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The Truth About ‘Net Neutrality’
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
Google wants to move into your HOME: Giant plans to fit microphones in ceilings…
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
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)
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…
Is your smartphone watching you?
CNN Samsung Galaxy S3 with face and voice recognition
MSN News Racial recognition can verify PayPal payments Read more…
Gmail users ‘have no legitimate expectation of privacy’
Image 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…
Pentagon Now Sees Big Data As “National Security Threat”
The data divers at the Defense Department know better than most how to how to track down someone just by looking at his phone records. Now they want to know if America’s enemies could cause a fiscal meltdown or a massive cyber attack by combing through Netflix queues, Uber accounts, and Twitter feeds.
The doomsday thinkers over at DARPA are looking for researchers to “investigate the national security threat posed by public data available either for purchase or through open sources.” The question is, could a determined data-miner use only publicly available information–culled from Web pages and social media or from a consumer data broker–to cause “nation-state type effects.” Forget identify theft. DARPA appears to be talking about Read more…
Google Update Turns Phone Into Possible Tool for Others to Spy on You
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…
U.S. directs agents to cover up program used to investigate Americans
A slide from a presentation about a secretive information-sharing program run by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Special Operations Division (SOD)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A secretive U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration unit is funneling information from intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a massive database of telephone records to authorities across the nation to help them launch criminal investigations of Americans.
Although these cases rarely involve national security issues, documents reviewed by Reuters show that law enforcement agents have been directed to conceal how such investigations truly begin – not only from defense lawyers but also sometimes from prosecutors and judges.
The undated documents show that federal agents are trained to “recreate” the investigative trail to effectively cover up where the information originated, a practice that some experts say violates a defendant’s Constitutional right to a fair trial. If defendants don’t know how an investigation began, they cannot know to ask to review potential sources of Read more…
What does the future hold for the company whose visionary plans include implanting a chip in our brains?
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 pressures Internet providers to install surveillance software
CNET has learned the FBI has developed custom “port reader” software to intercept Internet metadata in real time. And, in some cases, it wants to force Internet providers to use the software.
FBI headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.
(Credit: Getty Images)
The U.S. government is quietly pressuring telecommunications providers to install eavesdropping technology deep inside companies’ internal networks to facilitate surveillance efforts.
FBI officials have been sparring with carriers, a process that has on occasion included threats of contempt of court, in a bid to deploy government-provided software capable of intercepting and analyzing entire communications streams. The FBI’s legal position during these discussions is that the software’s real-time interception of metadata is authorized under the Patriot Act.
Attempts by the FBI to install what it internally refers to as “port reader” software, which have not been previously disclosed, were Read more…
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