The FBI employs drones in domestic surveillance operations, Director Robert Mueller revealed, but said they were used in a "very, very minimal way."
Mr Mueller, in Senate testimony on Wednesday, acknowledged for the first time that the Federal Bureau of Investigation uses "very few" drones in a limited capacity for surveillance. (more)
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Friday, June 21, 2013
FREE - BYOD Policy Guidebook
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Policy Guidebook
This policy guidebook was created to help guide you through the questions to ask and provide some best practices to consider when establishing your own BYOD policies.
Your employees want to use their own mobile devices for work. This represents a tremendous opportunity for you to extend the benefits of mobile technology to all employees. As more companies embrace the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) model, many questions arise.
Offered Free by: SAP (more)
This policy guidebook was created to help guide you through the questions to ask and provide some best practices to consider when establishing your own BYOD policies.
Your employees want to use their own mobile devices for work. This represents a tremendous opportunity for you to extend the benefits of mobile technology to all employees. As more companies embrace the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) model, many questions arise.
Offered Free by: SAP (more)
Thursday, June 20, 2013
They Know Who You Are... and it ain't the NSA!
Many Internet advertisers rely on cookies, digital code stored on your browser. Some websites place multiple cookies when you visit, allowing them to track some of your activity over time (you can see who is tracking you by installing an application such as Ghostery or Abine’s “DoNotTrackMe”).
The problem for marketers is that some users set their browsers to reject cookies or quickly extinguish them. And mobile phones, which are taking an increasing chunk of the Web usage, do not use cookies.
To combat the cookie’s flaws, advertisers and publishers are increasingly turning to something called fingerprinting. This technique allows a web site to look at the characteristics of a computer such as what plugins and software you have installed, the size of the screen, the time zone, fonts and other features of any particular machine. These form a unique signature just like random skin patterns on a finger...
Fingerprinting may prove a more robust tracking technology than cookies because the user’s identify endures even if they erase their cookies. Making changes to your software and settings only makes you more identifiable, not less. An EFF study several years ago found that it is easy to track when someone changes their profiles by adding software updates, for example. You can see what details your computer is transmitting right now by visiting this site. (more)
Try it. You'll be amazed. ~Kevin
The problem for marketers is that some users set their browsers to reject cookies or quickly extinguish them. And mobile phones, which are taking an increasing chunk of the Web usage, do not use cookies.
Fingerprinting may prove a more robust tracking technology than cookies because the user’s identify endures even if they erase their cookies. Making changes to your software and settings only makes you more identifiable, not less. An EFF study several years ago found that it is easy to track when someone changes their profiles by adding software updates, for example. You can see what details your computer is transmitting right now by visiting this site. (more)
Try it. You'll be amazed. ~Kevin
India Launches Wide-Ranging Surveillance Program
India has launched a wide-ranging surveillance program that will give its security agencies and even income tax officials the ability to tap directly into e-mails and phone calls without oversight by courts or parliament, several sources said.
The expanded surveillance in the world's most populous democracy, which the government says will help safeguard national security, has alarmed privacy advocates at a time when allegations of massive U.S. digital snooping beyond American shores has set off a global furor. (more)
The expanded surveillance in the world's most populous democracy, which the government says will help safeguard national security, has alarmed privacy advocates at a time when allegations of massive U.S. digital snooping beyond American shores has set off a global furor. (more)
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Quote of the Week - Orwell Got it Wrong
"And surveillance has become entertainment, most ironically in 'Big Brother' where people compete to be under constant scrutiny. More revealing than their narcissism is the audience's enthusiastic voyeurism, playing at Thought Police from the couch." — Peter Marks, Associate Professor, senior lecturer in the Department
of English at the University Sydney. He is also a member of the
Surveillance and Everyday Life Research Group
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
"Is Privacy Dead?" - A Question Older Than Many of You
Note the date...
We are still worried about the same things...
(more)
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| Click to enlarge. |
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| Click to enlarge. |
New Crowdsourcing App Logs All Street Cameras
You may not be able to control the privacy of your electronic data. But keeping yourself off security cameras? There’s an app for that.
A new crowdsourcing mapping app called Surv gives city dwellers a way to prepare themselves for that kind of privacy infringement by mapping where those cameras are and what they’re used for.
Currently in private beta-mode for New York (and raising money for a wider release on Kickstarter), the app encourages users to post the locations of security cameras around their cities, along with a description of the camera--whether it’s a traffic camera or a police camera, a dome camera or a shielded one. (more)
It was noted that during the recent Boston bombings the FBI asked businesses if they had security videos. One would think, keeping a database of public cameras (proactively) would be an essential part of "Homeland Security". This app might fill that vacuum. How ironic that privacy advocates will build it for them. ~Kevin
A new crowdsourcing mapping app called Surv gives city dwellers a way to prepare themselves for that kind of privacy infringement by mapping where those cameras are and what they’re used for.
It was noted that during the recent Boston bombings the FBI asked businesses if they had security videos. One would think, keeping a database of public cameras (proactively) would be an essential part of "Homeland Security". This app might fill that vacuum. How ironic that privacy advocates will build it for them. ~Kevin
Friday, June 14, 2013
FutureWatch - Increased use of Private Search Engines
Traffic at the private search engines StartPage and Ixquick has dramatically increased this week as Internet users react to news of the PRISM data sharing program. Combined, the two search engines served 3.4 million direct private searches on Wednesday, an increase of 500,000 over last week. (more)
FutureWatch: A rise in encryption usage, and a new search engine... GoogleSecure?
FutureWatch: A rise in encryption usage, and a new search engine... GoogleSecure?
Spy News Bites
We're not the only ones...
Russia - President Vladimir Putin has defended the right by Russian special services to wiretap... “If this [wiretapping] is made within the framework of the law, by which the special services’ rules of conduct are guided, this is normal." (more)
Canada has also been electronically eavesdropping on Canadians and others, scouring global telephone records and Internet data for patterns of suspicious activity, a newspaper said Monday. (more)
Panama - A TV journalist and cameraman were detained by police while working on a story... about alleged government wiretaps. (more)
Former Bulgarian interior minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov was indicted Wednesday in connection with a scandal over the irregular wiretapping of top politicians and businessmen, sources said. (more)
Not to be left out...
DC - The IRS... is ordering surveillance equipment that includes hidden cameras in coffee trays, plants and clock radios. The IRS wants to secure the surveillance equipment quickly – it posted a solicitation on June 6 and is looking to close the deal by Monday, June 10. (more)
PA - The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would... add audio surveillance to security cameras already mounted in school buses. (more)
Taiwan - Taiwan's top intelligence body is seeking a change to the law to expand its power to conduct wiretapping in anti-espionage operations. (more) (copycats)
Nigeria - The Bayelsa (state) Government awarded a contract valued at N3.6 billion for electronic surveillance in the state... to the Chinese Firm, Wali... The governor appealed to residents of the state to cooperate with the contractors... (more)
Unintended Consequences...
NSA leaks will... significantly increase the level of state-sponsored economic espionage directed against American companies. (more)
Sales of George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 have skyrocketed following revelations about secret US spying on internet data. (more)
Russia - President Vladimir Putin has defended the right by Russian special services to wiretap... “If this [wiretapping] is made within the framework of the law, by which the special services’ rules of conduct are guided, this is normal." (more)
Canada has also been electronically eavesdropping on Canadians and others, scouring global telephone records and Internet data for patterns of suspicious activity, a newspaper said Monday. (more)
Panama - A TV journalist and cameraman were detained by police while working on a story... about alleged government wiretaps. (more)
Former Bulgarian interior minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov was indicted Wednesday in connection with a scandal over the irregular wiretapping of top politicians and businessmen, sources said. (more)
Not to be left out...
DC - The IRS... is ordering surveillance equipment that includes hidden cameras in coffee trays, plants and clock radios. The IRS wants to secure the surveillance equipment quickly – it posted a solicitation on June 6 and is looking to close the deal by Monday, June 10. (more)
PA - The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would... add audio surveillance to security cameras already mounted in school buses. (more)
Taiwan - Taiwan's top intelligence body is seeking a change to the law to expand its power to conduct wiretapping in anti-espionage operations. (more) (copycats)
Nigeria - The Bayelsa (state) Government awarded a contract valued at N3.6 billion for electronic surveillance in the state... to the Chinese Firm, Wali... The governor appealed to residents of the state to cooperate with the contractors... (more)
Unintended Consequences...
NSA leaks will... significantly increase the level of state-sponsored economic espionage directed against American companies. (more)
Sales of George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 have skyrocketed following revelations about secret US spying on internet data. (more)
Thursday, June 13, 2013
'I listened to Marilyn die': Private eye who bugged Monroe's house reveals details...
Files shedding new light on Marilyn Monroe's last night alive and her relationships with President John F Kennedy and his younger brother Bobby have emerged 51 years after her death.
Documents belonging to the late Fred Otash, one of Hollywood's most notorious private detectives, were uncovered by his daughter Colleen after being found in a suburban storage unit.
...in his notes, Otash claimed: 'I listened to Marilyn Monroe die.'
He recorded that on August 5 1962, she had a violent argument with the Kennedys and that she felt that she had been 'passed around like a piece of meat'.
The notes read: 'She was really screaming and they were trying to quiet her down.'
'She's in the bedroom and Bobby gets the pillow and he muffles her on the bed to keep the neighbors from hearing. She finally quieted down and then he was looking to get out of there.'
Otash only found out she had died later on.
A red filing cabinet that contained Otash's most sensitive material was removed from his apartment by his lawyer after he collapsed from an apparent heart attack. Its contents were never seen again. (more)
Documents belonging to the late Fred Otash, one of Hollywood's most notorious private detectives, were uncovered by his daughter Colleen after being found in a suburban storage unit....in his notes, Otash claimed: 'I listened to Marilyn Monroe die.'
He recorded that on August 5 1962, she had a violent argument with the Kennedys and that she felt that she had been 'passed around like a piece of meat'.
'She's in the bedroom and Bobby gets the pillow and he muffles her on the bed to keep the neighbors from hearing. She finally quieted down and then he was looking to get out of there.'
Otash only found out she had died later on.
A red filing cabinet that contained Otash's most sensitive material was removed from his apartment by his lawyer after he collapsed from an apparent heart attack. Its contents were never seen again. (more)
Cool but Off-Topic - Beer Bottle Record
19th Century technology meets 21st Century music over a bottle of beer in the latest extension to the Beck’s Record Label project.
This time, the art label has evolved, and been replaced by the grooves of Auckland band Ghost Wave. Their new single was inscribed into the surface of a Beck’s beer bottle which could then be played on a specially-built device based on Thomas Edison’s original phonograph.
Making the world’s first playable beer bottle was a formidable technical challenge. (more with video)
This time, the art label has evolved, and been replaced by the grooves of Auckland band Ghost Wave. Their new single was inscribed into the surface of a Beck’s beer bottle which could then be played on a specially-built device based on Thomas Edison’s original phonograph. Making the world’s first playable beer bottle was a formidable technical challenge. (more with video)
Top 10 iPhone Passwords
Time to change your password.
1. “1234”
2. “0000”
3. “2580”
4. “1111”
5. “5555”
6. “5683”
7. “0852”
8. “2222”
9. “1212”
10. “1998”
(more)
Oh, Number 6, it spells LOVE.
2. “0000”
3. “2580”
4. “1111”
5. “5555”
6. “5683”
7. “0852”
8. “2222”
9. “1212”
10. “1998”
(more)
Oh, Number 6, it spells LOVE.
New "Surveillance-Industrial State" Book Coming
A Pulitzer Prize-winning author and investigative journalist is working on a book about the "surveillance-industrial state" that emerged after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Penguin Press announced Thursday that it had acquired a book by Barton Gellman, a contributing editor at large for Time magazine and a Washington Post reporter. The book, currently untitled, does not have a release date. (more)
Barton also has a great blog... CounterSpy
Penguin Press announced Thursday that it had acquired a book by Barton Gellman, a contributing editor at large for Time magazine and a Washington Post reporter. The book, currently untitled, does not have a release date. (more)
Barton also has a great blog... CounterSpy
Cloak of Invisibility Emerges from the Labs
To make a Harry Potter-style invisibility cloak requires the use of materials that have what's known as a negative refractive index over all optical wavelengths, from red to violet.
However, the artificially-structured optical materials from which cloaks are made thus far have been restricted to a very narrow range of optical wavelengths, limiting their ability to cloak over a range of colors.
That obstacle to progress looks to be at an end, as a group of optical engineers at Stanford has succeeded in designing a broadband metamaterial that exhibits a negative refractive index over nearly the entire rainbow...
The broad bandwidth of the new Stanford metamaterial suggests that this new class of materials will one day allow the fabrication of invisibility cloaks that are truly invisible, at least to the human eye. Beyond this, the extraordinary freedom to control light with metamaterials is likely to lead to hordes of applications never previously imagined. (more) (original paper) (lab-shirt) (How to hide a bug from an IR viewer.)
Imagine the impact on eavesdropping and spying.
 |
| You don't see yourself. |
That obstacle to progress looks to be at an end, as a group of optical engineers at Stanford has succeeded in designing a broadband metamaterial that exhibits a negative refractive index over nearly the entire rainbow...
The broad bandwidth of the new Stanford metamaterial suggests that this new class of materials will one day allow the fabrication of invisibility cloaks that are truly invisible, at least to the human eye. Beyond this, the extraordinary freedom to control light with metamaterials is likely to lead to hordes of applications never previously imagined. (more) (original paper) (lab-shirt) (How to hide a bug from an IR viewer.)
Imagine the impact on eavesdropping and spying.
Spybusters Tip #631 - Top Four Anti-Surveillance Apps
...as reported by Violet Blue for Zero Day.
Text Secure (play.google.com)
TextSecure encrypts your text messages over the air and on your phone. It's almost identical to the normal text messaging application, and is just as easy to use.
Red Phone (play.google.com)
RedPhone provides end-to-end encryption for your calls, securing your conversations so that nobody can listen in.
Onion Browser (Apple iTunes)
Onion Browser is a minimal web browser that encrypts and tunnels web traffic through the Tor onion router network and provides other tools to help browse the internet while maintaining privacy.
Orbot (play.google.com)
Orbot is a "proxy app that empowers other apps to use the internet more securely. It uses Tor to encrypt Internet traffic and hide it by basically bouncing through a series of computers around the world; it is the official version of the Tor onion routing service for Android. (more)
Text Secure (play.google.com)
TextSecure encrypts your text messages over the air and on your phone. It's almost identical to the normal text messaging application, and is just as easy to use.
Red Phone (play.google.com)
RedPhone provides end-to-end encryption for your calls, securing your conversations so that nobody can listen in.
Onion Browser (Apple iTunes)
Onion Browser is a minimal web browser that encrypts and tunnels web traffic through the Tor onion router network and provides other tools to help browse the internet while maintaining privacy.
Orbot (play.google.com)
Orbot is a "proxy app that empowers other apps to use the internet more securely. It uses Tor to encrypt Internet traffic and hide it by basically bouncing through a series of computers around the world; it is the official version of the Tor onion routing service for Android. (more)
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