Archive for April, 2012
End of Windows XP Support Era Signals Beginning of Security Nightmare
April 12th, 2012I’m one of the large but dwindling number of XP holdouts, but the clock is definitely ticking down. I’ve been using Windows 7 on other computers and find it to be pretty much ok, so I’ll probably go to that when I have to. What are you other XP users going to do? Via: Network […]
It’s The Tat That Brings Kids Back!®
April 12th, 2012Via: SafetyTat: It can happen anywhere—at an amusement park, zoo, school field trip, or even your local shopping mall. Your attention shifts for a moment, and suddenly your child or loved one has wandered out of sight. So put the odds in your favor for a safe return, with SafetyTat. Invented by a Baltimore Mom […]
‘Proposed ‘Natural Health Products Bill’ in New Zealand Would Fine Individuals $50,000 for Making a Cup of Unapproved Herbal Tea’
April 12th, 2012I tried to determine if one could theoretically wind up on the wrong side of this thing for producing, for example, one’s own chamomile tea. The following is from Natural Health Products Bill 324-1: Manufacture of natural health products 28 Licence to manufacture natural health products (1) A person must not manufacture a natural health […]
Royal Canadian Mint to Create Digital Currency
April 12th, 2012It’ll be anonymous, will it? So people will be using smartphones, which amount to the most awesome goddamned deployment of mass surveillance technologies in history, to anonymously buy and sell things? Don’t look at me. I just work here. Via: TheStar: The Royal Canadian Mint wants to get rid of pocket change — and it’s […]
Oh Sure: ‘This Internet Provider Pledges to Put Your Privacy First. Always.’
April 12th, 2012Alternate headline: Supposedly Privacy Focused ISP Has Former NSA Technical Director on Advisory Board. Have a nice day. Via: Cnet: Step aside, AT&T and Verizon. A new privacy-protecting Internet service and telephone provider still in the planning stages could become the ACLU’s dream and the FBI’s worst nightmare. Nicholas Merrill is planning to revolutionize online […]
Tobacco Farmers Claim Monsanto, Philip Morris and Other U.S. Tobacco Giants Knowingly Poisoned Them, Causing “Devastating Birth Defects” in Their Children
April 11th, 2012Via: Courthouse News Service: Monsanto, Philip Morris and other U.S. tobacco giants knowingly poisoned Argentinean tobacco farmers with pesticides, causing “devastating birth defects” in their children, dozens of workers claim in court. The farmers, on their own behalf and for their injured children, sued Altria Group fka Philip Morris Cos., Philip Morris USA, Carolina Leaf […]
U.S. Sues Apple, Large Publishers Over Ebook Price Fixing Scheme
April 11th, 2012Via: Reuters: The Justice Department accused Apple Inc and five major publishers of conspiring to push up the prices of e-books and limit retail price competition. The conspiracy has caused e-book consumers to pay “tens of millions of dollars more for e-books than they otherwise would have paid,” the Justice Department said in a lawsuit […]
Obama Administration’s Backdoor Wiretap Bills
April 11th, 2012Via: Antifascist Calling: Under the guise of “cybersecurity,” the new all-purpose bogeyman to increase the secret state’s already-formidable reach, the Obama administration and their congressional allies are crafting legislation that will open new backdoors for even more intrusive government surveillance: portals into our lives that will never be shut.
TSA Employee Interviewed About Full Body X-Ray Machines, Lack of Training
April 11th, 2012The piece claims that she went to Congress with the information about what was happening and that she was fired days later. Via: TSA Out of Our Pants: My last video demonstrated how easy it is to take a metal object through TSA nude body scanners undetected. In this video, I interviewed an actual TSA […]
DARPA’s Robotics Challenge
April 11th, 2012Via: IEEE Spectrum: IEEE Spectrum got an early look at the Broad Agency Announcement, known as BAA, the solicitation document that DARPA is making public today. Here are the most relevant bits: • GOAL: The goal of the new program is to “develop ground robotic capabilities to execute complex tasks in dangerous, degraded, human-engineered environments.” […]
