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Posts Tagged ‘google’

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…

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: , , ,

What does the future hold for the company whose visionary plans include implanting a chip in our brains?

August 6, 2013 Comments off

independent.co.uk

The power of computing, and the thrill of its apparently infinite possibilities, has also long been a source of fear.

Going into a San Francisco second-hand book shop, shortly before a visit to Google’s headquarters in California, I happened upon a copy of Dick Tracy, an old novel based on Chester Gould’s cartoon strip starring America’s favourite detective.

For a 1970 publication, the plot seemed remarkably topical. Dick, and his sidekick Sam Catchem, find themselves battling a sinister character known as “Mr Computer” who wants to control the world. His strange powers enable him to remember everything he hears or sees and recall it instantly. This is a bad guy who can store data, analyse voice patterns and read private thoughts.

My visit to the legendary “Googleplex” at Mountain View comes at an awkward time for the company. Edward Snowden’s revelations about the snooping of the Read more…

FBI can remotely activate microphones in Android smartphones, source says

August 3, 2013 Comments off

foxnews.com

The Wall Street Journal

FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C.

J. Edgar Hoover Building.jpgLaw-enforcement officials in the U.S. are expanding the use of tools routinely used by computer hackers to gather information on suspects, bringing the criminal wiretap into the cyber age.

Federal agencies have largely kept quiet about these capabilities, but court documents and interviews with people involved in the programs provide new details about the hacking tools, including spyware delivered to computers and phones through email or Web links—techniques more commonly associated with attacks by criminals.

‘[The FBI] hires people who have hacking skill, and they purchase tools that are capable of doing these things.’

– a former official in the agency’s cyber division

People familiar with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s programs say that the use of hacking tools under court orders has grown as agents seek to keep up with Read more…

Categories: Big Brother Tags: , , , ,

Google: FBI watching you on internet

March 8, 2013 Comments off

indiatimes.com

(Google says the FBI is monitoring…)

WASHINGTON: Google says the FBI is monitoring the Web for potential terrorist activity. But it can’t say how extensive the surveillance is.

As part of the Google Transparency Report, the Internet giant this week released data on so-called National Security Letters — official requests for data under the Patriot Act passed after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

But Google said it was only allowed to provide broad ranges of numbers: in the years from 2009 to 2012, for example, it received between zero and 999 requests. The requests affected between 1,000 and 1,999 accounts, except in 2010 when the range was 2,000 to 2,999 accounts, Google said.

“You’ll notice that we’re reporting numerical ranges rather than exact numbers. This is to address concerns raised Read more…

Big Google is watching you

January 16, 2013 Comments off

businessspectator.com

While travelling overseas at Christmas we naturally turned off mobile data on our phones to avoid being ripped off by the phone companies’ rapacious data roaming charges.

Instead, everywhere I went I asked for the Wi-Fi password and sometimes didn’t even need one. No problem, although using Google maps to get around in the street was impossible.

 

In fact with all three phone networks in Australia whacking up their data prices, I’m thinking of turning off mobile data at home as well. There’s more and more public Wi-Fi around and although the domestic Read more…

New Microchip Knows Your Location To Within Centimeters

April 11, 2012 Comments off

Forget a chip in your forehead – the ‘mark of the beast’ is the cell phone

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The development of a new microchip for cell phones that knows the user’s location to within a few centimeters confirms the fact that contrary to biblical fears about mandatory implantable microchips, people have willingly exchanged their privacy for convenience and that the cell phone itself is the de facto “mark of the beast”.

“Broadcom has just rolled out a chip for smart phones that promises to indicate location ultra-precisely, possibly within a few centimeters, vertically and horizontally, indoors and out,” reports MIT Technology Review.

“In theory, the new chip can even determine what floor of a building you’re on, thanks to its ability to integrate information from the atmospheric pressure sensor on many models of Android phones. The company calls abilities like this “ubiquitous navigation,” and the idea is that it will enable a new kind of e-commerce predicated on the fact that shopkeepers will know the moment you walk by their front door, or when you are looking at a particular product, and can offer you coupons at that instant.”

Over 82% of Americans own cell phones, with around half of these being smart phones. In the near future, the majority of Americans will own smart phones that will have the ability to track their location down to a few centimeters.

With the effort to legally establish surveillance drones as a legitimate tool in domestic law enforcement, authorities could save a lot of time and money by simply requesting cell phone companies provide real-time tracking of suspects via their smart phones.

Indeed, Apple, Google and Microsoft have all been caught secretly tracking the physical locations of their users and Read more…

Everything Is Spying On You

March 28, 2012 Comments off

infowars.com

George Orwell was merely scratching the surface with telescreens – the 21st century home as a surveillance hub will outstrip anything you read about in 1984. From dishwashers to light bulbs, so-called “smart homes” will allow industry and the government to spy ubiquitously on every aspect of your existence.

CIA chief David Petraeus has hailed the “Internet of things” as a transformational boon for “clandestine tradecraft”. In other words, it will soon be easier than ever before to keep tabs on the population since everything Read more…

Exposed… Google Spying On Laptops Using Microphone!

March 23, 2012 Comments off

knowthelies.com

internet-spy

I like to bring in this article a confirmed surveillance attempt by Google of my laptop microphone around April of 2011. Note… Also before I am writing this my laptop was attacked by hackers again. Now I have to restore my laptop again right around when I am suppose to interview Dr. Michael Coffman via Webcam and Microphone. ~ Brian D Hill

It was even admitted on The Register in Sep 2006 that Google was developing eavesdropping software, that uses Audio ‘fingerprint’ for content-relevant ads, and that as I quote from their news website “to use the existing PC microphone to listen to whatever is heard in the background, be it music, your phone going off or the TV turned down.

The PC then identifies it, using fingerprinting, and then shows you relevant content, whether that’s adverts or Read more…