Infinite Unknown

- US plan calls for more scanning of private Web traffic, email (Reuters, March 22, 2103):

The U.S. government is expanding a cybersecurity program that scans Internet traffic headed into and out of defense contractors to include far more of the country’s private, civilian-run infrastructure.

As a result, more private sector employees than ever before, including those at big banks, utilities and key transportation companies, will have their emails and Web surfing scanned as a precaution against cyber attacks.

Under last month’s White House executive order on cybersecurity, the scans will be driven by classified information provided by U.S. intelligence agencies — including data from the National Security Agency (NSA) — on new or especially serious espionage threats and other hacking attempts. U.S. spy chiefs said on March 12 that cyber attacks have supplanted terrorism as the top threat to the country.

The Department of Homeland Security will gather the secret data and pass it to a small group of telecommunication companies and cyber security providers that have employees holding security clearances, government and industry officials said. Those companies will then offer to process email and other Internet transmissions for critical infrastructure customers that choose to participate in the program.

DHS as the middleman

By using DHS as the middleman, the Obama administration hopes to bring the formidable overseas intelligence-gathering of the NSA closer to ordinary U.S. residents without triggering an outcry from privacy advocates who have long been leery of the spy agency’s eavesdropping.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Big Brother, DHS, Dictatorship, eMails, Fascism, Global News, Government, Homeland Security, Internet, New World Order, NSA, Obama administration, Politics, Society, Surveillance, U.S.

- The Internet is a surveillance state (CNN, March, 16, 2013):

(CNN) — I’m going to start with three data points.

One: Some of the Chinese military hackers who were implicated in a broad set of attacks against the U.S. government and corporations were identified because they accessed Facebook from the same network infrastructure they used to carry out their attacks.

Two: Hector Monsegur, one of the leaders of the LulzSac hacker movement, was identified and arrested last year by the FBI. Although he practiced good computer security and used an anonymous relay service to protect his identity, he slipped up.

And three: Paula Broadwell,who had an affair with CIA director David Petraeus, similarly took extensive precautions to hide her identity. She never logged in to her anonymous e-mail service from her home network. Instead, she used hotel and other public networks when she e-mailed him. The FBI correlated hotel registration data from several different hotels — and hers was the common name.

The Internet is a surveillance state. Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, and whether we like it or not, we’re being tracked all the time. Google tracks us, both on its pages and on other pages it has access to. Facebook does the same; it even tracks non-Facebook users. Apple tracks us on our iPhones and iPads. One reporter used a tool called Collusion to track who was tracking him; 105 companies tracked his Internet use during one 36-hour period.

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Tags: 1984, Big Brother, Dictatorship, Fascism, George Orwell, Global News, Government, Internet, New World Order, Politics, Society, Surveillance, Technology

- EU porn ban voted down amid censorship concerns (RT, March 12, 2013):

Language that would ban online pornography has been dropped from a report approved by the European Parliament. But major concerns over the future of Internet privacy remain as legislators themselves were blocked from reading constituents’ complaints.

Members of the European Parliament voted 368-159 in favor of passing a report titled “Eliminating gender stereotypes in the EU.”

The rejection of a controversial “porn ban” proposal has seemingly become a major victory for online freedom. But the result was “a little bit unclear,” Christian Engstrom, MEP with Sweden’s Pirate Party, told RT.

“The European Parliament said no to turning Internet service providers into porn police, and they said no to setting up authorities to regulate media,” Engstrom explained, adding, though, that the European Parliament still expresses support for an older resolution to ban pornography.

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Tags: EU, Europe, Global News, Government, Internet, Law, Politics, Porn

- Facebook reveals secrets you haven’t shared (Financial Times, March 11, 2013):

The increasing amount of personal information that can be gleaned by computer programs that track how people use Facebook has been revealed by an extensive academic study.

Such programs can discern undisclosed private information such as Facebook users’ sexuality, drug-use habits and even whether their parents separated when they were young, according to the study by the University of Cambridge academics.

In one of the biggest studies of its kind, scientists from the university’s psychometrics team and a Microsoft-funded research centre analysed data from 58,000 Facebook users to predict traits and other information that were not provided in their profiles.The algorithms were 88 per cent accurate in predicting male sexual orientation, 95 per cent for race and 80 per cent for religion and political leanings. Personality types and emotional stability were also predicted with accuracy ranging from 62-75 per cent.

Facebook declined to comment.

…

Tags: Facebook, Global News, Internet, Society

- Pentagon’s DARPA researchers learn to control rat’s brain over Internet (RT, March 1, 2013):

Government mind control may not be as farfetched as it sounds: after 15 years of research, scientists have found a way to transmit information from one brain to another, thereby controlling the thoughts of its test subject.

Scientists have successfully captured the thoughts of a rat in Brazil and electronically transmitted them through the Internet to the brain of a rat in the US. The Brazilian rat had been energetically running around in a lab. When the American rat received the brain waves of its South American counterpart, it immediately began to mimic the behavior – despite the thousands of miles between them, Reuters reports.

Scientists refer to the technique as a “brain link”. The $26 million study of brain-machine interfaces was funded by the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which ultimately hopes to have this technology available to humans.

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Tags: animals, Brain, DARPA, Global News, Government, Internet, Military, Pentagon, Politics, Rats, Science, Technology

- Aaron Swartz files reveal how FBI tracked internet activist (Guardian, Feb 19, 2013)

Tags: Aaron Swartz, FBI, Global News, Government, Internet, Politics, U.S.

- Obama signs cybersecurity executive order ahead of State Of The Union (ZDNet, Feb 13, 2013):

Summary: President Obama unexpectedly signed an executive Order on cybersecurity prior to tonight’s State of the Union address. UPDATED: Links to the Order and “new” CISPA added.

President Obama signed an executive order aimed at bolstering U.S. cybersecurity prior to tonight’s State of the Union address. The Order precedes a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on “new threats.”

It is the government’s latest move in attempting to deal with cyber threats, and the order has not undergone any public technical, rights-based, or privacy review.

The Order “enables the government to share more information with private industry partners and developing a new framework of practices to reduce cybersecurity risks.” Continue reading »

Tags: Barack Obama, DHS, Facebook, Global News, Government, Homeland Security, Internet, Law, Politics, Society, Twitter, U.S.

- Obama to ‘bypass Congress’ on CISPA with cybersecurity executive order (RT, Feb 11, 2013):

Unable to reach a deal with Congress, President Obama plans to use his power to exert executive actions against the will of lawmakers. The president will issue orders addressing controversial topics including cybersecurity.

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Tags: Barack Obama, CISPA, Congress, cyber, Dictatorship, Global News, Government, Internet, New World Order, Obama administration, Politics, U.S.

YouTube Added: 11.02.2013

Description:

First TRAPWIRE, now RIOT, the new product from the defence company, Raytheon, and which is featured in the above video. RIOT will use GPS and other technologies to track people anywhere in the world. It also boast predictive capabilities (work out the most likely location the target will go to next). RIOT will basically search, analyse and organise all social network content globally.

Tags: CISPA, Facebook, Internet, New World Order, Raytheon, Society, Surveillance, Technology, Twitter, U.S.

- UK government plans to track ALL web use: MI5 to install ‘black box’ spy devices to monitor British internet traffic (Daily Mail, Feb 6, 2013):

MPs’ report outlines spooks’ take on the draft Communications Data Bill

It shows they are keen to implement nationwide surveillance regime

They want ISPs to install ‘black boxes’ that can inspect all internet traffic

Spies claim they are only interested in ‘communications data’

Campaigners warn it will give spies unprecedented surveillance powers

UK spy agencies want to install ‘black box’ surveillance devices across the country’s communications networks to monitor internet use, it emerged today.

A report by an influential committee of MPs tells how spooks are keen to implement a nationwide surveillance regime aimed at logging nearly everything Britons do and say online.

The spy network will rely on a technology known as Deep Packet Inspection to log data from communications ranging from online services like Facebook and Twitter, Skype calls with family members and visits to pornographic websites.

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Tags: 1984, Big Brother, Dictatorship, Facebook, Fascism, George Orwell, Global News, Government, Internet, Jonathan Evans, Law, MI5, New World Order, Politics, Privacy, Skype, Society, Surveillance, Twitter, U.K.