The strange similarities in Google, Facebook, and Apple’s PRISM denials. After the news broke yesterday about a secret government surveillance program called PRISM, the companies named in the news reports — led by Google, Apple, and Facebook — responded with denials.
In effect, they were saying two things: We do not give the government direct access to our servers. And we’ve never heard of PRISM. Some added a third point: We want more sunlight on this issue, too. Forgive me if I don’t think that’s saying much. First, the context: Yesterday the Washington Post published a slide deck reportedly intended for an audience of top National Security Agency advisors, detailing the PRISM program.
These denials of the report all seem oddly similar, with Facebook chiming in most recently to say it also hasn’t heard of PRISM. Let’s look at each of the three denial points in turn. The Revolution Will Be Live-Mapped: A Brief History of Protest Maptivism. The revolution may not be televised, but it will be Google-mapped with crowdsourced data from social media networks.
Modern-day digital cartography is transforming the ancient art of protest—with live tactical maps built by cyberactivists using Google Maps, Umaps, or the open source world map open street map, and updated in real-time with tips from the ground sent via social media. The maps help activists avoid police, find shelter, medical help, food and other protest groups, and stay mobile to avoid arrest or violence. This kind of maptivism was instrumental during the Arab Spring two years ago. Now, as Turks in Instanbul protest the authoritarian rule of Prime Minister Tayyip, live maps and social media are again playing a crucial role—enough to compel Tayyip to call Twitter "the worst menace to society. " Savvy Turks created a Google map on June 1 to track police movement near Taksim Square. Biosphere 2: How a Sci-Fi Stunt Turned Into the World's Biggest Earth Science Lab. Flickr: Image If you were born after 1980 or so, then you probably most closely associate the concept of a manmade biosphere with Pauly Shore and fart jokes you didn't even think were funny when you were eleven.
The Motherboard Guide to Avoiding the NSA. If you've been reading the headlines about the NSA mining intelligence data from the world's largest data mongers, and haven't already burnt down your house with everything you own in it and set sail for a libertarian expat community in Chile, then there are some less dramatic suggestions in store for you.
Evading the NSA's comprehensive surveillance system is no simple task, especially as we only know snippets of the agency's capabilities. But we're going to try our best. First, it's time to take an inventory of anything you own or are borrowing that can be traced. Meet the Man Behind the Push to Ban Killer Robots. Image via Wikipedia Depending on who you ask, armed robots that can discern by themselves when and how to stage attacks, without guidance from humans, present either an unprecedented danger to humanity or its greatest mechanism of defense.
But both sides agree that such "lethal autonomous robots," as they're known, are on their way whether we're ready for them or not. The prospect of free-thinking war machines waging the ultimate battle against the human race has been bouncing around most of our minds since Arnold promised us that he'd be back in the 1980s. That was back when the idea of a walking, talking robot soldier was, like Schwarzenegger himself, more caricature than distressing.
Less then three decades and more than a few drone strikes later, a new UN report is calling for "national moratoria" on developing killer robots in every country on the globe. Yes, the NSA Can Spy on Every US Citizen. NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons On June 9, two reporters from the Guardian newspaper announced to the world the source of one of the most significant classified-document leaks in history. Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old national-security contractor from Hawaii, revealed that he was compelled by conscience to inform the world about a massive abuse of authority perpetrated by the US National Security Agency.
According to the documents Snowden provided, which have been authenticated, the US government has been systematically collecting the phone records and online communications of millions of American citizens. Both the media and the public were shocked by the news that the NSA had such broad digital surveillance capabilities. We learned earlier this year that the FBI's top priority for 2013 is to increase their online surveillance authority.
The challenge for Mr. What They Know - Wsj.com. How to Build a Secret Facebook. The NSA's Utah data center near Bluffdale, Utah.
Via Google Street View Since retiring from a three-decade career at the NSA in 2001, a mathematician named William Binney has been telling anyone who will listen about a vast data-gathering operation being conducted by his former employers. Bugmenot.com - login with these free web passwords to bypass compulsory registration. Protecting your privacy. Proxies. What Is PRISM?