Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
NSA Targets ‘Leaky Apps Spew Everything’ from Smartphones
January 27th, 2014Via: New York Times: When a smartphone user opens Angry Birds, the popular game application, and starts slinging birds at chortling green pigs, spies could be lurking in the background to snatch data revealing the player’s location, age, sex and other personal information, according to secret British intelligence documents. In their globe-spanning surveillance for terrorism […]
Google Chrome Bug Lets Websites Listen to Your Conversations
January 26th, 2014Via: IBTimes: A bug in Google’s Chrome web browser enables malicious websites to activate your microphone and spy on conversations that happen next to your computer, even after you’ve left the website. Tal Ater, a web developer in Israel discovered the exploit while working on a JavaScript Speech Recognition library called annyang. The internet giant […]
Watchdog Report Says NSA Program Is Illegal and Should End
January 23rd, 2014Captain Obvious checking in on Cryptogon this morning. Via: New York Times: An independent federal privacy watchdog has concluded that the National Security Agency’s program to collect bulk phone call records has provided only “minimal” benefits in counterterrorism efforts, is illegal and should be shut down. The findings are laid out in a 238-page report, […]
Ukraine Tracks Protesters Through Cellphones
January 21st, 2014Via: New York Times: The Ukrainian government used telephone technology to pinpoint the locations of cellphones in use near clashes between riot police officers and protesters early on Tuesday, illustrating that techniques that can be used to target commercial information can serve law enforcement as well. People near the fighting between riot police and protesters […]
Tesla Motors Does Over-the-Air Repairs
January 21st, 2014Wow. I wonder what else they can do to those cars from remote? I wonder if they have disabled one for any reason? Via: MIT Technology Review: Tesla and GM have both issued fire-related recalls, but Tesla’s fix doesn’t require owners to bring their cars in. Tesla Motors is using over-the-air software updates to quickly […]
NSA Collects 200 Million Text Messages Daily; ‘Untargeted’ Global Sweep
January 16th, 2014Via: Guardian: The National Security Agency has collected almost 200 million text messages a day from across the globe, using them to extract data including location, contact networks and credit card details, according to top-secret documents. The untargeted collection and storage of SMS messages – including their contacts – is revealed in a joint investigation […]
Blackphone, for Whatever Ails Ya
January 15th, 2014Via: ZDnet: On Wednesday, Silent Circle and Geeksphone announced the formation of a new Switzerland-based joint venture and its first surveillance-thwarting product, the Blackphone. Powered by a security-oriented Android build named PrivatOS, Blackphone is touted as a carrier and vendor-independent smartphone which allows consumers and businesses to make and receive secure phone calls, exchange secure […]
Law Enforcement Agencies Use of Drones Increasing
January 14th, 2014Via: Washington Post: Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies are increasingly borrowing border-patrol drones for domestic surveillance operations, newly released records show, a harbinger of what is expected to become the commonplace use of unmanned aircraft by police. Customs and Border Protection, which has the largest U.S. drone fleet of its kind outside the […]
NSA Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers
January 14th, 2014Via: New York Times: The National Security Agency has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world that allows the United States to conduct surveillance on those machines and can also create a digital highway for launching cyberattacks. While most of the software is inserted by gaining access to computer networks, the N.S.A. has […]
U.S. Military on Path to Become Google’s Single Largest Customer
January 10th, 2014Via: DailyCaller: Google CEO Larry Page has rapidly positioned Google to become an indispensable U.S. military contractor. Google recently purchased Boston Dynamics, a robotics pioneer that produces amazing humanoid robots for the U.S. Defense Department. This development invites attention to Google’s broader military contracting ambitions — especially since Boston Dynamics is the eighth robotics company […]
