A product called Echo, created by Israel-based company Rayzone Group, uses information that was intended for marketers to help authorities track people through their cell phones.
By leveraging ad data, such as users’ physical location and browsing habits, Echo has become a powerful surveillance tool for governments worldwide. Echo is described as a virtually impossible technology to avoid or turn off, raising concerns about privacy violations, Bloomberg reports.
Echo is one of the first known commercially available surveillance systems to utilize ad data in this way. Rayzone Group markets the product as an effective tool to fight “terrorism and crime”. However, the company is very secretive about the details of Echo and does not mention the service on its website.
Google, one of the biggest players in the ad market, has commented on the situation, saying that it cannot identify any exchange between its Authorized Buyers ad tool and the Echo monitoring product. A Google spokesperson pointed out that company policy prohibits identifying people based on their ad data.
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The rapid development of artificial intelligence has not only brought advantages – it has also created new opportunities for mass surveillance, both in society at large and in the workplace.
Even today, unscrupulous employers use AI to monitor and map every second of their employees’ working day in real time – a development that former Social Democratic politician Kari Parman warns against and calls for decisive action to combat.
In an opinion piece in the Stampen-owned newspaper GP, he argues that AI-based surveillance of employees poses a threat to staff privacy and calls on the trade union movement to take action against this development.
Parman paints a bleak picture of how AI is used to monitor employees in Swedish workplaces, where technology analyzes everything from voices and facial expressions to productivity and movement patterns – often without the employees’ knowledge or consent.
“It’s a totalitarian control system – in capitalist packaging”, he writes, continuing:
“There is something deeply disturbing about the idea that algorithms will analyze our voices, our facial expressions, our productivity – second by second – while we work”.
“It’s about power and control”
According to Parman, there is a significant risk that people in digital capitalism will be reduced to mere data points, giving employers disproportionate power over their employees.
He sees AI surveillance as more than just a technical issue and warns that this development undermines the Swedish model, which is based on balance and respect between employers and employees.
“It’s about power. About control. About squeezing every last ounce of ‘efficiency’ out of people as if we were batteries”.
If trade unions fail to act, Parman believes, they risk becoming irrelevant in a working life where algorithms are taking over more and more of the decision-making.
To stop this trend, he lists several concrete demands. He wants to see a ban on AI-based individual surveillance in the workplace and urges unions to introduce conditions in collective agreements to review and approve new technology.
Kari Parman previously represented the Social Democrats in Gnosjö. Photo: Kari Parman/FB
“Reduced to an algorithm’s margin of error”
He also calls for training for safety representatives and members, as well as political regulations from the state.
“No algorithm should have the right to analyze our performance, movements, or feelings”, he declares.
Parman emphasizes that AI surveillance not only threatens privacy but also creates a “psychological iron cage” where employees constantly feel watched, blurring the line between work and private life.
At the end of the article, the Social Democrat calls on the trade union movement to take responsibility and lead the resistance against the misuse of AI in the workplace.
He sees it as a crucial issue for the future of working life and human dignity at work.
“If we don’t stand up now, we will be alone when it is our turn to be reduced to an algorithm’s margin of error”, he concludes.
Dutch opinion maker and conservative activist Eva Vlaardingerbroek recently revealed that she had received an official warning from Apple that her iPhone had been subjected to a sophisticated attack – of the kind usually associated with advanced surveillance actors or intelligence services.
In a social media post, Vlaardingerbroek shared a screenshot of Apple’s warning and drew parallels to the Israeli spyware program Pegasus, which has been used to monitor diplomats, dissidents, and journalists, among others.
– Yesterday I got a verified threat notification from Apple stating they detected a mercenary spyware attack against my iPhone. We’re talking spyware like Pegasus.
– In the message they say that this targetted mercenary attack is probably happening because of ‘who I am and what I do’, she continues.
The term mercenary spyware is used by Apple to describe advanced surveillance technology, such as the notorious Pegasus software developed by the Israeli company NSO Group. This software can bypass mobile security systems, access calls, messages, emails, and even activate cameras or microphones without the user’s knowledge.
Prominent EU critic
Although Apple does not publicly comment on individual cases, the company has previously confirmed that such warnings are only sent when there is a “high probability” that the user has been specifically targeted. Since 2021, the notifications have mainly been sent to journalists, human rights activists, political dissidents, and officials at risk of surveillance by powerful interests.
Vlaardingerbroek has long been a prominent voice critical of the EU and has become known for her sharp criticism of EU institutions and its open-border immigration policy. She insists that the attack is likely politically motivated:
– I definitely dont know who did it. It could be anyone. This could be name a government that doesn’t like me. Name a organization that doesnt like me. Secret services, you name it.
– All I know for sure right now is that someone is trying to intimidate me. I have a message for them: It won’t work.
“There must be full transparency”
The use of Pegasus-like programs has been heavily criticized by both governments and privacy advocates. The tools, originally marketed for counterterrorism, have since been reported to be used against journalists and opposition leaders in dozens of countries.
In response, Apple sued NSO Group in 2021 and launched a system to warn users. However, the company claims that the threats are “rare” and not related to common malware.
The Vlaardingerbroek case is now raising questions about whether such technology is also being used in European domestic political conflicts, and the organization Access Now is calling on authorities in the Netherlands and at the EU level to investigate the attack.
– There must be full transparency.No one in a democratic society – regardless of political views – should be subjected to clandestine spying for expressing opinions or participating in public discourse, said a spokesperson.
Neither Apple nor the Dutch authorities have commented publicly on the case. Vlaardingerbroek says she has not yet seen any signs that data has actually been leaked, but has taken extra security measures.
Photo: Linnea Engberg/Government Offices of Sweden
The government's own investigator proposed that only the Swedish Security Service (Säpo) should be allowed to eavesdrop on children without criminal suspicion - but this is not enough, according to the government.
Gang crime continues to plague Sweden, with recurring bombings, shootings and contract killings spreading fear in society, without those in power managing to get a grip on crime.
Criminal gangs often use minors to carry out serious crimes. For this reason, the Tidö parties (the center-right coalition government) want to give police the authority to wiretap children under the age of 15 – even in cases where there is no specific suspicion of a crime.
During a press conference the government stated that the social trend is bleak, that “serious crime is penetrating lower and lower down the age scale” and that children are increasingly “playing central roles in the commission of serious crimes“.
Currently, police are not allowed to use “secret coercive measures” against children under the age of 15 – which allegedly hinders police work when investigating murders and bombings.
At a press conference on Wednesday, representatives of the Tidö parties confirmed that they want to change the legislation so that children can also be wiretapped – partly when they are being investigated for crimes – but also for “preventive purposes” – i.e. without any actual suspicion of crime.
– These are far-reaching proposals. But it is justified by the development of society, said Minister for Justice Gunnar Strömmer (M), and continued:
– It is about preventing crime, but also about reaching those who are behind and controlling via children’s cell phones.
Dismisses own investigator’s limitations
The government’s own legal investigator had recommended that only the Swedish Security Service (Säpo) be allowed to use wiretapping without suspicion of a crime. However, the government disagrees, arguing that it is “absolutely necessary” for regular police to also be allowed to wiretap children if they can be linked to serious organized crime.
The government maintains that fighting gang crime is more important than protecting the integrity of minors. Strömmer stated that “there are very significant risks in allowing the current reality to continue as it is”.
The change in the law is proposed to come into force this fall for at least five years, after which it will be evaluated.
Although most people seem to agree that organized crime needs to be fought, many are also opposed to the fact that the moderate-led government repeatedly chooses to focus so much on increased wiretapping and surveillance. Critics also point out that there is a real risk that the surveillance apparatus will be abused in the future or used very arbitrarily and without legal certainty.
As of March 28, some Echo devices will no longer be able to process voice data locally – all voice information will be sent to Amazon’s cloud service, regardless of the user’s will.
Echo is a series of smart devices, including speakers, developed by Amazon. The device records what you say and sends it to Amazon’s servers to be stored and analyzed, allegedly to improve the service. Privacy settings have previously allowed some devices to process voice data locally without sending it to Amazon.
In an email to Echo users, shared on Reddit, Amazon announced that the ability to process voice commands locally is being removed. Instead, all recordings will be sent to the cloud for processing, as Sweclockers has reported.
If the user doesn’t actively change their settings before March 28, they will automatically be set to “do not save data”. This means that Amazon will still collect and process your voice information, but that this will be deleted after Alexa handles the request. However, it is unclear how long the information will be stored before it is actually deleted.
Amazon states that voice data is needed to train the company’s AI model, Alexa Plus. At the same time, the company promises that all previously saved voice data will be deleted if the user has the “do not save data” feature enabled.
