Ukrainian Protesters Receive Mass Text Message Ordering Them To Disperse

Posted by Unknown on Wednesday January 22, 2014 @05:03AM from the remember-when-you-did-that-in-the-80s dept.

schneidafunk writes " Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.' was the message sent to thousands of protesters as a new law prohibiting public demonstrations went into effect." From NYTimes: "... Protesters were concerned that the government seemed to be using cutting-edge technology from the advertising industry to pinpoint people for political profiling. Three cellphone companies in Ukraine ... denied that they had provided the location data to the government or had sent the text messages, the newspaper Ukrainskaya Pravda reported. Kyivstar suggested that it was instead the work of a 'pirate' cellphone tower set up in the area."

1 of 233 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Re:Remember how the NSA is worse than the Stasi? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-22 06:14 · Score: 5, Interesting

the NSA is, on pro rata of the population, 20 times smaller than the Stasi.
Translation: It's okay, as long as we do it more efficiently.

they don't have any enforcement arm
Translation: Outsourcing is the new black.

they don't systematically create files on their citizens
Translation: It's not a file if you never look at it! And it's not systematic because... we... uh... use computers to do it!

Nor to they hire informant among the public.
Translation: Paying people is SO 1980. We have Facebook now.

they don't seem to be politically active
Translation: Outsourcing is the new black.