Tag Archives: Irony

How I tracked FBI aerial surveillance

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“I have a little software defined radio dongle that I use to pick up aircraft transponder pings. I log up to one ping per second per aircraft in a database. You can see more information about the setup and information I can receive at this page: Tracking Aircraft Over Los Angeles.  Since I had two months worth of transponder pings at this point, including transponder squawk codes and callsigns, I checked to see if there was anything to it.  Of the 15,000 or so aircraft I had tracked, I found 8 that had used 4414/4415, and one with a JENNA callsign—that also had squawked 4414. And they were all registered to generically named companies. I felt like there might be something to this.”

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/06/how-i-tracked-fbi-aerial-surveillance/

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IRS sets up dedicated cybercrime unit to combat identity theft

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“The US Internet Revenue Service has launched a new unit dedicated to tackling the rising rate of identity theft through hacking.  The US agency’s unit comprises of roughly a dozen agents, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. The agents, based in Washington, will focus on cybercrime related to tax fraud, including the theft of data which is then used to collect victim tax refunds without their consent.  IRS data suggests that within the last fiscal year, over 1,000 cases of identity theft involved the loss of data through digital means.”

http://www.zdnet.com/article/irs-sets-up-dedicated-cybercrime-unit-to-combat-identity-theft/

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Police: 13-year-old took $25K, passed out $100 bills to classmates

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“A 13-year-old Claggett Middle School student who had taken $25,000 from his grandfather over spring break passed out thousands to classmates in $100 bills this week, police said.  Medina and Medina Township police departments are investigating and trying to recover the money.  McNabb said the 13-year-old stole the cash from his 83-year-old grandfather, who lives in Medina Township.  Police said it’s too early to speculate whether charges could be filed.  McNabb said Medina Detective Mary Gross is handling the investigation. So far, the police have recovered about $7,000 of the money.”

http://medinagazette.northcoastnow.com/2015/04/10/police-middle-school-student-stole-25k-passed-7k-classmates/

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Feds Raid Texas Meeting, Fingerprint All Attendees, Seize Phones

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“Federal and local police forces raided a political meeting, taking unusual measures to document every attendee by taking fingerprints and photographs, and seizing every cell phone and all recording equipment in the meeting hall.  The raid took place on February 14, 2015, at VFW Post 4892 in Bryan, Texas. At 10:10 a.m., an ‘army of policing agencies with flashing emergency lights’ showed up, shut down the meeting of ‘congenial and unimposing’ Texans and forced them to hand over their private effects and biometric data. The meeting was the monthly gathering of a group known as the Republic of Texas. Participants share a common vision of an independent Texan nation.”

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=49846

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Free Staters Win ‘At Least’ 15 Seats in NH State House

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“It’s interesting that Freeman relies on a list compiled by opponents of the Free State Project, but it’s true that busybodies can be annoyingly well-organized—and people are often more strongly driven to number their enemies than count their friends.  About the latter group, Dick Desrosiers, Chairman of the Hampton Democratic Committee, complained last month that [NHLA-endorsed candidates] dominate the New Hampshire legislature and ‘introduce and pass legislation to remove any and all government impacts on liberty and property rights and diminished the importance of protecting and promoting the common good.’  What better endorsement could you ask?”

http://reason.com/blog/2014/11/05/free-staters-win-at-least-15-seats-in-nh

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Federal cybersecurity official going to jail on child porn charges

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“The former acting cybersecurity director for the US Department of Health and Human Services, Tim DeFoggi, was convicted yesterday on three child porn charges.  As reported by Wired, DeFoggi is the sixth suspect to be caught by the FBI’s Operation Torpedo, which used controversial methods of defeating the Tor anonymizing software in order to find child porn suspects.  One site frequented by DeFoggi was PedoBook, hosted by a Nebraska man who was convicted earlier for his role in the operations. DeFoggi used names such as ‘fuckchrist’ and ‘PTasseater’ to register on the sites, where he could view more than 100 videos and more than 17,000 child porn images.”

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/08/federal-cybersecurity-official-going-to-jail-on-child-porn-charges/

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Angela Merkel denied access to her NSA file

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“The US government is refusing to grant Angela Merkel access to her NSA file or answer formal questions from Germany about its surveillance activities, raising the stakes before a crucial visit by the German chancellor to Washington.  In October, Obama personally assured Merkel that the US is no longer monitoring her calls, and promised it will not do so in the future. However, Washington has not answered a list of questions submitted by Berlin immediately after Snowden’s first tranche of revelations appeared.  Angela Merkel has defended the decision to keep access to the Stasi archive open to German citizens, and has reportedly used the opportunity to view her own Stasi file in person.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/10/angela-merkel-denied-access-nsa-file

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Root backdoor found in surveillance gear used by law enforcement

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“Software used by law enforcement organizations to intercept the communications of suspected criminals contains a litany of critical weaknesses, including an undocumented backdoor secured with a hardcoded password, security researchers said today.  In a scathing advisory published Wednesday, the researchers recommended people stop using the Nice Recording eXpress voice-recording package.  It is one of several software offerings provided by Ra’anana, Israel-based Nice Systems, a company that markets itself as providing ‘mission-critical lawful interception solutions to support the fight against organized crime, drug trafficking and terrorist activities.'”

http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/05/root-backdoor-found-in-surveillance-gear-used-by-law-enforcement/

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NSA: ‘We can’t stop our systems from deleting data wanted for lawsuit’

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“The National Security Agency recently used a novel argument for not holding onto information it collects about users online activity: it’s too complex.  The agency is facing a slew of lawsuits over its surveillance programs, many launched after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked information on the agency’s efforts last year. One suit that pre-dates the Snowden leaks, Jewel v. NSA, challenges the constitutionality of programs that the suit allege collect information about American’s telephone and Internet activities.  The government has argued that the case, which was filed in 2008, should be thrown out and that Section 702 programs do not target Americans.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/06/09/nsa-our-systems-are-so-complex-we-cant-stop-them-from-deleting-data-wanted-for-lawsuit/

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FBI ‘Grappling’ With Hiring Policy Because Top Hackers Smoke Pot

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“FBI Director James B. Comey said Monday that if the FBI hopes to continue to keep pace with cyber criminals, the organization may have to loosen up its no-tolerance policy for hiring those who like to smoke marijuana.  Congress has authorized the FBI to add 2,000 personnel to its rolls this year, and many of those new recruits will be assigned to tackle cyber crimes, a growing priority for the agency. And that’s a problem, Mr. Comey told the White Collar Crime Institute, an annual conference held at the New York City Bar Association in Manhattan. A lot of the nation’s top computer programmers and hacking gurus are also fond of marijuana.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2014/05/20/director-comey-fbi-grappling-with-hiring-policy-concerning-marijuana/

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