A look back at The Intercept’s must-read technology stories from 2019.
Amazon’s Home Surveillance Chief Declared War on “Dirtbag Criminals” as Company Got Closer to Police
Illustration: Erik Blad for The Intercept
Video and internal emails show how Amazon’s Ring has blurred the line between private innovation and public law enforcement.
By Sam Biddle
By Sam Biddle
Inside the Video Surveillance Program IBM Built for Philippine Strongman Rodrigo Duterte
Photo illustration: Soohee Cho/The Intercept
Law enforcement in Davao City familiar with the IBM program said the technology had assisted them in carrying out Duterte’s controversial anti-crime agenda.
By George Joseph
By George Joseph
Everybody Does It: The Messy Truth About Infiltrating Computer Supply Chains
Illustration: Oliver Munday for The Intercept
The danger of China compromising hardware supply chains is very real, judging from classified intelligence documents, even if a Bloomberg story on the matter is highly disputed.
By Micah Lee, Henrik Moltke
By Micah Lee, Henrik Moltke
Illustration: Owen Freeman for The Intercept
An examination of court filings in all seven leak cases filed under Trump yields a detailed picture of how the government tries to unmask confidential sources.
By Micah Lee
By Micah Lee
Mission Creep: How the NSA’s Game-Changing Targeting System Built for Iraq and Afghanistan Ended Up on the Mexico Border
Photo: NSA
The revolutionary NSA system merged different sources of electronic surveillance to rapidly map enemy fighters. The ramifications are still being felt.
By Henrik Moltke
By Henrik Moltke
Team of American Hackers and Emirati Spies Discussed Attacking The Intercept
Photo illustration: Soohee Cho/The Intercept
Spies working for the United Arab Emirates discussed the attack with operatives at controversial firm DarkMatter.
By Sam Biddle, Matthew Cole
By Sam Biddle, Matthew Cole
Peter Thiel’s Palantir Was Used to Bust Relatives of Migrant Children, New Documents Show
Photo: Paul Ratje/AFP/Getty Images
Palantir previously claimed its software was strictly involved in criminal investigations as opposed to deportations. This was false.
By Sam Biddle, Ryan Devereaux
By Sam Biddle, Ryan Devereaux
How U.S. Tech Giants Are Helping to Build China’s Surveillance State
Illustration: Soohee Cho/The Intercept
A nonprofit led by Google and IBM executives is working with Semptian, whose technology is monitoring the internet activity of 200 million people in China.
By Ryan Gallagher
By Ryan Gallagher
Before Being Hacked, Border Surveillance Firm Lobbied to Downplay Security and Privacy Concerns About Its Technology
Photo: Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty Images
The CEO of Perceptics, which makes license plate readers, claimed that “CBP has none of the privacy concerns at the border that all agencies have inland.”
By Cora Currier
By Cora Currier
David Duke and His Twitter Nazis Got Mad at Me. Twitter Took Their Side.
Photo: Max Becherer/AP
Twitter doesn’t care when its users are abused by Nazi accounts. But what happens when the feelings of the Nazis get hurt? Then Twitter springs into action.
By Jon Schwarz
By Jon Schwarz
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