Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
Smart Home Surveillance: Governments Tell Google’s Nest To Hand Over Data 300 Times
October 15th, 2018Shocker. Via: Forbes: Anyone pumped for this week’s launch of Google’s Home Hub might want to temper their excitement. A smart home is a surveilled home. That’s been the concern of privacy activists since citizens started lighting up their abodes with so-called “smart” tech in recent years. Take Google’s current smart home division, Nest Labs. […]
How An Amateur Rap Crew Stole Surveillance Tech That Tracks Almost Every American
October 12th, 2018Via: Forbes: Today TransUnion says TLO is capable of “processing trillions of records at sub-second speeds.” It can quickly uncover relevant data like individuals’ family members and social media profiles. One of the most important features for law enforcement combines photos from surveillance cameras with a huge trove of license plate numbers to nearly instantly […]
Richard Dolan on the Digital Strip Search – New Zealand
October 12th, 2018Via: Richard Dolan:
China’s Dystopian Social Credit System
October 8th, 2018Interesting take. In short, everything is so F-ed up in China, the implementation of the social credit system will be no different. The good news is that it might never work, or, if it does work in some capacity, it will quickly break down, like everything else in China. To me, the most horrifying aspect […]
Facebook Wants People to Invite Its Cameras Into Their Homes
October 8th, 2018Mmm hmm. Via: AP: Facebook is launching the first electronic device to bear its brand, a screen and camera-equipped gadget intended to make video calls easier and more intuitive. But it’s unclear if people will open their homes to an internet-connected camera sold by a company with a questionable track record on protecting user privacy. […]
The Big Hack: How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate U.S. Companies
October 4th, 2018Update: Apple, Amazon Deny Bloomberg Report on Chinese Hardware Attack — Via: Bloomberg: In 2015, Amazon.com Inc. began quietly evaluating a startup called Elemental Technologies, a potential acquisition to help with a major expansion of its streaming video service, known today as Amazon Prime Video. Based in Portland, Ore., Elemental made software for compressing massive […]
Chinese Armed Drones Now Flying Across Mideast Battlefields
October 3rd, 2018Via: AP: High above Yemen’s rebel-held city of Hodeida, a drone controlled by Emirati forces hovered as an SUV carrying a top Shiite Houthi rebel official turned onto a small street and stopped, waiting for another vehicle in its convoy to catch up. Seconds later, the SUV exploded in flames, killing Saleh al-Samad, a top […]
New Zealand: Travelers Refusing Digital Search Now Face $5000 Customs Fine
October 2nd, 2018Via: Radio New Zealand: Travellers who refuse to hand over their phone or laptop passwords to Customs officials can now be slapped with a $5000 fine. The Customs and Excise Act 2018 – which comes into effect today – sets guidelines around how Customs can carry out “digital strip-searches”. Previously, Customs could stop anyone at […]
DuckDuckGo Traffic
September 29th, 2018Via: DuckDuckGo:
Ex-Google Employee Warns of ‘Disturbing’ China Plans
September 26th, 2018Via: BBC: A former Google employee has warned of the firm’s “disturbing” plans in China, in a letter to US lawmakers. Jack Poulson, who had been a senior researcher at the company until resigning in August, wrote that he was fearful of Google’s ambitions. His letter alleges Google’s work on a Chinese product – codenamed […]
