Category: Social Control
“You Are The Product”: Big Data & Social Media Safety
Las Vegas, NV – Millions of people throughout the world use social media on a daily basis searching for information, shopping, and even dating (to name just a few). Companies such as Facebook and Google offer “free” services to connect you to vast amounts of…
Hackers Discover Chinese Music Hidden in US Voting Machine Software
Las Vegas, NV – The Voting Machine Hacking Village at this year’s DEFCON 26 hacking conference was crowded with hackers of all ages proving just how vulnerable the US voting system is to data tampering.
Hackers demonstrated that practically anyone with a screw driver, flash…
Biohacker Stores Encrypted Data in DNA
Las Vegas, NV – Unicorn Riot sat down with self-described “biohacker” John Dunlap to discuss how recent advances in genetic sequencing and modification technology has allowed him to experiment with storing encrypted data in DNA. Dunlap described how biologically hiding encrypted data could help people…
Record Numbers of Complaints Against Minneapolis Police Amidst Ketamine and Killings
Minneapolis, MN – The public has filed staggering numbers of complaints against the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) in 2018, and high-profile incidents of police misconduct, brutality, and killings have embroiled the department. A year after an MPD officer killed an unarmed Australian, Justine Damond, and…
Denver Police, City Workers Throw Away Belongings Amid Lawsuit
Denver, CO – On July 9 and 12, 2018, Denver Homeless Out Loud (DHOL), an advocacy group for people without housing, published two videos documenting Denver police and city workers seizing people’s belongings and throwing them away; also known as “sweeps.”
These ongoing sweeps continue…
Books Banned in U.S. Prisons Featured at Minneapolis Art Festival
Minneapolis, MN – This year’s Northern Spark art festival featured an exhibit which displayed a collection of books banned in prisons across the United States, called the Section of Disapproved Books. According to PrisonPolicy.org, there are roughly “2.3 million people in 1,719 state prisons, 102…
Class-Action Against Denver for Criminalizing Houselessness Moves Forward
Denver, CO – The class-action lawsuit against Denver, which claims that the city has been repeatedly violating the constitutional rights of residents without housing, was officially ordered to move forward by Judge William Martínez on March 26, 2018, when he denied the motions for summary…
Georgia Police Used Fake News From Militia To Plan For Nazi Rally, Emails Show
Newnan, GA – Emails obtained by Unicorn Riot through a public records request to the Coweta County Sheriff suggest that law enforcement relied on false ‘alt-right’ posts in their planning for an April 21, 2018 rally by the neo-nazi National Socialist Movement (NSM). The NSM…
Fourth Push for Homeless Bill of Rights in Colorado Legislature
UPDATE: After seven hours of testimony including over 100 people testifying in favor of the Homeless Bill of Rights and about five testifying against, the bill was voted down for the fourth year in a row with a vote of 10-3.
Denver, CO – For…
European Alt-Right Exposed Organizing Sock Puppet Smear Campaigns on Discord
Germany – On Saturday, February 3, the Twitter account Alt Right Leaks began releasing screenshots, video and audio from an alt-right Discord server called ‘Reconquista Germanica.’ Leaked video shows users discussing how to create fake accounts en masse in order to exploit algorithms against opponents…
Kurdish Fighters Defend Afrin From Turkish Military Invasion in Northern Syria
Afrin, Syria – On January 20th, 2018, the Turkish Armed Forces launched “Operation Olive Branch” which amounted to a full-scale military invasion of northwestern Kurdish-controlled Syria. The Turkish Armed Forces rank second to the United States, as the largest military force within the NATO alliance.…
House Democrats Endorse Domestic Surveillance Powers For Trump
Washington, DC – In a vote denounced by civil liberties advocates, the US House of Representatives has voted 256 to 164 in favor of re-authorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA – one of the main legal underpinnings of the unaccountable…
Criminalizing Dissent: J20 Trial Drags On As Jury Deliberations Delayed
Washington, DC – A month after trial first began on November 20, the jury is still out in the case of the first six defendants among those mass arrested by DC Metro Police (MPD) at the anti-capitalist anti-fascist march during Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration on…
FCC Repeals Net Neutrality: Interview with Electronic Frontier Foundation
Unicorn Riot Studio, Internet – On Friday, December 16, 2017, the day after the Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal “Net Neutrality” rules, we interviewed Bill Bundington of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), “a nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world” on what…
Criminalizing Dissent: After Proving “Mere Presence” J20 Prosecution Rests Case
Washington, DC – Since November 20, trial has been underway for the first group of defendants charged with multiple felonies after being caught up in a politically targeted mass arrest of an anarchist protest march during Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20 (J20). The arrests…
Criminalizing Dissent: Trump Inauguration Protest Trial Enters Fourth Week
Washington, DC – Several weeks into the first trial of the individuals who were mass arrested during President Trump’s inauguration in DC on January 20 (J20), the prosecution is almost ready to rest its case. The arrests occurred at 12th & L streets when police…
🦄 Arts & Culture, Borders & Migration, Community, Eco, Police, Prison, Protest & Direct Action, Social Control, Tech
Reports From Greece – 13 Part Series – 2017
During the summer of 2017, Unicorn Riot documented over a dozen stories from Athens, Greece. The stories were varied, most displaying networks of mutual aid, including housing, healthcare, food, detainee support and more, created by anarchists and anti-authoritarians in and around Exarcheia.
We produced three…
Young Muslim Collective Spotlights Government Surveillance of Muslims in Minneapolis
Minneapolis, MN – As the Trump administration doubles down on the United States government’s Islamophobic policies, resistance to those policies widens. Over the past couple of years, Muslim youth from the Young Muslim Collective (YMC) in the Twin Cities area have been organizing public forums…
Pwning Targets Through Social Engineering at DEFCON
Las Vegas, NV – Social engineering (SE) is defined as “any act that influences a person to take an action that may or may not be in their best interest”, according to the website social-engineer.org.
The art of social engineering can be used for a…
🦄 Global, Police, Prison, Social Control
Greece: Political Prisoners Pt. 2 – Targeting of Anarchists & Autonomous Groups
Athens, Greece – While state repression in Greece is thousands of years old, modern Greek state repression has its roots in anti-communist and anti-anarchist policies from the 1920s, the World War II U.S.-imposed Marshall Plan, and a seven-year military dictatorship that ended in 1974. With…
Greece: Alternatives to Neoliberal Capitalism – Introduction
Athens, Greece – Aggressive neoliberal policies have created a vicious cycle of austerity in Greece for the last seven years. Greeks today experience a lack of dignity, with pension and salary cuts, while they are often unable to gain access to employment, housing, education, health…
Chile: 50+ Arrested in March for Free Education
SANTIAGO, CHILE – The Chilean student movement’s latest national mobilization brought thousands of students to the streets of the capitol Santiago on Wednesday. At least 50 students were reported to have been arrested.
This video report from Santiago was contributed to Unicorn Riot.
Protests blocked…
U.S. District Court of CO Certifies One of the Largest Houseless Class-Actions in U.S. History
Denver, CO – On Thursday, April 27, 2017, the United States District Court of Colorado, Judge William J. Martinez, certified class-action status for the lawsuit filed on August 25, 2016 on behalf of unhoused residents in Denver whose rights have been repeatedly violated during the…
North Dakota Sheriff Advising South Dakota and Nebraska on Keystone XL
Omaha, NE – The Omaha World-Herald is reporting that Kyle Kirchmeier, the sheriff of Morton County, North Dakota, is providing consultation services to law enforcement in areas where the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline (KXL) is expected to be built.
Kirchmeier is known for commanding…