Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
Russia to Adopt Universal ID Card in 2012
January 29th, 2011It’s somewhat funny that articles like this mock conspiracy theorists and then go on to report that what some of us have been saying for years is now actually occurring. Via: Singularity Hub: For all those conspiracy theorists out there, 2012 just got a little more ominous. As required by legislation passed this last summer, […]
Britain: Intelligence Agencies Urged to Track Social Media Sites More Closely
January 29th, 2011This is ridiculous. The implications of the Internet for radical political movements were well known to the Pentagon at least as far back as 1995 (Strategic Assessment: The Internet, 1995). Britain and the U.S. are joined at the hip. So, are we expected to believe that this is somehow news to the British Intelligence establishment, […]
DOJ Seeks Mandatory Data Retention Requirement for ISPs
January 26th, 2011Via: Computerworld: The U.S. Department of Justice and an organization representing police chiefs from around the country renewed calls on Tuesday for legislation mandating Internet Service Providers (ISP) to retain certain customer usage data for up to two years. The calls, which are stoking long standing privacy fears, were made at a hearing convened on […]
Consumer Watchdog Wants Investigation Into Google’s Relationships with NSA, Other U.S. Federal Agencies
January 26th, 2011Via: PC World: Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group largely focused in recent years on Google’s privacy practices, has called on a congressional investigation into the Internet giant’s “cozy” relationship with U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration. In a letter sent Monday, Consumer Watchdog asked Representative Darrell Issa, the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government […]
First UAV Flight in Support of Domestic Law Enforcement Operation Occurred in 2009 in Austin
January 24th, 2011Via: Washington Post: AUSTIN – The suspect’s house, just west of this city, sat on a hilltop at the end of a steep, exposed driveway. Agents with the Texas Department of Public Safety believed the man inside had a large stash of drugs and a cache of weapons, including high-caliber rifles. As dawn broke, a […]
DARPA: ‘Anomaly Detection at Multiple Scales’
January 23rd, 2011Via: Fast Company: As DARPA puts it: “When we look through the evidence after the fact, we often find a trail–sometimes even an ‘obvious’ one. The question is can we pick up the trail before the fact giving us time to intervene and prevent an incident?” Computer forensics companies rise to the challenge. … NetCerto […]
Largest Ever West Coast Rocket Launch Carried National Reconnaissance Office Satellite Into Space
January 21st, 2011Update: Some Guesses Mentioned on CNN Just to clarify what’s being said below: It’s not a KH-11, which hasn’t been produced since 1990. See the Wikipedia page for “KH-12”: “KH-12” is an unofficial designation of the successor to the KH-11 KENNAN (“Crystal”) spy satellite. A system with the official designation KH-12 does not exist because […]
AIRprint Device Reads Fingerprints from Two Meters Away
January 20th, 2011Via: Technology Review: Over the years, fingerprinting has evolved from an inky mess to pressing fingers on sensor screens to even a few touch-free systems that work at a short distance. Now a company has developed a prototype of a device that can scan fingerprints from up to two meters away, an approach that could […]
Utah City May Use Blimp as Anti-Crime Spy in the Sky
January 19th, 2011Via: Reuters: A proposed unmanned floating airship surveillance system is being hailed by city officials in Ogden, Utah as one way to fight crime in its neighborhoods. “We believe it will be a deterrent to crime when it is out and about and will help us solve crimes more quickly when they do occur,” Ogden […]
Smartphones: Radio Firmware Vulnerability Allows Attackers to Take Control of iPhone or Android Devices
January 19th, 2011Via: InfoWorld: More than three years after the iPhone was first hacked, computer security experts think they’ve found a whole new way to break into mobile phones — one that could become a big headache for Apple, or for smartphone makers using Google’s Android software. In a presentation set for next week’s Black Hat conference […]
