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February 22, 2019
2.5 million: An internet watchdog has uncovered an unsecured online database that reveals how a Chinese surveillance company tracks the movements of large numbers of people living in Xinjiang province, home to most of China's Uighur Muslim population. Authorities have used CCTV cameras and handheld devices equipped with cameras or ID scanners at 6.7 million location points—including mosques, hotels, police stations and internet cafes—to meticulously map the movement of at least 2.5 million people.
60: Speaking of tracking devices, NATO researchers announced this week they had used open source data—mainly via social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter—to identify 150 NATO soldiers in the field, locate multiple battalions, track troop movements, and even persuade some service members to leave their posts. The research team accomplished all this with $60 and an Internet connection.
68: British tourists traveling to continental Europe may have to pay £52 ($68) for a visa following Brexit. Why? Like everything else to do with Brexit, it's maddeningly complicated. The short version: A visa exemption for Britons is held up by a dispute within EU institutions over Spain's bid to classify Gibraltar as a "colony." Masochists may read the details here.
60: At a time of deadly protests against the government of President Jovenel Moise, 60 percentof Haiti's nearly 11 million people still live on less than $2 per day. In 2019.
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