Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
Tesla’s Second Generation Autopilot Could Reduce Crash Rate by 90%, Says CEO Elon Musk
January 21st, 2017Whatever you think about autonomous drive technologies, my point with posting these stories is not to be a cheerleader one way or another. I just want to be sure everyone knows that this stuff is real and it is coming. Millions of drivers will lose their jobs, and these are not minimum wage, burger flipping […]
Air Force Tests IBM’s Brain-Inspired Chip as an Aerial Tank Spotter
January 17th, 2017Nope, there aren’t any SkyNet jokes in the article. Via: MIT Technology Review: Satellites, aircraft, and growing numbers of drones—the U.S. Air Force has a lot of electronic eyes in the sky. Now it’s exploring whether brain-inspired computer chips could give those systems the smarts to do things like automatically identify vehicles such as tanks […]
Obama Expands Surveillance Powers on His Way Out
January 13th, 2017Via: Electronic Frontier Foundation: With mere days left before President-elect Donald Trump takes the White House, President Barack Obama’s administration just finalized rules to make it easier for the nation’s intelligence agencies to share unfiltered information about innocent people. New rules issued by the Obama administration under Executive Order 12333 will let the NSA—which collects […]
Facebook: Building 8
January 12th, 2017Wikipedia: Transcranial Pulsed Ultrasound: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is undergoing research to develop a helmet that could control the minds of soldiers through the use of TPU. It would have the potential to control a soldier’s stress and anxiety levels with the click of a remote controlled button.[5] Sound waves would target specific […]
China Has Wealth of Data on What Individuals Are Doing at a Micro Level
January 11th, 2017Most of what sounds grim about this situation in China is the same in the U.S. Via: CBC: Living in China, it’s safe to assume pretty much everything about you is known — or easily can be known — by the government. Where you go, who you’re with, which restaurants you like, when and why […]
Terror Suspects Could be Forced to Wear Electronic Tags Under Radical Proposal from German Justice Minister
January 9th, 2017Do you get it yet? Do you see what becomes possible when they create the problem in the first place? If you think this would just be used on “Islamic extremists,” read the statement from Heiko Maas carefully: “The use of ankle tags should not be only available for convicted criminals after release from prison, […]
How Is the Facebook Android App So Diabolical?
January 2nd, 2017Update: How Facebook Learns About Your Offline Life I found this, but it doesn’t mention the “hot mics” issue that is obviously real: How Facebook Learns About Your Offline Life — Can anyone explain this one? During Christmas, I was over at a house with a bunch of family members. My brother in law’s girlfriend […]
Police to Use Information from Internet Connected Appliances
January 2nd, 2017Via: Telegraph: High-tech washing machines and fridges will soon be used by detectives gathering evidence from crime scenes, experts have forecast. The advent of ‘the internet of things’ in which more devices are connected together in a world of ‘smart working’ could in future provide important clues for the police. Detectives are currently being trained […]
Virtual Reality Allows the Most Detailed, Intimate Digital Surveillance Yet
December 26th, 2016Via: The Intercept: But as the tech industry continues to build VR’s social future, the very systems that enable immersive experiences are already establishing new forms of shockingly intimate surveillance. Once they are in place, researchers warn, the psychological aspects of digital embodiment — combined with the troves of data that consumer VR products can […]
AUSTRALIA COULD SCRAP THE $100 NOTE
December 13th, 2016India. Venezuela. Australia? Via: New Zealand Herald: Australia looks set to follow in the footsteps of Venezuela and India by abolishing the country’s highest-denomination banknote in a bid to crack down on the “black economy”. Speaking to ABC radio on Wednesday, Revenue and Financial Services Minister Kelly O’Dwyer flagged a review of the $100 note […]
