Giacomo Zandonini

Cuffed, caged, cast away: this is Europe’s ‘innovative solution’ for unwanted migrants Somewhere in rural Albania stands a cage. A gigantic cage, containing not animals, but people.

Impressive investigative journalism by @giacomoza.bsky.social and colleague Maite Vermeulen, on the Italy-Albania migration deal » Cuffed, caged, cast away: this is Europe’s ‘innovative solution’ for unwanted migrants decorrespondent.nl/16676/cuffed... via @decorrespondent.nl

EU Ombudswoman slams Commission for abusing 'urgency' provisos The EU Commission should not skip public consultations, impact assessments, or other steps of ‘good regulation’ by simply citing the vague ‘urgency’ of a legislative proposal, the European Ombudswoman Teresa Anjinho found in an inquiry on Wednesday.

The EU Commission should not skip public consultations, impact assessments, or other steps of ‘good regulation’ by simply citing the vague ‘urgency’ of a legislative proposal, the European Ombudswoman Teresa Anjinho found in an inquiry on Wednesday.

Researchers find flaw exposing billions of WhatsApp numbers Researchers discovered phone numbers and, in some instances, associated profile photos and names through WhatsApp’s contact discovery tool

Hey there, you’re using WhatsApp?

Recently, researchers found a significant privacy flaw that enabled them to uncover phone numbers associated with 3.5 billion accounts.

Read more about this and learn how to limit who can see your WhatsApp information in our digital security newsletter:

My @statewatch.bsky.social's report on @heise.de👇

Wie Europol mit Microsoft, Palantir, Clearview & Co. auf Kuschelkurs geht Statewatch beklagt eine unheilige Allianz zwischen Europol und US-Tech-Unternehmen, die massive Interessenkonflikte und Transparenzprobleme mit sich bringe.

Die Zusammenarbeit zwischen #Europol und #US -Tech-Unternehmen ist - gerade in diesen Zeiten - schlicht Wahnsinn.
#Datenschutz, #Privatsphäre und #Grundrechte gehen immer weiter über Bord.
"Wie #Europol mit #Microsoft, #Palantir, #Clearview & Co. auf Kuschelkurs geht."
www.heise.de/news/Wie-Eur...

Hungry for data: Inside Europol’s secretive AI program Europol’s growing appetite for data and artificial intelligence is transforming European policing, largely out of public view, and without clear oversight.

Revealed: Europol is quietly building a vast AI-driven criminal data hub, sweeping up messages, biometrics, and other sensitive info with minimal oversight or transparency, raising major risks for privacy, civil rights, and biased policing. 👀

wearesolomon.com/mag/format/i...

You can listen to some of our last investigative findings - with @balkanizator.bsky.social & @stavinoha.bsky.social - on Europol, and its opaque relation with the tech industry, on this podcast by Slovenian digital rights group Citizen D @drzavljand.bsky.social podcast.drzavljand.si/drzavljan-d/...

Gently but continuously nudging:) Thanks Antonella!

@cr0ft0n.bsky.social and the rest of the @lighthousereports.com team for sure

Thanks to @lydiaemman.bsky.social @billgoodwin.bsky.social, Sebastian Jlovig Skelton, @annskaja.bsky.social, @krisshrishak.bsky.social @nunomoniz.bsky.social @svaroschi.bsky.social @krzysztofsmiszek.bsky.social and the team at the editing and visual teams behing these stories.

«Διψώντας» για δεδομένα: Το κρυφό πρόγραμμα AI της Europol Η «δίψα» της Europol για δεδομένα και τεχνητή νοημοσύνη μετασχηματίζει την αστυνόμευση στην Ευρώπη, πίσω από κλειστές πόρτες και χωρίς ειδική εποπτεία.

Despite reassurances, EU Parliament member @saskiabricmont.bsky.social said "it remains very complex for MEPs to fulfill their monitoring task and fully assess the risks associated with the use of AI-based systems by the agency." wearesolomon.com/el/mag/forma...

Hungrig nach Daten: Das geheimnisvolle KI-Programm von Europol Die EU-Polizeiagentur Europol ist nicht nur an immer mehr Daten interessiert, sondern experimentiert auch mit KI-Tools, um sie zu verarbeiten. Ob automatische Einstufung von Missbrauchsdarstellungen o...

"Interactions [with private actors such as Thorn] point towards a potentially dangerous nexus of conflicted interests that could circumvent important democratic safeguards designed to protect civil liberties", commented @signal.org's @udbhav-tiwari.bsky.social. netzpolitik.org/2025/hungrig...

Hungry for data: Inside Europol’s secretive AI program Europol’s growing appetite for data and artificial intelligence is transforming European policing, largely out of public view, and without clear oversight.

With @balkanizator.bsky.social and @stavinoha.bsky.social, and thanks to support from @globalfreemedia.bsky.social / @lighthousereports.com, we reveal new details about the agency's plans to use image classifiers and facial recognition, partnering with private actors wearesolomon.com/mag/format/i...

Hungry for data: Inside Europol’s secretive AI programme | Computer Weekly The EU’s law enforcement agency has been quietly amassing data to feed an ambitious but secretive artificial intelligence development programme that could have far-reaching privacy implications for pe...

Shall we care about Europol? The answer is... Read our latest investigation to catch a glimpse about what the agency is doing to accelerate the AI transformation of policing across the EU, with minimal safeguards. www.computerweekly.com/news/3666344...

A big thank you to the experts+editors that supported this two years long effort: @annskaja.bsky.social @krisshrishak.bsky.social @lydiaemman.bsky.social @billgoodwin.bsky.social @nunomoniz.bsky.social @article19.bsky.social @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social and Seb. Klovig Skelton from CW.

«Διψώντας» για δεδομένα: Το κρυφό πρόγραμμα AI της Europol Η «δίψα» της Europol για δεδομένα και τεχνητή νοημοσύνη μετασχηματίζει την αστυνόμευση στην Ευρώπη, πίσω από κλειστές πόρτες και χωρίς ειδική εποπτεία.

Based on internal documents obtained from Europol and analyzed by data protection and AI experts, this investigation raises serious concerns about the implications of the agency’s program on people’s privacy and the lack of solid oversight in the development of AI models.

Hungry for data: Inside Europol’s secretive AI programme | Computer Weekly The EU’s law enforcement agency has been quietly amassing data to feed an ambitious but secretive artificial intelligence development programme that could have far-reaching privacy implications for pe...

Btw 2020 and 2021 Europol landed enormous volumes of data as a part of three mega-hack operations that dismantled encrypted communication systems. This would become the starting point of the agency's AI ambitions. New investigation out with @giacomoza.bsky.social and @stavinoha.bsky.social

DHS Gives Local Cops a Facial Recognition App To Find Immigrants The app, called Mobile Identify and available on the Google Play Store, is specifically for local and regional law enforcement agencies working with ICE on immigration enforcement.

We've found DHS is giving local cops a new facial recognition app to find immigrants. Point camera at face, tells the cop to detain person or not. The app is available on Google's Play Store. Google took down apps that report ICE sightings but now hosts this app

www.404media.co/cbp-quietly-...

INBOX: @justfutureslaw.bsky.social and @ccrjustice.org sued the Trump admin to compel disclosure of ICE/CBP's use of surveillance tech developed by two Israeli companies, Paragon and Cellebrite, after the legal groups claimed the govt improperly denied initial FOIA requests to see the contracts.

@eff.org @echo-pbreyer.digitalcourage.social.ap.brid.gy @saskiabricmont.bsky.social @krzysztofsmiszek.bsky.social @alexandrageese.bsky.social

4 - While Microsoft analysts now sit at the core of the EU intelligence and criminal hub and Europol's budget is set to double in the next EU 7-year budget, its close links with the tech sector and its resistance to scrutiny, raise multiple questions, according to MEPS and civil society groups.

3 - One chapter looks at the ubiquitous Cellebrite, the Israeli tech giant whose phone extraction and data analysis tools are behind much of today's police operations, including at Europol. It's ethics body appears as strictly embedded with the US and Israeli military apparatus. -->

2. We are able to reveal the private companies that took part in the two first editions of the event, their connections with Europol and the surveillance implications of the tools they pitched to the agency: robotics systems, network analysis, advanced biometric and phone hacking products. -->

Statewatch | Behind closed doors: Europol’s opaque relations with AI companies As part of its research into the expanding—and largely unchecked—use of AI by EU security agencies, Statewatch delves into largely uncharted territory: Europol’s links with the private sector. A surve...

It's a dense week ahead for Europol and with @statewatch.bsky.social we decided to publish the results of a long research into the agency's largely secretive links with the tech industry, moving on from its recently-launched Research and Industry Days. www.statewatch.org/analyses/202... -->

⚠️For years, the Big Tech front group Allied for Startups has been underreporting its lobby budget.

👏 Following a complaint by CEO and @lobbycontrol.bsky.social, Allied for Startups has now been forced by the EU Transparency Register to correct its registration.

👉 corporateeurope.org/en/media/6430

👉 Up next: Freelancers and Newsrooms: Can We Collaborate Better?

When partnerships click, they deliver powerful investigations. When they falter, trust, payment and editorial control become flashpoints.

With Zlatina Siderova, @gpaccardo.bsky.social, Natalie Donback, and @giacomoza.bsky.social.

👀 Chatkontrolle: Kinderschutz oder Massenüberwachung?
- Europe Calling Webinar in 🇬🇧+🇩🇪.

Mit: @giacomoza.bsky.social, @pneutig.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy, @detlevsh.bsky.social & @alexandrageese.bsky.social & @friesmaximilian.bsky.social

💻 Anmeldung: t1p.de/t6sev

#Chatkontrolle #ChatControl

Frontex unlawfully shared thousands of people's personal data with Europol Under the banner of fighting migrant smuggling, Frontex has collected, and unlawfully siphoned to Europol, personal data for years—quietly drawing thousands of migrants, as well as EU citizens aiding ...

For years Frontex gathered data and automatically passed it unlawfully to Europol. With @stavinoha.bsky.social & @lolahierro.bsky.social we investigated how this dragnet scooped up thousands of people, migrants and EU activists.
wearesolomon.com/mag/format/i...

Frontex transfirió durante años ilegalmente a Europol datos de migrantes y activistas Una investigación de varios medios, entre ellos EL PAÍS, revela que la agencia europea de fronteras facilitó a la entidad policial información indiscriminada de miles de personas a partir de entrevist...

Frontex transfirió durante años ilegalmente a Europol datos de migrantes y activistas
elpais.com/internaciona...