Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
BBC to Spy on Internet Users Watching BBC Without Paying TV Licence Fee
August 5th, 2016Via: Mirror: The BBC is to spy on internet users in their homes – and sniff out those watching iPlayer without paying the TV Licence fee. The Beeb is set to employ Wi-Fi detection vans to prosecute people illegally watching its programmes online. From September the broadcaster will use information from private Wi-Fi networks in […]
iPhone Case to Monitor Device’s Radios for Surveillance Activity
July 21st, 2016Of course, inexpensive signal blocking pouches can prevent phones from communicating. You have to test them to make sure that they’re actually blocking the signals. See: Black Hole Faraday Bags, for example. This thing below, however, will tell you when something dodgy is happening. (Much better than my warm-to-the-touch-dead-battery indicator.) Via: Wired: A mockup of […]
‘Pokémon Go’: Government Surveillance App?
July 14th, 2016For commentary on this, I’d mainly offer my 2012 piece: Ingress: Google’s Strange New Game Flash forward to 2016 and Pokémon Go offers the same soft control, but now with mass appeal. You might be thinking, mass appeal? What? With 10-year-olds? It turns out that in the swipetarded zombie apocalypse, “Pokémon Go tops Twitter’s daily […]
How “Fansmitter” Malware Can Steal Data from Air-Gapped Computers
June 30th, 2016Via: MIT Technology Review: Changing a computer’s fan speed produces an audio signal that can be hijacked to steal data, say computer security experts who have tested the technique. … Fansmitters are simple in principle. Almost all computers use fans to cool the main CPU and the graphics card, and to pump air through the […]
Google Wants to Slither Into Public Transportation
June 27th, 2016Via: Guardian: Sidewalk Labs, a secretive subsidiary of Alphabet, wants to radically overhaul public parking and transportation in American cities, emails and documents obtained by the Guardian reveal. Its high-tech services, which it calls “new superpowers to extend access and mobility”, could make it easier to drive and park in cities and create hybrid public/private […]
The Fourth Amendment Does Not Apply to Your Home Computer
June 24th, 2016Via: EFF: In a dangerously flawed decision unsealed today, a federal district court in Virginia ruled that a criminal defendant has no “reasonable expectation of privacy” in his personal computer, located inside his home. According to the court, the federal government does not need a warrant to hack into an individual’s computer. … The implications […]
Advanced GPS Tracking Possible for Auckland Tolling
June 22nd, 2016The system would track positions of all cars, and could enforce traffic laws. Have a nice day. Via: New Zealand Herald: The Government says GPS tracking may be used to charge drivers for using Auckland’s roads – a move which experts say is the most advanced in the world but also raises concerns about “Big […]
U.S. Orders Drones with Radiation Detectors Designed for Nuclear Emergencies
June 19th, 2016Via: Las Vegas Review Journal: Nuclear emergency responders are being trained to fly the drones and assess radioactive plumes under such scenarios as what occurred in the earthquake-triggered reactor meltdowns during the 2011 disaster at Fukushima, Japan.
FBI Says Utility Pole Surveillance Cam Locations Must Be Kept Secret
June 15th, 2016Via: Ars Technica: The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has successfully convinced a federal judge to block the disclosure of where the bureau has attached surveillance cams on Seattle utility poles. The decision Monday stopping Seattle City Light from divulging the information was expected, as claims of national security tend to trump the public’s right […]
GCHQ Spy Programme with Secret Link to Scottish Police
June 12th, 2016Via: The National: SECRET reports leaked by US whistleblower Edward Snowden have revealed how UK mass surveillance of phone and internet activity was accessed by Scottish police forces. The documents confirm that a little-known policing body called the Scottish Recording Centre (SRC) was given access to information logs that include millions of communications data, including […]
