Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
47 Large Core Columns, More Than a Dozen of Which Retained Dimensions of 54 x 22 Inches Through the 66th Floor
March 29th, 2007For the most part, I stopped thinking about the demolition of the WTC towers about three years ago. I filed that one away right next to my JFK folder. While it’s not intellectually rigorous to be content with, “The usual suspects did it. I don’t know exactly how. But They did it,” I sleep well […]
UK: Jails Inside Malls, Supermarkets for Short-Term Confinement, DNA Collection
March 15th, 2007Via: Times Online: Short-term “jails†are planned for supermarkets and town centres to deal with yobs and shoplifters under Home Office proposals to ease the burden on police. Discussions have already started about building a “retail jail†inside the Selfridges store in Oxford Street, London. Suspects would be held for up to four hours in […]
AT&T: Spying Too Secret for Court
March 13th, 2007Via: Wired: AT&T told an appeals court in a written brief Monday that the case against it for allegedly helping the government spy on its customers should be thrown out, because it cannot defend itself — even by showing a signed order from the government — without endangering national security. A government brief filed simultaneously […]
Sweden Has Tapped Phones ‘For Decades’
March 10th, 2007Via: The Local: Deputy prime minister Maud Olofsson has added a new twist to Sweden’s divisive surveillance debate. The Centre Party leader claims that defence minister Mikael Odenberg’s proposed legislation would merely codify practices that have already been in operation for decades. Previously, at a time when all telecommunications were state-operated, Sweden’s National Defence Radio […]
The Pentagon Wants TiVo (to Watch You)
March 7th, 2007Via: Wired: Reuters yesterday reported on a recently issued study on future technologies written by the Pentagon’s Defense Science Board. More than anything, it seems these outside advisers want a surveillance system that would put Big Brother to shame, and they’re looking at the commercial sector to provide it: William Schneider, the board’s chairman, said […]
GPS Locators for Truant Kids
February 20th, 2007Sure! Via: ajc.com: Let’s say your teenager is a habitual truant and there is nothing you can do about it. A Washington area politician thinks he might have the solution: Fit the child with a Global Positioning System chip, then have police track him down. “It allows them to get caught easier,” said Maryland Delegate […]
PBS Piece on Terrorist Surveillance Program
February 20th, 2007Research Credit: whatreallyhappened.com
Hitachi Develops RFID Powder
February 16th, 2007Via: Pink Tentacle: RFID keeps getting smaller. On February 13, Hitachi unveiled a tiny, new “powder†type RFID chip measuring 0.05 x 0.05 mm — the smallest yet — which they aim to begin marketing in 2 to 3 years. By relying on semiconductor miniaturization technology and using electron beams to write data on the […]
Direct Correlation Between Computing Power and Doom?
February 13th, 2007An 80 core CPU? Massively parallel home computers? I don’t know whether this news is more absurd or obscene. Oh sure, better games, HDTV, AI. Notice how none of this crap has anything to do clean air, food and water? How many cores will a CPU need in order to provide people with clean air, […]
NSA Electricity Crisis Gets Senate Scrutiny
February 9th, 2007Via: Baltimore Sun: The National Security Agency’s impending electricity shortfall is “sort of a national catastrophe,” Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said yesterday. Rockefeller, who took over as head of the panel when Democrats regained control of the Senate this month, called the power shortage a symptom of […]
