Tag Archives: DARPA
US uses border security measures to illegally seize material
Newly released documents reveal how the government uses border crossings to seize and examine travelers’ electronic devices instead of obtaining a search warrant to gain access to the data. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/business/the-border-is-a-back-door-for-us-device-searches.html?ref=world The documents detail what until now has been a largely secretive process that enables the government to create a travel alert for a person, who […]
NSA and GCHQ conspire in spying against their citizens
The US National Security Agency (NSA) is reported have cracked the security codes which protect data on iPhones, Blackberries and Android devices. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24009342 German news weekly Der Spiegel says documents suggest the NSA and the British GCHQ made joint efforts to gather intelligence. Teams looked at each phone to crack its privacy codes, Der Spiegel […]
NSA and Big Oil spy on national oil company of Brazil
The National Security Agency spied on Petrobras, Brazil’s giant national oil company, according to a report here on Sunday night by the Globo television network, in the latest revelation of the agency’s surveillance methods that have raised tension between Brazil and the United States. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/09/world/americas/nsa-spied-on-brazilian-oil-company-report-says.html?ref=world The company is controlled by Brazil’s government and ranks among […]
US drone strike kills civilians in Afghanistan
Underscoring the continued threat to civilians in Afghanistan, a drone strike in an eastern province killed up to 16 people, Afghan officials said Sunday. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/09/world/asia/two-deadly-attacks-in-afghanistan.html?ref=world&_r=0 The drone strike occurred Saturday afternoon in the Watapur district of Kunar Province. Afghan officials said the drone was targeting four insurgents who were picked up along the road by […]
Within the decade smart cars will fill driverless roads
Germany’s Daimler AG plans to start selling a self-driving car by 2020 as part of its campaign to regain the top spot among premium carmakers. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/09/08/business/08reuters-autoshow-frankfurt-daimler.html?hp&_r=0 “We want to be the first to launch autonomous functions in production vehicles. You can be sure: we will accomplish that in this decade,” Daimler head of development Thomas […]
Some in US Congress still fighting against NSA
After disclosures about the National Security Agency’s stealth campaign to counter Internet privacy protections, a congressman has proposed legislation that would prohibit the agency from installing “back doors” into encryption, the electronic scrambling that protects e-mail, online transactions and other communications. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/07/us/politics/legislation-seeks-to-bar-nsa-tactic-in-encryption.html?ref=us Representative Rush D. Holt, a New Jersey Democrat who is also a physicist, […]
Snowden material unveils NSA pervasiveness and abilities
The National Security Agency has circumvented or cracked much of the encryption, or digital scrambling, that guards global commerce and banking systems, protects sensitive data like trade secrets and medical records, and automatically secures the e-mails, Web searches, Internet chats and phone calls of Americans and others around the world, the documents show. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/us/nsa-foils-much-internet-encryption.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&hp […]
US drone strikes kill six more in Pakistan
At least six people were killed in an American drone strike in Pakistan’s restive northwestern tribal areas early Friday, according to government officials and local news reports. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/07/world/asia/us-drone-strike-kills-6-in-pakistan-fueling-anger.html?hp The identities of those killed were not immediately clear. American drone strikes are deeply unpopular in the country, and opposition to them has become an essential staple […]
Maker of home surveillance cameras reprimanded over privacy
Trendnet home cameras were hacked, causing privacy intrusions for hundreds of people. The company had weaknesses that meant supposedly private video feeds were in fact viewable by anyone online. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23971118 The company was barred from referring to their cameras as “secure” in marketing material. The move is the first such crackdown by the Federal Trade […]
Nidal Hasan forcibly shaven after being given death sentence
The man sentenced to death last week for the 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage has been forcibly shaved, a US Army spokesman has said. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23966193 Maj Nidal Hasan, 42, grew a beard in accordance with his Muslim faith in the years following the attack which killed 13 soldiers and wounded 32 others. The military death […]
18th American drone strike in Pakistan tribal belt this year
A drone suspected of being American killed at least four militants early Saturday in an attack on a compound in the North Waziristan tribal district, near the border with Afghanistan, a Pakistani security official and local residents said. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/world/asia/drone-strike-kills-suspected-militants-in-pakistan.html?hp&_r=0 The drone fired missiles at a building and a nearby parked vehicle in a village close […]
Snowden releases US intelligence budget, Post withholds info
The top secret budget request for the current fiscal year was obtained by The Washington Post from the former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden and published in part on its Web site on Thursday. The newspaper said it was withholding most of the 178-page document at the request of government officials because “sensitive […]
Facebook gives over 21,000 users data to the US government
Governments around the world requested information on about 38,000 Facebook users in the first six months of 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23852230 Facebook’s Global Government Requests Report, released on Tuesday for the first time, offered details on official requests from 74 countries. The US made by far the most requests, asking for information on between 20,000 and 21,000 […]
Julian Assange exposes Google collaboration with NSA et al
It has been revealed today, thanks to Edward Snowden, that Google and other US tech companies received millions of dollars from the NSA for their compliance with the PRISM mass surveillance system. http://cryptome.org/2013/08/assange-google-nsa.htm So just how close is Google to the US securitocracy? Back in 2011 I had a meeting with Eric Schmidt, the […]
American Civil Liberties Union lives up to their creed
In a detailed legal attack on the National Security Agency’s collection of Americans’ phone call data, the American Civil Liberties Union argued in court papers filed Monday that the sweeping data gathering violates the Constitution and should be halted. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/27/us/nsa-phone-data-collection-is-illegal-aclu-says.html?ref=us The A.C.L.U. cited the writings of George Orwell and the comprehensive East German surveillance portrayed […]
German people to jealously guard internet privacy
Continuing revelations, based on documents leaked by Edward J. Snowden, of sweeping American digital surveillance around the world are rattling the close ties between the United States and Germany. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/26/world/europe/surveillance-revelations-shake-us-german-ties.html?ref=world In a country scarred by Nazi and Communist pasts, the issue is prompting not just a debate about privacy and data protection, but also […]
US intelligence and banksters feed private spy companies
In 2012, more than $1 billion in venture financing poured into security start-ups, more than double the amount in 2010, according to the National Venture Capital Association. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/23/technology/the-pentagon-as-start-up-incubator.html?src=recg For years, the Pentagon has knocked on Silicon Valley’s door in search of programmers to work on its spying technologies. But these days, it’s the Pentagon that […]
NSA lied about scope of 4th amendment violations for years
A federal judge sharply rebuked the National Security Agency in 2011 for repeatedly misleading the court that oversees its surveillance on domestic soil, including a program that is collecting tens of thousands of domestic e-mails and other Internet communications of Americans each year, according to a secret ruling made public on Wednesday. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/us/2011-ruling-found-an-nsa-program-unconstitutional.html?hp&_r=0 The 85-page […]
UK detains Greenwald associate on terrorism to seize NSA info
The partner of Glenn Greenwald, the journalist for The Guardian who has been publishing information leaked by the former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden, was detained for nine hours by the British authorities under a counterterrorism law while on a stop in London’s Heathrow Airport during a trip from Germany to Brazil. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/19/world/europe/britain-detains-partner-of-reporter-tied-to-leaks.html?hp&_r=0 […]
Dirty Babylon 