Tag: un

UN pushes COP27 app that has ability to spy on private conversations and access encrypted texts

Security advisers from Western countries are warning delegates attending the COP27 climate summit not to download the Egyptian government’s official app. The app is supposed to help attendees of the event with navigation but has major privacy concerns – allowing the app to be used as a surveillance tool.

The app is recommended on the official UN website for the COP27.

POLITICO says a potential vulnerability was found by four different cybersecurity experts that reviewed it. The news outlet claims that the app can allow the Egyptian government to read users messages, emails, and even communications via encrypted messaging platforms like Signal and WhatsApp.

The app can track location through GPS and WiFi. It also requires a permission that could allow the government to spy on conversations even when the device is in sleep mode.

The app also gives the government back-door privileges to scan users’ devices.

Some experts said much of the access and data the app gets are fairly standard. Additionally, so far, there is no evidence that people’s messages and emails have been read or users’ location tracked.

The main problem is the combination of the access it has and the Egyptian government’s record with tracking. According to Privacy International, following the Arab Spring, the Egyptian government has cracked down on dissidents and used emergency rules to track citizens both online and offline.

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UN tells WEF how it partners with tech platforms to promote narratives

The World Economic Forum (WEF) held the Sustainable Development Impact Meetings, where unelected groups held a “Tackling Disinformation” panel, with participants including the UN, Brown University, and even CNN.

The panel discussed how best to control narratives on issues like climate change and COVID-19.

The UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, Melissa Fleming, noted that the UN had partnered with Big Tech companies, including Google and TikTok, to control narratives surrounding COVID and climate change.

“We own the science, and we think that the world should know it, and the platforms themselves also do,” she said.

The UN said it partnered with Google to influence search results on climate change so that narratives from “authoritative” sources would appear at the top of search results.

“We partnered with Google,” said Fleming. “For example, if you Google ‘climate change,’ you will, at the top of your search, you will get all kinds of UN resources.

“We started this partnership when we were shocked to see that when we Googled ‘climate change,’ we were getting incredibly distorted information right at the top.”

The UN also says it partnered with TikTok on a project dubbed “Team Halo,” to control the narratives surrounding COVID-19.

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WikiLeaks reveals failed plan to make the U.N. investigate UFOs

A series of leaked U.S. State Department diplomatic cables from 1978 have revealed how the United Nations almost set up a committee to research alien and UFO sightings.

The initiative was forwarded by Prime Minister Sir Eric Gairy, whose administration ran the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada. Gairy had a deep personal interest in extraterrestrials and UFO encounters, proposing to the U.N. that a formal investigatory committee be organised.

One classified cable humorously describes Gairy as “undaunted by a lack of response” to his committee idea, having “laid the groundwork for a blitzkrieg sales pitch which will include a cast of supporters ranging from scientists to astronauts, supplemented by a Hollywood film production.” The cable goes on to request instruction as to what the formal U.S. position would be on this.

The document is one of many in an enormous cable dump published in 2015 by WikiLeaks. Consisting of over half a million official correspondence documents, the leak not only offers a behind-the-scenes look at the important geopolitical events in 1978 but also exposes the U.S. government’s interest in the Grenadian committee resolution.

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