MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Just down the road from Google’s main campus here, engineers for the company are accelerating what has become the newest arms race in modern technology: They are making it far more difficult — and far more expensive — for the National Security Agency and the intelligence arms of other governments around the world to pierce their systems.
As fast as it can, Google is sealing up cracks in its systems that Edward J. Snowden revealed the N.S.A. had brilliantly exploited. It is encrypting more data as it moves among its servers and helping customers encode their own emails. Facebook, Microsoft and Yahoo are taking similar steps.
After years of cooperating with the government, the immediate goal now is to thwart Washington — as well as Beijing and Moscow. The strategy is also intended to preserve business overseas in places like Brazil and Germany that have threatened to entrust data only to local providers….
” The National Security Agency has reportedly used automated systems to infect user computers with malware since 2010, according to a Wednesday report. And at times the agency pretended to be Facebook to install its malware.
The NSA has been using a program code-named Turbine to contaminate computers and networks with malware “implants” capable of spying on users, according to news website The Intercept, which cited documents provided by whistle-blower Edward Snowden.
Between 85,000 and 100,000 of these implants have been deployed worldwide thus far, the report said.
To infect computers with malware, the NSA has relied on various tactics, including posing as Facebook.
Other ways the NSA infects malware onto computers include sending out spam emails.
The NSA is capable of installing different kinds of malware, each capable of performing different tasks. According to the…
Well the more I dig into all these conspiracy assertions, the less convinced I am that there is any ‘there’ there. Most of the assertions that the shooting was embellished, staged, had factual errors etc. are not reasonable/ I.e. see here for an excellent synopsis-repsonse to all of that. I find no compelling evidence that the shooting was any more than it was reported to be: A murder spree, perpetrated by a nutjob. If new evidence is published I might change my mind. GE. ———
Previously I had stated: The Sandy Hook / Newtown CT crimes puzzle me. Having done a fair amount of forensic investigation in another life, there are so many things about this event that are too vague or coincidental to rule out some of what appear at first blush to be just kooky conspiracy theories.
In cases like this – i.e. where there is a lot of evidence, much of it testimonial and based on interviews of 1st hand witnesses and 2nd hand investigators – there will be few simple questions definitively answerable. Instead, the best a reviewer will be able to determine is simply the most reasonable inferences and explanations based upon the facts and evidence. Continue reading →
More and more personal and household devices are connecting to the internet, from your television to your car navigation systems to your light switches. CIA Director David Petraeus cannot wait to spy on you through them. Continue reading →
According to a DHS document, the snoopy agency is maintaining an arm-long list of what they call ‘Items Of Interest’, categorized by subject, i.e. ‘Domestic Security’, ‘Southwest Border Violence’, etc. These are the specific words/terms contractors have been hired to monitor online, abbreviated to ‘I.O.I’ by the DHS. And while you might expect them to keep an eye on those posting more than a passing mention of terms like ‘Al Qaida’, ‘weapons cache’, ‘jihad’, ‘massacre’, according to the DHS order far more mundane/widely-utilized words can also bring the watchful eye of the agency if posted on Twitter or Facebook, i.e.-… via Reaganite Republican
Now that you’ve taken the red pill and realized the realities of living a life connected to the Internet, how can you better protect yourself in the future? There are several basic tools available for the privacy-conscious; most of them free…
If you would like to keep Facebook in check and minimize its invasion into your online life, check out Disconnect, a browser extension available for Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. The purpose of this extension is to “help people understand and control the data they share online.” Disconnect will disable third-party tracking, depersonalize searches, identify and block information requests from websites, and allows the user to easily unblock these requests if so chosen..
The service Google Alerts will actually send regular email updates every time your name is queried. Both of these simple steps can help you monitor the information other people are looking at pertaining to you and where they are accessing it from. Now that you have this handy guide to walk you through how to purge that data, channel your inner-Jason Bourne every so often and control your data like the secret agent you always wanted to be! Be sure to check out a related article by online privacy expert Dan Tynan for more information.
To help further minimize your digital footprint, privacy advocate Moxie Marlinspike created a service called GoogleSharing, which allows users to search through Google without being tracked. The technology scrambles search requests that are sent to Google, making it impossible to tell where or from whom the request is coming from…
Even with these precautions there is no absolute way to make your information available only to you. Once something is done online, expect it to be there forever. Don’t bother thinking you can hide anything online because there is nowhere to hide.
The best strategy for reducing your footprint is to remember to step back every once in awhile, and not rely on the Internet to service every facet of your life. Every picture doesn’t need to be geo-tagged; every new social media site does not have to be joined permanently. Every detail of your personal life does not have to be put on display for others to see. Just like you take steps to protect your physical information, remember to take steps to monitor and protect your digital information as well.via Maximum PC | How To Erase Your Digital Footprint – Page 2.
…But what may be most unnerving about the Web is not how it empowers malicious smear merchants but how it standardizes chronic self-disclosure through mechanisms as innocuous as Facebook “likes,” and how it allows content aggregators to amass the tiny truths we disclose about ourselves in ways we can neither predict nor control. Imagine car insurers monitoring your tweetstream to see how often you use Foursquare to check-in at bars at least 30 miles from your apartment. Imagine dating sites assigning you a narcissism quotient based on how often you review hair salons and Pilates instructors on Yelp.com.
As indiscreetly as we live now, it is possible that in 2013 we may look back to 2011 as a golden era of privacy. Flickr, Facebook, and other social media sites today are filled with millions of photos that could prove embarrassing in certain contexts, but for the most part the people in those photos remain unidentified. That’s changing fast. “When combined with facial recognition and the power of Google to find obscure information, the possibility of damage to reputation is obvious,” Fertik writes. “Anyone photographed (accidentally or intentionally) near an adult bookstore could be identified by name and made subject to ridicule by his peers…
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Just down the road from Google’s main campus here, engineers for the company are accelerating what has become the newest arms race in modern technology: They are making it far more difficult — and far more expensive — for the National Security Agency and the intelligence arms of other governments around the world to pierce their systems.
The Grey Enigma 