Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Bloomberg Spied on Market Data Subscribers
May 11th, 2013Via: CNN: That was the unsettling realization Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) executives came to a few weeks ago when a Bloomberg reporter inadvertently revealed the surveillance capabilities reporters from the news and financial data provider have over users of Bloomberg terminals. Traders throughout the financial world depend on Bloomberg terminals for real-time data on […]
FBI Documents Suggest Feds Read Emails Without a Warrant
May 11th, 2013Via: ACLU: New documents from the FBI and U.S. Attorneys’ offices paint a troubling picture of the government’s email surveillance practices. Not only does the FBI claim it can read emails and other electronic communications without a warrant—even after a federal appeals court ruled that doing so violates the Fourth Amendment—but the documents strongly suggest […]
Mysterious Aircraft Puzzles Quincy Residents
May 11th, 2013Via: Patriot Ledger: The Federal Aviation Administration knows what’s up there but it’s not telling the public. A slew of Quincy residents have been complaining and calling police and the city about an aircraft that appeared about two weeks ago and has been taking wide, repeated loops in the air, between about 7 p.m. and […]
Pentagon Wants ‘Human Surrogate’ for Directed Energy Weapons Testing
May 10th, 2013If the pain ray just affects the skin, as the military has said for years, why do the “Human Surrogate” systems need simulated organs? The spokesperson mentioned in the piece below said that the surrogate will be, “A common test target that can be used across the spectrum of non-lethal stimuli.” That’s fine, nothing to […]
Biometric Database of All Adult Americans Hidden in Immigration Reform
May 10th, 2013Via: Wired: The immigration reform measure the Senate began debating yesterday would create a national biometric database of virtually every adult in the U.S., in what privacy groups fear could be the first step to a ubiquitous national identification system. Buried in the more than 800 pages of the bipartisan legislation (.pdf) is language mandating […]
State Department Asks Defense Distributed to Take Down Its 3D-Printed Gun Plans; Hilarity Ensues
May 10th, 2013These are probably some of the most mirrored files ever, and news of the ban is just causing more people to become interested in them. Via: Atlantic Wire: Defense Distributed, the Texas-based nonprofit that wants to empower people to 3D print their own guns, has hit a bit of a legal snag. According to founder […]
Britain: Snooper’s Charter
May 9th, 2013Via: Guardian: The government appears to have left open the door to the resurrection of the controversial “snooper’s charter” bill to track everyone’s email, internet and mobile text use. Whitehall sources confirmed that the possibility of legislation remains under discussion despite a declaration by Nick Clegg that the communications data legislation “isn’t going to happen […]
Nordstrom Using Smart Phones To Track Customer Movements
May 8th, 2013WiFi Auto Turn Off Via: CBS: Nordstrom says it wants to serve you better, so it’s tracking your movements through their stores. The CBS 11 I-Team has learned the retailer is using software to track how much time you spend in specific departments within the store. The technology is being used in 17 Nordstrom and […]
India: ‘Central Monitoring System’
May 8th, 2013Via: Times of India: The government last month quietly began rolling out a project that gives it access to everything that happens over India’s telecommunications network—online activities, phone calls, text messages and even social media conversations. Called the Central Monitoring System, it will be the single window from where government arms such as the National […]
Screen Zombie Students
May 8th, 2013Via: Slate: Concern about young people’s use of technology is nothing new, of course. But Rosen’s study, published in the May issue of Computers in Human Behavior, is part of a growing body of research focused on a very particular use of technology: media multitasking while learning. Attending to multiple streams of information and entertainment […]
