‘Don’t be naive like I was’: UK academic advises Cop28 attenders to stay safe
www.theguardian.com
Matthew Hedges, tortured in UAE in 2018, tells reporters and activists to take clean phones and watch who they deal with
  • TWeaK@lemm.eeEnglish
    53·
    11 months ago

    They targeted him via his phone using Pegasus, a tool made and sold by the NSO, under direct authority of Israel.

    • dillekant@slrpnk.net
      16·
      11 months ago

      A phone is such an essential part of getting things done today. If someone asked me to unlock my phone and then they took the data, I’d be so fucked. But at the same time, I can’t really go overseas without it unless I get someone to house-sit.

      • TWeaK@lemm.eeEnglish
        12·
        11 months ago

        At the minimum, you should factory reset when crossing borders, and restore from an encrypted cloud backup. But the advice he gives is to use an entirely new phone (new number, new IMEI).

        He was picked up because his phone number was on a list.

        • neanderthal@lemmy.world
          3·
          11 months ago

          Depends on the border.

          See my other comments, but in regards to authoritian regimes, that doesn’t go far enough. This isn’t buying drugs or breaking into a pipeline construction site. This directly threatening the economy and control of authoritarian nation states that have their economy almost completely reliant on oil that will imprison, torture, or kill someone in their way. Completely different game. World Cup vs your municipal league.

          If you are a climate journalist or activist, just stay out of authoritarian places unless you are willing to be tortured or killed. Unless you have CIA/MI6/NSA/GCHQ level skills or whatever your country calls those things, you are in over your head.