Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
Potential for Ultrasonic Beacons to Trigger Smartphone Apps
May 4th, 2017Apparently, you have to open some app for the this to happen: The situation isn’t that worrisome, as users have to open an app with the Shopkick SDK for the beacon to be picked up. Even so, here’s another one for your already herniating Mobile Phones Are Creepy as Hell file folder. Via: Bleeping Computer: […]
UN Using Ethereum Blockchain and Iris Scanning Technologies to Distribute Funds to Refugees
May 1st, 2017Via: CoinDesk: Starting today, the United Nations (UN) will begin distributing funds to thousands of people in Jordan as part of a trial using the ethereum blockchain. For the next month, cryptographically unique coupons representing an undisclosed number of Jordanian dinars will be sent to dozens of shops in five refugee camps across the nation. […]
Facebook Conducted Research to Target Emotionally Vulnerable and Insecure Youth
May 1st, 2017Via: news.com.au: FACEBOOK has come under fire over revelations it is targeting potentially vulnerable youths who “need a confidence boost” to facilitate predatory advertising practices. The allegation was revealed this morning by The Australian which obtained internal documents from the social media giant which reportedly show how Facebook can exploit the moods and insecurities of […]
“Cashless Society Getting Closer”
April 27th, 2017Via: Reuters: More than a third of Europeans and Americans would be happy to go without cash and rely on electronic forms of payment if they could, and at least 20 percent already pretty much do so, a study showed on Wednesday. The study, which was conducted in 13 European countries, the United States and […]
Amazon Launches Surveillance System, Calls it “A Hands-Free Camera and Style Assistant”
April 27th, 2017Hey all you dumbshits who expose SMB to the Internet on unpatched Windows boxes: Your new, “hands-free camera and style assistant” is here. *wink* *wink* Via: The Verge: Amazon today announced a new device for the Echo family: the Echo Look, a “style assistant” camera that helps catalog your outfits and rates your look based […]
Silicon Valley Security Robot Attacked by Drunk Man
April 27th, 2017I wonder what will happen when the food delivery bots go rolling past homeless people camped on sidewalks… Via: BBC: A California man has been arrested after attacking a crime prevention robot in a car park, police say. The Knightscope machine was on patrol outside the Silicon Valley company that created it when the alleged […]
NSA Blimp Spied in the United States
April 24th, 2017Via: The Intercept: To residents of Maryland, catching an occasional glimpse of a huge white blimp floating in the sky is not unusual. For more than a decade, the military has used the state as a proving ground for new airships destined for Afghanistan or Iraq. But less known is that the test flights have […]
Japan Made Secret Deals with the NSA that Expanded Global Surveillance
April 24th, 2017Via: The Intercept: The documents, published Monday in collaboration with Japanese news broadcaster NHK, reveal the complicated relationship the NSA has maintained with Japan over a period of more than six decades. Japan has allowed NSA to maintain at least three bases on its territory and contributed more than half a billion dollars to help […]
Five Eyes Meeting in New Zealand
April 20th, 2017Via: New Zealand Herald: The highly secretive meeting being held in Queenstown this weekend is a gathering of intelligence and security agencies related to the Five Eyes spying network, the Herald understands. Among the people believed to be attending are Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director James Comey and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Mike […]
Google Home Capable of Voice Printing Multiple Users
April 20th, 2017Back on April 13: Is that Google Home device capable of voice printing people? If so, maybe the phones are too. Well, that didn’t take long. Via: Google: We’re adding the ability for up to six people to connect their account to one Google Home. So now when I ask my Google Assistant for help, […]
