Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Secret Military Contractors Will Soon Mine Your Tweets
February 13th, 2014Via: DefenseOne: The Army wants a contractor to conduct detailed social media data mining to “identify violent extremist influences” around the world that could affect the European Command, responsible for operations in Europe as well as Iceland, Israel, Greenland and Russia. Though the project is classified Secret, an Army contract shop in Europe posted a […]
You Know Who Else Collected Metadata? The Stasi.
February 13th, 2014Via: ProPublica: The East German secret police, known as the Stasi, were an infamously intrusive secret police force. They amassed dossiers on about one quarter of the population of the country during the Communist regime. But their spycraft — while incredibly invasive — was also technologically primitive by today’s standards. While researching my book Dragnet […]
After 5 Rejections, Apple Accepts App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes
February 13th, 2014Via: Mashable: Persistence, it turns out, does pay off. After rejecting it five times, Apple has finally approved an app that tracks every U.S. drone strike and sends a push notification to users every time a flying robot carries out a deadly mission around the world. Josh Begley, the data artist and developer who made […]
Much of the Editing Work on Wikipedia Is Done by Bots
February 13th, 2014Via: MIT Technology Review: Less well known is Wikidata, an information repository designed to share basic facts for use on different language versions of Wikipedia. Wikidata therefore plays a crucial role in lubricating the flow of information between these online communities. Maintaining all this data is a difficult job. It requires significant editing and polishing, […]
Britain: Children Act Out Drug and Rape Scenes from Grand Theft Auto
February 12th, 2014Via: South Wales Argus: A HEADTEACHER has sent a letter to parents after becoming aware of “extremely concerning behaviour” of pupils, some as young as six, which he puts down to a violent video game. Pupils at Coed-y-Brain Primary School, in Llanbradach, have been, according to head teacher Morian Morgan, “initiating games that involve simulating […]
Careto: Complex Malware Has Been Targeting High Intelligence Value Individuals Since 2007
February 12th, 2014Via: Vice: A surprisingly sophisticated malware named Careto has been infecting computers globally since at least 2007, a new report from security firm Kaspersky revealed today. While the virus, also known as The Mask, appears to have originated in a Spanish-speaking country—careto, a Spanish slang term for an ugly face, was found in the code—it’s […]
DARPA’s Experimental Spaceplane XS-1
February 12th, 2014Via: space.com: The United States military is making progress toward developing a new unmanned space plane, which it aims to begin flight-testing in 2017. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to award the first design contracts for the vehicle project — known as Experimental Spaceplane, or XS-1— in May or thereabouts, officials said. […]
Foxconn Working With Google on Robotics
February 11th, 2014Via: Wall Street Journal: People familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that Foxconn has been working with former Android executive Andy Rubin since last year to carry out the U.S. company’s vision for robotics. To speed up robot deployment at its own factories, Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou met with Rubin in Taipei […]
Google to Run and Renovate U.S. Government Airfield
February 11th, 2014Via: AP: The U.S. government has picked a Google subsidiary to run and renovate a federal airfield that is frequently used for the personal flights of the Internet company’s billionaire executives. The decision announced Monday clears the way for Google’s Planetary Ventures LLC to take over management of the 1,000-acre Moffett Federal Airfield, a former […]
We Track ‘Em, You Whack ‘Em
February 11th, 2014Via: First Look: The National Security Agency is using complex analysis of electronic surveillance, rather than human intelligence, as the primary method to locate targets for lethal drone strikes – an unreliable tactic that results in the deaths of innocent or unidentified people. According to a former drone operator for the military’s Joint Special Operations […]
