Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
Supreme Court Says Warrant Necessary for Phone Location Data
June 22nd, 2018Via: Cnet: The US Supreme Court has ruled in favor of digital privacy. In a 5-4 decision on Friday the justices said that police need warrants to gather phone location data as evidence for trials. That reversed and remanded a decision by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Carpenter v. United States is the first […]
We Are All Prisoners of the Surveillance State
June 20th, 2018Via: The Rutherford Institute: We now find ourselves in the unenviable position of being monitored, managed and controlled by our technology, which answers not to us but to our government and corporate rulers. Consider that on any given day, the average American going about his daily business will be monitored, surveilled, spied on and tracked […]
U.S. Prosecutors Pull Encrypted Messages from Phones Seized in Cohen Raids
June 15th, 2018With regard to any application that claims to provide privacy: “The simple fact is that the platforms on which it runs are compromised from the operating systems down to the silicon.” I’m not saying to not encrypt. Encryption can prevent your data from falling into the hands of thieves, Google and maybe the local police. […]
Microsoft Takes Aim at Amazon with Push for Checkout-Free Retail
June 14th, 2018Via: Reuters: Microsoft Corp is working on technology that would eliminate cashiers and checkout lines from stores, in a nascent challenge to Amazon.com Inc’s automated grocery shop, six people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant is developing systems that track what shoppers add to their carts, the people say. Microsoft […]
AT&T Buys Time Warner for $85 Billion
June 12th, 2018Insane, anticompetitive, Soviet-style vertical integration. So it goes… Via: Los Angeles Times: In the aftermath of a federal judge’s approval Tuesday of the mega-merger between AT&T and Time Warner, you’ll be reading about how this deal will vastly remake the entertainment and information landscape, most likely at consumers’ expense. That take is absolutely true. What’s […]
U.S. Intelligence Exploring Polymers for Future of Data Storage
June 12th, 2018Via: Nextgov: The U.S. intelligence community wants to unlock more efficient ways to store the trove of data humans generate every day, and it believes our DNA holds the key. The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity last month issued a broad agency announcement seeking research teams for the agency’s Molecular Information Storage program, which aims […]
Homeland Security’s Massive New Database Will Include Face Recognition, DNA, and Peoples’ “Non-Obvious Relationships”
June 10th, 2018Via: EFF: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is quietly building what will likely become the largest database of biometric and biographic data on citizens and foreigners in the United States. The agency’s new Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) database will include multiple forms of biometrics—from face recognition to DNA, data from questionable sources, […]
Homeland Security to Compile Database of Journalists, Bloggers
June 5th, 2018Via: Bloomberg Government: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security wants to monitor hundreds of thousands of news sources around the world and compile a database of journalists, editors, foreign correspondents, and bloggers to identify top “media influencers.” It’s seeking a contractor that can help it monitor traditional news sources as well as social media and […]
Footsteps, Pressure Sensors, and AI: The Next Step in Airport Security
May 31st, 2018Via: EETimes: The University of Manchester’s school of electrical and electronic engineering, in collaboration with the University of Madrid, has developed a behavioral biometric verification system that can measure a human’s individual gait or walking pattern, enabling successful identification of a person simply as they walk on a pressure pad in the floor and analyzing […]
California: Digital License Plates Track Vehicles
May 28th, 2018Via: Sacramento Bee: California’s dramatic new license plate is hitting the streets — a digital display board that allows changeable messages controlled by the driver or remotely by fleet managers. The new plates use the same computer technology as Kindle eBook readers, along with a wireless communication system. They come with their own computer chips […]
