Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
Britain: National ‘Virtual ID Card’ Scheme
October 4th, 2012Via: Independent: The Government will announce details this month of a controversial national identity scheme which will allow people to use their mobile phones and social media profiles as official identification documents for accessing public services. People wishing to apply for services ranging from tax credits to fishing licences and passports will be asked to […]
Historical Cell Phone Location Data: No Reasonable Expectation of Privacy, According to U.S. Government
October 3rd, 2012Via: Computerworld: Individuals have no reasonable expectation of privacy in historical cell phone location data collected and maintained by phone companies, a federal prosecutor said in oral arguments Monday before a three-judge panel from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. The court is reviewing an appeal from the U.S government in a […]
‘Fusion Centers’ Threaten Civil Liberties While Doing Little to Counter Terrorism
October 3rd, 2012Via: Los Angeles Times: A federal domestic security effort to help state and local law enforcement catch terrorists by setting up more than 70 information-sharing centers around the country has threatened civil liberties while doing little to combat terrorism, a two-year examination by a Senate subcommittee found. The so-called fusion centers were created in 2003 […]
Traders Spy on Oklahoma Hub With Satellites, Sensors and Infrared Cameras
October 2nd, 2012Via: NPR: The bottleneck of crude stored in Cushing, Okla., has become the country’s “biggest bank vault of oil,” Businessweek’s Matthew Phillips writes. And it’s only getting bigger. The clog — which is pushing down the price of West Texas Intermediate crude from Oklahoma, creating a gap with its international rival, Brent — is making […]
Big Sis Doesn’t Use Email
September 29th, 2012Via: National Journal: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who is a key player in national cybersecurity efforts, said on Friday she doesn’t use e-mail. “Don’t laugh, but I just don’t use e-mail at all,” she said during a discussion at a Cybersecurity Summit hosted by National Journal and Government Executive. She didn’t explain what communications […]
Justice Department’s Warrantless Spying Increased 600 Percent in Decade
September 29th, 2012Via: Wired: The Justice Department use of warrantless internet and telephone surveillance methods known as pen register and trap-and-trace has exploded in the last decade, according to government documents the American Civil Liberties obtained via a Freedom of Information Act claim. Pen registers obtain, in real time, non-content information of outbound telephone and internet communications, […]
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key Apologizes to Kim Dotcom for Illegal Surveillance
September 27th, 2012Via: New Zealand Herald: Prime Minister John Key says he apologises to Kim Dotcom for what he has described as “basic errors” by the Government Communications and Security Bureau, but that has not stopped opposition parties from calling for a more detailed independent inquiry. In a media conference after the release of the report into […]
Australia: Attorney General Wants ISPs to Retain Two Years of Data
September 26th, 2012Via: The Age: AUSTRALIA’S security and law enforcement agencies are world leaders in telecommunications interception and data access and like most successful industries, they want more. Federal Attorney-General Nicola Roxon is canvassing a further expansion of surveillance powers, most controversially a requirement that telecommunications and internet service providers retain at least two years of data […]
New Zealand Government Communications Security Bureau Illegally Targeted Kim Dotcom, Bram van der Kolk and Their Families
September 24th, 2012Update: “A High Court judge is “concerned” about how Government spies could have failed to realise the residency status of internet mogul Kim Dotcom. — Via: New Zealand Herald: An inquiry into unlawful bugging by the Government’s foreign intelligence arm relates to intercepted communications by Kim Dotcom himself and his co-accused Bram van der Kolk, […]
Not The Onion: NYPD Urges iPhone 5 Owners to Register Device, Deploys Officers to Stores
September 24th, 2012Oh sure. Via: Reuters: In response to a sharp spike in iPhone thefts from unwitting consumers this year, the New York City Police Department will station officers at Apple Inc. sales locations throughout the city for Friday’s release of the new iPhone 5. The officers will help customers register iPhone serial numbers, or engrave them […]
