Ukraine President Plugs 15-Year-Old Film To Free Hostages

In what sounds like a Black Mirror episode, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy complied with a hostage-takers demands and posted a six-second video urging the public to watch the 2005 film “Earthlings,” a movie about mankind using animals for pets, food and clothing. “Everyone should watch the 2005 film ‘Earthlings,'” he said in the video posted to his Facebook page, which has…

Leaked Senate Talking Points Say Internet Surveillance Warrants Would Force FBI To Let Terrorists Bomb Things

Requiring federal agents to have “probable cause” to eavesdrop on the internet activities of American citizens poses a direct threat to national security and would force the FBI to stand by while terrorist plots unfold on U.S. soil, according to a leaked copy of talking points distributed to Senate lawmakers this month. From a report: The talking points, which were distributed…

Documents Reveal FBI Head Defended Encryption for WhatsApp Before Becoming Fierce Critic

Christopher Wray, the FBI director who has been one of the fiercest critics of encryption under the Trump administration, previously worked as a lawyer for WhatsApp, where he defended the practice, according to new court filings. From a report: The documents, which were released late on Wednesday night as part of an unrelated matter, show Wray worked for WhatsApp in 2015…

WhatsApp: Israeli Firm ‘Deeply Involved’ In Hacking Our Users

WhatsApp has alleged in new court filings that an Israeli spyware company used US-based servers and was “deeply involved” in carrying out mobile phone hacks of 1,400 WhatsApp users, including senior government officials, journalists, and human rights activists. The Guardian reports: The new claims about NSO Group allege that the Israeli company bears responsibility in serious human rights violations, including the…

America Proposes New Rules Requiring Drones to Broadcast Their Location Online

LetterRip (Slashdot reader #30,937) shares a report from Ars Technica:
More than 34,000 people have deluged the Federal Aviation Administration with comments over a proposed regulation that would require almost every drone in the sky to broadcast its location over the Internet at all times. The comments are overwhelmingly negative, with thousands of hobbyists warning that the rules would impose huge new…