#authorities

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/09/russian-family-finland-reprisals-pro-ukraine-activism Why, #Finland, why? This #Russian couple support #Ukraine - if they're sent back to #Russia, they'll end up in a #penal #colony in #Siberia! "Nikita & Olga Belov fled their homeland in 2022 after attracting the attention of Russian #authorities - including #military summons, threatening #messages & attempts to locate them - after expressing #opposition to the full-scale #invasion of Ukraine."

How goverments are using facial recognition to crack down on protesters Mass protests used to offer a degree of safety in numbers. #FacialRecognition #technology changes the equation. "But while authorities generally pitch facial recognition as a tool to capture terrorists or wanted murderers, the technology has also emerged as a critical instrument in a very particular context: punishing protesters. (...) In countries where demonstrating can come with physical or political risk, large-scale protests have historically offered a degree of anonymity, and, with it, a level of protection. Mass protests are a way for citizens to express dissent as a collective — often under the assumption that “they can’t arrest us all.” But in the last decade, the spread of facial recognition technology has changed that equation: A lone face in a crowd is no longer anonymous; facial recognition allows #authorities to capture people’s identities en masse." https://restofworld.org/2024/facial-recognition-government-protest-surveillance/ #surveillance #Protest #Repression