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Posts with tag government

US Government May Be Tracking You With Your Cell Phone

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jul 2nd 2008 at 10:48AMBreaking News



It was disturbing enough when the government was just listening in. Now privacy advocates are afraid the government may be tracking our every move through our cell phones. In November of 2007, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to find out how widespread such tracking is. The DOJ didn't hand over the data, so now the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) are taking the DOJ to court to force it to comply with the request.

The ACLU was spurred into action following a blog post in The New York Times in which some courts expressed discomfort with the government's use of cell phone tracking data without probable cause.

How often, and in what situations, the government has utilized this tool is not yet known, but following revelations that the domestic wiretapping was much more widespread than the Bush administration claimed, we simply can't take any chances. [Source: NY Times]
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U.S. Wants Airlines, Cruise Ships to Fingerprint Travelers

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 23rd 2008 at 10:30AMBreaking News

U.S. Wants Airlines, Cruise Ships to Fingerprint Travelers
The airlines and foreign governments are balking at a plan put forth by the Department of Homeland Security to have airlines fingerprint and collect sensitive data about foreign travelers as they leave the U.S. They claim that it represents an effort by the U.S. government to "outsource" responsibility for border security, and it would also set a dangerous precedent of putting private companies in charge of collecting and maintaining databases of personal data.

The airlines are also worried about the potential price tag of such a program. Airline representatives claim it would cost the companies $12.3 billion a year, almost $9 billion more than the Department of Homeland Security estimates, which might force some of the struggling airline industry to simply close up shop.

Cruise lines are subject to the same rules, so don't be surprised when Mickey stops you to stick your digits on an ink-pad when you board the Big Red Boat. [Source: Washington Post via: Jaunted]

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Record High Blogger Arrests in 2007

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 18th 2008 at 2:10PM

Record High Blogger Arrests in 2007
As blogs have become more powerful and prominent as sources of political information and dissent, governments have increased their crackdown on the online outlets of opinion and news. According to the World Information Access (WIA) report, 64 bloggers have been arrested since 2003, but 2007 saw the number of bloggers arrested triple from the previous year. Most of the bloggers arrested have been in China, Iran, and Egypt. The arrests usually lead to jail time, with the average sentence handed down for blogging being 15 months.

The number of bloggers arrested is hard to measure due to the difficulty in confirming identities and that arrests even took place at all in these highly secretive nations. WIA expects the number of arrests of bloggers to continue to increase in 2008 as political uncertainty looms in China and Pakistan and as blogs become even more ubiquitous. [Source: BBC]
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Digital TV Converter Coupons Expiring Before They Can Be Used

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jun 11th 2008 at 5:31PMBreaking News

Digital TV Converter Coupons Expiring Before they Can be Used
We warned you.

The government coupon program for digital converter boxes for older television sets is stirring up controversy as the coupons begin to expire before customers can get their hands on one. Stores have had trouble getting the converter boxes in stock, which are necessary to continue watching television over the air on older sets after the analog-to-digital switchover in February 2009.

Congress is complaining loudly about the failure of the program, which was intended to ease the financial pressures on consumers surrounding the switchover. Roughly 8.5 million homes have requested 16 million coupons, but only 3 million have been redeemed so far. Even worse, almost 900,000 have already expired and only 42 percent of those were redeemed.

Congress is looking into issuing new coupons or extending the expiration date, but one thing is for certain -- if almost 60-percent of the coupons are expiring before customers can use them, the government will have a major problem on its hands. [Source: MSNBC]
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British Government Releases 200 Reports of UFO 'Sightings'

by Will Safer, posted May 14th 2008 at 1:44PMBreaking News

Drawing of a supposed flying saucer sighting in the United Kingdon.

Flying saucers? Alien encounters? It may sound cliché to seriously consider visits from little green men descending from saucer-shaped spacecraft, but the British government is releasing first-person accounts from people who have claimed to see unidentified flying objects.

Among these encounters are indeed alleged visits from space dudes in green.

A spokesman for the National Archives says the government is releasing the documents in response to several Freedom of Information Act requests. About 200 files will be made available to the public during the next four years as part of an effort by the Ministry of Defence to show it is "open and transparent."

Among the first files released there are accounts of alleged sightings over the River Thames, reports by patrons at a pub who saw lights in the sky near Gatwick Airport (what were they drinking, we want to know), and even a sighting by two U.S. Air Force policemen who claimed to see unusual lights near a Royal Air Force location.

Perhaps the best of the batch is an account by a 78-year-old man who says he met an alien in 1983. After spending some time on board a UFO he was asked questions by the alleged aliens. In the end, they told him to disembark with a somewhat condescending statement: "You are too old and too infirm for our purpose."

The lesson here? If you're hoping for a more successful alien encounter, perhaps it's time to start your fitness regimen now.

Want to learn more? Go to the U.K. National Archives site. [Source: BBC News]
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IBM Banned From U.S. Government Contracts

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Apr 1st 2008 at 6:09PM

IBM Banned From U.S. Government ContractsIt happened pretty suddenly, and without explanation -- in fact, we almost lost it among all the April-Fool's-Day jokes. But it appears that, at least temporarily, IBM is banned from obtaining new Federal contracts with the U.S. government. The reason for the ban is unclear at this time, but we do know that it involves IBM's relationship with the EPA.

In addition to the ban, several employees at 'Big Blue' have been issued grand jury subpoenas requesting documents and testimony. An EPA spokesperson offered only the following clarification, "What we are saying is that the case stems from information provided by an EPA employee to IBM employees."

The ban does not affect current government contracts, but the temporary ban does prevent any business group or subsidiary of IBM of negotiating a contract with any government agency, unless it is determined that only IBM can fill the need.

The ban could last up to a year as the government completes its investigation and IBM stands to lose hundreds of millions, possibly billions, of dollars in contracts to market rivals.

From Slashdot

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Clear Channel Pushing For Restrictions In Sirius / XM Merger

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Mar 25th 2008 at 3:19PM

Clear Channel Pushing for Restrictions in Sirius / XM Merger
The Department of Justice approved the controversial merger between Sirius and XM Satellite radio yesterday. Now it's the FCC's turn to take a shot at the only two satellite radio providers in the country, which aim to become one monopolistic company.

Clear Channel is taking the unprecedented step of pressuring the FCC for stricter enforcement of decency standards, specifically making them applicable to satellite broadcasts. Currently satellite radio is not subject to the same standards that govern terrestrial radio broadcasts and television. In 2004 Clear Channel, the largest conglomerate of radio stations in the U.S., was slapped with well over half a million dollars in fines for indecent and started pressuring shock jock Howard Stern to clean up his act. Stern found a new audience Sirius, and now it seems that Clear Channel is looking to extract revenge on the satellite radio industry for stealing away one of its prime properties.

Among the qualifiers Clear Channel is seeking for the merger are the enforcement of decency standards for satellite broadcasts, opening up part of the satellite radio spectrum for a possible commercial competitor, five percent of the spectrum being set aside for public interest uses, and that the new unified Sirius / XM Satellite Radio be forced to integrate HD radio technology into its receivers, which Clear Channel is an investor in.

We find it quite interesting that Clear Channel is perfectly willing to support decency standards and public interest reforms... at least for its competitors.

From Ars Technica and AOL News

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White House Says It Destroyed Millions of E-Mails

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Mar 24th 2008 at 1:30PM

White House Destroyed Hard Drives, E-Mails
The White House is no stranger to controversy surrounding lost e-mail, but the latest bit of information might be the most shocking yet. Following a court ruling, the Bush administration must institute a recovery plan to restore what U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola fears may be large volumes of missing communications from 2003 to 2005.

In an effort to deter the court from pushing forward with the recovery plan, the White House revealed details about how it disposes of computer equipment that is to be retired. The White House revealed in January that it recycled backup tapes from 2003, taping over existing data. In other words, they're saying the millions of e-mails are gone forever.

Now, according to the Associated Press, the administration is claiming that any data on older computers is lost for good as well. When retiring older workstations White House Information Technology (IT) staff transfers some, but not all data from the old hard drive to the new PC. The old hard drive is then sent off to another government agency where it is physically destroyed.

Whether the White House is telling the truth or lying to conceal evidence of misdeeds, it seems to be up to no good. If the White House is telling the truth and the e-mails are simply lost, then the administration is not keeping proper archives and records. The data loss is at best a sign of the ineptitude of the White House IT staff, and at worst a flagrant disregard for business record retention laws.

If the White House is lying and is hiding the e-mails, or intentionally destroyed them, then that is a whole other can of worms that could put the administration and its IT staff in legal jeopardy.

From AP/AOL News (via Slashdot)

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Colorado Toll Road May Require Online Registration

by Will Safer, posted Mar 13th 2008 at 3:25PM

Interestate 70 in Colorado between Denver and the ski resorts to the West.

If you're seeking a Rocky Mountain High, you may soon need to pay the piper -- or at least invite a few friends along for the drive up the mountainside to avoid a proposed toll for Interstate 70 in Colorado.

State Senator Chris Romer, a Denver Democrat, has proposed turning I70 into a toll and HOV highway on Sundays throughout the year and on weekends during the peak ski season. The reason? Folks driving to and from the ski resorts clog the interstate so much that locals actually refer to the weekend traffic as a rush hour. Plus, all those cars are competing with 18-wheelers, making the road crowded, slow and a little dangerous.

To come up with a solution, Romer asked the public to engage in a "Wikipedia"-style, collaborative process to shape the proposed bill, allowing constituents to log on to groups.google.com/group/fixI70now so they could comment on his idea and make suggestions. While Romer didn't take every suggestion the public made, he does say the collaborative online discussion has shaped the proposal he'll put before the legislative body.

In short, his bill, if made law, would create weekend travel restrictions and tolls for a portion of I70 and ski resorts, requiring drivers to either have passengers on board to meet HOV requirements of at least three passengers or pay a toll. Truckers wold have to pay a toll during the restricted times no matter what. The goal is to reduce traffic by 10 to 15 percent.

There's another catch that is rankling a few Coloradoans, too. Before starting a journey up the mountain, drivers would have to register online so the state could measure traffic flow. If you're reading this article, then clearly this wouldn't be a problem for you -- you have access to a computer and an Internet connection. But what about those folks who still haven't completely joined the digital age?

Still, the bill is not in its final stage and he does promise to incorporate more suggestions made through the online discussion group.

From Daily Camera.

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Tiny Camera Implants Turning Insects Into Spies

by Evan Shamoon, posted Mar 9th 2008 at 9:02AM




According to this week's New Scientist, the future of spying may rest in the hands (or legs) of insects and rodents. In an attempt to build the ultimate super(small)spy, moths, beetles, rats, pigeons and sharks have been installed with electrodes, batteries, and even video cameras.

"[A moth] may look like an innocent visitor, irresistibly drawn to the light in your room, but it could actually be a spy -- one of a new generation of cyborg insects with implants wired into their nerves to allow remote control of their movement."

These mechanized animals (read: cyborgs) have plenty of advantages over traditional robots. Sharks, moths and rats, for example, have an amazing sense of smell that allows them to detect the faintest traces of chemicals. And if humans can figure out how to hide the controls within the creature's bodies ... well, they would become perfect spy.

Man, the future is gonna be awesome(ly apocalyptic and scary).

From DailyMail

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Unmanned Spy Plane To Stay Aloft for Five Years

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Mar 6th 2008 at 2:25PM

Unmanned Spy Plane To Stay Aloft for Five Years
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will award contracts to design and build an unmanned spy plane they've dreamed up that will stay aloft for for an amazing five years. The pseudo satellite will circle the globe for years at between 60,000 and 90,000 feet, gathering photos, communications, and generally watching everything you do.

The craft will have to answer a number of design challenges, not the least of which is how to keep this thing powered for such a long period of time. The sub-orbital satellite will also have to carry a 1000-pound payload in extremely high winds (and become airborne in the first place).

DARPA would like to have the craft built ASAP, but you know how these things work, the government will be lucky to have non-functional scale model by the year 2020.

From Gizmo Watch

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U.S. Air Force Wants 300 PlayStation 3's

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Mar 5th 2008 at 12:06PM

U.S. Air Force Wants 300 PS3s
What do you do when you're the U.S. government and you need heaps of computing power, quick and on the cheap? You snatch up 300 Sony PlayStation 3's of course. We've seen researchers use the gaming consoles before to crunch numbers and study gravity, and now the Air Force wants in on the Cell processor-powered action.

What exactly the Air Force plans to use the 300 PlayStations for is unclear, but the branch of the armed forces is getting price quotes from resellers.

Knowing that the PS3 is less a gaming machine and more a super computer in disguise, all we can say is we're glad it's the Air Force and not the NSA.

From Newsvine

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Pakistan Bans, Then Breaks YouTube

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Feb 25th 2008 at 5:15PM

Pakistan Bans and Breaks YouTubePakistan has become the latest in a long list of countries that have banned the video sharing site YouTube. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority told the country's Internet Service Provicers (ISPs) that the site will be blocked until further notice due to content deemed offensive to Islam, though they would not name the specific content that was deemed offensive.

Countries such as Turkey, Thailand, and Morocco have all blocked the site at one point or another for hosting videos deemed offensive to the nations' leaders and government.

This would be worth noting even if the story ended here, but there's more....The government blocks the site by redirecting all traffic from within Pakistan intended for YouTube to a different Web site. However, likely due to a careless error by a Pakistani engineer, YouTube was blocked around the globe for two hours yesterday.

Google immediately contacted the Pakistani government, and access to the site was quickly restored. The government is investigating the cause behind the outage.

From BBC and Wired

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Court Shuts Down Whistleblower Site

by Tim Stevens, posted Feb 20th 2008 at 10:11AM

Court Ruling Orders Shut Down of Online Whistleblower SiteNobody likes a snitch, but the whistleblower, someone who exposes corruption, is often held in quite high regard. There's a fine line between the two types of tattletales, but most everyone is almost always happy to see shady and illegal back room dealings exposed.

Everyone, it seems, except the American courts. The U.S. Supreme Court made exposing misdeeds a little more dangerous last year when it ruled that whistleblowing employees had no protection against retaliation from employers. Now, a California District Court judge has ordered the online anonymous whistleblowing site, Wikileaks.org, to shut down.

Wikileaks, which is currently available at the address Wikileaks.be, launched in December of 2006 as a place for the anonymous posting of information by whistleblowers. It was responsible for the revealing of the controversial "Standard Operating Procedures for Camp Delta" at Guantanamo Bay, which exposed some potential civil rights violations. The site hosts thousands of other posted documents, which range from supposed e-mails from U.S. Ambassadors to videos showing a nuclear accident in Japan.

Last week's ruling from the California judge is in response to a lawsuit by the Julius Baer Group, a Swiss bank that was alleged to be involved in money laundering. The allegations were backed up by documents posted -- illegally, according to the bank -- to Wikileaks. The judge ruled that the Wikileaks.org domain name could no longer be renewed or resolved.

Given that the site is mirrored in many countries around the world with suffixes besides ".org," however, it's likely that Wikileaks won't be affected too much by this immediate ruling. All that said, we expect a more concerted effort against this site in the not too distant future, given that the site's main purpose of exposing secrets more less always creates enemies.



From Computerworld and Wikipedia

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Spy Satellites to be Pointed at U.S. Citizens

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Feb 14th 2008 at 6:14PM

The domestic wiretapping program run by the NSA was disturbing enough to privacy advocates, but a new program moving forward that would allow law enforcement and security agencies to use spy satellite imagery may give the members of the ACLU a collective embolism.

Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee have held up the the program while trying to figure out some of the more pressing legal and privacy issues, but it seems that the program is moving forward now and a legal framework has been put in place. The program will not be used to intercept voice or data communications, but to obtain satellite imagery. All law enforcement requests must be accompanied by a warrant, and a third party panel that includes Justice Department officials will thoroughly vet all requests to ensure civil liberties are not violated.

From Associate Press

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