Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
Amtrak Police Chief Bars Transportation Security Administration from Some Security Operations
March 10th, 2011Here’s the video that Amtrak Police Chief John O’Connor thought was a hoax: Via: Trains.com: In late February, the Transportation Security Administration took over the Amtrak station in Savannah, Ga., and thoroughly searched every person who entered. None of the passengers got into trouble, but the TSA certainly did — big time. Amtrak Police Chief […]
Homeland Security Looked Into Covert Body Scans
March 5th, 2011Via: USA Today: The Homeland Security Department paid contractors millions of dollars to develop and study surveillance systems that could covertly track pedestrians and check under people’s clothing with airport-style body scanners as they enter train stations, bus depots or major events, newly released documents show. Two contracts the department signed in 2005 and 2006 […]
Strange NRO Mission Patches
March 4th, 2011I’ve seen a lot of weird military patches, but I think that this one might take the cake. It’s related to the NRO satellite that was launched back in January, USA-224, also known as NRO Launch 49 (NRO L-49). The Latin means something like, “First Heavy from the West,” or “First Heavy from the Sunset.” […]
CENTCOM Tries to Pull the ‘Persona Management Software’ Fat Out of the Fire
March 3rd, 2011Mmm hmm. Via: Washington Post: The U.S. Central Command says its new “Persona” social media “infiltration” software is designed to cozy up to extremist bloggers overseas, not law-abiding Americans chatting on Facebook or similar sites. Earlier this month, the Web buzzed with a report that the software was designed to “manage ‘fake people’ on social […]
New Hampshire: Bill Would Make Some Airport Screening Sexual Assault
March 2nd, 2011Via: WMUR: Lawmakers and residents engaged in heated debate Tuesday over a bill that would make random airport security pat-downs and body scans criminal in New Hampshire. The bill (HB628-FN) “makes the touching or viewing with a technological device of a person’s breasts or genitals by a government security agent without probable cause a sexual […]
Homeland Security Will Soon Begin Analyzing DNA at Airports
February 28th, 2011Of course, initially, “It’s for the children.” Via: NextGov: The Homeland Security Department this summer plans to begin testing a DNA analyzer that’s small enough to be easily portable and fast enough to return results in less than an hour. The analyzer, about the size of a laser printer, initially will be used to determine […]
U.S. Government Pays HBGary for Rootkits
February 22nd, 2011Via: Ars Technica: In 2009, HBGary had partnered with the Advanced Information Systems group of defense contractor General Dynamics to work on a project euphemistically known as “Task B.” The team had a simple mission: slip a piece of stealth software onto a target laptop without the owner’s knowledge. Research Credit: RJ
Kids Who Skip School Are Tracked by GPS
February 21st, 2011Via: OC Register: Frustrated by students habitually skipping class, police and school officials in Anaheim are turning to GPS tracking to ensure they come to class. The Anaheim Union High School District is the first in California to test Global Positioning System technology as part of a six-week pilot program that began last week, officials […]
Google Offers Two-Factor Authentication
February 10th, 2011I see this development as a sort of confidence trick, where Google is trying to get people to put more of their eggs into fewer baskets (that Google controls, of course). Two-factor authentication schemes offer strong security against unauthorized account access by miscreants, no doubt about it, but never forget that Google is God on […]
Pentagon’s New Ground Robot Can Hear You Breathing… Through a Wall
February 9th, 2011Via: Wired: America’s robots make deadly weapons. But there are countermeasures to even the most fearsome bot now in service. To avoid detection by aerial drones, Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have begun traveling in smaller groups. In his excellent book War, Sebastian Junger even describes Afghan fighters covering themselves with blankets on sun-warmed rocks to […]
