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Archive for the ‘internet’ Category

The Truth About ‘Net Neutrality’

February 26, 2015 Comments off

The federal government is about to seize control of the Internet and most Americans don’t even know about it.

Send your complaints to the FCC via this link: http://www.fcc.gov/comments

Categories: internet Tags: ,

Google wants to move into your HOME: Giant plans to fit microphones in ceilings…

December 12, 2013 Comments off

dailymail

Californian firm's chief engineer Scott Huffman, pictured,Californian firm’s chief engineer Scott Huffman, pictured, said the microphones would act like personal assistants

Google is already heavily criticised for trying to know almost everything about us, and now the firm wants to get inside our homes, literally.

Engineering director Scott Huffman told The Independent that in his vision of the future Google users would have microphones fitted inside their homes.

Huffman envisages houses with microphones fitted to the ceiling that act like personal assistants; responding to voice queries and connecting to phones, tablets and other smart devices.

He said: ‘Imagine I say ‘Can you bring up a video of the highlights of yesterday’s Pittsburgh Steelers game and play it on a TV in the living room?’ and it works because the Cloud means everything is connected.’

Elsewhere he said he could ask his Google assistant where to go for lunch that serves a particular type of food and on a certain budget and Google will find somewhere.

Huffman could then get in his car and his sat nav would be already programmed to take him to the restaurant of choice.

The plans aren’t too much of a stretch from what the Google Now app already offers thanks to what’s called Read more…

Napolitano Warns: Coming ‘Cyber Event’ To Cripple America

August 28, 2013 Comments off
By Shepard Ambellas
Intellihub.com

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano speaks during the White House daily briefing. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano speaks during the White House daily briefing. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

In what can only be described as an ominous statement, DHS head Janet Napolitano, blabbed upon her departure from the organization that a coming “cyber event” would cripple the economy causing turmoil for nearly all Americans.

RawStory.com reported, “In what she described as “a kind of open letter to my successor,” Napolitano warned of terrorist threats, major weather events and the need to reinforce US border security.

“Our country will, for example, at some point, face a major cyber event that will have a serious effect on our lives, our economy, and the Read more…

Gmail users ‘have no legitimate expectation of privacy’

August 14, 2013 Comments off

rt.com

Image by GoogleImage by Google

 

As tensions worsen among privacy-focused email users amid the escalating scandal surrounding government surveillance, a brief filed by attorneys for Google has surfaced showing that Gmail users should never expect their communications to be kept secret.

Consumer Watchdog has unearthed a July 13, 2013 motion filed by Google’s attorneys with regards to ongoing litigation challenging how the Silicon Valley giant operates its highly popular free email service.

The motion, penned in hopes of having the United States District Court for the Northern District of California dismiss a class action complaint against the company, says Gmail users should assume that any electronic correspondence that’s passed through Google’s servers can be accessed and used for an array of options, such as selling ads to customers.

Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient’s assistant opens the letter, people who use Web-based email today cannot be surprised if their emails are processed by the recipient’s [email provider] in the course of delivery,” the motion reads in part. “Indeed, ‘a person has no Read more…

Categories: internet, Privacy Tags: , , ,

Google Update Turns Phone Into Possible Tool for Others to Spy on You

August 8, 2013 Comments off

thedailysheeple.com

Google-300x300

According to TechNewsDaily.com, last week Google implemented a new update to its Chrome browser. The update has a new feature called WebRTC (real time communication). This new standardized feature allows for websites and applications to use your system’s camera and microphone.

If you think your privacy is safe with Google- think again. According to Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who is co-chairman of the Congressional Privacy Caucus, “The new Google privacy policy is: You have no privacy.” Combine this with Google recently handing over more than 11,000 individuals’ personal information to the government, and you can probably see how this new standard feature could become a go to tool for those seeking to see and hear you without you knowing.

Previous to the new update, apps and websites had to use a browser plug-in for audio and visual correspondence with a user. A user could Read more…

Categories: internet Tags: , , ,

XKeyscore: The NSA program that collects ‘nearly everything’ that you do on the internet

August 2, 2013 1 comment

extremetech.com

Where is NSA's XKeyscore located?If you were shocked by the NSA’s Prism program, hold onto your hat: The NSA also operates another system, called XKeyscore, which gives the US intelligence community (and probably most of the US’s Western allies) full access to your email, IMs, browsing history, and social media activity. To view almost everything that you do online, an NSA analyst simply has to enter your email or IP address into XKeyscore. No formal authorization or warrant is required; the analyst just has to type in a “justification” and press Enter. To provide such functionality, the NSA collects, in its own words, “nearly everything a typical user does on the internet.” Perhaps most importantly, though, it appears that HTTPS and SSL might not protect your communications from Read more…

Cispa approved by House but critics urge Senate to block ‘horrible’ bill

April 27, 2012 Comments off

guardian

cispa wikipedia

Cispa has undergone several amendments, but Michelle Richardson of the ACLU said: ‘Cispa goes too far for little reason’. Photograph: Rex Features

Free speech advocates are calling for the Senate to block controversial cybersecurity legislation they claim will give the US authorities unprecedented access to online communications.

The House of Representatives on Thursday ignored the threat of a White House veto to pass the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (Cispa). The bill aims to make it easier for companies to share information collected on the internet with the federal government in order to help prevent electronic attacks from cybercriminals, foreign governments and terrorists.

Sponsors of the bill have made several amendments to Cispa in the past week, but critics say the bill still threatens to overrule existing privacy protections for citizens, and hands the National Security Agency too much power to access and use people’s private information.

The Center for Democracy and Technology said it was “disappointed that Cispa passed Read more…

Even worse than SOPA: New CISPA cybersecurity bill will censor the Web

April 4, 2012 1 comment

rt.com

An onrush of condemnation and criticism kept the SOPA and PIPA acts from passing earlier this year, but US lawmakers have already authored another authoritarian bill that could give them free reign to creep the Web in the name of cybersecurity.

As congressmen in Washington consider how to handle the ongoing issue of cyberattacks, some legislators have lent their support to a new act that, if passed, would let the government pry into the personal correspondence of anyone of their choosing.

H.R. 3523, a piece of legislation dubbed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (or CISPA for short), has been created under the guise of being a necessary implement in Read more…

Internet providers to start policing the web July 12

March 16, 2012 Comments off

rt.com

AFP Photo / Samantha Sin

AFP Photo / Samantha Sin

Some of the biggest Internet service providers in America plan to adopt policies that will punish customers for copyright infringement, and one of the top trade groups in the music biz announced this week that it could begin as soon as this summer.

The chief executive officer of the Recording Industry Association of America told an audience of publishers on Wednesday that a plan carved out last year to help thwart piracy is expected to prevail and be put in place by this summer. RIAA CEO Cary Sherman was one of the guest speakers among a New York panel this week and he confirmed that, at this rate, some of the most powerful Internet providers in America should have their new policies on the books by July 12, 2012.

Last year, Time Warner, Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Cablevision Systems and other Internet service providers proposed best practice recommendations that they suggested would

Read more…

The U.N. Threat to Internet Freedom

February 22, 2012 Comments off

wsj.com

mcdowell

Corbis

On Feb. 27, a diplomatic process will begin in Geneva that could result in a new treaty giving the United Nations unprecedented powers over the Internet. Dozens of countries, including Russia and China, are pushing hard to reach this goal by year’s end. As Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said last June, his goal and that of his allies is to establish “international control over the Internet” through the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a treaty-based organization under U.N. auspices.

If successful, these new regulatory proposals would upend the Internet’s flourishing regime, which has been in place since 1988. That year, delegates from 114 countries gathered in Australia to agree to a treaty that set the stage for dramatic liberalization of international telecommunications. This insulated the Internet from economic and technical regulation and Read more…