Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
Google Plans to Launch Censored Search Engine in China
August 1st, 2018Via: The Intercept: Google is planning to launch a censored version of its search engine in China that will blacklist websites and search terms about human rights, democracy, religion, and peaceful protest, The Intercept can reveal. The project – code-named Dragonfly – has been underway since spring of last year, and accelerated following a December […]
Federal Air Marshals Wasting Time and Resources Monitoring Passengers Almost at Random
July 29th, 2018Obviously, the chances of this stopping a terrorist incident are somewhere between slim and none. So, if it’s not going to stop an incident, what is it going to do? Is the purpose of this to facilitate a “terrorist” incident, by distracting personnel away from actual threats? Hmm. Via: Boston Globe: Federal air marshals have […]
More and More of What We Do Depends on Government Permission
July 24th, 2018Via: Reason: Do you have permit for that? If you want to keep that permit, you’d better do as you’re told. Increasingly, that’s the theme of modern America. More and more of what we do is dependent on permission from the government. That permission, unsurprisingly, is contingent on keeping government officials happy. Rub those officials […]
Face Scanning at NYC Toll Plazas
July 23rd, 2018Via: New York Post: Big Governor is watching you. Facial-recognition cameras at bridge and tunnel toll plazas across the city are already scanning drivers’ visages and feeding them into databases to catch suspected criminals, Gov. Andrew Cuomo revealed Friday. “When it reads that license plate, it reads it for scofflaws .?.?. [but] the toll is […]
Digital Ads Are Starting to Feel Psychic
July 17th, 2018Via: The Outline: Earlier this year, my friend Max gave me a knife from Japan as a gift. That evening, as I was lying in bed looking at Instagram, I scrolled passed an ad of what looked like exactly the same knife. I did a double take, got out of bed, retrieved the knife from […]
1981: ‘Notes On NSA ESP Concerns/Guidelines’
July 15th, 2018URL of source at CIA: https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/nsa-rdp96x00790r000100030037-5 Local copy on Cryptogon (avoids a visit to CIA, in case you care). Via: U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Electronic Reading Room: The number of NSA persons with operating ESP capabilities should be isolated by type and quality.
All Ears: Always-On Listening Devices Could Soon Be Everywhere
July 13th, 2018Via: Wall Street Journal: If every tree falling in every forest might soon be heard by an internet-connected microphone, what hope is there for our privacy? Already when you’re sitting in a room with an iPhone, an Apple Watch and a smart assistant like Amazon Echo or Google Home, you’re surrounded by a dozen microphones. […]
Walmart Patents Surveillance Tool That Can Eavesdrop on Workers and Customers
July 12th, 2018Via: Engadget: The audio surveillance system Walmart designed is composed of several sensors that can collect all kinds of audio data, including beeps and the rustling of paper bags. Any data it gathers can be used to assess an employee’s performance — for instance, the sounds items make when they’re placed inside a bag can […]
NSA’s Wiretap Rooms in Eight U.S. Cities
June 25th, 2018Via: The Intercept: THE SECRETS ARE hidden behind fortified walls in cities across the United States, inside towering, windowless skyscrapers and fortress-like concrete structures that were built to withstand earthquakes and even nuclear attack. Thousands of people pass by the buildings each day and rarely give them a second glance, because their function is not […]
Flying Dragon Robot Transforms Itself to Squeeze Through Gaps
June 23rd, 2018Via: IEEE: It’s a modular flying robot powered by ducted fans that can transform literally on the fly, from a square to a snake to anything in between, allowing it to stretch out to pass through small holes and then make whatever other shape you want once it’s on the other side.
