Malaysia Airlines Pilot Filmed Being Trained in Boeing 777-200 a Month Before Flight Disappeared
March 18th, 2014This is definitely Coincidence Gold.
Via: New York Post:
A month before he was a co-pilot in a bizarre plane disappearance, Malaysia Airlines pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid was happy to finally be getting his chance to fly a Boeing 777-200.
CNN aviation expert Richard Quest had coincidentally filmed a training session for the 27-year-old co-pilot of the Malaysia Airlines flight that mysteriously vanished after taking off March 8 from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia en route to Beijing.
Research Credit: almaverdad2
NSA Capable of Recording Audio from 100% of Unnamed Country’s Phone Calls
March 18th, 2014The Washington Post, owned by Jeff Bezos, CEO of CIA contractor Amazon.com, is working with U.S. Government censors to conceal the name of the country in question. Even if we did know the country, this is a ridiculous limited hangout.
My guess is that the same thing is happening in the U.S. and that the resources required to do it are trivial relative to NSA’s overall budget. While that was just wild guestimation on my part, Internet Archive’s Brewster Kahle did some math on the matter. If you don’t think that’s right, ok, increase the cost by an order of magnitude. *meh* so what. Build two of them. We’re still talking about chicken feed and pocket lint.
Still don’t believe it?
BURNETT: Tim, is there any way, obviously, there is a voice mail they can try to get the phone companies to give that up at this point. It’s not a voice mail. It’s just a conversation. There’s no way they actually can find out what happened, right, unless she tells them?
CLEMENTE: “No, there is a way. We certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation. It’s not necessarily something that the FBI is going to want to present in court, but it may help lead the investigation and/or lead to questioning of her. We certainly can find that out.
BURNETT: “So they can actually get that? People are saying, look, that is incredible.
CLEMENTE: “No, welcome to America. All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not.”
“All of that stuff” – meaning every telephone conversation Americans have with one another on US soil, with or without a search warrant – “is being captured as we speak”.
Ok, so, tell us more about this operation in a far away land where all of the audio from all of the phone calls is being recorded…
Via: Washington Post:
The National Security Agency has built a surveillance system capable of recording “100 percent” of a foreign country’s telephone calls, enabling the agency to rewind and review conversations as long as a month after they take place, according to people with direct knowledge of the effort and documents supplied by former contractor Edward Snowden.
A senior manager for the program compares it to a time machine — one that can replay the voices from any call without requiring that a person be identified in advance for surveillance.
The voice interception program, called MYSTIC, began in 2009. Its RETRO tool, short for “retrospective retrieval,” and related projects reached full capacity against the first target nation in 2011. Planning documents two years later anticipated similar operations elsewhere.
In the initial deployment, collection systems are recording “every single” conversation nationwide, storing billions of them in a 30-day rolling buffer that clears the oldest calls as new ones arrive, according to a classified summary.
The call buffer opens a door “into the past,” the summary says, enabling users to “retrieve audio of interest that was not tasked at the time of the original call.” Analysts listen to only a fraction of 1 percent of the calls, but the absolute numbers are high. Each month, they send millions of voice clippings, or “cuts,” for processing and long-term storage.
At the request of U.S. officials, The Washington Post is withholding details that could be used to identify the country where the system is being employed or other countries where its use was envisioned.
Could MH370 Have Been ‘Swapped’ Mid-Air?
March 18th, 2014Via: Yahoo!7 News:
Could the aircraft have been ‘swapped’ mid-air?
Generally air traffic radars use something called a “Squawk” code – this is 4 digits, say ‘1234’ – that is then used to transmit information to the ground radar of the aircraft’s position and other relevant detail. This is very easily disabled – it is operated with a simple on/off switch. The Boeing 777 has two separate systems for safety in the event of failure.
There is another angle which I think might be a possibility that the MH370 switched codes. If MH370 had a code of, say 4376, then it would be pretty easy to get another aircraft, say a Gulfstream 5 private jet, to fly up behind it and swap codes. The Gulfstream sets its squawk code to the same as MH370’s code of 4376 then the B777 takes on the Gulfstream’s code, and they then split… It would certainly make it easier for the B777 to continue on undetected.
Los Angeles Times Software Automatically Published Earthquake Story
March 18th, 2014Via: BBC:
The Los Angeles Times was the first newspaper to publish a story about an earthquake on Monday – thanks to a robot writer.
Journalist and programmer Ken Schwencke created an algorithm that automatically generates a short article when an earthquake occurs.
Mr Schwencke told Slate magazine that it took around three minutes for the story to appear online.
“Robo-journalism” is increasingly being used in newsrooms worldwide.
The LA Times is a pioneer in the technology which draws on trusted sources – such as the US Geological Survey – and places data into a pre-written template.
As well as the earthquake report, it also uses another algorithm to generate stories about crime in the city – with human editors deciding which ones need greater attention.
UK Government Wants ‘Unsavoury’ Web Content Censored
March 18th, 2014Via: Wired:
The UK minister for immigration and security has called for the government to do more to deal with “unsavoury”, rather than illegal, material online.
James Brokenshire made the comments to the Financial Times in an interview related to the government’s alleged ability to automatically request YouTube videos be taken down under “super flagger” status.
A flagger is anyone that uses YouTube’s reporting system to highlight videos that breach guidelines. The Home Office explained to Wired.co.uk that the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU), responsible for removing illegal terrorist propaganda, does not have “super flagger” status, but has simply attained the platform’s Trusted Flagger accreditation — a status for users who regularly correctly flag questionable content.
…
“It is [censorship],” Jaani Riordan, a barrister specialising in technology litigation, told Wired.co.uk. “Removal of lawful material by government simply because it offends governmental or public policy is without justification. Conversely, a private enterprise, such as YouTube, would always remain free to remove content which offends its Terms of Use or other policies, and there is very limited if any recourse against it for doing so.”
If the government were to force YouTube to remove content, it would be breaching Article 10(2) of the European Convention of Human Rights, related to freedom of expression.
Obama Administration Cites ‘National Security’ More Than Ever to Censor, Deny Records
March 18th, 2014No more secrecy:
Your what hurts?
Via: AP:
The Obama administration more often than ever censored government files or outright denied access to them last year under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, according to a new analysis of federal data by The Associated Press.
The administration cited more legal exceptions it said justified withholding materials and refused a record number of times to turn over files quickly that might be especially newsworthy. Most agencies also took longer to answer records requests, the analysis found.
The government’s own figures from 99 federal agencies covering six years show that half way through its second term, the administration has made few meaningful improvements in the way it releases records despite its promises from Day 1 to become the most transparent administration in history.
In category after category — except for reducing numbers of old requests and a slight increase in how often it waived copying fees — the government’s efforts to be more open about its activities last year were their worst since President Barack Obama took office.
Voracious Worm Evolves to Eat Biotech Corn Engineered to Kill It
March 18th, 2014Via: Wired:
One of agricultural biotechnology’s great success stories may become a cautionary tale of how short-sighted mismanagement can squander the benefits of genetic modification.
After years of predicting it would happen — and after years of having their suggestions largely ignored by companies, farmers and regulators — scientists have documented the rapid evolution of corn rootworms that are resistant to Bt corn.
Until Bt corn was genetically altered to be poisonous to the pests, rootworms used to cause billions of dollars in damage to U.S. crops. Named for the pesticidal toxin-producing Bacillus thuringiensis gene it contains, Bt corn now accounts for three-quarters of the U.S. corn crop. The vulnerability of this corn could be disastrous for farmers and the environment.
Research Credit: bretwalda
Navy SEALs Seize Oil Tanker from Libyan Rebels
March 18th, 2014Via: USA Today:
A U.S. Navy SEAL raid to seize control of an oil tanker that had been commandeered by Libyan rebels reflects a broad U.S. policy to try and help bolster the country’s weak central government, which has struggled since the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
No shots were fired during the operation, which involved a large number of elite naval commandos, U.S. European Command said.
The tanker is steaming back to Libya with a team of U.S. sailors aboard. U.S. officials have not decided what to do with the armed Libyans who had seized control of the ship.
The militants are believed to be linked to one of the militias that operate in the country and rival the central government.
The tanker had earlier evaded efforts by Libyan security forces to prevent it from leaving a Libyan port. Libyan and Cypriot authorities had sought U.S. help in detaining the vessel.
New York: Investment Banker Found Dead on Sidewalk Outside East Side Apartment Building
March 18th, 2014And another one.
Via: New York Post:
A 28-year old Manhattan investment banker has died after an apparent suicide, police sources said.
Kenneth Bellando, who worked at Levy Capital since January, was found dead on the sidewalk outside his East Side building on March 12, after allegedly jumping from the sixth-story roof, sources said.
Bellando, a former investment bank analyst at JPMorgan, is the son of John Bellando, chief operating officer and chief financial officer at Condé Nast. His brother, John, a top Chief Investment Officer with JPMorgan, works on risk exposure valuations.
Several John Bellando emails were cited during testimony at the Senate Finance committee’s inquiry into the bank’s losses during the infamous London Whale trade fiasco.
Cryptogon Readers Send Contributions in March
March 18th, 2014This is the most exclusive club of Cryptogon contributors in a long time!
Thanks to Pookie for sending $75 and thanks to DM for sending $15.
