Tag Archives: technology
European Parliament names Snowden for human rights award
Reading from a statement that she said had come from Mr. Snowden, Jesselyn Radack, a former ethics adviser to the United States Department of Justice and a former government whistle-blower, quoted Mr. Snowden as saying that “the surveillance of whole populations, rather than individuals, threatens to be the greatest human rights challenge of our time.” […]
US drones attacks violating Pakistani sovereignty
A suspected American drone strike killed four people in an attack on a compound in North Waziristan, a volatile tribal region bordering Afghanistan, a Pakistani intelligence official and local journalists said. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/01/world/asia/suspected-drone-strike-kills-4-in-pakistan.html?ref=world The missile strike, which occurred in Datta Khel district, a known sanctuary of local and foreign Islamist militants, was the second in the […]
NSA records historical “enrichment” profiles of americans
Since 2010, the National Security Agency has been exploiting its huge collections of data to create sophisticated graphs of some Americans’ social connections that can identify their associates, their locations at certain times, their traveling companions and other personal information, according to newly disclosed documents and interviews with officials. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/us/nsa-examines-social-networks-of-us-citizens.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2 The spy agency began allowing […]
FBI spends $3M for domestic drone deployment
US justice authorities are facing calls for new rules on drone surveillance after it was revealed the FBI has been deploying unmanned aircraft since 2006. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24294857 A report by the Department of Justice’s watchdog said the FBI has spent $3m (£1.9m) on drone deployment. The audit is the first time the full extent of drone […]
Feds attempt to obfuscate ELF implication of mind control
Aaron Alexis, the shooter who the police say killed 12 people at the navy yard here last week, believed his mind was being controlled by “extremely low frequency” electromagnetic waves. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/us/shooter-believed-mind-was-under-attack-official-says.html?ref=us Mr. Alexis, a former Navy reservist and military contractor, said that “ultralow frequency attack is what I’ve been subject to for the last three […]
Military Industrial Complex unveils pilotless warplanes
Boeing has revealed that it has retrofitted retired fighter jets to turn them into drones. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24231077 It said that one of the Lockheed Martin F-16 made a first flight with an empty cockpit last week. It carried out a series of manoeuvres including a barrel roll and a “split S” – a move in which […]
FBI leak shows US complicit in terrorism threat
A former F.B.I. agent has agreed to plead guilty to leaking classified information to The Associated Press about a foiled bomb plot in Yemen last year. In the leak, the government was able to obtain a special underwear bomb apparently designed by a terrorist group’s master bomb maker, Ibrahim al-Asiri, to evade detection in airport […]
US DOD allocates over 6 billion for autonomous robots
The US military budget ending Sept. 30 allocated $6.04 billion for autonomous aircraft and just $261 million for unmanned ground vehicles. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/science/military-lags-in-push-for-robotic-ground-vehicles.html?ref=us The gap, said John Arquilla, a military strategist at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., a research university operated by the Navy, is “particularly troubling because a large percentage of our casualties […]
RSA security warns customers of NSA encryption cracking
RSA, the internet security firm, has warned customers not to use one of its own encryption algorithms after fears it can be unlocked by the US National Security Agency (NSA). http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24173977 In an advisory note to its developer customers, RSA said that a default algorithm in one of its toolkits could contain a “back door” […]
Glyphosate damages soil as well as poisoning enviroment
“Anything you put on the land affects the chemistry and biology of the land, and that’s a powerful pesticide,” Iowa farmer Dennis Von Arb said. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/business/misgivings-about-how-a-weed-killer-affects-the-soil.html?ref=us His neighbor grows “traited,” or biotech, corn and soy on some 1,500 acres and estimates that his yield would fall by 20 percent if he switched to conventional […]
FISA court says NSA justified and blames tech companies
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday offered its most extensive public explanation for why it has allowed the government to keep records of all Americans’ phone calls, releasing a previously classified opinion in which it said the program was constitutional and did not violate Americans’ privacy rights. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/us/opinion-by-secret-court-calls-collection-of-phone-data-legal.html?hp In a 29-page opinion that quoted […]
Russia to tie chemical attack to Syrian rebels at UN
Russia will give the Security Council evidence implicating Syrian rebels in a chemical attack on 21 August, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24140475 Syrian officials supplied the evidence. A UN report released on Monday concluded the nerve agent sarin was used in the attack in Damascus, which the US blames on the Syrian […]
US DOD behind 3D printed live organ development
Miniature human organs developed with a modified 3D printer are being used to test new vaccines in a lab in the US. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24125678 The “body on a chip” project replicates human cells to print structures which mimic the functions of the heart, liver, lung and blood vessels. The organs are then placed on a microchip […]
Brazil looks to separate from NSA spy grid
Brazil is considering ways to make local use of the internet less dependent on US-based services, following leaks about Washington’s cyberspy operations. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24145662 The South American nation has suggested forcing internet firms to open data centres in Brazil, which would be used to store locally generated material. It is also pursuing a plan to build […]
UN chemical report inconclusive in assigning blame
A United Nations report’s authors did not assign blame for the attack on the outskirts of Damascus, the details it documented included the large size and particular shape of the munitions and the precise direction from which two of them had been fired. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/17/world/europe/syria-united-nations.html?hpw The main point of the report was to establish whether chemical […]
JPMorgan Banksters admit “groundbreaking” wrongdoing
JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay about $800 million to a host of government agencies in Washington and London — and make a groundbreaking admission of wrongdoing — to settle allegations stemming from a multibillion-dollar trading loss. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/09/16/jpmorgan-set-to-pay-fines-for-whale-trading-losses/?emc=eta1 The settlements, expected this week, will help the nation’s biggest bank move beyond last year’s $6 billion […]
Court rules Google breaks law with Wi-Fi snooping
A US judge has ruled that Google did break the law when it scooped up unsecured wi-fi data while collecting images for Streetview. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24047235 Google had hoped to have the case dismissed, arguing that its “mistaken collection” of the data did not break wire-tapping laws. Privacy experts called it a “landmark decision for internet […]
Computer authentication link to transhumanism
Machines verify the identity of a human being by irises, heartbeats, fingertips and voices. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/beyond-passwords-new-tools-to-identify-humans/ Authentication has been a tough nut to crack since the early days of the Web. Now comes a batch of high-tech alternatives, some straight from science fiction, as worries grow about the security risks associated with traditional user name and […]
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 […]
Dirty Babylon 
CBS rolls out David Rockefeller on Sunday Morning
The Columbia (Dove) Broadcasting System literally rolled out David Rockefeller last week on Sunday Morning. It was a sympathy piece for his daughter’s book. He looked like a cyborg. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50155099n