Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
Patent: Rivian’s New ‘Guardian Mode’ Will Safely Move Passengers Without Any Driver Present
December 24th, 2019Here’s the end point of this technology, should it ever come to exist: Night City Police Department Autonomous Vehicle Override System Make a selection and click Next to continue: Disable vehicle and lock occupants inside Geofence vehicle Deliver occupants to nearest re-education center Deliver occupants to nearest vaccination center Etc. Via: Teslarati: A new patent […]
NSA’s Backdoor Key from Lotus-Notes
December 23rd, 2019Via: Cypherspace: Before the US crypto export regulations were finally disolved the export version of Lotus Notes used to include a key escrow / backdoor feature called differential cryptography. The idea was that they got permission to export 64 bit crypto if 24 of those bits were encrypted for the NSA’s public key. The NSA […]
Invisible Ink Embeds Immunization Records Into a Child’s Skin, “The Team Eventually Wants to Inject Sensors”
December 22nd, 2019Via: Scientific American: Keeping track of vaccinations remains a major challenge in the developing world, and even in many developed countries, paperwork gets lost, and parents forget whether their child is up to date. Now a group of Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers has developed a novel way to address this problem: embedding the record […]
Giant Surveillance Balloons Are Lurking at the Edge of Space
December 22nd, 2019Via: Ars Technica: It’s a brisk December morning at Spaceport Tucson, America’s premiere (only?) dedicated launch pad for stratospheric balloons, and a small army of technicians in reflective vests is milling around on the concrete and thawing out after a long, cold night. Nearby, a white metal tripod the size of a smart car is […]
Apple Has Secret Team Working on Satellites to Beam Data to Devices
December 20th, 2019Via: Bloomberg: Apple Inc. has a secret team working on satellites and related wireless technology, striving to find new ways to beam data such as internet connectivity directly to its devices, according to people familiar with the work. The Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker has about a dozen engineers from the aerospace, satellite and antenna design […]
Warrant Not Always Needed for ‘Inadvertent’ NSA Surveillance of Americans
December 19th, 2019This sort of fluff is nothing compared to: “It’s just like laundering money – you work it backwards to make it clean.” Enjoy your 4th Amendment. Via: Reuters: The U.S. government may collect information about U.S. citizens without obtaining a warrant if the information is gathered inadvertently while legally carrying out surveillance of non-nationals abroad, […]
Surveillance Footage Outside of Jeffrey Epstein’s Cell During Suicide Attempt Is Missing
December 18th, 2019Maybe prison officials handed the data over to NASA for safekeeping. Via: New York Daily News: Surveillance footage of the outside of Jeffrey Epstein’s cell at the troubled Metropolitan Correctional Center during his suicide attempt has gone missing, prosecutors revealed Wednesday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Swergold admitted nobody can find the footage of the outside […]
Google Hands Feds 1,500 Phone Locations In Unprecedented ‘Geofence’ Search
December 12th, 2019If the mobile radio is on, always assume that the device is phoning home your location, and a deluge of other privacy compromising information. If airplane mode is on, assume it will transmit your movements as soon as as you turn off airplane mode and it connects to the Internet. If the mobile radio is […]
White House Veterans Helped UAE Build Secret Surveillance Unit
December 11th, 2019Via: Reuters: In the years after 9/11, former U.S. counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke warned Congress that the country needed more expansive spying powers to prevent another catastrophe. Five years after leaving government, he shopped the same idea to an enthusiastic partner: an Arab monarchy with deep pockets. In 2008, Clarke went to work as a […]
China Tells Government Offices to Remove All Foreign Computer Equipment and Software
December 9th, 2019Flashback 2013: Russian Government Buys Typewriters: Russia’s agency responsible for the Kremlin security is buying typewriters – a move reportedly prompted by recent leaks by WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden. A 486,540-rouble (£9,860) order for electric typewriters has been placed by the FSO agency on the state procurement website. The FSO has not commented on why […]
