US plan calls for more scanning of private Web traffic, email
The U.S. government is expanding a cybersecurity program that scans Internet traffic headed into and out of defense contractors to include far more of the country’s private, civilian-run infrastructure. As a result, more private sector employees than ever before, including those at big banks, utilities and key transportation companies, will have their emails and Web surfing scanned as a precaution against cyber attacks. Under last month’s White House executive order on cybersecurity, the scans will be driven by classified information provided by U.S. intelligence agencies — including data from the National Security Agency (NSA) — on new or especially serious espionage threats and other hacking attempts. U.S. spy chiefs said on March 12 that cyber attacks have supplanted terrorism as the top threat to the country.
Facebook developing app that will track your every move – even when it’s turned off
- App intended to alert users when Facebook ‘friends’ are nearby
- It will also help the social network target localised adverts
- Privacy campaigners warn it is ‘profit trumping privacy’
Facebook is developing a new smartphone app to track the location of users in an effort to target them with localised adverts, according to reports.
The app will help users to find friends who are nearby, alert them when it detects one in close proximity even when the app is not open on the handset, it is claimed.
It will be just one of a whole suite of mobile apps Facebook is building up to help it profit from the increasing proportion of its users who access the social network on the go.
But privacy campaigners warned it was another example of ‘profit trumping privacy’ and called the function ‘intrusive’. Read more Daily Mail
Google experimenting with USB 'keys' to access accounts in bid to kill off passwords
Since passwords have become an increasing problem for many, Google could be set to replace them entirely and is experimenting with USB keys, mobile phones and even jewellery that can act as a physical "key" to give users access to their account.
The search giant's security bosses are set to publish their findings next month and say they could soon be commonplace…
Survival kits and trips to hell, doomsday hysteria grips Russia
Doomsday X (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Doomsday hysteria has gripped Russia and some of its neighbors. Travel agencies are selling tours to either heaven or hell and people are stocking up on food and fuel. Officials are publicly denying the apocalypse, hoping to calm the hype.
Those awaiting Doomsday have three weeks to finish their preparations before the date of the much publicized apocalypse allegedly predicted by Mayan calendar, that is going to happen on December 21, 2012.
Thousands of people across Russia keep stocking up their back rooms and balconies with food, fuel and other supplies they might need when disaster strikes. Some are even moving outside of cities because of the widely spread rumors that cities would be impossible to survive in after an apocalypse on Earth. Full story RT
California gets face scanners to spy on everyone at once
RT- In a single second, law enforcement agents can match a suspect against millions upon millions of profiles in vast detailed databases stored on the cloud. It’s all done using facial recognition, and in Southern California it’s already occurring.
Imagine the police taking a picture: any picture of a person, anywhere, and matching it on the spot in less than a second to a personalized profile, scanning millions upon millions of entries from within vast, intricate databases stored on the cloud.
Continue Reading at RT
Japan unveils machine that detects bombs as passengers swipe boarding passes
Plane passengers could soon be scanned for bombs as they swipe their boarding pass, a Japanese company said Wednesday, unveiling the world’s first explosive-detecting departure gate.
Engineers from hi-tech firm Hitachi showcased a machine that blows a short puff of air at a passenger’s hand as he scans his pass.
It then sucks in that air — along with all the minute particles that have been blown off the hand — and instantly analyses whether there are any explosive substances present, said senior chief researcher Minoru Sakairi.
All that takes about one to two seconds, short enough to keep people moving through the gate and onto the plane, he said.
“This allows screening of all passengers and can make air travel safer,” Sakairi said.
The device is intended as an extra layer of security on top of existing measures, such as metal detectors, pat-downs and x-ray scanners, he said.
The gate is most effective in finding those who may have hidden non-metal-based bombs on their bodies, like the man who concealed plastic explosives in his underwear on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit in 2009.
“Since the Detroit incident, searches on individuals have become more stringent to pick up people who may carry explosives on them,” Sakairi said.
“This boarding gate should serve as an important tool to scan particles on all passengers,” he said.
Explosive materials are highly adhesive and can stay for some time on anyone who has handled them, or on their clothing, bags and any other items they may have touched, Hitachi researchers said.
The technology can also be used for gates at train stations and concerts, government buildings and sporting venues such as Olympic stadiums, Hitachi said.
They acknowledged that the machine also picks up people who legally work with chemicals with explosive characteristics, such as farmers using fertilisers and angina patients who take nitroglycerin.
The company plans further experiments at airports and train stations before deciding whether to commercialise the prototype device, Sakairi said.
Hitachi teamed up with the Nippon Signal Co and the University of Yamanashi to develop the prototype boarding gate with a 290 million yen ($3.7 million) grant from the government.
FBI begins installation of $1 billion face recognition system across America
FBI logo.(Foto fromen.wikipedia.org)
Birthmarks, be damned: the FBI has officially started rolling out a state-of-the-art face recognition project that will assist in their effort to accumulate and archive information about each and every American at a cost of a billion dollars.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reached a milestone in the development of their Next Generation Identification (NGI) program and is now implementing the intelligence database in unidentified locales across the country, New Scientist reports in an article this week. The FBI first outlined the project back in 2005, explaining to the Justice Department in an August 2006 document (.pdf) that their new system will eventually serve as an upgrade to the current Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) that keeps track of citizens with criminal records across America .
“The NGI Program is a compilation of initiatives that will either improve or expand existing biometric identification services,” its administrator explained to the Department of Justice at the time, adding that the project, “will accommodate increased information processing and sharing demands in support of anti-terrorism.”
“The NGI Program Office mission is to reduce terrorist and criminal activities by improving and expanding biometric identification and criminal history information services through research, evaluation and implementation of advanced technology within the IAFIS environment.”
The agency insists, “As a result of the NGI initiatives, the FBI will be able to provide services to enhance interoperability between stakeholders at all levels of government, including local, state, federal, and international partners.” In doing as such, though, the government is now going ahead with linking a database of images and personally identifiable information of anyone in their records with departments around the world thanks to technology that makes fingerprint tracking seem like kids’ stuff.
According to their 2006 report, the NGI program utilizes “specialized requirements in the Latent Services, Facial Recognition and Multi-modal Biometrics areas” that “will allow the FnewBI to establish a terrorist fingerprint identification system that is compatible with other systems; increase the accessibility and number of the IAFIS terrorist fingerprint records; and provide latent palm print search capabilities.”
Is that just all, though? During a 2010 presentation (.pdf) made by the FBI’s Biometric Center of Intelligence, the agency identified why facial recognition technology needs to be embraced. Specifically, the FBI said that the technology could be used for “Identifying subjects in public datasets,” as well as “conducting automated surveillance at lookout locations” and “tracking subject movements,” meaning NGI is more than just a database of mug shots mixed up with fingerprints — the FBI has admitted that this their intent with the technology surpasses just searching for criminals but includes spectacular surveillance capabilities. Together, it’s a system unheard of outside of science fiction. Read more
Agencies tamp down speculation over hollow-point ammo purchases
Agencies tamp down speculation over hollow-point ammo purchases
Obscure federal agencies triggered a firestorm of conspiracy theories this week after they put out orders for thousands of rounds of deadly hollow-point bullets.
But the agencies, most recently the Social Security Administration, are trying to put a damper on the speculation — noting the ammunition is “standard issue” and simply used for mandatory federal training sessions.
“Our special agents need to be armed and trained appropriately,” said a message on the official blog for Social Security’s inspector general office
explaining the purchases.
The bullet purchases drew widespread attention as the website Infowars.com published several stories on them that were linked off the widely read Drudge Report and other sites. Infowars.com catalogued a string of recent purchases — first by the Department of Homeland Security, then by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and then the Social Security Administration. Read More
WIKILEAKS: Are You Being Monitored by Secret Surveillance System?
WikiLeaks documents reportedly reveal the existence of a secret surveillance program “more accurate than modern facial recognition technology,” which is being utilized by a clandestine organization made up of a number of former members of U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA and the Pentagon.
The documents, comprised of emails hacked by Anonymous, identify the program as “TrapWire,” and this could be the biggest of all previous leaks if the documents turn out to contain accurate information. WikiLeaks began releasing the emails hacked from the geopolitical intelligence company Stratfor earlier this year.
“Hacktivists” with the group Anonymous took credit for hacking Stratfor on Dec. 24, 2011 and said they had collected more than five million emails from within the organization, some of which show a collaboration between Stratfor and the TrapWire creators at Abraxas, a company based in northern Virginia that is staffed with some of the most elite members of America’s intelligence community.READ ARTICLE
Visitors To World Chaos
