting during northern hemisphere’s planting season, raising the risk of lower harvests for staples like rice www.ft.com/content/1054...
This is "our" Manifesto for a Free Internet. We are Iranian Women's Coalition for Internet Freedom. Happy International Women's Day! initiated by @azadehakbari.bsky.social @farzdusa.bsky.social @mahsaalimardani.bsky.social @royapak.bsky.social & Afsaneh Rigot
Manifesto for a Free Internet
Manifesto for a Free Internet Iranian Women’s Coalition for Internet Freedom Today, people inside Iran are living through a near-total Internet and communications blackout imposed by the Islamic Repub...
docs.google.com
I've only known Baby Globe for five minutes but if anything happened to him I would become John Wick
Matthew Sheffield@matthew.flux.community · 5mo agoTimeline cleanser: @wikipedia.org is celebrating its 25th birthday with a new logo, Baby Globe. They've got several animations to enjoy, beyond the ones I'm featuring. Link: wikimediafoundation.org/wikipedia25/... Wikipedia is the internet—and humanity—at its best. Here's to 25 more years!
How can you detect spear-phishing attacks before it’s too late? Join the first webinar of our new series, “Safe and Strong,” on March 10, which will cover new trends and share practical tips for civil society to raise its defenses. Register: accessnow.org/digital-security-webinars
As a whole nation remains in shock, horror, and grief, and families are searching for their loved ones in the aftermath of security forces’ massacres on January 8 and 9, Iranian authorities continue to terrorize the population. Read HRW’s new investigation. ⤵️ www.hrw.org/news/2026/02...
Amazing colleagues @djleufer.bsky.social and Vlad have just finished a triad of articles analizing LLMs and fleshing out the reasons why we should stop the push to make the much-hyped word-guessing machines ubiquitous. Check it out: www.accessnow.org/artificial-i... @accessnow.org
Artificial Insecurity: access and availability in the age of AI - Access Now
In the third part of our blog series, we look at how the availability of systems is impacted by the proliferation of large language models.
accessnow.org
Go read the inner workings of my team at @accessnow.org – Hassen is a dedicated and knowledgeable colleague who leads our digital forensics work:
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai@lorenzofb.bsky.social · 7mo agoNEW: Meet the folks at AccessNow's Digital Security Helpline, who have been investigating government spyware for more than a decade, helping journalists and dissidents all over the world. I spoke to Hassen Selmi, who heads the incident response team, to learn how his team fights spyware abuses.
#IntellexaLeaks: A recent investigation offers new insights to the capacities and architecture of Predator spyware + new infection vectors (incl. attacks via advertising). All of this while its maker, Intellexa, retained direct access to espionage victims! securitylab.amnesty.org/latest/2025/...
To Catch a Predator: Leak exposes the internal operations of Intellexa’s mercenary spyware - Amnesty International Security Lab
Drawing on leaked internal company documents, sales and marketing material, as well as training videos, the “Intellexa Leaks” investigation gives a never-before-seen glimpse of the internal operations...
securitylab.amnesty.org
I am by no means a prominent public intellectual, but my inbox is increasingly filled with messages from people who have been convinced by sycophantic chatbots that they have discovered revolutionary theories that entirely upend our scientific understanding of the universe.
The two Roberts: prodigies the art world forgot www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
‘They had everything, then nothing’: the prodigies the art world forgot
Robert Colquhoun and Bobby MacBryde were once the golden boys of London’s art scene – photographed in Vogue, filmed by Ken Russell and lauded by Francis Bacon. So why did they vanish into obscurity?
theguardian.com
Now we're seeing confirmation of the NSO acquisition. Mark my words, this is the path through which Pegasus gets put on Americans iPhones & Androids. This dictatorship-in-a-box belongs nowhere near our constitutional rights.
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai@lorenzofb.bsky.social · 10mo agoSCOOP: Spyware maker NSO Group confirmed to us that the company has been acquired by a U.S. investment group. NSO's spokesperson said the group "has invested tens of millions of dollars in the company and has acquired controlling ownership," but declined to say who is behind the investment.
We can’t wait www.theguardian.com/music/2025/s...
‘The closest I came to making life was the closest I came to death’: Florence Welch on sexism, screaming and the lost pregnancy that nearly killed her
The Florence + the Machine singer talks about life after devastating loss, performing with Taylor Swift and the double standards for women in music
theguardian.com
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has reportedly issued a presidential pardon for the imprisoned Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abdel Fattah. He is set to be released once Sisi’s decision is published in the Official Gazette. www.hrw.org/news/2025/09...
“We need a robust digital civil society to try to hold the line today and to try to make things better tomorrow. With the clear slide into tyranny, and tech so central to that slide, we need digital [civil] society more than ever” www.wired.com/story/eff-ci...
Cindy Cohn Is Leaving the EFF, but Not the Fight for Digital Rights
After 25 years at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Cindy Cohn is stepping down as executive director. In a WIRED interview, she reflects on encryption, AI, and why she’s not ready to quit the battl...
wired.com
Heading to #IGF25? Drop by our Digital Safety Clinic! We’re supporting activists, journalists & civil society to boost digital security. 📍 Lillestrøm, Norway 🗓️ June 24–27 🌍 Not there? Reach out here 👉 www.accessnow.org/help/
Today is the 5 year anniversary to when I slowly started losing my mind during the pandemic and began dressing up as works of art. As my Twitter account has long been abandoned, why not make a thread of my madness on BlueSky? This was “The Maid” by Wilhelm August Lebrecht Amberg, from 1862
No Other Land Co-Director Yuval Abraham: "The foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path. Why? Can't you see that we are intertwined? There is another way. It's not too late for life, for the living. There is no other way."
Judith Butler with a warning: “If we continue to be gripped with outrage and stilled by stupefaction by each day’s new proclamation, we will fail to discern what links them.” And an invitation to stand back and come up with our own driving force. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Trump is unleashing sadism upon the world. But we cannot get overwhelmed | Judith Butler
Those who celebrate his defiance and sadism are as claimed by his logic as those who are paralyzed with outrage
theguardian.com
Age verification laws are right up there with real names policies in the pantheon of "you think this is going to help people, but it's actually quite disastrously bad" ideas.
The Impact of Age Verification Measures Goes Beyond Porn Sites
As age verification bills pass across the world under the guise of “keeping children safe online,” governments are increasingly giving themselves the authority to decide what topics are deemed “safe” ...
eff.org
We👏cannot👏abandon👏the👏most👏vulnerable👏communities👏to👏assuage👏the👏most powerful. Even if we did, it would never be enough.
Roxane Gay@roxanegay.bsky.social · 2y agoFor the @nytimes.com I wrote about how Enough is Enough with the incumbent president and his cabinet of folly and let’s stop coddling Trump voters and be real clear-eyed about what lies ahead. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/o...
Worried about your digital security? It’s always the right time to take action, so here are some key steps to reinforce your digital communications. www.wired.com/story/the-wi...
The WIRED Guide to Protecting Yourself From Government Surveillance
Donald Trump has vowed to deport millions and jail his enemies. To carry out that agenda, his administration will exploit America’s digital surveillance machine. Here are some steps you can take to ev...
wired.com