Facebook steps up lobbying, deepens ties with intelligence agencies, FTC
SocialBeat, Kim-Mai Cutler - 042210
Facebook has been gradually boosting its profile in Washington D.C. over the
past year and is on the hunt for a second senior lobbyist to add to its office
of four. Disclosures released a few days ago show that, on top of lobbying the
usual suspects Internet companies reach out to like the Federal Trade Commission
and the U.S. senators and representatives, the fast-growing social network has
also been busy deepening ties to government intelligence and homeland security
agencies. ...
NewsFocus:Much like AOL, Facebook was conceived as a big brother
operation to keep tabs and snoop on Americans. It is a vast data mining
operation for U.S. intelligence. Our privacy and rights are being violated
daily, yet most don't even know.
New U.S. Push to Regulate Internet Access Wall Street Journal - 050710
The decision, by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski,
is likely to trigger a vigorous lobbying battle, arraying big phone and cable
companies and their allies on Capitol Hill against Silicon Valley giants and
consumer advocates. ...
FCC Expected to Abandon Net Neutrality, Universal
Internet
Huffington Post - 050410
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is "leaning toward" siding with the most powerful phone and cable
lobbyists on a crucial decision: whether the FCC will have any authority to
protect an open Internet and make it available to all.
The
Image Microsoft Doesn't Want You To See Microsoft Accused Of Using
Child Labor In China
InformationClearinghouse.info, b
Too tired to stay awake, the Chinese workers earning just 34p an hour.
...
Running An Automobile On Hydrogen Using
Salt Water
SpiritofMaat.com, by Drunvalo
This engine, using water and salt
as the primary fuel, and metal alloy as a catalyst, was definitely running!
According to the company's representative, ...
The Salt Water Engine
Governments should be scrambling to develop this technology, but
big oil says no.
NewsFocus:
First off, this is awful that the inventor is so shallow in his thinking to sell
to anyone who will buy. That will allow those that already control the
fuel and energy markets to simply buy him out and shelve the project, to protect
their own investments and profit. Secondly, he has discovered nothing new about
RF killing cancer. It has been known about for years, since the 1920s. (See
inventor Royal
Rife.) Treating cancer patients with RF energy (radio frequencies) was
killed by the pharmaceutical industry years ago, because it would kill their new
vision at the time for prescription drugs. The salt-water engine has more
monetary value in saving the planet, a much nobler goal than trying to kill
cancer with a method that has already been shelved. A salt-water engine would
revolutionize the world. Too bad he doesn't see the bigger picture.
Password-cracking tools optimized
to work with SSDs have achieved speeds up to 100 times quicker than previously
possible.
After optimising its rainbow
tables of password hashes to make use of SSDs Swiss security firm Objectif
Sécurité was able to crack 14-digit WinXP passwords with special characters in
just 5.3 seconds. Objectif Sécurité's Philippe Oechslin
told Heise Security that the result was 100 times faster than possible with
their old 8GB Rainbow Tables for XP hashes. ...
Researchers spy on BitTorrent users in real-time User uploads and downloads revealed
TheRegister.co.uk, by Dan Goodin in San Francisco - 043010
Researchers have devised a way to monitor BitTorrent users over long stretches
of time, a feat that allows them to map the internet addresses of individuals
and track the content they are sending and receiving. ...
Symantec
Buys PGP And GuardianEdge Too PGP, The Algorithm That Top Government
Cryptologist Couldn't Crack
TheRegister.co.uk, 042910
Crypto shopping spree. Symantec has announced a
surprise deal to buy both email and data encryption firms PGP Corporation and
GuardianEdge Technologies for a combined total of $370m in cash. The security
giant is paying $300m for PGP and $70m for GuardianEdge...
NHS computers hit by voracious, data-stealing worm Easily detected — but isn’t
TheRegister.co.uk, by Dan Goodin in San
Francisco - 042310
The UK’s National Health Service has been hit by a voracious, data-stealing worm
that’s easily detected by off-the-shelf security software, according to
researchers who directly observed the mass compromise.
...
Scientists Create Fully-Functioning, 3D Invisibility Cloak
RawStory.com, by
Agence France-Presse- Thursday, March 18th, 2010
WASHINGTON (AFP) – European researchers have taken the world a step closer to
fictional wizard Harry Potter's invisibility cape after they made an object
disappear using a three-dimensional "cloak," a study published Thursday in the
US-based journal Science showed. ...
Government Using Microsoft
To Spy On You
US Developing New Non-Nuclear Missiles Conventional warheads could strike anywhere
in less than an hour
InformationClearinghouse.info,
by Craig Whitlock As the White House pushes for cuts in the U.S.
nuclear arsenal, the Pentagon is developing a weapon to help fill the gap:
missiles armed with conventional warheads that could strike anywhere in the
world in less than an hour.
Continue
Prompt Global Strike: World Military Superiority Without Nuclear Weapons IntelDaily.com, by Rick
Rozoff - 041210
(The Intelligence Daily) — A war can be won without being waged. Victory can be
attained when an adversary knows it is vulnerable to an instantaneous and
undetectable, overwhelming and devastating attack without the ability to defend
itself or retaliate.
What applies to an individual country does also
to all potential adversaries and indeed to every other nation in the world.
There is only one country that has the military
and scientific capacity and has openly proclaimed its intention to achieve that
ability. That nation is what its current head of state defined last December as
the world’s sole military superpower. [1] One which aspires to remain the only
state in history to wield full spectrum military dominance on land, in the air,
on the seas and in space. ... (Read
More)
(Bloomberg) -- The earthquake
that killed more than 700 people in Chile on Feb. 27 probably shifted the
Earth’s axis and shortened the day, a National Aeronautics and Space
Administration scientist said.
Earthquakes can involve shifting hundreds of
kilometers of rock by several meters, changing the distribution of mass on the
planet. This affects the Earth’s rotation, said
Richard Gross, a geophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, California, who uses a computer model to calculate the effects. ...
Hacker Disables More Than 100 Cars Remotely
Wired.com, by Kevin Poulsen - 031710
More than 100 drivers in Austin, Texas found
their cars disabled or the horns honking out of control, after an intruder ran
amok in a web-based vehicle-immobilization system normally used to get the
attention of consumers delinquent in their auto payments. ...
Millions of Tons of Ice (Water) Found at Moon’s North Pole
Wired.com, by
Tia Ghose - 030110
A moon probe has found millions of tons of water on the moon’s
north pole, NASA reported Monday. The vast source of water could one day be used
to generate oxygen or sustain a moon base.
A NASA radar aboard India’s Chandrayaan-I lunar orbiter found 40 craters,
ranging in size from 1 to 9 miles across, with pockets of ice. Scientists
estimate at least 600 million tons of ice could be entombed in these craters.
...
Master Plan: The Power of Google
We are not using Google, they are using us.
NewsFocus: Is
Google going too far in their alleged claim of a free "service" for society?
Have you ever asked yourself who pays for the gazillion petabytes of expensive
hard drive storage to house all of that data? We're talking tons of
information and
video that continually pours in daily, 24/7. Do you realize the inordinate
amount (and cost) of all of the expensive operating bandwidth required to make
Google run? As the old saying goes, "There ain't no free lunch..."
Make no mistake about it, we're not using Google, it is Google
who is using us. The databases that can be built on each individual user
from data mining and usage tracking is more valuable and far more powerful than
most people know.
Many are already up in arms over Google's invasions of privacy,
most notably Google maps invading our personal privacy by illegally
photographing our private property without permission; data that can easily be
exploited and used for criminal endeavors. This type of activity is
clearly prohibited under new Patriot Act laws enacted since 9/11.
People need to seriously start thinking twice about the impact
and reach of this monolithic Goliath, an overnight success story with quarterly
income in the billions. Google has taken its place at the top of, not
just the computer industry, but the world business community as well. Along with
Microsoft, they have each literally conquered the world in such a short
amount of time. Their power is not to be taken lightly.
We Can Hear You: Many Voice Encryption Systems Easily Crackable IntelDaily.com,
-
February 1, 2010
vast majority of voice encryption products are seriously flawed, according to
controversial tests by an anonymous hacker.
Using the commercially available FlexiSpy wiretapping utility and a ‘homemade’
Trojan, Notrax (the anonymous hacker’s nickname) claims to have defeated 11 out
of 15 voice encryption technologies in tests. Notrax claims he was able to use
malware trickery ...
A twin-engine plane bound for Hawthorne crashed in heavy fog
today shortly after takeoff in East Palo Alto, killing three people aboard and
setting homes and cars on fire.
Officials said the victims were
all employees of Tesla Motors Inc., but did not identify their names. The Cessna
310 is registered to Doug Bourn, a senior electrical engineer at Tesla Motors
Inc. who lives in Santa Clara.
Tesla Motors is an electric car
company owned by Elon Musk, a multimillionaire who founded Hawthorne-based Space
Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, after making his fortune as the co-founder
of PayPal Inc. ...
Apple Introduces The I-Pad Essentially an overgrown I-Pod Touch, or a flat panel laptop, but it's
cool.
Microsoft’s Creative Destruction
NewYorkTimes.com, by DICK BRASS - February 4, 2010
As they marvel at Apple’s new iPad tablet computer, the
technorati seem to be focusing on where this leaves Amazon’s popular e-book
business. But the much more important question is why Microsoft, America’s most
famous and prosperous technology company, no longer brings us the future,
whether it’s tablet computers like the iPad, e-books like Amazon’s Kindle,
smartphones like the BlackBerry and iPhone, search engines like Google, digital
music systems like iPod and iTunes or popular Web services like Facebook and
Twitter. ...
Proposed Web video restrictions cause outrage in Italy
The Industry Standard, Philip Willan, IDG News Service
- 011510
New rules to be introduced by government decree will require
people who upload videos onto the Internet to obtain authorization from the
Communications Ministry similar to that required by television broadcasters,
drastically reducing freedom to communicate over the Web, opposition
lawmakers have warned. ...
Secret code protecting cellphone calls set loose Universal phone snooping moves forward
TheRegister.co.uk, by
Dan Goodin in San Francisco
Cryptographers have moved closer to their goal of eavesdropping
on cellphone conversations after cracking the secret code used to prevent the
interception of radio signals as they travel between handsets and mobile
operators' base stations.
The code is designed to prevent the interception of phone calls by forcing
mobile phones and base stations to rapidly change radio frequencies over a
spectrum of 80 channels. Without knowing the precise sequence, would-be
eavesdroppers can assemble only tiny fragments of a conversation. ...
Yahoo!: Our spying policies would 'shock' customers
RawStory.com, By
John Byrne -
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 -- 9:03 am
A little-noticed letter from Yahoo! to the US
Marshals Service offers troubling insight into the surveillance
policies of one of the Internet's largest email providers.
In response to a Freedom of Information Act
request seeking details of Yahoo's! policies allowing the
Justice Department to request wiretaps of its users and the
amount they charge US taxpayers per wiretap -- the search engine
leviathan declared in a 12-page letter that they couldn't
provide information on their approach because their pricing
scheme would "shock" customers. The news was first
reported by Kim Zetter at Wired.
Sprint manager: ‘Half’ of all police surveillance includes text messaging
requests
RawStory.com, By
Stephen C. Webster - Saturday, December 5th, 2009 -- 3:37 pm
According to a graduate student's research into the spying policies of major
U.S. telecommunications companies, at a recent security conference a Sprint
surveillance manager told a group of onlookers that half of all police requests
include the target's text messages.
Half of millions -- including some 8 million automated, web-based requests
for GPS location, all in just over a year's time. ...
Following the Money Trail: Telecoms and ISPs Feed the Secret State's
Surveillance Machine
IntelDaily, 121109
(The Intelligence Daily) -- "Follow the money." And why not. As the interface
between state and private criminality, following the money trail is oxygen and
combustible fuel for rooting out corruption in high places: indelible signs left
behind like toxic tracks by our sociopathic masters. After all, there's nothing
quite like exposing an exchange of cold, hard cash from one greedy fist to
another to focus one's attention on the business at hand. And when that dirty
business is the...
The Pocket Spy: Will Your Smartphone Rat You Out?
New Scientist, 14 by
Linda GeddesOctober 2009
There are certain things you do not want to share with strangers.
In my case it was a stream of highly personal text messages from my husband,
sent during the early days of our relationship. Etched on my phone's SIM card -
but invisible on my current handset and thus forgotten - here they now are,
displayed in all their brazen glory on a stranger's computer screen.
I've
just walked into a windowless room on an industrial estate in Tamworth, UK,
where three cellphone analysts in blue shirts sit at their terminals,
scrutinising the contents of my phone and smirking. "If it's any consolation, we
would have found them even if you had deleted them," says one.
Worse,
it seems embarrassing text messages aren't the only thing I have to worry about:
"Is this a photo of your office?" another asks (the answer is yes). "And did you
enjoy your pizza on Monday night? And why did you divert from your normal route
to work to visit this address in Camberwell, London, on Saturday?" ... (Read
More)
Was the Universe Created By A Big Bang? Several of the
World's Leading Cosmologists Say No "What banged?" Sean Carroll, CalTech -Moore Center for
Theoretical Cosmology & Physics DailyGalaxy.com - January 25, 2010
Several of the worlds leading astrophysicists believe
there was no Big Bang that brought the universe and time into existence. Before
the Big Bang, the standard theory assumes, there was no space, just nothing.
Einstein merged the universe into a single entity: not space, not time, but
spacetime. ...
Mysterious spiral
lights over Norway provokes debate
Mirror.co.uk - 121009
By Conrad Quilty-Harper, Mirror.co.uk 10/12/2009 The appearance
of a strange spiral light in the skies above
Norway yesterday has prompted plenty of debate ...
Mystery
as spiral
blue light display hovers above Norway
DailyMail.co.uk - 121009
Witnesses from Trøndelag to Finnmark compared the amazing display
to anything from a Russian rocket to a meteor or shock wave - although no
...
Official Story Tries To Claim
Failed Russian Missile Launch Since When Do Missiles Project A Huge Spiral Display Against The
Sky?
What about a NATO HAARP system near Norway? Could this have
anything to do with
EISCAT?
Russians say no relationship to failed missile launch from Wednesday.
Large Hadron Collider Produces First Physics Results Science Daily (press release) -
121509
... paper on proton collisions in the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) --
designed to provide the highest energy ever explored with particle accelerators
...
Large Hadron Collider physicists claim energy world record guardian.co.uk - Dec 9, 2009
Scientists claimed a world record by crashing particles together at the highest
energy achieved in a laboratory. Physicists at the Cern nuclear research ...
World-Record Energy Collisions Achieved at Large Hadron Collider Science Daily (press release) -
Dec 9, 2009
ScienceDaily (Dec. 9, 2009) — On Tuesday evening, December 8th, thousands of
physicists around the world cheered as CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) ...
LHC now world's most powerful collider PhysicsToday.org - Dec 9, 2009
By Physics Today on December 9, 2009 12:14 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Physics Today: The ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider has posted on
...
MOSCOW — Russian scientists will soon meet in secret to work on a
plan for saving Earth from a possible catastrophic collision with a giant
asteroid in 26 years, the head of Russia's space agency said Wednesday.
"We will soon hold a closed meeting of our collegium, the
science-technical council to look at what can be done" to prevent the asteroid
Apophis from slamming into the planet in 2036, Anatoly Perminov told Voice of
Russia radio.
"We are talking about people's lives," Perminov was quoted by
news agencies as telling the radio station.
"Better to spend a few hundred million dollars to create a
system for preventing a collision than to wait until it happens and hundreds of
thousands of people are killed," he said.
The Apophis asteroid measures approximately 350 metres (1,150
feet) in diameter and RIA Novosti news agency said that if it were to hit Earth
when it passes nearby in 2036 it would create a new desert the size of France.
...
The universe's mysterious 'Cold Spot' Is the "Great Void" One-Billion Light Years
Across the Imprint of Another Universe or a Statistical Error?
DailyGalaxy.com - 122909 In 2004 astronomers found an enormous hole in the
southern hemisphere of the Universe, nearly a billion light-years across, empty
of both normal matter such as stars, galaxies, and gas, and the mysterious,
unseen "dark matter." This was a startling finding, since accepted models of the
early universe say that the big bang created an initially uniform cosmic
landscape, when viewed on large scales. While earlier studies have shown holes,
or voids, in the large-scale structure of the Universe, this discovery dwarfed
them all. This "nothing" is an enormous hole in the cosmos that defies standard
cosmology and might just be the imprint of another universe bumping against our
own while some astronomers suggested the spot could be a supervoid, a remnant of
an early phase transition in the universe.
This giant cold spot has a cosmic microwave
background a chilly 20 to 45 per cent lower than the average for the rest of the
sky, according to NASA's WMAP satellite. ...
NASA - A Giant Breach in Earth's Magnetic Field Hole In Magnetic Field Is Said To Be Four
Times Larger Than The Earth
Science.NASA.gov - Dec 16, 2008
Space physicists have long believed that holes in Earth's
magnetosphere open only in response to solar magnetic fields that point south.
"The opening was huge—four
times wider than Earth itself," says Wenhui Li, a space physicist at the
University of New Hampshire who has been analyzing the data. Li's colleague
Jimmy Raeder, also of New Hampshire, says "1027 particles per second
were flowing into the magnetosphere—that's a 1 followed by 27 zeros. This kind
of influx is an order of magnitude greater than what we thought was possible."
... (Read
More)
Magnetic-Shield Cracks Found; Big Solar Storms Expected
National Geographic News, by Victoria Jaggard - December 17, 2008
An unexpected, thick layer of solar particles inside
Earth's magnetic field suggests there are huge breaches in our planet's
solar defenses, scientists said.
These breaches indicate
that during the next period of high solar activity, due to start in 2012, Earth
will experience some of the worst solar storms seen in decades.
...
NASA Themis Mission Discovers Hole In
Magnetic Field
CNN Story On Hole In Our Magnetic Field
Earth's Protective Magnetic Shield Has A Hole In It
The prospect for a 2012 solar hit could be devastating.
NASA Discovers Hole In Earth's Magnetic Field
This is of concern for all of mankind, especially with the solar
maxim waging away.
Cassini sheds light on Saturn's 30- and 300-year mysteries ARS Technica,
by John Timmer 121009
Researchers have found that Saturn's moon Iapetus may have an active water
cycle, while the planet itself has turned to reveal a strange hexagonal pattern
first seen by the Voyager probes. ...
Swedish Study: Wireless Phones Can Affect The Brain ScienceDaily.com - Nov. 11, 2009
A study at Örebro University in Sweden indicates that mobile
phones and other cordless telephones have a biological effect on the brain. It
is still too early to say if any health risks are involved, but medical
researcher Fredrik Söderqvist recommends caution in the use of these phones,
above all among children and adolescents. Few children who regularly use mobile
phones use a headset often or always, even though the Swedish Radiation Safety
Authority recommends this.
"Children may be more sensitive than adults to radiation from
wireless phones," says Fredrik Söderqvist, who is presenting his research
findings in a new doctoral thesis at Örebro University. ...
AP Investigation Shows Monsanto's Reach Is Even Wider Than We Thought CrooksandLiars.com, by Susie Madrak Monday Dec 14, 2009 4:00pm
Hmm. Do you think it's really a good idea that one multinational corporation
controls the vast majority of the international food supply? Haha, just
kidding. Of course it's a good idea! That's why one of the first things
we did when we invaded Iraq was to announce a law that farmers could no longer
save their own seed:
ST. LOUIS — Confidential contracts detailing Monsanto Co.'s business
practices reveal how the world's biggest seed developer is
squeezing
competitors, controlling smaller seed companies and protecting its dominance
over the multibillion-dollar market for genetically altered crops, an
Associated Press investigation has found. (Read
More)
Robot completes
first underwater crossing of Atlantic Ocean AFP,
120909 Spain on Wednesday
handed back to the United States a robot which last week completed the first
underwater crossing of the Atlantic Ocean to help monitor climate change by
tracking temperatures.
The yellow
glider, which resembles a rocket with wings on its sides, traveled the 7,400
kilometres (4,600 miles) between New Jersey on the US east coast and Galicia in
Spain's northwestern coast in 225 days using only a battery and aided ocean
currents.
Dubbed the "Scarlet
Knight", it was brought ashore on Friday at Baiona, the town where Christopher
Columbus landed in 1493 during the return journey from his initial trip to the
Americas.
McAfee lists the most dangerous Web domains
December 2, 2009 | 12:01am
McAfee is releasing a list today that shows which international
Web domains are the most perilous. The anti-virus software
developer analyzed more than 27 million country and generic Web
domains for browser exploits, phishing, excessive pop-ups and
malicious downloading. ...
The Potential Death Of The Internet
(As We Know It)
The rich want the fast bandwidth and the poor
will get the equivalent of dial-up.
Rupert, Rupert, Rupert. He just doesn't understand how the
Internet works. If he continues to actively try to destroy the
"fair use" of content, readers from all across the political
spectrum will revolt against him. Even from his own side.
Murdoch hates Google and every other search engine because he
thinks by having Google linking to his stories, they are
kleptomaniacs and robbing him. When asked why he just doesn't
remove his websites from Google searches now, he replies that he
will after he turns them all into "just for pay" only sites. If
he feels they are ripping him off then why doesn't he do it now?
The answer is he can't afford to do that. I dare him to do it.
Editorial: FCC Internet rules will be good for
consumers San Jose Mercury News -
Sep 22, 2009
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius
Genachowski's announcement this week that he plans to add teeth
to government guidelines regarding ...
Net Neutrality Rules New York Times -
092509
The Federal Communications Commission's chairman
announced a new “rulemaking” procedure intended to ensure an
“open Internet” through Net neutrality ...
Tell the FCC What You Want from a National Internet Plan
Save The Intrernet, By Megan Tady, June
3, 2009
The Federal Communications Commission is busy
crafting America's first national broadband plan, and
they're asking for your input. Now's your chance to tell the
FCC to support an open, fast, affordable and people-powered
Internet without corporate gatekeepers. You have until July
8 to
make your voice heard with the FCC. Our wish list for
the Internet can become a reality if it’s backed by strong
public support. ...
What shook up Saturn's rings in 1984? Something disrupted the rings 25
years ago, creating a pattern like the grooves on a vinyl record – and the
mystery is only getting deeper New Scientist, by
Rachel Courtland, 14 October 2009
Saturn's rings seem almost immutable. These planetary jewels,
carved by moonlets and shaped by gravity, could well have looked much the same
now as they did billions of years ago - but only from afar.
Now it is emerging that an event around 25 years ago dramatically
disrupted the rings - and all our telescopes and spacecraft missed it. This
mysterious event suddenly warped the planet's innermost rings into a ridged
spiral pattern, like the grooves on a vinyl record. The latest images reveal
that the perturbation is so vast that only a profound change to the planet can
have caused it. ... (Read
More)
How The Moon Produces Its Own Water A Huge Solar Sponge That Absorbs Electrically Charged
Particles
RedOrbit.com, 15 October 2009
The Moon is a big sponge that absorbs electrically charged
particles given out by the Sun. These particles interact with the oxygen present
in some dust grains on the lunar surface, producing water. This discovery, made
by the ESA-ISRO instrument SARA onboard the Indian Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter,
confirms how water is likely being created on the lunar surface. ...
PROJECT INDECT: A.I. TO POLICE EUROPE
RawStory.com,
By
Stephen C. Webster -
September 20, 2009
The European Union is spending tens of millions of euros on an artificial
intelligence system known as “Project Indect,” which would draw from multiple
data sources, namely public surveillance cameras, in order to detect “threats”
and recognize “abnormal behavior” across the whole continent.
According to
the project’s Web site,
once completed, Project Indect would even be able to track vehicles as a type of
support network for EU police officers.
Perhaps more chilling,
the project promises “continuous monitoring” of “web sites, discussion
forums, usenet groups, file servers, p2p networks [and] individual computer
systems”.
Bill would give president emergency control of
Internet
Cnet.com - 100309
Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a
U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect
private-sector computers from the Internet. ...
Federal Authority Over Internet? The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 Government Would Take Control Over Internet
In National Emergency
Electronic Frontier Foundation,
by Jennifer Granick - 041009
There's a new bill working its way through Congress that is
cause for some alarm:
the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 (PDF
summary here), introduced by Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). The bill as it exists now risks giving
the federal government
unprecedented power over the Internet without necessarily
improving security in the ways that matter most. It should be
opposed or radically amended. Essentially, the Act would
federalize critical infrastructure security. Since many of our
critical infrastructure systems (banks, telecommunications,
energy) are in the hands of the private sector, the bill would
create a major shift of power away from users and companies to
the federal government. This is a potentially dangerous approach
that favors the dramatic over the sober response. One proposed
provision gives the President unfettered authority to shut down
Internet traffic in an emergency and disconnect critical
infrastructure systems on national security grounds goes too
far. Certainly there are times when a network owner must block
harmful traffic, but the bill gives no guidance on when or how
the President could responsibly pull the kill switch on
privately-owned and operated networks. ... (read
more)
Top Secret Satellite Launches From Space Coast
Tuesday, September 08, 2009 9:30:27 PM CAPE CANAVERAL -- An Atlas
V rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Tuesday. The rocket
launched just after 5:30 p.m. and carried a government communications satellite
built by Lockheed Martin. ...
Graphene's versatility
promises new applications Arizona State University -
3 hours ago 071309
Since its discovery just a few years ago,
graphene has climbed to the top of the heap of new
super-materials poised to transform the electronics and
...
‘Pain Ray’ First
Commercial Sale Looms Wired
The military isn’t about to deploy its pain ray to the battlefield. But
someone in the commercial sector is about to one. We don’t know who. The
sale is mentioned in a presentation by Raytheon, who built the microwave
weapon for the Defense Department.
The so-called “Active Denial System” works by heating the outer surface of
the target’s skin using millimeter waves — short wavelength microwaves. The
effect is painful, but generally harmless, and forces the target to get out
of the beam. Recently, it’s been proposed as a possible defense against
pirates; last month, Raytheon gave a presentation on Active Denial at a NATO
workshop on anti-pirate equipment and technologies.
Read more
Moon Landing Tapes Got Erased, NASA Claims Reuters -
Maggie Fox, Philip
Barbara - 071709
WASHINGTON - The original recordings of the first humans
landing on the moon 40 years ago were erased and re-used, but newly
restored copies of the original broadcast look even better, NASA
officials ...
NASA lost moon footage, but Hollywood restores it The Associated Press -
Seth Borenstein -
071709
WASHINGTON — NASA could put a man on the moon but didn't have the sense
to keep the original video of the live TV transmission. In an
embarrassing acknowledgment, the space agency said Thursday that it must
have erased the Apollo 11 moon footage years ...
NASA refurbishes video copies of moon landing The Associated Press -
Seth Borenstein -
071709
WASHINGTON — With the help of Hollywood, those historic, grainy images
of the first men on the moon never looked better. NASA unveiled
refurbished video Thursday of the July 20, 1969, moonwalk restored by
the same company that sharpened up the movie
...
The Absurdity Of The Erased Moon Videotapes Allegation You Need To Reason Simple Facts Before Accepting A Poor
Excuse of Stupidity
NewsFocus, 071709
So let's get this straight... arguably the most significant
moment in mankind's history, recorded on countless hours and hours of
videotape, was somehow errantly erased and then recorded over? Seriously? Days
and days of tapes, all accidentally recorded over?
(Read More)
Bush
NSA’s American Intercepts Exceed Limits Set By Congress Officials: Agency involved in ‘overcollection’ of
communication by Americans The New York Times, by Eric Lichtblau and
James Risen -
April 16, 2009 WASHINGTON - The National Security Agency
intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent
months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by
Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews. ...
CDT Wants US Gov't to Detail Computer Monitoring Program IDG News Service, by Grant Gross Jul 28, 2009 3:40
pm
U.S. President Barack Obama's administration needs to answer several
questions about the privacy implications of a new version of a computer
intrusion detection system that can reportedly read e-mail, a privacy
and civil rights advocacy group said.
The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), in a report released
Tuesday, called on the Obama administration to release information about
the legal authority for the so-called Einstein intrusion detection
system, a version of which has been rolled out at the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security.
U.S. President Barack Obama's administration needs to answer several
questions about the privacy implications of a new version of a computer
intrusion detection system that can reportedly read e-mail, a privacy and
civil rights advocacy group said.
The Center
for Democracy and Technology (CDT), in
a report released Tuesday, called on the Obama administration to
release information about the legal authority for the so-called Einstein
intrusion detection system, a version of which has been rolled out at the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The CDT report also asks the Obama administration to release
information about the role of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) in
the development and operation of Einstein 3, a new version of the software
reportedly being developed.
The second version of Einstein is deployed at the DHS and is being
rolled out to other U.S. agencies. While Einstein 2 is able to detect
malicious code during predefined code signatures, Einstein 3 will also be
able to read e-mail and other Internet traffic, according to recent press
reports.
"This raises serious privacy concerns," the CDT report says. "While its
predecessor merely detected and reported malicious code, Einstein 3 is to
have the capability of intercepting threatening Internet traffic before it
reaches a government system, raising additional concerns. According to
press accounts, Einstein 3 will operate inside the networks of the
telecoms ..."
The Einstein 3 used capabilities created by the NSA, the CDT paper
says. NSA is the agency that partnered with U.S. telecom carriers in
recent years to conduct surveillance on U.S. residents exchanging
telephone calls or e-mail messages with foreigners with suspected ties to
terrorism.
Spokespeople for DHS and NSA didn't immediately return messages seeking
comment on the CDT report.
The kind of information the CDT is asking the Obama administration to
disclose about Einstein is similar in some ways to information released in
a privacy impact statement for Einstein 2, released in May 2008, said
Gregory Nojeim, CDT's senior counsel. The information CDT is seeking
"wouldn't help an adversary overcome the system," he said.
Among other things, CDT wants to know what law gives DHS
the legal authority to
conduct such surveillance, Nojeim said. "Some facts about the
program might need to remain secret, but the law that supports it cannot
be a secret," he added.
CDT also wants to know:
-- If the private sector was involved in developing Einstein 2 and 3.
-- What safeguards will be put in place to prevent the misuse of
private information collected.
-- What personally identifiable information will be collected by
Einstein 3.
-- How will DHS share data collected with Einstein 3?
Are Smart Outlets A Smart Thing For Your Privacy? John La Grou unveils an ingenious new technology that will smarten up the
electrical outlets in our homes, using microprocessors and RFID tags. The
invention, Safeplug, promises to prevent deadly accidents like house fires
-- and to conserve energy.
TED.com
The technology puts a wireless reciever in every outlet. The outlet
does not deliver any voltage until it is pluged into by an appliance with
a wireless transmitter. The transmitter tells the reviever turn on and
allow THIS much votlage. If the appliance starts to draw too much voltage,
how most fires start, the outlet shuts down. This also will prevent
injuries to children.
La Grou also speaks about "remote control and automation of every
outlet in every home and business." I am more than a little worried about
who would have, or could get, remote control over these outlets.
The technology has won awards, and it is very innovative and practical.
I only worry about the potentials for abuse.
Thoughts?
The Human Tracking Microchip Saudi Files For 'Killer' Tracking Chip
Patent
thelocal.de - by
Kristen Allen 2009-05-21 A Saudi
Arabian inventor has filed for a patent on a potentially lethal
science fiction-style human tracking microchip, the German
Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA) told The Local on Friday.
But the macabre innovation that
enables remote killing will likely be denied copyright
protection. “While the application is still pending further
paperwork on his part, the invention will probably be found to
violate paragraph two of the German Patent Law – which does not
allow inventions that transgress public order or good morals,”
spokeswoman Stephanie Krüger told The Local from Munich. ...
New Government Technology
Imagine a herd of these hunting you down somewhere.
Milky Way Galaxy Has 'Billions of Earths' There could be one hundred billion
Earth-like planets in our galaxy, a US conference has heard. BBC
News 021709 Dr Alan
Boss of the Carnegie Institution of Science said many of these
worlds could be inhabited by simple life forms. ...
Space Shuttle Discovery
Finally Flies Again
Launch of shuttle discovery
Tasers Are the New Killers: Watch Their Popularity Surge!
AlterNet Liliana, Segura - 040609
Watch out: 50,000-volt Tasers are deployed in London this
week; meanwhile, a new model can 'instantly incapacitate' multiple people at
a time. ...
Ed Note: Water is predicted to
be the new gold. A worldwide water crisis is predicted in the
coming years. About seven years ago, a man showed up on our
rural countryside property with a GPS locator. He said he was
given orders to GPS locate every single well. Interesting that
someone apparently wants to know where all the wells are.
Russian Tesla Experiment Hidden In Russian Forest? Check out the following webpage and pictures These pictures clearly show an older facility which must
gave been built some time ago. Still, they are fascinating to
look at.
US and Russian satellites collide
CNET News, CA -
Feb 11, 2009
by Bill Harwood In an unprecedented space
collision, a commercial Iridium communications satellite and a
defunct Russian satellite ran into each other ...
Satellite crash prediction is plagued with uncertainty
New Scientist, UK -
10 hours ago 021109
Two satellites smashed into each other on
Tuesday, creating a mess of space debris that is still being
counted. The collision, which involved an Iridium ...
What Are The Odds In The
Vastness of Space of This Happening?
Debris is said to threaten the international space station and
Hubble telescope.
Two Satellites Collide, Putting Space Station, Hubble, at Risk
Washington Post, United
States - Feb 11, 2009
By Joel Achenbach Two communications satellites
collided yesterday 491 miles above Siberia, exploding in two
clouds of debris that have put the ...
Satellite crash poses new political risk
Reuters - 22
hours ago 021109
By Luke Baker LONDON (Reuters) - The collision
between a US and a Russian satellite over Siberia may have
been accidental and the first of its kind, ...
This is only a small generator, but you will get the idea on how to
build one.
House Defeats Digital TV Delay
MSNBC - 1 hour ago 012809
LEE
COUNTY: The transition from analog to digital television will
continue as planned on Tuesday February 17th. Wednesday, the
House defeated a bill to postpone the transition by four months.
House vote keeps digital TV deadline, for nowSan Francisco
Senate OKs DTV switch delay Senate votes to delay digital transition by
4 months to June 12
WASHINGTON January 26, 2009 (AP)
By JOELLE
TESSLER Associated Press Writer The Senate on Monday voted
unanimously to postpone the upcoming transition from analog to
digital television broadcasting by four months to June 12 —
setting the stage for Congress to pass the proposal as early as
Tuesday. ...
The World of Nano
Technology Is Upon Us
A new technology often called the decades biggest breakthrough.
Google Latitude: Stalking Has Never Been This Easy
CollegeOTR, NY -
37 minutes ago 020409
It is only right that on Facebook's fifth
birthday a whole new social networking stalking technology is
introduced to the masses. Enter Google Latitude. ...
Police want the right to jam cell signals
By
Spencer S. Hsu Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, February
1, 2009; Page A02
As President Obama's motorcade rolled down
Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day, federal authorities
deployed a closely held law enforcement tool: equipment that can
jam cellphones and other wireless devices to foil
remote-controlled bombs, sources said.
The Race For The Electric Car
Startups charge into electric-car market
Atlanta Journal
Constitution, USA - Jan 27, 2009
Tesla, which started in 2004, showcased its
$109000 all-electric two-seat Roadster sports car
at the Detroit show and hopes to unveil its Model S electric...
Tesla Motors times it just rightThe Gazette (Montreal)
CBS: 60 Minutes On The Re-Birth Of The Electric Car
This could have been accomplished
already if
others hadn't interfered.
Amazing Aero EV:
0 to 60 in 2.5 seconds, 10 minute recharge by Thomas
Ricker, posted Jan 27th 2009 at 6:44AM
SSC just came clean with the details behind its
All-Electric Scalable Powertrain (AESP) producing 1,000
horsepower and 800 lb-ft of torque that rips the Aero EV through
0 to 60 in just 2.5 seconds at a 208mph top speed. Compare that
to the Tesla Roadster's 0-60 in
3.9 seconds
(or 3.7 for the
2009 sport model) and you'll understand all the hubbub, bub.
Better yet, the 150-220 mile battery can be refilled in just 10
minutes...
Obama Gets To Keep 'Enhanced' BlackBerry
Wall Street
Journal - 1 hour ago 012209
By Jeffry Bartash
Commander in Chief Barack Obama, a known BlackBerry addict, doesn't have to
surrender his smartphone after all.
Microsoft postpones Windows 7 public beta
Computerworld -
1 hour ago 011009
By Gregg Keizer
January 9, 2009 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. postponed the rollout of the
Windows 7 beta today, citing "very heavy traffic" on its Web site.
Microsoft issues patch to fix IE
Microsoft has said that an
emergency security update has fixed a flaw in Internet Explorer
that left millions of computers vulnerable to hacking and
hijack. ...
Microsoft offers another lifeline to XP
CBC.ca, Canada -
14 hours ago 122308
Microsoft Corp. is giving Windows XP yet another
reprieve, this time allowing custom PC builders to continue to
order the older operating system for their ...
Final Rewind: The VHS Tape Has Breathed Its Last
CRN -
12-08
Remember
the days when VHS tapes were so ubiquitous that every video
store you knew had the slogan, "Be kind, rewind?" We bring you
this bit of pressing nostalgia not because VHS has suddenly
slowed its long decline, but because the last distribution
...
Repairs begin on undersea cable
BBC News, UK - 7 hours ago
A French ship has begun repairing two undersea cables in the
Mediterranean that were severed on Friday, disrupting internet and phone
communications. ...
Questions for Obama’s Science Team
New
York Times - 121908
By Andrew
C. Revkin Click above for a look at global investment in
research on energy technology. Many experts see the need for at
least triple this level of investment.
Obama Appoints Science AdvisersSustainableBusiness.com
Europe to spend $13 bln on
Mars rover, space plans
Reuters - 4 hours ago
By Tim Hepher THE HAGUE, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Europe juggled
expanding ambitions in space with fears of recession on
Wednesday by approving a research and development budget that
caps costs for a mission to Mars.
International Space Updates, November
2008
DailyTech - 5 hours ago
NASA extended shuttle Endeavour's mission at the International
Space Station (ISS) an extra day so astronauts were able to work
out all the kinks in a new system that converts astronauts'
urine into drinking water.
News Video
Shuttle
Separates From Space Station
News Video
Shuttle
Discovery Returns To Earth
iPhone app store tops 10000 apps, 300 million downloads
CNET News, CA - 29
minutes ago
Apple has announced catalog and download numbers for
iPhone applications in the form of a full page ad which is ran in Friday's
edition of The New York ...
Microsoft warns of new Windows attacks
Computerworld, MA -
2 hours ago
By Gregg Keizer November 26, 2008 (Computerworld)
Security researchers at Microsoft Corp. late yesterday warned of
a significant increase in exploits of a ...
New worm exploiting MS08-067 flaw
spotted in the wild
ZDNet - 1
hour ago
Microsoft’s Security Response Center and McAfee
are warning on increased network scanning activity during the
last couple of days courtesy of the very ...
Could it be a Blue Christmas for Blu-ray?
PC World - 2 hours ago
This holiday buying season is going to be the first big market
challenge for Blu-ray. This will be Blu-ray's first holiday
season as the unquestioned HD format leader, but with the
economy in the state that it is, will it be able to actually
manage to ...
Ocean currents can power the world, say scientists A revolutionary device
that can harness energy from slow-moving rivers and
ocean currents could provide enough power for the entire
world, scientists claim.
By Jasper
Copping Last Updated: 2:39PM GMT 29 Nov 2008
The technology can generate electricity in water flowing
at a rate of less than one knot - about one mile an hour
- meaning it could operate on most waterways and sea
beds around the globe.
Analyst: Mac, iPod
discounts lower than expected
CNNMoney.com -
Nov 28, 2008
NEW YORK (Associated Press) - Black Friday discounts were not as
steep as expected on Apple Inc.'s computers and iPods, a sign
that the company is confident in strong holiday sales, a Kaufman
Bros.
Wii leads the way on
healthy Black Friday
CNET News -
3 hours ago
Black Friday
proved to be a relatively bright light in an economy largely
characterized by dark, gloomy reports. Overall, retail sales for
the day after Thanksgiving were up 3 percent from the same day
in 2007, with preliminary estimates putting total ...
Wii Sales Pass 7 Million Units in
Japan
PC World -
16 hours ago
As the second anniversary of the launch of
Nintendo's Wii approaches sales of the console have passed the 7
million mark, according to figures released on Wednesday.
Scientists Find a Possible Cause of
Aging
New York Times -
1 hour ago
By NICHOLAS WADE A new insight into the reason
for aging has been gained by scientists trying to understand how
resveratrol, a minor ingredient of red wine, improves the health
and lifespan of laboratory mice. More here...
Harvard researchers gain new
insight into aging
Boston Globe
Hoping to Draw Market
Share With Touch Screens
New York Times -
2 hours ago
By JENNA WORTHAM
and MATT RICHTEL This holiday, cellphone makers and carriers are
pushing some shiny new toys: phones with touch-sensitive screens
like the one on Apple’s iPhone.
Unmanned Russian
resupply spacecraft docks with ISS
Space Daily -
12 hours ago
An unmanned
Russian resupply vehicle on Sunday docked with the International
Space Station (ISS) carrying cargo ranging from scientific
equipment to birthday presents, the RIA Novosti news agency
said.
Videogames get set to go
on vacation
Reuters -
Nov 28, 2008
By John Gaudiosi
RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - With the holiday season fast
approaching, videogame makers are making sure they have games
and consoles handy for trains, planes and automobiles -- and so
are holiday destinations.
