Archive for the 'Police State' Category
Lincoln Partners with CLEAR for Biometric Security Service
December 8th, 2017Via: The News Wheel: Lincoln announced a new collaboration with CLEAR, provider of a means to bypass long lines for airport security by way of biometric information. The partnership will see Lincoln customers on the receiving end of complimentary CLEAR membership, which will enable them to skip the line at more than 30 airports and […]
Police Officer Who Executed Unarmed Father of Two Found Not Guilty of Murder
December 8th, 2017Via: Daily Mail: A former Arizona police officer was found not guilty of murder Thursday of in the 2016 fatal shooting of an unarmed man outside his hotel room, as video of the shocking moment is finally released by officials. Philip Mitchell Brailsford, 27, was found not guilty in the 2016 death of 26-year-old father-of-two […]
Big Data Meets Big Brother as China Moves to Rate Its Citizens
November 8th, 2017Behold, the biggest Magic 8 Ball ever. Via: Wired: On June 14, 2014, the State Council of China published an ominous-sounding document called “Planning Outline for the Construction of a Social Credit System”. In the way of Chinese policy documents, it was a lengthy and rather dry affair, but it contained a radical idea. What […]
Tech Firms Seek Washington’s Prized Asset: Top-Secret Clearances
October 23rd, 2017Via: Bloomberg: In doing so, companies such as Facebook Inc. are competing with defense contractors, financial firms and the U.S. government itself. Security clearances are a rare and valued commodity, whether at a bank trying to prevent hackers from stealing credit-card data and emptying accounts or at a manufacturer building parts for a stealth fighter […]
‘Why ProtonMail Is More Secure Than Gmail’
October 23rd, 2017Disclosure: I have no relationship with ProtonMail, besides being a user of the service. — While I wouldn’t assume that ProtonMail is as secure as they claim it to be, what is very clear is that far less of your personal information is going to leak from ProtonMail than it would from Gmail, which essentially […]
China Is Creating a Database of Its Citizens’ Voices to Boost its Surveillance Capability
October 23rd, 2017In other news, Google Home Capable of Voice Printing Multiple Users. Via: Time: The Chinese government has collected tens of thousands of “voice pattern” samples from targeted citizens and is inputting them into a national voice biometric database, according to a Human Rights Watch report published Monday. The idea is that an automated system, thought […]
LAPD Becomes Nation’s Largest Police Department to Test Drones
October 18th, 2017Via: Los Angeles Times: After months of often-heated debate, a civilian oversight panel Tuesday signed off on a yearlong test of drones by the Los Angeles Police Department, which will become the largest police department in the nation to deploy the controversial technology. The Police Commission’s 3-1 vote prompted jeers, cursing and a small protest […]
Leaked ICE Guide Offers Unprecedented View of Agency’s Asset Forfeiture Tactics
October 17th, 2017Via: The Intercept: AN INTERNAL HANDBOOK obtained by The Intercept provides a rare view into the extensive asset seizure operations of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, an office that trains its agents to meticulously appraise the value of property before taking it. HSI’s 71-page “Asset Forfeiture Handbook,” dated June 30, 2010, underscores the role seizures play […]
The USA Liberty Act
October 12th, 2017A double round o’ Freedom Fries for everyone! Via: Register: The US Senate Judiciary Committee has unveiled its answer to a controversial spying program run by the NSA and used by the FBI to fish for crime leads. Unsurprisingly, the proposed legislation [PDF] reauthorizes Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) – which […]
‘Australia Presses for More Facial Recognition in Terror Fight’
October 4th, 2017Via: New York Times: The Australian government wants to strengthen its counterterrorism efforts by making use of a fundamental part of all Australian citizens: their faces. On Thursday, at a national security meeting in Canberra, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is expected to pressure states and territories to hand over the driver’s license photos of every […]
