Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
Many of the NSA’s Loudest Defenders Have Financial Ties to NSA Contractors
May 14th, 2015Via: FirstLook: The talking heads have been backstopping the NSA’s mass surveillance more or less continuously since it was revealed. They spoke out to support the agency when NSA contractor Edward Snowden released details of its programs in 2013, and they’ve kept up their advocacy ever since — on television news shows, newspaper op-ed pages, […]
Brainwave-Reading Patents Spike on Increase in Commercial Mind-Reading Apps
May 9th, 2015Via: Network World: More developers are creating commercial applications that use brainwave-reading technology that was previously found only in the medical field.
U.S. NSA Domestic Phone Spying Program Illegal: Appeals Court
May 7th, 2015Via: Reuters: A U.S. spying program that collects data about millions of Americans’ phone calls is illegal, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday, adding pressure on lawmakers to decide quickly whether to end or replace the program, which was intended to help fight terrorism. While stopping short of declaring the program unconstitutional, the 2nd […]
Surveillance Planes Spotted in Sky for Days After West Baltimore Rioting
May 6th, 2015Via: Washington Post: What Shayne’s online rumination helped unveil was a previously secret, multi-day campaign of overhead surveillance by city and federal authorities during a period of historic political protest and unrest. … A government official familiar with the operations, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss matters not approved for public release, said […]
France: More Surveillance
May 6th, 2015Via: BBC: The French parliament has approved a controversial law strengthening the intelligence services, with the aim of preventing Islamist attacks. The law on intelligence-gathering, adopted by 438 votes to 86, was drafted after three days of attacks in Paris in January, in which 17 people died. The Socialist government says the law is needed […]
Cops No Longer Need a Warrant When Seeking Cellphone Records from Wireless Carriers
May 6th, 2015Via: Vice: Cops no longer need a warrant when seeking cellphone records from wireless carriers in the US a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday—reversing its own decision from last year. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that citizens have no expectation of privacy when it comes to records held […]
New GPS Technology Identifies Locations within Centimeters
May 5th, 2015Via: Independent: New GPS technology that can identify locations accurate to within centimetres could open the way for huge advances in virtual reality and mobile mapping, scientists believe. Researchers at the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas said the centimetre-accurate GPS-based positioning system could allow unmanned aerial vehicles to deliver packages to […]
NSA Speech to Text Systems Makes Conversations Searchable
May 5th, 2015Via: FirstLook: Most people realize that emails and other digital communications they once considered private can now become part of their permanent record. But even as they increasingly use apps that understand what they say, most people don’t realize that the words they speak are not so private anymore, either. Top-secret documents from the archive […]
China: Social Credit System
April 27th, 2015Via: de Volkskrant: The Chinese government is currently implementing a nationwide electronic system, called the Social Credit System, attributing to each of its 1,3 billion citizens a score for his or her behavior. The system will be based on various criteria, ranging from financial credibility and criminal record to social media behavior. From 2020 onwards […]
German Intelligence Helped NSA Spy on European Politicians and Defense Contractors
April 24th, 2015Via: Ars Technica: Germany’s intelligence service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), has been helping the NSA spy on European politicians and companies for years, according to the German news magazine Der Spiegel. The NSA has been sending lists of “selectors”—identifying telephone numbers, e-mail and IP addresses—to the BND, which then provides related information that it holds in […]
