Monthly Archives: February 2026

Imperialism versus Green Imperialism

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In 2022, a Netherlands-based conservation group, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), helped the government of Malawi truck 263 elephants from Liwonde National Park in the south, which had too many elephants, to Kasungu National Park in central Malawi, which had far fewer. The 280-mile relocation was part of the country’s broader conservation efforts. “The goal was to ease pressure on Liwonde and help rebuild a viable elephant population in Kasungu,” an IFAW spokesman said.  The 2022 effort tripled the elephant population in Kasungu park, boosting Malawi’s tourism industry with it. IFAW used images of elephants being lifted by cranes to raise money for further wildlife-protection projects…

Within 24 hours of their release, elephants strayed out of the park, crossed the border into Zambia and trampled two farmers to death.  The toll on the human side over the between 2022 and 2025: 26 villagers dead, scores injured, $4.5 million in crops destroyed and hundreds of homes damaged, according to Warm Heart Initiative, a Zambian nonprofit…The resulting anger, according to villagers, has had broader consequences for conservationism in the countries. Many locals no longer report poachers to wildlife authorities; instead, they hunt down and kill stray elephants…Victims of attacks, meanwhile, have threatened to sue IFAW, according to British law firm Leigh Day, which is representing potential plaintiffs.

Excerpt from Nicholas Bariyo, A Plan to Save Elephants Sparked a Deadly Conflict, WSJ, Jan. 29, 2026

Who Rents Your Phone Behind your Back: Airbnbs of the Internet

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On January 28, 2026, Google used a federal court order to get dozens of domains belonging to Ipidea removed from the internet… The mysterious Chinese company is an unsavory enterprise that sneaks unwanted and dangerous software on millions of phones, home computers and Android devices.

Control of the domains allowed Google to both shut down the public websites and technical back-end of the company, which operates using more than a dozen brand names. Google has also taken steps to remove hundreds of apps affiliated with the company from Android devices…The actions are expected to knock more than nine million Android devices off Ipidea’s network. They target a little known but important part of the internet that has increasingly worried cybersecurity experts.

Called “residential proxy” networks, these online services are built out of apps that are installed on virtually any type of internet-connected device—among them media players, PCs and mobile phones. Companies such as Ipidea then rent out access to the devices to paying customers who want to use the internet anonymously. The businesses operate like Airbnbs for network bandwidth, except the people whose devices are being rented out often don’t realize what is happening.

There are legitimate uses for Ipidea’s service, which can be used to surf the internet anonymously or to scrape websites for data…See Oxylabs…Residential proxies have also become a go-to service for criminals and state-sponsored hackers who want to cover their tracks, said John Hultquist, chief analyst with Google’s Threat Intelligence Group. “It’s a consumer issue and it’s a national-security issue at the same time,” he said. “It’s enabling some of the most serious threats to our country.”…

The Russia-linked hacking group known as Midnight Blizzard, blamed for a 2023 hack of Microsoft, used a residential proxy service to cover its tracks, Google said.

Excerpt from Robert McMillan, Google Aims Knockout Blow at Chinese Company Linked to Massive Cyber Weapon, WSH, Jan. 28, 2026