Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Yahoo Webcam Images from Millions of Users Intercepted by GCHQ
February 27th, 2014Via: Guardian: Britain’s surveillance agency GCHQ, with aid from the US National Security Agency, intercepted and stored the webcam images of millions of internet users not suspected of wrongdoing, secret documents reveal. GCHQ files dating between 2008 and 2010 explicitly state that a surveillance program codenamed Optic Nerve collected still images of Yahoo webcam chats […]
Rolls-Royce Drone Ships
February 26th, 2014Via: Bloomberg: In an age of aerial drones and driver-less cars, Rolls-Royce (RR/) Holdings Plc is designing unmanned cargo ships. Rolls-Royce’s Blue Ocean development team has set up a virtual-reality prototype at its office in Alesund, Norway, that simulates 360-degree views from a vessel’s bridge. Eventually, the London-based manufacturer of engines and turbines says, captains […]
How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations
February 26th, 2014Via: The Intercept: Among the core self-identified purposes of JTRIG are two tactics: (1) to inject all sorts of false material onto the internet in order to destroy the reputation of its targets; and (2) to use social sciences and other techniques to manipulate online discourse and activism to generate outcomes it considers desirable. To […]
Electronics Retailer Checks Customers’ Names Against U.S. Watch List
February 25th, 2014Via: EEV Blog: If your name happens to be fairly common like mine, then you may end up having your orders flagged and put on hold by Element 14, at least here in Australia. Because, well, their system sucks arse, and it seems like they are licking the arse of the United States government to […]
Hopefully, MtGox Is Finally Dead
February 25th, 2014MtGox has needed to die for years. I sincerely hope they they are down for the count this time. That thing was the bitcoin exchange from hell. Via: cNet: Embattled Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has largely vanished from the Internet amid accusations that the exchange is insolvent after a years-long theft that resulted in the […]
Comcast’s Deal with Netflix Makes Network Neutrality Obsolete
February 23rd, 2014Via: Washington Post: For the past two decades, the Internet has operated as an unregulated, competitive free market. Given the tendency of networked industries to lapse into monopoly—think of AT&T’s 70-year hold over telephone service, for example—that’s a minor miracle. But recent developments are putting the Internet’s decentralized architecture in danger. In recent months, the […]
At Newark Airport, the Lights Are On, and They’re Watching You
February 23rd, 2014Via: New York Times: Visitors to Terminal B at Newark Liberty International Airport may notice the bright, clean lighting that now blankets the cavernous interior, courtesy of 171 recently installed LED fixtures. But they probably will not realize that the light fixtures are the backbone of a system that is watching them. Using an array […]
This Man’s $600,000 Facebook Disaster Is a Warning for All Small Businesses
February 22nd, 2014I figured this out after blowing only $10 on Facebook advertising. It’s incredible that companies are wasting tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on this breathtaking scam. Via: Business Insider: Recently, however, Brar has fallen out of love with Facebook. He discovered — as Business Insider reported recently — that his Facebook fanbase was […]
New Jet-Powered Drone Can Kill 1,800 Miles From Home Base
February 22nd, 2014Via: Wired: The Avenger (formerly Predator C), whose prototype flew its first flight in 2009, is operationally ready after a new round of tests completed last month, according to its maker, General Atomics. Based on the company’s more well-known MQ-9 Reaper drone, Avenger is designed to perform high-speed, long-endurance surveillance or strike missions, flying up […]
“Or, maybe nothing, and this is all a coincidence.”
February 22nd, 2014Via: Daring Fireball: According to slide 6 in the leaked PowerPoint deck on NSA’s PRISM program, Apple was “added” in October 2012. These three facts prove nothing; it’s purely circumstantial. But the shoe fits. Sure would be interesting to know who added that spurious line of code to the file. Conspiratorially, one could suppose the […]
