Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
SSL Broken
September 21st, 2011SSL… that’s ok for buying a book online, but no tinfoiler in his right mind would bet his life on SSL. —Cryptogon, 2007 Turns out, the part about it being ok for buying a book online was too optimistic. Haha. Via: Register: Researchers have discovered a serious weakness in virtually all websites protected by the […]
U.S. Assembling Drone Bases in Africa, Arabian Peninsula
September 21st, 2011Via: Washington Post: The Obama administration is assembling a constellation of secret drone bases for counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula as part of a newly aggressive campaign to attack al-Qaeda affiliates in Somalia and Yemen, U.S. officials said. One of the installations is being established in Ethiopia, a U.S. […]
OnStar Begins Spying On Customers’ GPS Location for Profit
September 21st, 2011Update: OnStar Reverses Decision to Change Terms and Conditions Via: GM: OnStar announced today it is reversing its proposed Terms and Conditions policy changes and will not keep a data connection to customers’ vehicles after the OnStar service is canceled. OnStar recently sent e-mails to customers telling them that effective Dec. 1, their service would […]
A Future for Drones: Automated Killing
September 20th, 2011Via: Washington Post: One afternoon last fall at Fort Benning, Ga., two model-size planes took off, climbed to 800 and 1,000 feet, and began criss-crossing the military base in search of an orange, green and blue tarp. The automated, unpiloted planes worked on their own, with no human guidance, no hand on any control. After […]
NRO Will Display Ancient Spy Satellites
September 15th, 2011Via: The Space Review: Later this week the National Reconnaissance Office is going to reveal information on two of its Cold War era satellite programs, HEXAGON and GAMBIT, and publicly unveil hardware that has been classified for decades. GAMBIT was started in 1960, with a first launch in 1963. HEXAGON started in 1966, with a […]
‘New Emotion Detector Can See When We’re Lying’
September 14th, 2011[???] Via: BBC: A sophisticated new camera system can detect lies just by watching our faces as we talk, experts say. The computerised system uses a simple video camera, a high-resolution thermal imaging sensor and a suite of algorithms. Researchers say the system could be a powerful aid to security services. It successfully discriminates between […]
‘Person of Interest’ TV Show
September 13th, 2011Just in case you didn’t know the state was doing this to you all day long… Via: Wall Street Journal: To promote its new fall drama “Person of Interest,” CBS Corp. is turning its eye on viewers. To highlight the show’s theme of citizen-surveillance, CBS is tapping into the trend of interactive billboards, installing one […]
Post-September 11, NSA ‘Enemies’ Include Americans
September 13th, 2011Bamford mentions the new NSA facility in Utah, but he doesn’t mention the other new one in Texas. Ironically, he’s quoted in this piece about the new facility in San Antonio: Surrounded by barbwire fencing, the anonymous yet massive building on West Military Drive near San Antonio’s Loop 410 freeway looms mysteriously with no identifying […]
‘Find My Car App’ for Mall Zombies Also Handy for Police
September 11th, 2011Via: Sydney Morning Herald: Westfield’s new app means you’ll never lose your car in the shopping centre again – and police now have at their fingertips technology to track down stolen and unregistered vehicles. Westfield Bondi Junction in Sydney recently added to its iPhone app the functionality for shoppers to find their parked car by […]
Canadians’ Mental Health Records Shared with U.S. Government
September 11th, 2011Via: CBC: More than a dozen Canadians have told the Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office in Toronto within the past year that they were blocked from entering the United States after their records of mental illness were shared with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
