Information Technology

NSA spied on German Chancellors for 10 yrs, tapped 125 govt phone numbers – WikiLeaks
America,s National Security Agency has spied on German chancellors and their offices for more than 10 years, a new WikiLeaks report says. The three leaked NSA intercepts indicate that the US targeted 125 phone numbers of top German officials. The National Security Agency’s (NSA) intercepts published on Wednesday show that Washington has been tapping the phones of the political offices of the [...]
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NSA’s XKEYSCORE spy program is “as easy as typing a few words in Google”
The National Security Agency's infamous XKEYSCORE program, revealed by leaker Edward Snowden, makes searching the world's private communications as easy to use as Google, according to training documents published by the Intercept. XKEYSCORE was one of the first programs that the Guardian wrote about when Snowden began leaking NSA documents in 2013. [...]
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EU set to file antitrust lawsuit against Google for unfair practices
Google is facing formal antitrust charges in the EU after years of investigation and three attempted settlements. The announcement will be made at the European Commission meeting on Wednesday, EU officials told the media. If the Commission finds Google guilty, it can order the company to change its business practices and impose fines of up to 10 percent of the company’s global proceeds – mo [...]
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Too little too late? NSA starting to implement “Snowden-proof” cloud storage
The NSA is implementing a huge migration to custom-designed cloud architecture it says will revolutionize internal security and protect against further leaks by data analysts with unfettered access to classified information. Put simply, the NSA hopes to keep future Edward Snowdens out by employing a cloud file storage system it built from scratch. [...]
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Mass spying on UK citizens “essential,” say MPs in landmark report
A Parliamentary report examining the mass collection of private communications by UK security agencies has defended the practice as “essential.” The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) report, published on Thursday, said only a “tiny” proportion of data collected was ever seen by human eyes. [...]
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“Britain is leading the war against human rights” –  Amnesty International
Ramped up surveillance in Britain against a backdrop of dwindling legal protection has contributed to the most rattling assault on human rights in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall, human rights experts warn. [...]
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Congress alarmed by plans to use Russian system to route 911 calls
Plans to route 911 location calls via Russia's GLONASS satellite system have sparked national security concerns among some members of Congress, despite assurances that its use will be limited and it will help save lives in emergencies. [...]
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80% whistleblower retaliation claims ignored in biased, “Trojan horse” system
The number of whistleblowers being retaliated against is increasing every year as former federal workers warn its almost impossible to raise grievances through official avenues within the government, a new report reveals. Among the employees and contractors working for the United States military and the American intelligence community, more than 8,700 have filed claims since 2001 in which they [...]
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California police spent $45mn on spy gear with little oversight
Police departments across California spent more than $45 million on surveillance equipment over the course of a decade with little to no legislative or public oversight - and without the public's knowledge, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU report, titled 'Making Smart Decisions about Surveillance: A Guide for Communities,' reveals how California law enforcement took adv [...]
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Putin: Russia won’t limit access to internet
At a meeting with Russia's Security Council, President Vladimir Putin has said the problem of the country's 'informational space' security is of top priority, but assured the state has no intentions of limiting access to the web. "We do not intend to limit access to the web, put it under total control, make the internet more governmentalized. [...]
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“Join the invisible to make the impossible”: Israel’s Mossad now recruits agents online
Israeli intelligence has given up to modern trends and introduced an online questionnaire for would-be spies. Unlike the businesslike CIA or MI5 web draft campaigns, Israelis are luring volunteers with mystery halo always shrouding Mossad's activities. Mossad has become one of the last intelligence agencies in the world that vouchsafed to recruiting volunteer spies online, facilitating the indu [...]
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Assange sneaks into US conference… as full-body 3D hologram! (VIDEO)
ulian Assange has transcended the confinement of his Ecuadorian embassy asylum to attend the 2014 Nantucket Project – as a hologram. In his ghostly entirety Assange was speaking about censorship, control and manipulation of history. Speaking with filmmaker Eugene Jarecki, Assange closed the 2014 event, sharing his thoughts on importance of research and free access to information, and risks of [...]
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Governments spy on journalists with weaponized malware – WikiLeaks
Journalists and dissidents are under the microscope of intelligence agencies, Wikileaks revealed in its fourth SpyFiles series. A German software company that produces computer intrusion systems has supplied many secret agencies worldwide. The weaponized surveillance malware, popular among intelligence agencies for spying on “journalists, activists and political dissidents,” is produced by [...]
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US threatened Yahoo with $250K daily fine when it resisted NSA data requests
When Yahoo didn’t comply with a National Security Agency request to hand over user data under the PRISM surveillance program, the US government threatened it with daily fines of $250K, the company has revealed. Ron Bell, Yahoo’s general counsel, said in a blog post, that the company “refused to comply with what we viewed as unconstitutional and overbroad surveillance and challenged the US [...]
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Coming soon: 3D printable solar panels capable of powering… anything
Printable solar panels are going to be available to us very soon and could power "entire skyscrapers," Australian researchers say. The very near future will see personal electronic charging transformed, but the potential is growing quickly. A team of 50 scientists in various fields worked for years to develop paper-thin, printable solar panels as part of the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consort [...]
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Snowden leak exposes US plan to spy on foreign businesses for profit
A 2009 intelligence document provided to journalists by former government contractor Edward Snowden suggests the United States weighed someday conducting espionage to prevent losing its economic prowess to other countries. The document, published first by The Intercept on Friday this week, outlines tactics the American intelligence community may implement in the future in the event of certain s [...]
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Thousands of Germans rally to end government spying
The rally in Berlin against federal surveillance gathered thousands of people under the motto "Freedom not fear," who were calling for stricter control of German intelligence agencies. The organizers said about 6,500 demonstrators, a broad coalition of pro-transparency, anti-surveillance and civil rights groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Reporters Without Borders, Digital Cou [...]
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US judge rules Microsoft must handover personal data stored abroad
Microsoft has been told it must handover emails stored abroad to US prosecutors by a New York court. However, the software giant says it will fight the ruling, saying that an email deserves the same privacy protection as a paper letter sent by mail. The company says they will not release any emails to US authorities, while it appeals the ruling, made by Chief Judge Loretta Preska of the US Dist [...]
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China may unveil homegrown OS rivals to Windows, Google and Apple
Following revelations of America's National Security Agency's global internet surveillance system, combined with a desire to enhance domestic production, China is beating a path towards unveiling its own operating systems in October. The Chinese-made substitutes would first be introduced on desktop devices, later expanding to include smartphones and other hand-held devices, Ni Guangnan heads an [...]
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Tech Trade: Russia to boost software imports to China, get more servers in return
Russia and China plan to increase technology cooperation, with Moscow set to increase exports of software in exchange for data storage, Russia's Communications Minister said. Nikolay Nikiforov, head of Russia's Ministry of Communications, announced via Twitter that Russia and China have agreed to increase the supply of Chinese servers and storage systems and production in Russia, and to boost t [...]
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Masters of the Internet: GCHQ scanned entire countries for vulnerabilities
GCHQ is scanning servers in multiple foreign countries for vulnerable ports, according to German newspaper Heise. Using a tool called Hacienda, the intelligence agency seeks to "master the internet" for sources of espionage. Spanish for estate, Hacienda can port scan all of the servers in a country to provide information on user endpoints and scan for potential vulnerabilities. The ability to p [...]
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“We are giving all of our privacy for just the possibility of a little bit of safety”
Intelligence agencies like the NSA and GCHQ seek to scoop up literally every single form of digital and non-digital communication and data in the world all the time, political cartoonist and author Ted Rall told RT. It is very clear that the general mood in Europe as well as in the UK and in the USA is in favor of more privacy in the wake of Edward Snowden’s NSA revelations. [...]
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