Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
NSA’s Wiretap Rooms in Eight U.S. Cities
June 25th, 2018Via: The Intercept: THE SECRETS ARE hidden behind fortified walls in cities across the United States, inside towering, windowless skyscrapers and fortress-like concrete structures that were built to withstand earthquakes and even nuclear attack. Thousands of people pass by the buildings each day and rarely give them a second glance, because their function is not […]
Synthetic Biology Raises Risk of New Bioweapons
June 20th, 2018When “it” finally happens, my complete lack of surprise will coincide with a sense of wonder that “it” didn’t happen sooner. U.S. Researchers Trying to Create Pandemic Avian Flu Baxter International “Unintentionally” Sent Flu Samples to Companies that Contained H5N1 Avian Flu Scientist Makes H5N1 Highly Contagious New Bird Flu ‘Has Unique Traits’ Bird Flu […]
We Are All Prisoners of the Surveillance State
June 20th, 2018Via: The Rutherford Institute: We now find ourselves in the unenviable position of being monitored, managed and controlled by our technology, which answers not to us but to our government and corporate rulers. Consider that on any given day, the average American going about his daily business will be monitored, surveilled, spied on and tracked […]
Trump Orders Creation of Space-Focused U.S. Military Branch
June 18th, 2018Oh sure, it’ll make the Pentagon more efficient: At incinerating trillions of taxpayer dollars. Also, there’s Carol Rosin’s account of her time with Wernher Von Braun, which might finally be coming into play: The strategy that Wernher Von Braun taught me was that first the Russians are going to be considered to be the enemy. […]
U.S. Prosecutors Pull Encrypted Messages from Phones Seized in Cohen Raids
June 15th, 2018With regard to any application that claims to provide privacy: “The simple fact is that the platforms on which it runs are compromised from the operating systems down to the silicon.” I’m not saying to not encrypt. Encryption can prevent your data from falling into the hands of thieves, Google and maybe the local police. […]
White House Announces 25 Percent Tariff on Chinese Tech Goods
June 15th, 2018Via: The Verge: Today, President Trump announced an aggressive new set of tariffs against China, setting a 25 percent import tax on $50 billion worth of “industrially significant technologies” imported from China. In previous discussions, China has threatened to retaliate against such tariffs, stoking fears of a far-reaching and unpredictable trade war between the countries. […]
AT&T Buys Time Warner for $85 Billion
June 12th, 2018Insane, anticompetitive, Soviet-style vertical integration. So it goes… Via: Los Angeles Times: In the aftermath of a federal judge’s approval Tuesday of the mega-merger between AT&T and Time Warner, you’ll be reading about how this deal will vastly remake the entertainment and information landscape, most likely at consumers’ expense. That take is absolutely true. What’s […]
Homeland Security’s Massive New Database Will Include Face Recognition, DNA, and Peoples’ “Non-Obvious Relationships”
June 10th, 2018Via: EFF: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is quietly building what will likely become the largest database of biometric and biographic data on citizens and foreigners in the United States. The agency’s new Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) database will include multiple forms of biometrics—from face recognition to DNA, data from questionable sources, […]
Homeland Security to Compile Database of Journalists, Bloggers
June 5th, 2018Via: Bloomberg Government: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security wants to monitor hundreds of thousands of news sources around the world and compile a database of journalists, editors, foreign correspondents, and bloggers to identify top “media influencers.” It’s seeking a contractor that can help it monitor traditional news sources as well as social media and […]
The Singapore Hotel Where Top Brass, Weapons Manufacturers and Spies Rub Shoulders
June 3rd, 2018Via: Reuters: For the region’s military officers, diplomats, weapons manufacturers and spies, there are few livelier places than the lobby of Singapore’s Shangri-La hotel around mid-year. Here, beneath pillared ceilings and chandeliers, they gather for an annual informal bash – called the Shangri-La Dialogue – organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
