Alternative News

Experts Say iPhone 5S Fingerprint Security Feature Can Be Hacked

"While fingerprint sensors might seem like a nifty way to shorten the steps to your next brilliant tweet and keep your buddy from punking your Facebook with a fake status update, they’re more likely to create a false sense of security, thanks to statements like this, from Apple Senior Vice President Dan Riccio, in the introductory video for the new iPhone 5s: 'Your fingerprint is one of the best passwords in the world. It’s always with you, and no two are exactly alike.' Riccio is half-right. Your fingerprint is always with you, and no two are exactly alike. But that doesn’t make it one of the best passwords in the world. That actually makes it a potentially lousy password." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingExperts Say iPhone 5S Fingerprint Security Feature Can Be Hacked

Secret terrorism court orders declassification of its own rulings

"Court cases before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court — the court that reviews requests by the NSA to wiretap suspected terrorists’ communications — are generally classified. But Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ordered the government to review the court’s opinions on the meaning, scope, and constitutionality of Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which authorizes the government to obtain 'any tangible things' relevant to foreign-intelligence or terrorism investigations. Section 215 is the legal basis the NSA claims legitimizes its mass phone records collection program." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSecret terrorism court orders declassification of its own rulings

Gov. Standards Agency Suggests Dropping NSA-Influenced Algorithm

"Documents provided by Edward Snowden suggest that the NSA has heavily influenced the standard, which has been used around the world. In its statement Tuesday, NIST acknowledged that the NSA participates in creating cryptography standards 'because of its recognized expertise' and because NIST is required by law to consult with the spy agency. Various versions of Microsoft Windows, including those used in tablets and smartphones, contain implementations of the standard, though the NSA-influenced portion isn’t enabled by default." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGov. Standards Agency Suggests Dropping NSA-Influenced Algorithm

With “Follow The Money”, NSA Knows All About Your Spending Habits

"While collecting credit card data was to be expected, what is even worse is that the NSA has also secretly planted itself in the nexus of the entire global USD-intermediated financial transactions system courtesy of SWIFT. In other words, America's unsupervised uber spies, when not checking in on their former significant others, spend the bulk of their time tracking who is buying what, where, and with whose money. They also know how much anyone in the world has spent on credit card-based purchases, what the source of that money is, and what the purchase was. In other words: absolute monetary and financial surveillance." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWith “Follow The Money”, NSA Knows All About Your Spending Habits

Huge Solar Drone Could Fly, Conduct Surveillance For Five Years

"A solar-powered high-altitude drone made by Titan Aerospace is intended to be able to remain in flight for about five years. When manufactured, it would have 3,000 solar panels producing about 7 kW of electricity and would be above the clouds, so it would be exposed to sunlight constantly during daylight hours. One is scheduled for completion next year. The point of having such a plane would be to keep a payload in flight long-term, presumably in a manner similar to communications satellites. They could be used for surveillance applications such as environmental monitoring, fire monitoring and disaster response, among other things." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHuge Solar Drone Could Fly, Conduct Surveillance For Five Years

U.S. was ‘hair’s breadth’ from detonating nuclear bomb over North Carolina

"Days after the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961, the American military came within a 'hair’s breadth' of detonating a nuclear explosion over North Carolina. A pair of Mark 29 hydrogen bombs — each of which was 250 times more powerful than the bomb that leveled Hiroshima — were accidentally deployed when the B-52 hauling them went into an uncontrolled spin. One of them fell to the ground unarmed, but the failsafe mechanisms in the other underwent a cascade of failure. Had the bomb exploded, the lethal fallout would have spread across the Eastern Seaboard, blanketing New York and Washington D.C." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. was ‘hair’s breadth’ from detonating nuclear bomb over North Carolina

The People Say No To War

"What happened? The people happened. Public-opinion polls showed at once that most of us do not want Obama to commit an act of war against Syria. Furthermore, the people inundated Congress with calls and emails. Because of this (and in some cases personal conviction), most members of Congress also do not want war with Syria. Obama got the message: he was heading for sure defeat in the House of Representatives and perhaps in the Senate. He couldn’t bear the prospect of rebuff. Russian president Vladimir Putin gave him a graceful way out. Because the people didn’t want war, when a possible diplomatic solution arose, Obama had to go for it. The people gave him no choice." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe People Say No To War

Jews say no to AIPAC and say no to bombing Syria

"We are appalled that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is sending hundreds of people to lobby Congress to approve a resolution to bomb Syria. The media also reports that Sheldon Adelson and the Republican Jewish Coalition are pushing hard for war. We don’t want it to be known that Jews stood silent as the powerful Israel lobby helped push the U.S. into a war in defiance of international law and American public opinion. The Israeli government should stop pointing the finger and admit its own abuses of chemicals. It used white phosphorus in its terrible 2008 attack on Gaza. Over the years it has used tear gas recklessly and killed and sickened many, many Palestinians." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJews say no to AIPAC and say no to bombing Syria

John Kerry Admits Syrian Rebels Could Have Chemical Weapons

"Kerry said UN inspectors must be on the ground no later than November, while the destruction of chemical weapons must be completed by the middle of 2014. 'Providing this framework is fully implemented it can end the threat these weapons pose not only to the Syrian people but also their neighbors,' Kerry said adding that Russian and US teams of experts had reached 'a shared assessment' of the existing stockpile and that Syria must destroy all of its weapons. It was possible that the Syrian rebels have some chemical weapons, he acknowledged." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJohn Kerry Admits Syrian Rebels Could Have Chemical Weapons

U.S. Drones Double Tap, Targeting Rescuers

"The U.S. use of drones in the 'war on terror' includes what is called a 'double tap,' meaning sending a second drone to the same area, in what amounts to targeting rescuers who are responding to the first attack. This isn’t new, not the action nor the reporting. What does it tell us, that 'double tapping' continues, about the decisions of the Obama administration, and the reactions, or lack thereof, from the U.S. public? Michael Kelly’s conclusion that the fact that double tapping 'is now normalized as a common tactic of the U.S. drone war is stunning' seems accurate to me. But I’m also not stunned that more people aren’t stunned by this 'normalcy.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Drones Double Tap, Targeting Rescuers