Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
House Panel Approves Broadened ISP Snooping Bill
July 29th, 2011Via: Cnet: Internet providers would be forced to keep logs of their customers’ activities for one year–in case police want to review them in the future–under legislation that a U.S. House of Representatives committee approved today. The 19 to 10 vote represents a victory for conservative Republicans, who made data retention their first major technology […]
Google Offers To Re-Write Your Webpages On The Fly
July 29th, 2011If you think that this is just about speed, I’d urge you to consider Beware Online “Filter Bubbles”: As web companies strive to tailor their services (including news and search results) to our personal tastes, there’s a dangerous unintended consequence: We get trapped in a “filter bubble” and don’t get exposed to information that could […]
TSA Readying New Behavior Detection Plan for Airport Checkpoints
July 29th, 2011Via: Politico: The federal government is planning to introduce new behavior detection techniques at airport checkpoints as soon as next month, Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole said Thursday. TSA already has “behavior detection officers” at 161 airports nationwide looking for travelers exhibiting physiological or psychological signs that a traveler might be a terrorist. However, […]
Bank ‘Activity’ Required For Wisconsin Voter ID
July 28th, 2011Via: disinfo.com: In the state of Wisconsin, you may be denied the ability to vote for lack of sufficient recent “bank activity”. A woman surreptitiously filmed the interactions as her 18-year-old son leaps through hurdle after hurdle in an attempt to get a constitutionally-guaranteed state ID so that he could vote. At the DMV, the […]
General Council of U.S. National Security Agency: Americans Are Tracked Via Mobile Phones
July 27th, 2011I’ve been waiting for them to make this one official for a long time. Related: Synthetic Environments for Analysis and Simulation The Last Roundup: MAIN CORE Via: Wall Street Journal: Is the government using cellular data to track Americans as they move around the U.S.? According to the general counsel of the National Security Agency, […]
China: Maniac Fascist Regime Forces Anyone Who Offers Free Wi-Fi Internet Access to Purchase Monitoring Software That Costs $3,100
July 27th, 2011Via: New York Times: New regulations that require bars, restaurants, hotels and bookstores to install costly Web monitoring software are prompting many businesses to cut Internet access and sending a chill through the capital’s game-playing, Web-grazing literati who have come to expect free Wi-Fi with their lattes and green tea. The software, which costs businesses […]
Google Wasn’t Just Sniffing for Wi-Fi Base Stations
July 26th, 2011Via: Cnet: Google’s Street View cars collected the locations of millions of laptops, cell phones, and other Wi-Fi devices around the world, a practice that raises novel privacy concerns, CNET has confirmed. The cars were supposed to collect the locations of Wi-Fi access points. But Google also recorded the street addresses and unique identifiers of […]
ACLU Lawyer on License Plate Scanners: “What Kind of a Society Are We Creating Here?”
July 21st, 2011Via: Boston Herald: Civil libertarians are raising the alarm over the state’s plans to create a Big Brother database that could map drivers’ whereabouts with police cruiser-mounted scanners that capture thousands of license plates per hour — storing that information indefinitely where local cops, staties, feds and prosecutors could access it as they choose. “What […]
iPhone App Listens to Television Commercials
July 20th, 2011Definitely see the one about Harnessing the Power of Feedback Loops before you read this. Via: AdAge: You’re sitting on the couch with the TV on and phone in hand. As a commercial starts, a smartphone app hears what you’re watching. It then serves up links, coupons or music downloads corresponding to what it hears […]
Problem, Reaction, Solution: Harnessing the Power of Feedback Loops, “To Encourage Good Habits”
July 18th, 2011I like to think (and the sooner the better!) of a cybernetic meadow where mammals and computers live together in mutually programming harmony like pure water touching clear sky. I like to think (right now please!) of a cybernetic forest filled with pines and electronics where deer stroll peacefully past computers as if they were […]
