CopBlock Founder Faces Three Felony Counts of Wiretapping
July 31st, 2012People are tracked, traced, groped, x-rayed, etc. but recording the filth results in this.
Via: CopBlock Press Release:
According to court documents, Adam “Ademo” Mueller, journalist and co-host of nationally syndicated radio talk show Free Talk Live, has been indicted on three counts of felony wiretapping. The charges are a result of a vlog Mueller posted on CopBlock.org about an incident involving alleged police misconduct, which featured recorded interviews of on-duty public officials. Mueller’s report focused on video recorded by a student’s cell phone at Manchester’s West High School, which depicted Officer Darren Murphy slamming a 17-year-old boy into a cafeteria table in October of 2011. Although public officials told the student to delete the video, it ended up in Adam Mueller’s hands instead.
The case states that after viewing the footage, Muller called the Manchester Police Department and West High School seeking comment. Muller recorded his interviews with the on-duty public officials, and then included them in a video report on CopBlock.org that publicized the allegedly excessive use of police force at the high school. The story went viral. Several months later, the indictments came: three felony counts of wiretapping.
Company Finds Facebook Advertising Results in Clickthroughs That Are 80% Bots
July 31st, 2012This is some incredibly timely news for me. I just started running an ad campaign on Facebook for my wife’s business two days ago. Just a tiny test, $5 budget per day.
I looked at the Google Analytics data for the site to reconcile what Facebook was charging me vs. what was showing up on the site. I was left scratching my head. A lot. Something was very wrong.
My next move was to search, “Facebook advertising bots,” and lookee here.
Via: Limited Run:
Here’s what we found: on about 80% of the clicks Facebook was charging us for, JavaScript wasn’t on. And if the person clicking the ad doesn’t have JavaScript, it’s very difficult for an analytics service to verify the click. What’s important here is that in all of our years of experience, only about 1-2% of people coming to us have JavaScript disabled, not 80% like these clicks coming from Facebook. So we did what any good developers would do. We built a page logger. Any time a page was loaded, we’d keep track of it. You know what we found? The 80% of clicks we were paying for were from bots. That’s correct. Bots were loading pages and driving up our advertising costs. So we tried contacting Facebook about this. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t reply. Do we know who the bots belong too? No. Are we accusing Facebook of using bots to drive up advertising revenue. No. Is it strange? Yes. But let’s move on, because who the bots belong to isn’t provable.
While we were testing Facebook ads, we were also trying to get Facebook to let us change our name, because we’re not Limited Pressing anymore. We contacted them on many occasions about this. Finally, we got a call from someone at Facebook. They said they would allow us to change our name. NICE! But only if we agreed to spend $2000 or more in advertising a month. That’s correct. Facebook was holding our name hostage. So we did what any good hardcore kids would do. We cursed that piece of shit out! Damn we were so pissed. We still are. This is why we need to delete this page and move away from Facebook. They’re scumbags and we just don’t have the patience for scumbags.
More: Funny Facebook Figures
‘CIA considers Israel its No. 1 counterintelligence threat in the agency’s Near East Division’
July 29th, 2012In case you haven’t been paying attention for the last few decades…
Via: AP:
Despite inarguable ties between the U.S. and its closest ally in the Middle East and despite statements from U.S. politicians trumpeting the friendship, U.S. national security officials consider Israel to be, at times, a frustrating ally and a genuine counterintelligence threat.
…
The CIA considers Israel its No. 1 counterintelligence threat in the agency’s Near East Division, the group that oversees spying across the Middle East, according to current and former officials. Counterintelligence is the art of protecting national secrets from spies. This means the CIA believes that U.S. national secrets are safer from other Middle Eastern governments than from Israel.
Research Credit: druff
Disgraced Former Penn State University President Now Working for U.S. Government in National Security Role
July 29th, 2012Echos of the Franklin imbroglio.
Via: Washington Post:
Graham Spanier might have been ousted from his post at the helm of Penn State over the sex-abuse scandal that engulfed the university, but it seems he’s found a backup employer: the American taxpayer.
Only a disgraced public figure would consider joining the much-maligned ranks of the federal workforce as a step up, reputation-wise. We can assume there were no openings for a used-car salesman.
Spanier was faulted in an internal Penn State report after the conviction on child-molestation charges of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. The report said he, head coach Joe Paterno and others helped cover up Sandusky’s abuse.
His lawyer confirms to the Loop that Spanier is working on a part-time consulting basis for a “top-secret” agency on national security issues. But the gig is so hush-hush, he couldn’t even tell his attorneys the name of the agency. In April — months after his ouster as president but before the release of the internal report — he told the Patriot-News of central Pennsylvania that he was working on a “special project for the U.S. government relating [to] national security.”
But who’s he working for? The CIA? Homeland Security? Or maybe just a dull consulting firm with a government contract?
“I have no idea,”says his lawyer, Peter Vaira. “We know the work is in security and he’s prohibited from disclosing which agency or agencies he’s working for.”
Power Out
July 29th, 2012Update: Power Is On Again
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We’re getting slammed by a storm and the power is out again. I’ve just trained myself to routinely put my Fenix PD32 in my pocket when it rains hard out here. haha. Anyway, you know the story: If there are no updates, it means the electricity is still out.
Toxic Clenbuterol in Chinese and Mexican Meat
July 29th, 2012Via: CBC:
Fearing tainted meat, China’s women’s volleyball team has stuck to a strict vegetarian diet for the last three weeks — which the team’s coach is now blaming for his athletes’ abysmal performance.
The Chinese team lost four of five matches at a world tournament that ended Sunday in Ningbo, China, falling to the United States, Brazil, Turkey and Thailand.
While Brazil and the U.S. are powerhouses in women’s volleyball, Turkey and Thailand didn’t even qualify for the 2008 Olympics, where China won bronze.
“They have showed significant decline in their strength and fitness,” coach Yu Juemin said of his squad after Sunday’s defeat to the Americans.
“We are wary of meat tainted by lean-meat powder, and we didn’t eat any during the game period,” Yu told the Shanghai Daily newspaper.
Athletes warned
All Chinese athletes have been warned by the country’s Sports Ministry to avoid meat contaminated with the powder, also known as clenbuterol, because it’s banned by the International Olympic Committee as a performance-enhancing substance.
China bans the use of clenbuterol in livestock because of the chemical’s noxious long-term effects on human health, but many pork farmers still administer it because it produces leaner meat. The World Anti-Doping Agency issued a warning last year about clenbuterol-tainted meat in China as well as Mexico, where it is also rampant.
As a result, the Chinese volleyball team only eats meat at its training camp, where the food can be tested for contamination. When players go elsewhere in the country, they have to forego pork, beef and lamb — as they did in the lead-up to the volleyball World Grand Prix finals tournament.
Related: Secret Organic Gardens for China’s Elite
Cryptocat
July 28th, 2012Out of my 4 DHS interrogations in the past 3 weeks, it’s the first time I’m asked about Cryptocat crypto and my passport is confiscated.
From what I’ve read so far, Cryptocat looks interesting, mainly because it might be usable by regular computer users.
Cryptogon is read by many people with multiple propellers in their beanie caps. If any of you guys have concerns about what you see here, please let us know:
Web chat client with client-side cryptography.
https://crypto.cat – http://xdtfje3c46d2dnjd.onion
Experimental software: Don’t trust with your life! Peer review appreciated.Cryptocat lets you instantly set up secure conversations. It aims to be an open source encrypted and private alternative to other services such as Facebook chat.
I like that these reasonable caveats are displayed to prospective users on the About page:
What Cryptocat Doesn’t Do
While Cryptocat aims to offer strongly encrypted, private Instant Messaging, it’s important to note what Cryptocat does not protect you against:
Cryptocat does not anonymize you: While your communications are encrypted, your identity can still be traced since Cryptocat does not mask your IP address. For anonymization, we highly recommend using Tor. Cryptocat even offers a Tor Hidden Service at xdtfje3c46d2dnjd.onion.
Cryptocat does not protect against key loggers: Your messages are encrypted as they go through the wire, but that doesn’t mean that your keyboard is necessarily safe. Cryptocat does not protect against hardware or software key loggers which might be snooping on your keyboard strokes and sending them to an undesired third party.
Cryptocat does not protect against untrustworthy people: Parties you’re conversing with may still leak your messages without your knowledge. Cryptocat aims to make sure that only the parties you’re talking to get your messages, but that doesn’t mean these parties are necessarily trustworthy.
Via: Cryptocat:
Cryptocat Adventure! from Nadim Kobeissi on Vimeo.
Chat with privacy.
Converse with your friends, partners and co-workers in privately and securely, in an instant messaging environment that offers encryption without sacrificing accessibility.
Cryptocat is a new, free, open experiment that aims to let you do just that. [sic]
Related:
Interview with Nadim Kobeissi, Creator of Cryptocat
‘This Cute Chat Site Could Save Your Life and Help Overthrow Your Government’
Basketball Players On a DLR Train: All Seeing Eye in British Government Transportation Advisory for 2012 Olympics
July 28th, 2012Check out the tattoo on the right arm of the standing basketball player.
Via: Get Ahead of the Games – Basketball Players On a DLR Train (.pdf):
This website has been developed by Transport for London on behalf of the Olympic Delivery Authority, London 2012, the Department for Transport, the Highways Agency, National Rail and the Mayor of London. Its purpose is to provide you with the information you need to understand where and when travel will be affected, consider all your travel options and plan your travel during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Whether you are a London 2012 spectator, a regular traveller or a business, in certain places and at certain times across the UK, different transport arrangements will be in place that could affect your travel. This site contains the information you need to find out if and when your journey is likely to be affected. This site also helps you find the information you need to plan alternatives to your usual journey.
Related: ‘Popular among conspiracy theorists…’
Facebook Slaughter: Down Another 15%
July 27th, 2012Via: CNN:
Facebook’s stock opened at an all-time low, after its first earnings report failed to ease worries over slowing sales growth and its plan for mobile advertising.
Shares of Facebook (FB) tumbled nearly 15% to below $23 on Friday, 40% below the company’s initial offering price from May.
The Gentleperson’s Guide to Forum Spies
July 27th, 2012Via: Cryptome:
1. COINTELPRO Techniques for dilution, misdirection and control of an internet forum
2. Twenty-Five Rules of Disinformation
3. Eight Traits of the Disinformationalist
4. How to Spot a Spy (Cointelpro Agent)
5. Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression
Research Credit: HPLovecraft666
