Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
Law Enforcement Speech Recognition System Stores Millions of Voices
September 23rd, 2012Made in Russia. Via: Slate: Russia’s Speech Technology Center, which operates under the name SpeechPro in the United States, has invented what it calls “VoiceGrid Nation,” a system that uses advanced algorithms to match identities to voices. The idea is that it enables authorities to build up a huge database containing up to several million […]
Iran Claims Siemens Planted Bombs in Parts Meant for Nuclear Program
September 23rd, 2012Via: AP: Iran on Saturday accused the German technology company Siemens of planting tiny explosives inside equipment Iran bought for its disputed nuclear program, a charge Siemens denied. Aladdin Boroujerdi, a prominent lawmaker, said Iranian security experts discovered the explosives and removed them before detonation. The authorities believe that the booby-trapped equipment was sold to […]
Facebook Wants You To Snitch on Friends Using Pseudonyms
September 22nd, 2012Via: Paul Bernal’s Blog: A story about Facebook went around twitter last night that provoked quite a reaction in privacy advocates like me: Facebook, it seems, is experimenting with getting people to ‘snitch’ on any of their friends who don’t use their real names. Take a look at this…
DARPA’s Mentats: EEG Data Used for Threat Detection
September 20th, 2012During a recent email conversation about a related technology with a friend of mine, who, shall we say, knows more than a little about this subject, he wrote something that you might find interesting: Interesting approach. It sounds like they’ve given up on computers processing images and instead they’re trying to create a mentat. Maybe […]
Holder Cleared in Justice Gunwalking Probe
September 20th, 2012Mmm hmm. Via: CBS: The Justice Department’s inspector general cleared Attorney General Eric Holder Wednesday of knowing about the gun-walking operation known as Fast and Furious that allowed thousands of weapons to cross into Mexico. But Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded that there were “serious failures” at both the Justice Department and its Bureau of […]
iTravel: Apple’s Secret Plan to Join iPhones with Airport Security
September 20th, 2012If you have been waiting for a good one for the top of your Not-The-Onion pile, this is it. Via: CNN: Apple is releasing a mobile wallet app called Passbook which could lead to some of the ideas suggested in these iTravel patent schematics, which were submitted in 2008. The patent was granted last July. […]
Ghost Warehouse Stocks Haunt China’s Steel Sector
September 20th, 2012This one about the steel will seem very familiar to anyone who has looked into various “gold” ETF and storage schemes offered by large banks around the world. Via: Reuters: Chinese banks and companies looking to seize steel pledged as collateral by firms that have defaulted on loans are making an uncomfortable discovery: the metal […]
Beijing Hints at Bond Attack on Japan
September 19th, 2012My guess is that this is, at present, little more than bloviation. But tomorrow, or next week… Who knows… Via: Telegraph: Jin Baisong from the Chinese Academy of International Trade – a branch of the commerce ministry – said China should use its power as Japan’s biggest creditor with $230bn (£141bn) of bonds to “impose […]
Cyber Clues Link U.S. to New Computer Viruses
September 18th, 2012Via: Reuters: Researchers have found evidence suggesting that the United States may have developed three previously unknown computer viruses for use in espionage operations or cyber warfare. … For now, the two firms know very little about the newly identified viruses, except that one of them is currently deployed in the Middle East. They are […]
Two American Companies Layoff Hundreds Of Workers: Military Uniform Contracts Awarded To Prison Inmates
September 17th, 2012Via: Inquisitr: Two American companies which make military uniforms are laying off hundreds of workers as the federal government decides to use prison inmates to make soldier fatigues. American Apparel currently charges $29.44 per uniform. The cost will increase by 15 percent when Federal Prison Industries (FPI) convicts begin sewing the clothing at a cost […]
