Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
Prime Minister of New Zealand on Mobile Phones: “You can use it as a listening device, whether it is on or not”
June 10th, 2015Via: New Zealand Herald: Prime Minister John Key gets rid of his mobile phone every few months for security reasons. Mr Key has also revealed that he would never take his phone into sensitive meetings – whether it was turned on or not – for fear that it could be turned into a listening device […]
Mass Snooping Fake Mobile Towers Uncovered in UK
June 10th, 2015Via: BBC: Fake mobile towers that scoop up data from passing phones are routinely being used in London, an investigation by Sky News suggests. Working with German security company GMSK Cryptophone, it claims to have uncovered direct evidence, the first in the UK, of at least 20 instances of the use of these cell site […]
NSA Secretly Expands Internet Spying at U.S. Border
June 4th, 2015Via: New York Times: Without public notice or debate, the Obama administration has expanded the National Security Agency’s warrantless surveillance of Americans’ international Internet traffic to search for evidence of malicious computer hacking, according to classified N.S.A. documents.
FBI Behind Mysterious Surveillance Aircraft Over U.S. Cities
June 2nd, 2015Via: AP: The FBI is operating a small air force with scores of low-flying planes across the country carrying video and, at times, cellphone surveillance technology — all hidden behind fictitious companies that are fronts for the government, The Associated Press has learned. The planes’ surveillance equipment is generally used without a judge’s approval, and […]
Mysterious Low-Flying Plane Over Twin Cities
May 30th, 2015Via: Star Tribune: Aviation buff John Zimmerman was at a weekly gathering of neighbors Friday night when he noticed something peculiar: a small plane circling a route overhead that didn’t make sense to him. It was dark, so a sightseeing flight didn’t make sense, and when Zimmerman pulled up more information on an aviation phone […]
Apple and Google Just Attended a Confidential Spy Summit in a Remote English Mansion
May 23rd, 2015Via: First Look: At an 18th-century mansion in England’s countryside last week, current and former spy chiefs from seven countries faced off with representatives from tech giants Apple and Google to discuss government surveillance in the aftermath of Edward Snowden’s leaks. The three-day conference, which took place behind closed doors and under strict rules about […]
UK Government Quietly Rewrites Hacking Laws to Give GCHQ Immunity
May 17th, 2015Via: ArsTechnica: The UK government has quietly passed new legislation that exempts GCHQ, police, and other intelligence officers from prosecution for hacking into computers and mobile phones. While major or controversial legislative changes usually go through normal parliamentary process (i.e. democratic debate) before being passed into law, in this case an amendment to the Computer […]
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 […]
