U.S. opening up airspace to use of drones - Technology & science - Science - DiscoveryNews.com
After more than 40 years of development and extensive use by the military, the United States has set the date when the nation’s airspace will be open for drones. Should you be scared? Short answer: No, but like any new technology, unmanned aerial vehicles have their dark side. Legislation passed by Congress last week gives the Federal Aviation Administration until Sept. 30, 2015, to open the nation’s skies to drones. NEWS: Smart Drone Aircraft Makes Debut Flight The first step comes in 90 days when police, firefighters and other civilian first-response agencies can start flying UAVs weighing no more than 4.4 pounds, provided they meet still-to-be-determined requirements, such as having an operator on the ground within line-of-sight of the drone and flying it at least 400 feet above ground. Currently, UAVs can only fly in restricted airspace zones controlled by the U.S. military. The deadline for full integration of drones into U.S. airspace is Sept. 30, 2015. NEWS: Drones Play ‘Where’s Waldo’
The Spy files
WikiLeaks: The Spy Files Mass interception of entire populations is not only a reality, it is a secret new industry spanning 25 countries It sounds like something out of Hollywood, but as of today, mass interception systems, built by Western intelligence contractors, including for ’political opponents’ are a reality. International surveillance companies are based in the more technologically sophisticated countries, and they sell their technology on to every country of the world. But the WikiLeaks Spy Files are more than just about ’good Western countries’ exporting to ’bad developing world countries’. Selling Surveillance to Dictators When citizens overthrew the dictatorships in Egypt and Libya this year, they uncovered listening rooms where devices from Gamma corporation of the UK, Amesys of France, VASTech of South Africa and ZTE Corp of China monitored their every move online and on the phone. How Mass Surveillance Contractors Share Your Data with the State Orwell’s World
2012–13 Stratfor email leak
The 2012–13 Stratfor email leak is the public disclosure of a number of internal emails between global intelligence company Stratfor's employees and its clients, referred to by WikiLeaks as the Global Intelligence Files. E-mails began appearing on WikiLeaks on February 27, 2012, with 973 of the claimed 5 million total emails published as of April 17.[1] Email content[edit] One of the first items released was an email containing a glossary titled "The Stratfor Glossary of Useful, Baffling and Strange Intelligence Terms", which contained concise and sometimes humorously candid definitions, along with pointed assessments of U.S. intelligence and law enforcement.[6] Stratfor[edit] Some emails reveal that Stratfor had been partnering with Shea Morenz, a former Goldman Sachs director, along with other informants, in order to profit from what could be considered insider trading. Governmental[edit] Companies[edit] Wikileaks[edit] Other emails discredit the rape allegations against Assange.[23]
Revealed: US plans to charge Assange
Assange speaks at London news conference WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, says more 'explosive' information to be released on intelligence analysts Stratfor. 28, 2012 See the Stratfor emails UNITED STATES prosecutors have drawn up secret charges against the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, according to a confidential email obtained from the private US intelligence company Stratfor. In an internal email to Stratfor analysts on January 26 last year, the vice-president of intelligence, Fred Burton, responded to a media report concerning US investigations targeting WikiLeaks with the comment: ''We have a sealed indictment on Assange.'' ''If I thought I could switch this dickhead off without getting done I don't think I'd have too much of a problem.'' … Stratfor's Chris Farnham on Assange. Advertisement The Herald has secured access to the emails through an investigative partnership with WikiLeaks.
The World Tomorrow
Stratfor
Strategic Forecasting, Inc., more commonly known as Stratfor, is an American global intelligence company founded in 1996 in Austin, Texas, by George Friedman, who is the company's chairman. Shea Morenz is president and chief executive officer. Fred Burton is Stratfor's vice president of intelligence, and Robert D. Kaplan serves as chief geopolitical analyst. Products[edit] Stratfor bills itself as a geopolitical intelligence and consulting firm, with revenues derived from subscriptions to its website and from corporate clients. Stratfor's publishing business includes written and multimedia analysis and an iPhone application.[2] Stratfor has been cited by media such as the Associated Press, BBC, Bloomberg, CNN, Reuters, and The New York Times as an authority on strategic and tactical intelligence issues.[3] Barron's once referred to it as "The Shadow CIA".[4] Subscribers[edit] Incidents[edit] 2011 hacking incident[edit] 2012 leak[edit] References[edit] Further reading[edit] External links[edit]
New Google Privacy Policy | How To Change Your Settings
How to clear your Google history Learn how to clear your Google data history with this demonstration by Tablet editor Stephen Hutcheon. P 29, 2012 Opinion: Australia absent in Google privacy feud Today is your last chance to adjust your Google privacy settings before a major change to the way Google collects and collates data about you, its users. From March 1, the company will begin to aggregate all the information it acquires about its users who are logged in to Google services into a single, unified pool of data. How your web history page should look after you've clicked "remove". This collectable information is what Columbia Law School professor and privacy advocate Eben Moglan refers to as the “data dandruff of life”. Advertisement In the past, data collected in the course of a web search would be kept separate from, for instance, your YouTube viewing activity, your Gmail usage or your Map queries.
McCain: Cybersecurity Bill Ineffective Without NSA Monitoring the Net | Threat Level
Photo: StuffEyeSee/Flickr After three years of haggling to produce bipartisan cybersecurity legislation that addresses the security of the nation’s critical infrastructure systems, the Senate finally got a bill this week that seemed destined to actually pass. That is, until a hearing on Thursday to discuss the bill in which Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) sideswiped lawmakers behind the proposed legislation and announced that he, and seven other Senate ranking members, were opposed to the bill and would be introducing a competing bill in two weeks to address failings they see in the legislation. McCain and his colleagues oppose the current bill on the grounds that it would give the Department of Homeland Security regulatory authority over private businesses that own and operate critical infrastructure systems and that it doesn’t grant the National Security Agency, a branch of the Defense Department, any authority to monitor networks in real-time to thwart cyberattacks.
