Bonum Certa Men Certa

Illinois State Government Targets Children With iPhone and Android Malware to “Report” on Friends, Family, and Neighbors



Reprinted with permission from Ryan

Phone spyware

Phone spyware

The State government of Illinois has recently launched State-sanctioned malware, available in the Google Play and Apple App Store called “Safe2Help Illinois”.



I first noticed the malware when ads started appearing on the radio and TV for it.



The app encourages children to download it to their phones without telling their parents and use it to “report” people to the State government, including the Department of “Human Services”, which administers the State mental hygiene laws, and of course, the police.



The app conveniently provides children with the ability to send pictures and video files with their report, but the Google Play description says the app can also just scan the phone and see who your contacts are, read your text messages, and upload the files on your phone all by itself without telling you.



According to Google Play (Apple doesn’t give statistics), the app has only been downloaded 100 times in the entire State.



Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell how many children are using this app to inform on each other and the family and neighbors (like something out of the East German Stasi), but in addition to the malware, the state allows reports over their Web site and through text messaging.



The State agency maintaining the malware is the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, which is basically the State version of FEMA, and they probably use federal grant money.



Last year, the Biden Regime’s “Disinformation Board” got “paused” due to public and Congressional backlash, but planned to lean on Big Tech to silence people at the government’s request, otherwise there would be consequences of course.



But this is another way the government can keep eyes on people.



It has “deputized” brainwashed children and turned them into informants (on themselves even, due to the wide-ranging permissions the app has when it runs on the phone).



There’s obviously nothing benign about this app, but the fact that there’s only 100 people in the state with Android phones dumb enough to install it going into its third year, despite what I’m sure is millions of my tax dollars at work “marketing” it, is a good sign that even children usually aren’t stupid enough to believe the government.



Phone spyware

Recent Techrights' Posts

[Video] Leaving Microsoft Behind for the Sake of National Security
Threats to "National Security" aren't some users with an Android phone but Microsoft at the root of things
 
Microsoft Layoffs and Closures Now Reported in Africa
Microsoft Uninstalls Nigeria as it closes African Development Centre (ADC) in Lagos
Links 08/05/2024: Android Malware and "AI" Hype
Links for the day
[Meme] Technical Committee With People Who Are Not Technical
the computing/computer industry being occupied by people who lack suitable background
The Demise of Computer Science Education
Education is essential for the future; without it, whole nations will perish
[Video] Prisons for the Minds and for Tech Workers
Today's video talks about what happens to workforces (across disciplines) in recent years
[Meme] Struggling to Leave Its Nazi Past Behind
digital arson
Microsoft Declines to Talk About How Many People It Has Just Laid Off
Hours ago in IGN: "Microsoft did not say how many staff will lose their jobs, but significant layoffs are inevitable. IGN has asked Bethesda for comment. Microsoft declined to expand further when contacted by IGN."
Microsoft Windows in South America: From 99% to 87%
the latest from statCounter
It's Rather Obvious Why They Try to Silence Richard Stallman, Eben Moglen, and Daniel Pocock
Some of them already sent physically menacing messages to Daniel Pocock
IRC Network of Techrights Turns 3 (or 16 if We Count the Freenode Days)
In a few months IRC turns 36
Sedating Oneself (and Shareholders) With Fuzzy Buzzwords and Pointless Acquisitions
IBM trying to buy time
Clickfraud Spamnil Ran Out of Clickfraud Budget, Apparently
sooner or later charlatans and frauds run out of steam
Techrights Gets Under the Skin of Bad, Corrupt, Immoral People (That's a Good Thing)
Journalism is the lifeblood of democracy and free societies
Companies Do Not Shut Down Offices and Lay Off Staff en Masse (Morale and Reputation Issue) Unless They're in Deep Financial Trouble
Microsoft has been faking its financial performance for years
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, May 07, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, May 07, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
GNU/Linux and ChromeOS Now at 6% in France, According to statCounter
numbers from statCounter
Gemini Links 07/05/2024: Music Spotlight and Network Knobs
Links for the day
Only Weeks After Microsoft Closed Offices and Studios It is Closing Several More (Many Layoffs, Still Deeply Debt-Saddled)
When the sad news writes itself
Bolivarian Republic Of Venezuela: GNU/Linux Reaches 9% (ChromeOS Included)
Venezuela must have lost interest in some American proprietary software when users were locked out of their own data (Adobe) and the costs could no longer be justified
[Video] Microsoft is Like Big Oil, Big Tobacco, and Other Perpetrators of Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering
openwashing, Microsoft lobbying, and Microsoft subsidies (e.g. bailouts in the form of 'defence' contracts)
Security & Debian: Urgent: New Feed URLs after another WIPO censorship
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
World Press Freedom Day: WIPO censors Debian suicide cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 07/05/2024: Smashing Windows (Moving to GNU/Linux) and Mastodon Time-wasting
Links for the day
Links 07/05/2024: Pulitzer for Supreme Court Expose, New Threats to Media Reported
Links for the day
Links 07/05/2024: Cheap EVs and Cloudflare Layoffs
Links for the day
Berlin police declined to investigate FSFE Nazi comparisons
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] Communities Governed by Parasitic Elements and Girlfriends (Who Can't Understand Those Communities)
Karen Sandler and Molly de Blanc present at DebConf18
[Meme] You Can't Kill an Idea (or Facts)
Thankfully, in Western societies, there's still due process, rule of law etc. You don't just hire assassins or imprison critics
[Meme] Software in the Public Interest (SPI), Inc, Values Articles of Daniel Pocock at ~$5,000 Each (and Fails to Hide the Facts)
we are laughing, not grieving
IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 06, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, May 06, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
[Meme] About 2,564 Internet Sites Now at Risk of Hostile Takeover by Microsoft-Sponsored Software in the Public Interest (SPI)
WIPO censors Debian suicide cluster
Links 07/05/2024: Burning Plastic Waste, Facebook Censoring Politicians
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/05/2024: Smashing Windows (Microsoft Losing Users to GNU/Linux), Sixty Years of BASIC
Links for the day
Southern Asia is All Android (Majority) Now
It's looking better (almost) every month
Windows Already Down to 1% "Market Share" in Some Countries
it is a dying breed
Tesla Has Become a Ponzi Scheme or a 'Meme Stock'
They tell us Tesla is "worth" almost twice as much as a company that sold about 30 times more cars
For People at Red Hat "Job is at Risk"
Red Hat is consulting some notorious firms to implement cuts
Linux.com Became Mostly Dead, de Facto Marketing Site of "Linux" Foundation Products (Unrelated to Linux)
what has happened to the authoritative domain Linux.com
Microsoft GitHub: A Hair Salon Where You Get Awards for Nothing (NFT Vanity)
People aren't defined by some private (proprietary) database and Microsoft does not universally "score" developers
In Europe, Android is Bigger Than Windows (Android Now Measured at 45.1% Worldwide)
Right now in statCounter...
Links 06/05/2024: Al Jazeera Raided, Wildfire Season Coming
Links for the day
On Character Assassination Tactics
The people who leverage these dirty politics typically champion projection tactics
Links 06/05/2024: Scams and Politics
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/05/2024: Reading and Computers
Links for the day
United States Entering the $100 Trillion Debt Trap, We Compare GAFAM Debt
Google's debt is about 6 times less than Amazon's
GitLab's Losses Grew From $172,311,000 to $424,174,000 Per Annum
Letting this company have control over your (or your company's) development/code forge may cost you a lot in the future
statCounter's Latest: Android Bouncing to New All-Time Highs, Windows Down to Unprecedented Lows
Android rising
Can't Bear the Thought We're Happy and Productive
If someone is now harassing online friends, attacking the wife, attacking my family (not just attacking and defaming people I know online) there are legal ramifications
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 05, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, May 05, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Erinn Clark & Debian: Justice or another Open Source vendetta?
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work