We're watching you, July 16, 2014

Across the repressive Gulf, social media has become an important way for activists and would-be reformers to speak out. In response, governments have tried to crack down or use this to gather information about dissidents. On June 24th Citizen Lab, a Toronto-based cyberspace security outfit, said it had detected specialised spyware being used in Saudi Arabia—the first time it has seen such sophisticated software in that country. (The Saudi authorities have not responded to these allegations)...Until recently such technology was only used by governments with a long history of expertise in spying, such as Russia, says Bill Marczak of Bahrain Watch, an NGO that monitors human-rights violations in Bahrain. “Now any government that is willing to spend several hundred thousand dollars can acquire these hacking tools and get the training they need,” says Cynthia Wong, who researches internet violations for Human Rights Watch...