Technocracy

European defense contractors ask governments to launch drone programs

"Three top European defence firms called on Sunday on governments to launch a programme to manufacture drones that European countries are currently having to buy from Israel or the United States. France’s Dassault Aviation, European aerospace giant EADS and Italy’s Finmeccania argued such a joint programme would 'support the capability needs of European armed forces while optimising the difficult budgetary situation through pooling of research and development funding'. They said they were prepared to work together on the creation of a European drone which allows surveillance of vast areas over 24 hours." Continue reading →

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Law enforcement demands smartphone ‘kill switch’

"A coalition of law enforcement officials, political leaders and consumer groups, called the Secure Our Smartphones (S.O.S) Initiative, wants a 'kill switch' installed on all new smartphones that would make them useless anywhere in the world if they are reported stolen. They want all smartphones equipped with a kill switch by early next year and they don’t want customers to foot the bill for this security technology. The S.O.S. Initiative is spearheaded by Gascon and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The two prosecutors hosted a 'Smartphone Summit' in New York City on Thursday with the major mobile device manufacturers." Continue reading →

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James Bamford: The Secret War

"Tens of thousands of people move through more than 50 buildings—the city has its own post office, fire department, and police force. But as if designed by Kafka, it sits among a forest of trees, surrounded by electrified fences and heavily armed guards, protected by antitank barriers, monitored by sensitive motion detectors, and watched by rotating cameras. To block any telltale electromagnetic signals from escaping, the inner walls of the buildings are wrapped in protective copper shielding and the one-way windows are embedded with a fine copper mesh. This is the undisputed domain of General Keith Alexander, a man few even in Washington would likely recognize." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJames Bamford: The Secret War

Hands-free cell phone devices still pose driving risk: study

"Speech-to-text devices in new cars fail to overcome the well-known perils of hands-on texting while driving, a US study published Wednesday suggests. While the research is ongoing, early findings suggest that sending texts with a hands-free voice recognition system — a feature in many new vehicles — was more distracting than listening to the radio or conversing with passengers. The 12 men and 20 women who participated in the study ranged in age from 18 to 33. All had clean driving records — and all confessed to regularly using their cell phones while driving." Continue reading →

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New phone app would let you snitch on illegal parkers, get a cut of the fine

"Some entrepreneurial Winnipeggers are set to unleash an army of bounty hunters keen on nabbing people who park in disabled parking spots without a permit or in front of a fire hydrant. All that would be needed is a smartphone and the 'spotsquad' app. The app would allow people to snap a picture of a parking violation and send the photo to police, private parking operators or city wardens. A parking warden could then be dispatched to issue a ticket. If a ticket resulted in a fine, under the plan, informants would get a cut deposited into their bank accounts or could direct the cash to their favourite charities." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew phone app would let you snitch on illegal parkers, get a cut of the fine

Oregon Extends Reach Of Red Light Camera Surveillance

"Red light cameras and speed cameras will be used to prosecute vehicle owners for dozens of new offenses in Oregon if Governor John Kitzhaber (D) signs a measure that cleared the state legislature on Tuesday. The state House voted 53-6 and the Senate 22-8 to repeal an existing law that prohibits the use of photo radar or red light camera photographs for the prosecution of anything other than a speeding or red light-related infraction." Continue reading →

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Supreme Court Upholds Maryland Law, Says Police May Take DNA Samples From Arrestees

"As with other recent court decisions involving the Fourth Amendment’s 'right of the people to be secure in their persons, ­houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,' the justices split in an unusual fashion. In his dissent, Scalia wrote that the majority’s attempts to justify the use of DNA as an identification tool 'taxes the credulity of the credulous.' He added, 'Make no mistake about it: As an entirely predictable consequence of today’s decision, your DNA can be taken and entered into a national DNA database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSupreme Court Upholds Maryland Law, Says Police May Take DNA Samples From Arrestees

This is the Moment

"We have been seeing this transformation ever since 9/11, and the beginning of the Global War on Terror. Civil liberties have been eroded for the sake of 'protecting us from the terrorists'—with the result that the government has been gaining more and more knowledge of the citizenry. This knowledge of the citizenry means control of the citizenry by the government. By applying a panopticon model to the people—which is what these NSA revelations prove—then every man, woman and child in America is not only controlled by the U.S. government: They are effectively prisoners of the U.S. government." Continue reading →

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European monitoring of civilians still far less than U.S., but growing

"Under a directive approved by the 27-member European Union in 2006, telecommunications operators and internet service providers are obliged to retain records of users’ calls and online activity for at least six months. The directive enables security services, if necessary, to check who has been communicating with whom, from where, at what time and for how long but stops short of enabling them to check the content of any communications. The European legislation was approved in the aftermath of bombings in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005. Individual governments are free to require longer periods of data retention." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEuropean monitoring of civilians still far less than U.S., but growing

NSA spying allegations mean U.S. could provide ‘virtually unlimited’ info on citizens to allies

"Britain’s foreign secretary took to television on Sunday to reassure Britons that London’s own spies had not circumvented laws restricting their own activity by obtaining information collected by Washington. In Germany, sensitive to decades of snooping by East German Stasi secret police, the opposition said Chancellor Angela Merkel should do more to protect Germans from U.S. spying and demand answers when President Barack Obama visits this month. In Australia, a government source said the U.S. revelations could make it more difficult to pass a law allowing the government to access Internet data at home." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA spying allegations mean U.S. could provide ‘virtually unlimited’ info on citizens to allies