Four tech firms are suing Facebook for running a ‘brazen’ and ‘anti-competitive scheme’ which they say is the worst in a ‘generation’ and are demanding that Mark Zuckerberg give up his stake in the company. The lawsuit was filed in San Francisco on Thursday by Cir.cl, Beehive Biometric, Reveal Chat and Lenddo. Cir.cl and Beehive […]
Surveillance & Technology
Latest News
Healthier Looking Julian Assange Filmed Briefly Emerging from Solitary Confinement…
On Monday WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was seen in rare footage captured by news crews scrambling to get a view of him leaving Westminster Magistrates’ Court in a high secure police van. He appeared pale and frail, but according to eyewitnesses present in the court during his brief preliminary extradition hearing he looked much healthier […]
Update Your WhatsApp Now!…
Facebook-owned WhatsApp on Tuesday warned users to upgrade the application to plug a security hole reported by Financial Times, that allowed for the injection of very sophisticated malware that could be used to spy on journalists, activists, and others. WhatsApp said it released an update to fix the latest vulnerability in the messaging app, used […]
New Cybersecurity Rules Give Regime Control of Data Outside China…
The U.S. government is “very concerned” about China’s new cybersecurity measures that put American companies at risk of losing sensitive data. Beijing enacted in October 2019 a cryptography law that came into effect on Jan. 1. The new legislation, combined with comprehensive cybersecurity measures China has been passing in the past several years, creates a […]
Update Windows 10 Immediately to Patch a Flaw Discovered by the NSA…
After Adobe today releases its first Patch Tuesday updates for 2020, Microsoft has now also published its January security advisories warning billions of users of 49 new vulnerabilities in its various products. What’s so special about the latest Patch Tuesday is that one of the updates fixes a serious flaw in the core cryptographic component […]
Full Measure: I Spy…
We begin with an examination of one of the worst abuses of government power that could happen in our society. Illegal spying on U.S. citizens. Amid findings about egregious violations by our intelligence community, there’s a criminal investigation. And the court that approves surveillance on U.S. citizens has instructed the FBI to implement new safeguards […]
23andMe Signs Deal with Drug Firm to Make Treatments for Psoriasis, Lupus and Crohn’s Out of an Antibody it Created Using its Customers’ DNA…
DNA testing firm 23andMe has handed over the licence to an antibody it has created using customers’ genetic data to develop drugs for skin conditions. Spanish drugmaker Almirall has bought the rights to turn the protein into viable anti-inflammatory medication for patients around the world. The deal marks the first time genetic information collected by […]
Walmart Testing Robots for Fulfilling Grocery Orders…
A Walmart Supercenter in Salem, New Hampshire, has been the first store to test a new kind of technology that will use robots to collect grocery items for online order fulfillment. Walmart is one of the largest companies in the world by revenue, with at least 2.3 million employees in the US, has seen rapid […]
17-Year-Old NASA Intern Makes Stunning Discovery…
Wolf Cukier, a student from Scarsdale High School in New York, was just three days into a summer internship at NASA when he made a remarkable discovery. Cukier had just finished his junior year when he started his internship at NASA’s Goddard’s Space Flight Center in Goddard, Md., last summer. Within just a few days, […]
New Cambridge Analytica Leaks Reveal Psychological Manipulation of Global Population…
On New Year’s Day 2020, Twitter account @HindsightFiles began posting documents from data firm Cambridge Analytica (CA) which expose the extensive infrastructure used to manipulate voters on a global scale. More than 100,000 documents are said to be released in the coming months, revealing Cambridge Analytica’s activity in a shocking 68 countries, including elections in […]
New Lawsuit Claims Rod Rosenstein Led Task Force that Spied on Sharyl Attkisson’s Computers…
In a federal lawsuit filed this week, Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosentein has been implicated in yet another improper government spy operation. In the new complaint, Attkisson v. Rosenstein et.al., investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson names former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosentein and four other Justice Department officials as the government agents who of illegally […]
Related
Soon Linksys Wifi Will Be Able to Detect Every Breath You Take…
When we went checked out Linksys’ motion-sensing wifi feature last month, we were more impressed with the potential of the technology than its actual capabilities at launch. But at CES 2020 the company gave us a glimpse of Linksys Aware’s future, and we’re now far more optimistic about the technology’s potential to be a genuine […]
For Tech-Weary Midwest Farmers, 40-Year-Old Tractors Now a Hot Commodity…
Kris Folland grows corn, wheat and soybeans and raises cattle on 2,000 acres near Halma in the northwest corner of Minnesota, so his operation is far from small. But when he last bought a new tractor, he opted for an old one — a 1979 John Deere 4440. He retrofitted it with automatic steering guided […]
Latest Starlink Launch Makes SpaceX the Largest Commercial Satellite Operator in the World…
The successful launch of 60 new Starlink satellites means SpaceX now operates more commercial satellites than any other company in the world. It’s a major milestone for the Elon Musk-led company, which still needs to show it’s capable of responsibly managing its burgeoning megaconsellation. Deployment of the 60 Starlink satellites was confirmed earlier today in […]
Related
Your Cyberpunk Games Are Dangerous…
How roleplaying games and fantasy fiction confounded the FBI, confronted the law, and led to a more open web. On January 17, 1980, FBI agents descended on a small business in Wisconsin to investigate a plot against the life of an American business executive in Beirut, Lebanon, named William Weatherby. The tip came to local […]
How FBI (or Congress) Can Use Warrant Surveilling One American… to Spy on Many More…
If you’ve watched the current impeachment proceedings with something beyond a passing interest, you might have heard the controversy over Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) secretly obtaining and then releasing phone records of political rival Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and journalist John Solomon. Critics say such an alleged invasion of citizens’ privacy and rights for political […]
Over 267M Facebook Users’ Information Exposed…
The private information of more than 267 million Facebook users was reportedly exposed online for anyone to access. Approximately 267,140,436 users, most of whom reside in the United States, had their Facebook IDs, phone numbers and names exposed in an unsecured database, according to a report published Thursday by cybersecurity firm Comparitech and security researcher […]
Convenience Store Chain Wawa Hit by Data Security Breach at ‘Potentially All’ Stores…
A data security breach may have affected customers who used credit and debit cards at “potentially all” Wawa convenience stores in Virginia and other East Coast states during the past nine months, the company said Thursday. The retailer’s information security team discovered malware on Wawa payment processing servers on Dec. 10, Wawa’s CEO Chris Gheysens […]
Judge Rules Government Entitled to Snowden Book, Speech Proceeds…
A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the US government is entitled to the proceeds from Edward Snowden’s memoir, as well as any money he earns from paid speeches, because the former National Security Agency employee disclosed classified information without approval, according to the Washington Post – “Snowden has been charged with espionage since 2013, […]
Warrant Not Always Needed for ‘Inadvertent’ NSA Surveillance of Americans: U.S. Court…
The U.S. government may collect information about U.S. citizens without obtaining a warrant if the information is gathered inadvertently while legally carrying out surveillance of non-nationals abroad, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled in an appeal by Agron Hasbajrami, a U.S. resident arrested […]