Archive for the 'Technology' Category
U.S. Army Unveils 1.8 Gigapixel Camera Helicopter Drone
January 17th, 2012Via: BBC: New helicopter-style drones with 1.8 gigapixel colour cameras are being developed by the US Army. The army said the technology promised “an unprecedented capability to track and monitor activity on the ground”. … The Argus-IS’s acronym was chosen to recall Argus Panoptes – the one-hundred-eyed-giant of Greek mythology. The technology is based on […]
TSA to Test Airport Scanner Operators for Radiation Exposure
January 16th, 2012Via: Los Angeles Times: After years of rebuffing health concerns over airport scanners, the Transportation Security Administration plans to conduct new tests on the potential radiation exposure from the machines at more than 100 airports nationwide. But the TSA does not plan to retest the machines or passengers. Instead, the agency plans to test its […]
UCSF Professor: “Society Will Pay a Huge Price in Cancer” Because of DHS Full Vehicle X-Ray Machines
January 16th, 2012Via: Cnet: Internal Homeland Security documents describing specifications for border-crossing scanners, which emit gamma or X-ray radiation to probe vehicles and their occupants, are raising new health and privacy concerns, CNET has learned. Even though a public outcry has prompted Homeland Security to move away from adding X-ray machines to airports–it purchased 300 body scanners […]
Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory
January 16th, 2012Update: Apple’s Chinese iPhone Plants Employ Forced Interns, Claim Campaigners Via: Guardian: Apple’s factories in China are employing tens of thousands of students, some of them on forced internships, according to campaigners lobbying for better labour conditions at Foxconn plants, which assemble iPhones. Some students could be as young as 16. The Foxconn chairman, Terry […]
Bay Area Company Creating Massive Vehicle Location Database from Police License Plate Scanning
January 12th, 2012Here’s one for your Retroactive Surveillance file folder. Via: San Francisco Chronicle: Capitalizing on one of the fastest-growing trends in law enforcement, a private company in Livermore has compiled a database bulging with more than 550 million bits of information that let police know when and where specific license plates of both innocent and criminal […]
Who Is Operating Unmanned Aircraft in the U.S.? EFF Files Suit to Try to Find Out
January 12th, 2012Via: Electronic Frontier Foundation: The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit today against the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), demanding data on certifications and authorizations the agency has issued for the operation of unmanned aircraft, also known as drones. Drones are designed to carry surveillance equipment – including video cameras, infrared cameras and heat sensors, […]
Homeland Security Watches Twitter, Social Media, Blogs
January 12th, 2012Cryptogon readers yawn even more deeply than usual… Via: Reuters: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s command center routinely monitors dozens of popular websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, WikiLeaks and news and gossip sites including the Huffington Post and Drudge Report, according to a government document. A “privacy compliance review” issued by DHS last November […]
U.S. Army Routinely Monitors Social Media and Prepares Sentiment Briefs for Public Affairs Personnel
January 11th, 2012Via: Politico: News coverage of Pfc. Bradley Manning’s legal hearing last month on charges of being a key source for WikiLeaks was generally ‘negative’ but ‘balanced and factual,’ according to daily summaries of the proceedings prepared by Army public affairs personnel. The Army flacks also took a keen interest in news coverage of former Lt. […]
Mass Suicide Threats at Foxconn Xbox 360 Plant
January 11th, 2012Foxconn has a plan to deal with these pesky meatsacks, and I don’t mean suicide prevention nets. Foxconn Wants to Build “Intelligent Robotics Kingdom” to Replace Human Workers with Robots Foxconn: 1 Million Robots in 3 Years Via: Kotaku: On Jan. 2, over 300 employees at a Foxconn plant in Wuhan, China threatened to throw […]
McDonald’s Restaurants in Australia Will Spray Synthetic DNA on Robbers
January 9th, 2012Via: news.com.au: McDONALD’S restaurants are fighting back against thieves by blasting suspected robbers with an invisible DNA spray as they attempt to flee. The spray, which remains on the suspect’s skin for two weeks and on clothes for up to six months, has been introduced in some of the chain’s busiest NSW stores, including those […]
