Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
The CIA and Jeff Bezos Bet on Quantum Computing
October 5th, 2012Via: MIT Technology Review: Inside a blocky building in a Vancouver suburb, across the street from a dowdy McDonald’s, is a place chilled colder than anywhere in the known universe. Inside that is a computer processor that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the CIA’s investment arm, In-Q-Tel, believe can tap the quirks of quantum mechanics […]
Britain: National ‘Virtual ID Card’ Scheme
October 4th, 2012Via: Independent: The Government will announce details this month of a controversial national identity scheme which will allow people to use their mobile phones and social media profiles as official identification documents for accessing public services. People wishing to apply for services ranging from tax credits to fishing licences and passports will be asked to […]
Historical Cell Phone Location Data: No Reasonable Expectation of Privacy, According to U.S. Government
October 3rd, 2012Via: Computerworld: Individuals have no reasonable expectation of privacy in historical cell phone location data collected and maintained by phone companies, a federal prosecutor said in oral arguments Monday before a three-judge panel from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. The court is reviewing an appeal from the U.S government in a […]
‘So, who does gain from the drugs trade?’
October 3rd, 2012The private prison scam is a key component of this as well. Via: Al Jazeera: Clearly a small number of criminals make significant sums from the trade. But most people are working for little more than subsistence wages, from the peasants growing coca plants in the Andes or opium poppies in Afghanistan to the dealers […]
‘Fusion Centers’ Threaten Civil Liberties While Doing Little to Counter Terrorism
October 3rd, 2012Via: Los Angeles Times: A federal domestic security effort to help state and local law enforcement catch terrorists by setting up more than 70 information-sharing centers around the country has threatened civil liberties while doing little to combat terrorism, a two-year examination by a Senate subcommittee found. The so-called fusion centers were created in 2003 […]
White House Secret Meetings to Consider Unilateral Military Strikes in North Africa
October 2nd, 2012Via: Washington Post: The White House has held a series of secret meetings in recent months to examine the threat posed by al-Qaeda’s franchise in North Africa and consider for the first time whether to prepare for unilateral strikes, U.S. officials said.
China: 50ft Tsunami of Foam Sweeps Through Village After Chemical Spill
September 30th, 2012Harmless. Nothing to see here. Carry on. Via: Daily Mail: This wall of foam sparked widespread panic among locals as it rushed along a river in southern China. The mass of soapy suds blanketed the water in Xintang, in China’s Guangdong province, leading to evacuations along the banks of the river. But officials have now […]
Big Sis Doesn’t Use Email
September 29th, 2012Via: National Journal: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who is a key player in national cybersecurity efforts, said on Friday she doesn’t use e-mail. “Don’t laugh, but I just don’t use e-mail at all,” she said during a discussion at a Cybersecurity Summit hosted by National Journal and Government Executive. She didn’t explain what communications […]
Justice Department’s Warrantless Spying Increased 600 Percent in Decade
September 29th, 2012Via: Wired: The Justice Department use of warrantless internet and telephone surveillance methods known as pen register and trap-and-trace has exploded in the last decade, according to government documents the American Civil Liberties obtained via a Freedom of Information Act claim. Pen registers obtain, in real time, non-content information of outbound telephone and internet communications, […]
75% Tax on Top Incomes in France
September 28th, 2012Via: Reuters: President Francois Hollande’s Socialist government unveiled sharp tax hikes on business and the rich on Friday in a 2013 budget aimed at showing France has the fiscal rigor to remain at the core of the euro zone. … To the dismay of business leaders who fear an exodus of top talent, the government […]
