In North Korea, your phone secretly takes screenshots every 5 minutes for government surveillance
A smartphone smuggled out of North Korea is offering a rare – and unsettling – glimpse into the extent of control Kim Jong Un's regime exerts over its citizens, down to the very words they type. While the device appears outwardly similar to any modern smartphone, its software reveals a far more oppressive reality.
The phone was featured in a BBC video, which showed it powering on with an animated North Korean flag waving across the screen. While the report did not specify the brand, the design and user interface closely resembled those of a Huawei or Honor device.
It's unclear whether these companies officially sell phones in North Korea, but if they do, the devices are likely customized with state-approved software designed to restrict functionality and facilitate government surveillance.
One of the more revealing – and darkly amusing – features was the phone's automatic censorship of words deemed problematic by the state. For instance, when users typed oppa, a South Korean term used to refer to an older brother or a boyfriend, the phone automatically replaced it with comrade. A warning would then appear, admonishing the user that oppa could only refer to an older sibling.
Typing "South Korea" would trigger another change. The phrase was automatically replaced with "puppet state," reflecting the language used in official North Korean rhetoric.
Then came the more unsettling features. The phone silently captured a screenshot every five minutes, storing the images in a hidden folder that users couldn't access. According to the BBC, authorities could later review these images to monitor the user's activity.
The device was smuggled out of North Korea by Daily NK, a Seoul-based media outlet specializing in North Korean affairs. After examining the phone, the BBC confirmed that the censorship mechanisms were deeply embedded in its software. Experts say this technology is designed not only to control information but also to reinforce state messaging at the most personal level.
Smartphone usage has grown in North Korea in recent years, but access remains tightly controlled. Devices cannot connect to the global internet and are subject to intense government surveillance.
The regime has reportedly intensified efforts to eliminate South Korean cultural influence, which it views as subversive. So-called "youth crackdown squads" have been deployed to enforce these rules, frequently stopping young people on the streets to inspect their phones and review text messages for banned language.
Some North Korean escapees have shared that exposure to South Korean dramas or foreign radio broadcasts played a key role in their decision to flee the country. Despite the risks, outside media continues to be smuggled in – often via USB sticks and memory cards hidden in food shipments. Much of this effort is supported by foreign organizations.
In North Korea, your phone secretly takes screenshots every 5 minutes for government surveillance
The phone was featured in a BBC video, which showed it powering on with an animated North Korean flag waving across the screen. While the report did...Zo Ahmed (TechSpot)
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TheCelticPirate
in reply to Gork • • •like this
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YurkshireLad
in reply to TheCelticPirate • • •like this
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CosmoNova
in reply to TheCelticPirate • • •like this
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dXq9dwg4zt
in reply to CosmoNova • • •BetaBlake
in reply to TheCelticPirate • • •like this
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queermunist she/her
in reply to BetaBlake • • •like this
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Rooskie91
in reply to Gork • • •Shhh don't tell them that American Corporations have been doing that for years.
newatlas.com/computers/smartph…
Your phone isn’t secretly listening to you, but the truth is more disturbing
Rich Haridy (New Atlas)like this
giantpaper likes this.
dan
in reply to Rooskie91 • • •WhyJiffie
in reply to dan • • •this is a weird paragraph. no permission is needed for an app to take screenshots of itself. all apps can do that.
just an example: the Element matrix client has a bugreport feature that allows you to submit an automatically created screenshot of the previous menu.
it seems there are several ways to accomplish this: stackoverflow.com/questions/26…
dan
in reply to WhyJiffie • • •Do those code snippets on the Stackoverflow post allow you to capture the entire screen regardless of which app is open, or do they only allow you to capture the app the code is running in?
Capturing the app itself makes sense (for things like bug reports) but does Android really let any app capture whatever is on the screen?
WhyJiffie
in reply to dan • • •Akip
in reply to dan • • •Smart-tvs are in the same boat
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automati…
pcmag.com/news/own-a-vizio-tv-…
identification technology to recognize content played on a media device or present in a media file
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)dan
in reply to Akip • • •EndlessNightmare
in reply to dan • • •dan
in reply to EndlessNightmare • • •The one time I do connect the TV to the internet is when there's a firmware update that fixes an issue I'm encountering. That's rare though.
I still have it on my network so I can control it using Home Assistant (eg have a backlight come on and dim the main lights when the TV is turned on) but it's on an isolated VLAN.
just2look
in reply to Gork • • •like this
TheFederatedPipe likes this.
mitram
in reply to just2look • • •Although I dislike recall as much as anyone else, this is quite a bit worse.
From the article:
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NoneOfUrBusiness e giantpaper like this.
bleistift2
in reply to mitram • • •lemmylommy
in reply to mitram • • •Kabaka
in reply to lemmylommy • • •For sure. But at least those images aren't kept in a secret location where users can't see or delete them. Even if Recall makes this harder, there's a meaningful difference here.
That said, neither one is doing you any privacy favors...
tocopherol
in reply to Kabaka • • •mitram
in reply to lemmylommy • • •raspberriesareyummy
in reply to mitram • • •mitram
in reply to raspberriesareyummy • • •I've explained my point here
mitram
2025-06-02 21:39:03
InternetCitizen2
in reply to just2look • • •Better than recall. No need for special hardware like an NPU, nor does it keep asking you to sign in.
/s
NotAnotherLemmyUser
in reply to InternetCitizen2 • • •yucandu
in reply to just2look • • •I'm really tired of people saying "both sides are the same" when it comes to western capitalist exploitation vs eastern totalitarian authoritarianism.
It's ironically so privileged to even make the comparison because if it were the same, you wouldn't have been allowed to make this comment.
just2look
in reply to yucandu • • •I didn't say both sides are the same. I made a stupid joke about a garbage operating system and the garbage company that runs it.
And your example of stopping people on the streets to inspect their phones doesn't really do a great job at making the argument you're trying to make. We have ICE running around and throwing people into contracted prisons even when they have proof of citizenship. We are trafficking people to foreign concentration camps. We are rocketing at light speed to a techno fascist authoritarian state and the level of surveillance we are under is increasing at a mind boggling pace.
So we aren't the same, and the people currently in charge are striving to make the differences smaller every day.
tauren
in reply to just2look • • •Nah, the joke was fine. They overreacted.
GnuLinuxDude
in reply to just2look • • •In addition to your point, literally just two days ago I saw an article about a Texas sheriff running a search through a nation-wide network of license plate readers to track down a woman suspected of having an abortion.
Oh OK they didn't stop her on the street, they just queried the panopticon system that tracked her movement as much as possible. Want to protest a genocide your state and university are sponsoring? Sorry, MIT will muzzle you and now you are now forbidden from giving the commencement address. Wouldn't want to offend the dear leader in the white house.
Obelix
in reply to yucandu • • •Vespair
in reply to Obelix • • •BrainInABox
in reply to Obelix • • •I'd rather live in NK then in Gaza: the West loves to create hellholes, and the US has the most prisoners of any country on earth so calling it a 'free society' is pretty rich.
More to the point, if any Western country had done to it what NK had done to it by the West during the Korean war, it would turn into a brutal basket case far worse then anything NK could imagine. Things like 9/11 and October 7 turn Westerners into frothing omnicidal maniacs, and those are completely negligible in scope compared to what the west has done to other countries, including Korea.
BrainInABox
in reply to yucandu • • •plyth
in reply to yucandu • • •It works both ways. Is OP allowed to make the comment because he is more priviliged or because he has less power and is less of a threat?
Remember the McCarthy era. There can be more restrictions if needed.
NaibofTabr
in reply to Gork • • •...
SatansMaggotyCumFart
in reply to NaibofTabr • • •like this
NoneOfUrBusiness likes this.
Steve
in reply to NaibofTabr • • •FelixCress
in reply to Steve • • •We noticed.
towerful
in reply to Gork • • •bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cewd82p0…
I think that's the link to the video?
Seems like it's part of a longer video...
Edit:
Hhmmm here is a slightly longer video that doesn't really add anything
Actual edit:
I genuinely couldn't find a better source video
- YouTube
youtu.beidriss
in reply to towerful • • •towerful
in reply to idriss • • •Is that the web interface? Or what app is that?
idriss
in reply to towerful • • •Optional
in reply to Gork • • •Yes. North Korea.
WINK
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meco03211
in reply to Gork • • •like this
NoneOfUrBusiness likes this.
Lost_My_Mind
in reply to meco03211 • • •Looks around modern day
You uh.....you think N Korea is the only ones?
yucandu
in reply to Lost_My_Mind • • •tal
in reply to meco03211 • • •Don Antonio Magino
in reply to tal • • •LainTrain
in reply to Gork • • •HubertManne
in reply to Gork • • •Steve Dice
in reply to HubertManne • • •cm0002
in reply to Gork • • •.ml admins and Tankies: "something something THATS JUST WESTERN LIES something NK is actually THE GOOD GUYS something something ITS JUST TO KEEP OUT WESTERN PROPAGANDAAAAA"
lemmy.world/post/29072279
peteyestee
in reply to Gork • • •cmnybo
in reply to peteyestee • • •peteyestee
in reply to cmnybo • • •applemao
in reply to Gork • • •sp3ctr4l
in reply to Gork • • •... How do you people think your stock mobile OS keyboard 'learns' how to better autocorrect to your manner of typing?
Do ya'll think that data is not available, for sale, to any business or agency that will pay for it?
peteyestee
in reply to sp3ctr4l • • •sugar_in_your_tea
in reply to sp3ctr4l • • •truxnell
in reply to sugar_in_your_tea • • •NotAnotherLemmyUser
in reply to sugar_in_your_tea • • •If I read somewhere correctly, they're also the first to open source their swipe dataset:
huggingface.co/datasets/futo-o…
You can also contribute and help out with their dataset here:
swipe.futo.org/
truxnell
in reply to sp3ctr4l • • •TwinTitans
in reply to Gork • • •AES_Enjoyer
in reply to Gork • • •Culf
in reply to AES_Enjoyer • • •kautau
in reply to Culf • • •Culf
in reply to kautau • • •AES_Enjoyer
in reply to kautau • • •kautau
in reply to AES_Enjoyer • • •lmfamao
in reply to AES_Enjoyer • • •It’s literally propaganda. For some reason I subjected myself to watching the BBC video that the article referenced and screenshotting the Korean text that the BBC video purports is autocorrecting terms in real time. Below are the findings
The only (half) correct claims they make are the “South Korea” and “comrade” translations, but they could just have set the autocorrect in the phone’s settings for each and every word in this video, before making it lmfao
Completely baseless claims and frankly pathetic attempt. Crazy how this shit spreads like wildfire
tocopherol
in reply to Gork • • •yucandu
in reply to tocopherol • • •BrainInABox
in reply to yucandu • • •thatradomguy
in reply to Gork • • •sugar_in_your_tea
in reply to Gork • • •OsrsNeedsF2P
in reply to sugar_in_your_tea • • •sugar_in_your_tea
in reply to OsrsNeedsF2P • • •?
Well, at least we're on a .world community. I'm doing my part!
EndlessNightmare
in reply to sugar_in_your_tea • • •Chloé 🥕
in reply to Gork • • •GreenKnight23
in reply to Chloé 🥕 • • •edit: because the sarcasm was lost on some, I am not advocating for this message.
I am mocking it.
Pnut
in reply to Gork • • •ramenshaman
in reply to Pnut • • •gndagreborn
in reply to ramenshaman • • •zorblitz
in reply to gndagreborn • • •6nk06
in reply to zorblitz • • •Korkki
in reply to Gork • • •Kusimulkku
in reply to Korkki • • •hsdkfr734r
in reply to Kusimulkku • • •I guess a smart phone would be a luxury item in NK. So one could chose not to use one instead of being tracked?
In Germany the government and police use the word Quellentelekommunikationsüberwachung (telecommunication source surveillance) when they express their desire to have a Trojan on someone's phone - to protect the children of course.
So the phenomenon is not unknown outside of NK.
Edit: fixed translation, thanks Muehe
pressanykeynow
in reply to hsdkfr734r • • •Yeah, right, as if that can be used by humans, or if it's even a word.
Muehe
in reply to pressanykeynow • • •de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telekomm…
It means "telecommunication source surveillance".
Informationserhebung von über eine gewisse räumliche Distanz ausgetauschten Informationen durch in der Regel staatlichen Stellen und meist ohne Wissen der Kommunikationsteilnehmer
Autoren der Wikimedia-Projekte (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)pressanykeynow
in reply to Muehe • • •Korkki
in reply to Kusimulkku • • •Kusimulkku
in reply to Korkki • • •𞋴𝛂𝛋𝛆
in reply to Gork • • •OsrsNeedsF2P
in reply to 𞋴𝛂𝛋𝛆 • • •laughs in PinePho--
Sorry, my battery died as I was typing that
thickertoofan
in reply to 𞋴𝛂𝛋𝛆 • • •𞋴𝛂𝛋𝛆
in reply to thickertoofan • • •No hardware documentation whatsoever. We don't know what registers and instructions exist at the lowest levels.
As far as I am aware, there is no way to totally shut off and verify all cellular connections made, like to pass all traffic through a logged filter.
Valmond
in reply to 𞋴𝛂𝛋𝛆 • • •𞋴𝛂𝛋𝛆
in reply to Valmond • • •There is certainly validity in the concept that no known instance of exploitation exists. However that is only anecdotal. The potential exists. Naïve trust in others has a terrible track record on these scales of ethics. Every instruction and register should be fully documented for every product sold.
An adequate webp image is only a few tens of kilobytes. Most people now have a bridged connection between their home network and cellular, unless they go out of their way to block it. Periodic screenshots are rather crazy. It would be much easier to target specific keywords and patterns.
kamen
in reply to 𞋴𝛂𝛋𝛆 • • •I'd be interested in how this documenting could be done. If you're a manufacturer, you'd probably want to keep everything secret - except what's needed for a patent for example - otherwise the competition might get an idea of the proprietary things you make in house.
I mean I'm all for it, I just don't see it happening unless under very strict regulations.
Valmond
in reply to 𞋴𝛂𝛋𝛆 • • •Well are we putting people in prison with the help of them? A secret screenshot folder nobody can exploit isn't very useful ...
Not saying it can't be done (you are of course right there), we hand it over freely often, but that the implications are not death to your family.
Clinicallydepressedpoochie
in reply to Valmond • • •You dont have to bring them to court with it for it to be useful. It could be used to target individuals then they use more conventional methods of evidence gathering to arrest.
I would guess they arent currently doing it enmasse because that doesnt sound useful either. I would say, solely on a vibes based level its been done by US intelligence. Its really not so different than a wiretap.
plyth
in reply to Valmond • • •en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printe…
digital watermark which certain color laser printers and copiers leave on every single printed page, allowing to identify the device with which a document was printed and giving clues to the originator
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Silicon
in reply to 𞋴𝛂𝛋𝛆 • • •yucandu
in reply to Gork • • •Randomgal
in reply to yucandu • • •Maxxie
in reply to yucandu • • •This isn't really up to China, NK won't listen because it's not really up to them either. Most authoritarians would love to scale the repression down, but you can only do it while political and economic climate is right (without losing your power and your head)
If you signal to your citizens that they can speak more freely, the first thing out of their mouths will be Hey why did you do that fucked up thing?
Thus, you can "loosen the bolts" only when you are safe in your position of power and don't mind a few concessions to the masses. "Yes we overstepped a few lines, but it was all the fault of this one bad man and also look at all this bread we have now!"
This is why authoritarian countries usually have "seasons".
rottingleaf
in reply to Maxxie • • •Yes, it's also that authoritarian leaders grow plenty of friends and relatives who'd done really fucked up things. It's not in their control to just do the oppression legally and possibly to explain (as in "it was such a time", "those were imperfect measures and we've found a better way"), if they don't do serial murder\rape and drugs trade and racket and theft, someone of their surroundings will.
That's probably also why western political climates are slowly becoming more authoritarian - it's the same mechanism, just much smaller and slower. Maybe it's not drugs\murders\theft, but it's gray legal area tax evasion, suppose. Then after a few years it's something a bit worse, and so on, gradually.
Like it's impossible to make an eternal engine, it's impossible to make a political system without this.
Rimu
in reply to Gork • • •Valmond
in reply to Rimu • • •Yep, confunding dictatorships with google, sweeping Kim's regimes horrors under the mat.
It's almost like yes we have problems in our democracies but being put in prison because you don't want to starve to death isn't really on the list for us.
Diurnambule
in reply to Valmond • • •Valmond
in reply to Diurnambule • • •Diurnambule
in reply to Valmond • • •And just read , or maybe you do not think of homeless as people ?
Startpage Captcha
www.startpage.comBrainInABox
in reply to Valmond • • •That is the main reason people are in prison in the West, you're just privileged.
Valmond
in reply to BrainInABox • • •Oh yes the main reason people are in western prisons is because ... They do not want to starve to death.
Are you an AI bot just reversing comments?
BrainInABox
in reply to Valmond • • •Most crime in the West is driven by poverty, yes. So unless you're saying that NK literally convicts people for the formal, on the books crime of "not wanting to starve", then it's the same principle.
But I assume you already know you're wrong, based on the fact you're bringing out the personal attacks
Diurnambule
in reply to BrainInABox • • •MonkderVierte
in reply to Gork • • •demonsword
in reply to MonkderVierte • • •there are very few places in the world where this doesn't apply
by whom?
MonkderVierte
in reply to demonsword • • •Sure does. There's not one in history that worked out long term.
Usually by the citizens.
demonsword
in reply to MonkderVierte • • •I wish we could...
lechekaflan
in reply to Gork • • •I remember watching a series of Youtube videos by a guy working in the diplomatic department of a Southeast Asian country who I can't name, and he took videos while on the sly, his camera (or phone) hidden carefully, showing some glimpses of life in Pyongyang. At one point he and his wife visited the government-run department store and, yeah, it's pretty much a drab place to be there, you'll be only buying necessities. However, there's the special section where certain types of people such as high officials and foreigners are allowed to buy electronics, mostly with hard currency, and the merchandise included smartphones, all of them looked to be Chinese brands.
Lex4
in reply to lechekaflan • • •stebator
in reply to Gork • • •dev_null
in reply to stebator • • •Yes, Google's code processes every touch, they wrote Android after all, so you are technically correct.
Is it all being sent somewhere from every Android device? Of course not, that's ridiculous. Individual apps might have various levels of usage analytics though.
Zacryon
in reply to dev_null • • •angry Snowden noises
dev_null
in reply to Zacryon • • •Yes, I'm sure he's angry people are diluting the invigilation he exposed by coming up with fake ones all the time, and making people think it's not worth fighting it anymore.
Do you have something constructive to say? Did you read an interesting article about a new type of tracking by a security researcher? Maybe you ran your own network capture and found something previously unknown? Great, let's share that and learn how to block it.
Do you just wave your hands around and say that Google knows everything about you at all times using all Android devices, through unspecified means based on your gut feeling? Then that's not constructive and is just spreading helplessness.
Oh Google logs and collect all taps on the screen? I'd love to know through which system service that happens, how the data leaves the device, to which servers is it going, which devices are affected by this, and how we can disable it. Oh you made it up and actually there are no details? Right.
Zacryon
in reply to dev_null • • •I don't have the time right now to addeess all of this, but:
Device interactions can be used to identify users, predict and manipulate their behaviour, contribute to further identification measures etc..
Furthermore my point was that there are many reasons to be cautious about any type of data collection and processing. Saying a specific type would be ridiculous undermines the possible dangers stemming from this. Therefore I wouldn't plainly discard these concerns.
Even if, in this context, the transmission is not widely noticed, this doesn't pose a universal guarantee, especially if this can be turned on on demand via backdoors, trojans or whatever. Even worse if the transmission can be hidden. (Less likely for very proficient users with extremely tight network monitoring & control, but that's rarely the case.)
dev_null
in reply to Zacryon • • •I absolutely agree with you. What I'm arguing against is baseless FUD without any specifics, any sources, any details, and making extraodinary claims without extraordinary evidence. I didn't mean that the type of tracking is ridiculous, what I'm saying is ridiculous is the claim that Google is collecting the logs of EVERY touch on EVERY Android device. Does that claim even needs to be disproven?
It is patently obvious it cannot be happening on EVERY Android device. And I'd welcome evidence that it's happening on even a SINGLE one. But I don't see it. Because it's made up hyperbole that's poisoning the discussion of real tracking.
Because your touches are tracked. But not system-wide, but in individual apps, by the individual developers, most of whom don't share the data with Google, only if you use these apps, and each developer can only track what's happening in their own app. Which is worth talking about, but it's hard when people are just making stuff up.
stebator
in reply to dev_null • • •However, you can find it by navigating through your Google account settings.
Look for "Manage your data & privacy" > "History settings" > "Web & App Activity."
dev_null
in reply to stebator • • •Yeah, good stuff to tell people about!
But "Google is tracking your every touch on any Android device" is very different from "Google saves a history of your Google searches, and some major actions in some Google apps".
stebator
in reply to dev_null • • •Have you checked what's in it? Every action and touch is logged with all the details. Many people didn't even guess that such actions could be logged. It's like super spyware activity; it's very creepy. "Google is tracking your every touch on any Android device" - is exactly what it does.
I first noticed this issue around 2015, and I have been trying to disable it on every Android device since then. However, it re-enables itself from time to time. I have a few Google accounts, and it must be disabled on each one.
dev_null
in reply to stebator • • •What I'm seeing, is that:
That's already very far from every Android device, let alone every touch.
stebator
in reply to dev_null • • •Hm, are there any categories? I didn't see any, but maybe they've added them already. They log whatever they can. Today it's smartphones and tablets, but tomorrow it could be other devices and other things to be logged and uploaded to Google, like screenshots. The problem is that it's done behind your back, and many people are unaware of this creepy activity.
By the way, if you did not disable the option to automatically upload all photos to the cloud, then manually taken screenshots are already uploaded. Many people are too busy to find and disable this option. And we're discussing North Korea here, LOL.
taladar
in reply to Zacryon • • •Zacryon
in reply to taladar • • •3migo
in reply to stebator • • •pewgar_seemsimandroid
in reply to 3migo • • •stebator
in reply to pewgar_seemsimandroid • • •stebator
in reply to 3migo • • •Zacryon
in reply to Gork • • •That's the difference between North Korea and the western world:
In North Korea the government forces spyware onto your device.
In the western world, people share their data voluntarily and publicly.
Instagram, Facebook, Dropbox and Co. made it possible.
Bloomcole
in reply to Zacryon • • •KumaSudosa
in reply to Zacryon • • •There is no better regime than the West in this regard. Force things on people? You're gonna risk a revolt or dissent. 'Subtly' make people dependent on your product so they'll voluntarily use it and share everything with you while you 'subtly' control the algorithm in your favour? Now that's perfect. Social media is the ultimate tool of power and governance.
Although North Korea is a very "successful" oppressive regime, largely able to have full control over information both in and out of the country and to greatly limit desertion. I can't think of a "better" regime in this regard.
musubibreakfast
in reply to KumaSudosa • • •You're gonna cook up a crazy theory like that and not even mention big daddy capitalism?
edit: I was making a joke, it didn't land right. I agree with you, I probably wouldn't be on this website if I didn't.
Zacryon
in reply to musubibreakfast • • •What's crazy about that?
Haven't heard of, e.g., Cambridge Analytica?
KumaSudosa
in reply to musubibreakfast • • •CalipherJones
in reply to KumaSudosa • • •WanderingVentra
in reply to CalipherJones • • •Reminds me of that great joke -
::: spoiler A KGB agent and CIA agent meet up in a bar.
"I have to admit, I'm always so impressed by Soviet propaganda. You really know how to get people worked up," the CIA agent says.
"Thank you," the KGB says. "We do our best but truly, it's nothing compared to American propaganda. Your people believe everything your state media tells them."
The CIA agent drops his drink in shock and disgust. "Thank you friend, but you must be confused... There's no propaganda in America."
:::
::: spoiler Over analysis caveat of the joke
Of course it's not state media directly in the states, but the same billionaires who own the state own the media, so it turns out all to be the same thing in the end.
:::
BrainInABox
in reply to Zacryon • • •Bloomcole
in reply to Gork • • •BrainInABox
Unknown parent • • •wpb
in reply to Gork • • •KyuubiNoKitsune
in reply to wpb • • •Then you get these two madlads who go and find out..
The news clip commentary:
youtu.be/ZmYAoQL9jjo
The full video:
youtu.be/2BO83Ig-E8E
- YouTube
youtu.bewpb
in reply to KyuubiNoKitsune • • •WanderingVentra
in reply to KyuubiNoKitsune • • •Holy shit actual media criticism and analysis on North Korea. Never thought I'd see this day.
The little clip with the meta-commentary on news stories commenting about them was hilarious yet insightful, so I definitely have to watch the full documentary they're referencing (EDIT: especially if it's just the 20 minute video you linked. That's the full video? I thought I heard the word documentary so thought it would be longer).
Eugene V. Debs' Ghost
in reply to wpb • • •It really is a shame, as accurate reporting enables their crimes to be documented better, and gives them less ammo on the world stage.
"How can we be mistreating our citizens? Remember when people said sarcasm was banned? Haircuts had to be approved and the same? How can you believe anything."
Documenting people/governments/coprorations for the things they've actually done is the most we can ask for. Making shit up on the fly for a quick buck is the death of truth. It just enables them to deflect everything and anything.
There's dozens of reasons to dislike/distrust North Korea. We don't need to make ones up.
Rekorse
in reply to Eugene V. Debs' Ghost • • •billwashere
in reply to Gork • • •Arun Shah™
in reply to Gork • • •FE80
Unknown parent • • •en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LineageO…
mobile operating system based on Android
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)MehBlah
in reply to Gork • • •UnderpantsWeevil
in reply to MehBlah • • •It's a secret smart phone that was smuggled out of the country by the Top Spies in the "Going to N. Korea to ride the subway" YouTube gang. We sent in some of our stealthiest and most clandestined professional infiltrators. Real Navy Seals meets Mission Impossible type guys. And they came out of N. Korea with this cutting edge "phone that randomly takes pictures while its in your pocket" technology.
Using the country's state of the art telecommunications system and their cutting edge image processing technology, the Glorious Leader analyzes over 40 Zetabytes of information daily. This dragnet of highly accurate, insanely rigorous, and insidiously nefarious ultra-spyware is then handed over to a crack team of North Korean special agents who utilize their pre-crime tracing technology to break up hundreds of resistance cells every year, long before they can become a threat to the iron fisted communist regime.
It's the only explanation for why North Koreans haven't fully revolted and overthrown their despotic leadership. Juche Super-science keeps the rabble in line.
Zenith
in reply to MehBlah • • •phantomwise
in reply to Gork • • •Silicon
in reply to phantomwise • • •bluewing
in reply to phantomwise • • •sandwich.make(bathing_in_bismuth)
in reply to phantomwise • • •lemmygrad and hexbear users now scavenging for windows phones
Bill Gates is actually a based ally!
TimewornTraveler
in reply to Gork • • •Corn
in reply to TimewornTraveler • • •TimewornTraveler
Unknown parent • • •Nangijala
in reply to Gork • • •Read Bio
in reply to Nangijala • • •SocialMediaRefugee
in reply to Nangijala • • •tektite
in reply to SocialMediaRefugee • • •Read Bio
in reply to Gork • • •surph_ninja
in reply to Gork • • •gwilikers
in reply to surph_ninja • • •Oh yeah, have there been reports on this ?
(Not trying to shut you down, I'm genuinely curious)
surph_ninja
in reply to gwilikers • • •Yeah, there have been various leaks over the years that trickle out. Supposedly they’ve banned companies from operating in the US for refusal to comply with backdoor demands (Hawei, Kaspersky), some reports of backdoors built right into both Intel & AMD processors, some vague stuff that’s come out about backdoors in Windows, etc. Even when the companies refuse to comply, there’s been reports of US intelligence going into factories or intercepting deliveries to install spy chips into hardware. I recall there was a local ISP provider somewhere in the mid-west that got shut down for refusing to install spy devices in their facilities.
Really a lot of this was confirmed as far back as Snowden. And plenty of whistleblowers and leaks since.
h6a
in reply to gwilikers • • •There's an extremely powerful backdoor in every processor/chipset. Intel named it "Management Engine" and AMD "Secure Technology".
From the Wikipedia page on Management Engine:
ME has Serial over LAN, so it's possible that attackers can have a more intimate access to your hardware than your Operating System.
I imagine other manufacturers have similar frameworks.
Full article.
firmware and software that runs on all modern Intel CPUs at a higher level than user-facing operating system
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)jim3692
in reply to h6a • • •Sure, those could theoretically be used for backdoor access to your computer.
However, they are trivial to spot on most routers. If you see another device on the ethernet port that your computer connects to, then something weird is going on.
Another important consideration is the fact that those technologies are meant for ethernet, while most people use laptops with wifi.
nutsack
in reply to Gork • • •fyzzlefry
Unknown parent • • •Murena - deGoogled and privacy by design smartphones and cloud services.
MurenaSocialMediaRefugee
in reply to Gork • • •SocialMediaRefugee
in reply to Gork • • •NK censors reviewing photos...
"Toilet, toilet, toilet, cat, toilet..."
twice_hatch
in reply to SocialMediaRefugee • • •por_que_pine
in reply to Gork • • •That Weird Vegan she/her
in reply to por_que_pine • • •Mellie (she)
in reply to Gork • • •ZombiFrancis
in reply to Mellie (she) • • •MangioneDontMiss
in reply to Gork • • •Rin
in reply to fyzzlefry • • •Rin
Unknown parent • • •mugen
Unknown parent • • •IndustryStandard
in reply to Gork • • •smol_beans
in reply to Gork • • •That Weird Vegan she/her
in reply to smol_beans • • •didn't google just announce android was gonna do the same thing?
edit: it was microshaft.
rottingleaf
in reply to smol_beans • • •Yep. Just like with reverse-engineering software and making unintented use of proprietary services, whistleblowing depends at nobody being able to threaten you with jail or worse.
Your country should have made it law when Watergate and such were still fresh in memory. To make such mechanisms not just "de facto", but "de jure" reality. Because any "de facto" either becomes "de jure" or vanishes without a trace.
EDIT: similar with "adversarial interop" CD was talking about
EDIT2: or Gutenberg and the printing press and the conflicts to ensue...
Evotech
in reply to Gork • • •ziggurat
in reply to Evotech • • •katy ✨
in reply to Gork • • •atlien51
in reply to Gork • • •vane
in reply to Gork • • •monotremata
in reply to vane • • •Jhex
in reply to Gork • • •does anyone really think our freedom phones are far from this?
Maybe the western world can be given some credit on being a tad more subtle, but overall the difference here are in tecnique, not goals
Rekorse
in reply to Jhex • • •Zealousideal_Fox_900
in reply to Rekorse • • •Amnesigenic
in reply to Zealousideal_Fox_900 • • •Zink
in reply to Zealousideal_Fox_900 • • •Eh, they didn’t exactly paint it in a good light. It’s more like not laughing too much at the ordinary NK citizen’s big brother plight while the rest of us are being monitored constantly and much more real time.
The two situations are not the same, but the parallels show his we all deal with this crap in our own ways.
chiliedogg
in reply to Rekorse • • •Tracking someone's history through screenshots sounds like a fucking nightmare for the person doing the searching.
It's evil, but also a PITA for the analyst.
Tire
in reply to Jhex • • •Vinstaal0
in reply to Jhex • • •Jhex
in reply to Vinstaal0 • • •Does not exist in Murica
Vinstaal0
in reply to Jhex • • •But it does in the EU and similar laws exist in other countries. I can do nothing about the corruption in the states
Ps. it does exist in Amerika
dorp in de Limburgse gemeente Horst aan de Maas, Nederland
Bijdragers aan Wikimedia-projecten (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Spectrism
in reply to Jhex • • •market mechanisms by which the European Union regulation is adopted globally
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Jhex
in reply to Spectrism • • •foxacid
in reply to Vinstaal0 • • •RaoulDook
in reply to Jhex • • •Jhex
in reply to RaoulDook • • •Tell me you are blind to privilege without telling me you are blind to privilege...
I get what you are saying but claiming that Capitalism and the Free Market got you there is laughable.
A shit ton of people in the USA do not actually have a choice in carrier and choice of phone seriously depends on how rich you are, the spread is wide!
More importantly, how many people do you think have the tech knowledge (or access to pay) to get an open source OS in their phones?
RaoulDook
in reply to Jhex • • •Jhex
in reply to RaoulDook • • •RememberTheApollo_
in reply to Gork • • •moseschrute
in reply to RememberTheApollo_ • • •RememberTheApollo_
in reply to moseschrute • • •slst
in reply to RememberTheApollo_ • • •sugar_in_your_tea
Unknown parent • • •Unironically a good book about fascism happening in the US, and was written before 1984 and other dystopian novels that were largely reactionary to the USSR.
1935 dystopian novel by Sinclair Lewis
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)m3t00🌎
in reply to Gork • • •zipzoopaboop
in reply to m3t00🌎 • • •Erik L. Midtsveen 🏴🌈
in reply to Gork • • •- North Korean Smartphone
- koryolink Arirang AS1201 (North Korea's Smartphone) - Review
- YouTube
youtu.bescratsearcher 🔍🔮📊🎲
in reply to Gork • • •en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_…
Could the north Koreans have a copy of Pegasus (like) software/spyware through russia? Pegasus is a proven solution to spy on Saudi Arabia (and others) on ios™️ and android™️ devices.
spyware software
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Lovable Sidekick
in reply to Gork • • •outhouseperilous
in reply to Gork • • •GoodOleAmerika
in reply to Gork • • •joel_feila
in reply to Gork • • •