Tag Archives: Technocracy

Silicon Valley Roused by Secession Call

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“The tools are already here, he noted: 3-D printing makes it ‘impossible to ban physical objects,’ from guns to drones. The borderless digital currency Bitcoin defies economic regulation. The Quantified Self movement helps people self-measure and opt out of the health care system. He urged his audience to invent opt-out tools of their own, including one ‘allowing people, the middle class, to make tax shelters.’  Mr. Srinivasan has influential support: Some of the biggest names in the Valley have variously proposed building a Mars colony, an unregulated zone of experimentation on Earth or floating libertarian islands at sea.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/29/us/silicon-valley-roused-by-secession-call.html?_r=1&

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DC Cabbies Sue City Over GPS Spying

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“Taxi drivers in Washington, DC last week filed a lawsuit against the city over its decision to force the installation of GPS spying devices in all cabs. The DC Taxicab Commission set rules for a ‘smart’ taxi meter system. These new devices would record the identity of the driver, the time and mileage of each trip along with GPS coordinates, the amount of a fare charged and real-time location of the cab. Passengers would be identified automatically when paying by credit card. The data would be accessible to dispatchers and DC police. Required display screens would have to show messages from the taxicab commission, public service announcements and ‘movie clips.'”

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/42/4233.asp

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The War on Privacy is coming to a license plate near you…

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“Any law enforcement agency in New York that wants access to E-Z Pass data simply needs to issue a subpoena. There’s no probable cause required—just a bald assertion that the data might be useful in a criminal investigation. Moreover, at least seven states release E-Z Pass data in response to court orders in civil litigation.  An obvious way to avoid E-Z Pass surveillance is to not install it, and simply pay tolls with cash. But even that might not be possible for much longer, thanks to a new technology that promises to end your ability to travel anonymously. You simply drive beneath a metal structure equipped with an E-Z Pass detection system and it snaps a photo of your license plate.”

http://www.nestmann.com/the-war-on-privacy-is-coming-to-a-license-plate-near-you

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Richard Stallman: How Much Surveillance Can Democracy Withstand?

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“Thanks to Edward Snowden’s disclosures, we know that the current level of general surveillance in society is incompatible with human rights. The repeated harassment and prosecution of dissidents, sources, and journalists provides confirmation. We need to reduce the level of general surveillance, but how far? Where exactly is the maximum tolerable level of surveillance, beyond which it becomes oppressive? That happens when surveillance interferes with the functioning of democracy: when whistleblowers (such as Snowden) are likely to be caught.  If whistleblowers don’t dare reveal crimes and lies, we lose the last shred of effective control over our government and institutions.”

http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/10/a-necessary-evil-what-it-takes-for-democracy-to-survive-surveillance/

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Cops Spied On Motorists At Political Rallies With License Plate Readers

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“Documents released by the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia confirm that until earlier this year, the Virginia State Police used cameras to track motorists attending political events in 2008. Automated license plate readers (ALPR or ANPR in Europe) are used by law enforcement agencies throughout the country, ostensibly to fight crime by finding stolen cars. A March 18, 2009 state police memo also documents the use of the ‘Help Eliminate Auto Theft’ (HEAT) camera to identify attendees at campaign events for then-Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.”

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/42/4232.asp

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MasterCard joining push for fingerprint ID standard

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“MasterCard is joining the FIDO Alliance, signaling that the payment network is getting interested in using fingerprints and other biometric data to identify people for online payments.  MasterCard will be the first major payment network to join FIDO. The Alliance is developing an open industry standard for biometric data such as fingerprints to be used for identification online. The goal is to replace clunky passwords and take friction out of logging on and purchasing using mobile devices.  Google is part of the Alliance, and devices running Google’s Android operating system will have fingerprint sensors by next year.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/10/02/mastercard-fingerprint-fido/2910241/

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In Test Project, N.S.A. Tracked Cellphone Locations

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“The project used data from cellphone towers to locate people’s cellphones.  In his testimony, Mr. Clapper revealed few details about the project. He said that the N.S.A. does not currently collect locational information under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the provision the government says is the legal basis for the N.S.A.’s once-secret program under which it collects logs of all domestic calls from telephone companies.  He added that the N.S.A. had promised to notify Congress and seek the approval of a secret surveillance court in the future before any locational data was collected.  An official said its purpose was to see how the locational data would flow into the N.S.A.’s systems.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/us/nsa-experiment-traced-us-cellphone-locations.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

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Zimbabwe threatening privacy rights with new SIM registration database

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“Telecommunications providers must each establish a subscriber database of all SIM card holders, connecting their phone number to their name, address, gender, nationality and passport or ID number. The law obliges service providers to regularly hand over copies of this data to the government, which will then establish its own central subscriber information database. [..] Service providers must keep data for five years after the customer has concluded their contract. Individuals must report the loss of their SIM card or phone, and any change in ownership of their SIM card, and the provision of false information to a telco makes an individual liable for six months imprisonment.”

https://www.privacyinternational.org/blog/zimbabwe-threatening-privacy-rights-with-new-sim-registration-database

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‘The objective of the NSA is literally the elimination of global privacy’

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“Snowden’s documents have shown how the US government collects phone records for millions of Americans, compiles the Internet habits of innocent citizens and an array of other activity that has caused international backlash abroad and prompted lawmakers in the States to propose legislation aimed at reforming the NSA. Nearly four months after those leaks began, Greenwald told Reddit on Tuesday that he believes in his opinion that people around the world now have ‘a basic idea of the objective of the NSA: to eliminate privacy worldwide, literally, by ensuring that every human electronic communication is subject to being collected, stored, analyzed and monitored by the NSA and its allies.'”

http://rt.com/usa/glenn-greenwald-reddit-nsa-600/

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Al Franken’s Privacy Concerns About Faceprints

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“Facebook has more than one billion users. The company knows their names, friends, jobs, and likes, and it also has a growing number of their faceprints. As Sen. Al Franken put it, ‘the implications of this are tremendous.’  A faceprint is a unique digital model of a face, think of it like a fingerprint. Facebook recently announced a potential expansion of their faceprint collection, and that’s why Franken wrote a letter to the company expressing concerns over privacy. ‘Unless we consider how we treat this,’ said Franken, ‘wherever you go people can see who you are and know a lot about you, and that’s never happened before.'”

http://kstp.com/article/stories/S3166980.shtml?cat=89

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