Archive for May, 2013
Navy Launches X-47B from Carrier
May 14th, 2013Via: ABC: The Navy for the first time Tuesday launched an unmanned aircraft the size of a fighter jet from a warship in the Atlantic Ocean, as it wades deeper into America’s drone program amid growing concerns over the legality of its escalating surveillance and lethal strikes. Called the X-47B, the drone is considered particularly […]
Saudis Discussing Surveillance and Censorship Program with Outside Developer
May 14th, 2013Via: Thought Crime: Last week I was contacted by an agent of Mobily, one of two telecoms operating in Saudi Arabia, about a surveillance project that they’re working on in that country. Having published two reasonably popular MITM tools, it’s not uncommon for me to get emails requesting that I help people with their interception […]
Microsoft Reads Skype Chat Messages
May 14th, 2013Via: The-H Security: Anyone who uses Skype has consented to the company reading everything they write. The H’s associates in Germany at heise Security have now discovered that the Microsoft subsidiary does in fact make use of this privilege in practice. Shortly after sending HTTPS URLs over the instant messaging service, those URLs receive an […]
TEPCO Seeks Permission to Dump Groundwater from Fukushima Plant Into Ocean
May 14th, 2013Via: Japan Today: Officials from Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) on Monday met with a Fukushima fisheries cooperative to seek its members’ permission to dump groundwater from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean. The contaminated water storage has been a problem since early in the accident. TEPCO officials acknowledged last month […]
Justice Department Secretly Obtained Two Months’ Worth of Telephone Records of Journalists Working for Associates Press
May 14th, 2013Via: Washington Post: In a sweeping and unusual move, the Justice Department secretly obtained two months’ worth of telephone records of journalists working for the Associated Press as part of a year-long investigation into the disclosure of classified information about a failed al-Qaeda plot last year. The AP’s president said Monday that federal authorities obtained […]
Bloomberg Posted Private Terminal Messages Online
May 13th, 2013Via: Quartz: Bloomberg says it accidentally posted on the internet more than 10,000 private messages that traders sent each other on their Bloomberg terminals. The new revelation, reported by the Financial Times, will undoubtedly escalate the furor over Bloomberg’s handling of data that its customers consider to be confidential. The messages were related to the […]
Britain: Secrets of 27 Million Mobile Phones Offered to Police, Corporations
May 13th, 2013Via: Sunday Times: THE data of 27m mobile phone users has been offered for sale to the Metropolitan police, private companies and other bodies, enabling them to track users’ movements. Ipsos Mori, one of Britain’s biggest research firms, has been caught offering text and call records for sale. The company has claimed in meetings that […]
Insanity: U.S. Approves Bee Death Pesticide as EU Bans It
May 13th, 2013Via: Natural Society: Corporate politics is business as usual inside the United States, as I am once again shocked to report the EPA has sided with industry lobbyists over public health in approving a highly dangerous pesticide that the European Union recently decided to ban over fears of environmental devastation. Not only have neonicotinoid pesticides […]
Michigan School District Can’t Pay Teachers; Schools Will Remain Closed Until Further Notice
May 13th, 2013Via: ClickOnDetroit: A shuttered Michigan school district that says it can’t afford to pay its teachers plans to remain closed until further notice. The update is posted on the website of Buena Vista School District, located near Saginaw. It hasn’t held classes since May 3. The district laid off teachers and all but three employees […]
New Orleans: Mother’s Day Parade Shooting
May 13th, 2013Update: Street Violence? Via: CNN: Federal investigators say they have no indication the shooting at a Mother’s Day parade in New Orleans was an act of terrorism. “It’s strictly an act of street violence in New Orleans,” New Orleans FBI spokeswoman Mary Beth Romig said Monday. Such parades — local traditions replete with dancing and […]
