He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He’s everywhere. And that’s the whole point of the Elf on the Shelf, the bright-eyed, Kewpie-esque doll that millions of parents display around their homes in December as a reminder to children to behave. The elf, the story goes, is an agent reporting back … Read More “"Santa Claus and the Surveillance State"” »
Category: surveillance
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“The next time you call for assistance because the Internet service in your home is not working, the ‘technician’ who comes to your door may actually be an undercover government agent. He will have secretly disconnected the service, knowing that you will naturally call for help and — when he shows up at your door, … Read More “The Limits of Police Subterfuge” »
There’s a new international survey on Internet security and trust, of “23,376 Internet users in 24 countries,” including “Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey and the United States.” Amongst the findings, 60% of Internet … Read More “Over 700 Million People Taking Steps to Avoid NSA Surveillance” »
The Intercept has published an article — based on the Snowden documents — about AURORAGOLD, an NSA surveillance operation against cell phone network operators and standards bodies worldwide. This is not a typical NSA surveillance operation where agents identify the bad guys and spy on them. This is an operation where the NSA spies on … Read More “NSA Hacking of Cell Phone Networks” »
Funny. Powered by WPeMatico
The Denver police are using olfactometers to measure the concentration of cannabis in the air. I haven’t found any technical information about these devices, their sensitivity, range, etc. Powered by WPeMatico
Interesting essay on the future of speech recognition, microphone miniaturization, and the future ubiquity of auditory surveillance. Powered by WPeMatico
A new story based on the Snowden documents and published in the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung shows how the GCHQ worked with Cable & Wireless — acquired by Vodafone in 2012 — to eavesdrop on Internet and telecommunications traffic. New documents on the page, and here. Ars Technica article. Slashdot thread. Powered by WPeMatico
Regin is another military–grade surveillance malware (tech details from Symantec and Kaspersky). It seems to have been in operation between 2008 and 2011. The Intercept has linked it to NSA/GCHQ operations, although I am still skeptical of the NSA/GCHQ hacking Belgian cryptographer Jean-Jacques Quisquater. Powered by WPeMatico
AP is reporting that in 2009, several senior NSA officials objected to the NSA call-records collection program. The now-retired NSA official, a longtime code-breaker who rose to top management, had just learned in 2009 about the top secret program that was created shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He says he argued to then-NSA … Read More “Pre-Snowden Debate About NSA Call-Records Collection Program” »