spying

Seeing The Secret State: Six Landscapes [Video]

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Although people around the world are becoming increasingly aware of the United States’ global geography of surveillance, covert action, and other secret programs, much of this landscape is invisible in our everyday lives.

https://youtu.be/HTVgPw7TR_k

The drone war, for example, seems to happen “somewhere else” while surveillance programs take place among the (largely) invisible infrastructures and digital protocols of the internet and other communications networks. Moreover, the state agencies responsible for secret programs strive to make them as invisible as possible. In this talk, artist Trevor Paglen discusses his work attempting to “see” the various aspects of the secret state. In examples ranging from tracking spy satellites to foraging through the bureaucratic refuse of CIA front companies, Paglen will discuss methods used to identify and exploit structural contradictions in classified programs which render them visible, and comment on the aesthetics and politics of attempting to “see” secrecy.

Speaker: Trevor Paglen

SF Source CCCen  Feb 2016

Hat tip, Minty!

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Feds Admit the “Internet of Things” is for Spying on You [Video]

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James Corbett – Welcome to New World Next Week — the video series from Corbett Report and Media Monarchy that covers some of the most important developments in open source intelligence news.

https://youtu.be/2KV3X5q0WdE

In this week’s episode:

  • Story #1: The End Is Nigh For Europe As Officials Mull 2 Year Schengen “Suspension”
  • Story #2: Feds Admit They’ll Use “Internet Of Things” For Spying
  • Story #3: Whitehat Hacker Replaces Malware with Antivirus

SF Source corbettreport  Feb 2016

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NSA Spying Rolls Up US Congress. Bombshell? Kidding?

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Jon Rappoport – Breaking: While Obama was pursuing the Iran nuclear deal, he wanted to know what Israeli leaders were up to, so he accessed NSA reports. NSA was spying on Netanyahu and other Israeli officials. The thing was, the Israelis were talking on the phone to members of the US Congress. Oops. So it turned out NSA was spying on Congress, as well.

NSABut wait. This story, now being reported as a shocker, is…no surprise at all. It’s business as usual for the NSA. The shock and outrage is fake. Who’s kidding who?

The NSA is a Pentagon agency, and the Pentagon is part of the Executive Branch of government. Of course it’s been spying on the Legislative Branch. If it weren’t, it wouldn’t be doing its job.

Several years ago, Ed Snowden made the following statement (ABC News aired the video clip): “I, sitting at my [NSA] desk, certainly had the authority to wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant to a federal judge to even the president if I had a personal email.”

There was a brief “firestorm” in the press about it, and it went down the memory hole.

Then, a year ago, there was this—FOX News, 1/9/14, by Andrew Napolitano: “Last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders, (I-Vt.), wrote to Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Administration (NSA), and asked plainly whether the NSA has been or is now spying on members of Congress or other public officials…The NSA did reply to Sanders by stating — in an absurd oxymoron — that members of Congress receive the same constitutional protections as other Americans: that is to say, none from the NSA…The NSA’s refusal to answer Sanders’ question directly is a tacit admission, because we are all well aware that the NSA collects identifying data on and the content of virtually every email, text message and phone call sent or received in the U.S.” Continue reading →

Can This Material Protect Your Home From The NSA, Electromagnetic Radiation and EMP Attacks?

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faradayKevin Samson – There is nothing quite like the image of a tinfoil hat to get people chuckling over the paranoia of “the conspiracy theorist” who takes precautions against brain scanning and electronic mind control. But if one topic has gone from conspiracy theory to conspiracy fact, it is government surveillance. Even more than the “revelations” of Edward Snowden, it was the way the system came out against him, as well as the further rollout of surveillance-friendly legislation that has convinced many average people that indeed sometimes they are actually watching you.

Various solutions have been offered about how to protect your privacy while connected to the Internet or when using your mobile phone, but one new product holds the potential to protect you at the source: your home. It’s not quite tinfoil but it does claim to offer a physical shield against surveillance and attack.

Conductive Composites is a company based in Utah (home of the NSA’s mega data center interestingly), which makes small cases and enclosures for shielding electronics. The company claims that their lightweight material made by layering nickel on carbon could be scaled up and essentially turn your entire home into a Faraday cage capable of blocking efforts at snooping, while also offering protection from electromagnetic radiation and EMP attacks.

As Defense One explains, Faraday cages are in fact routinely used by the military and governments to secure their own sensitive locations: Continue reading →

Big Brother Is In High Gear

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evilPaul Rosenberg – Social media and smart phones don’t have to be evil – there’s nothing bad about talking to your friends, after all – but right now social media and “Big Brother in your pocket” phones are very clearly servicing evil. It wouldn’t be hard to build non-evil alternatives, but for the moment, the evil versions enjoy a monopoly. (At least with search engines, there are non-evil alternatives.)

However we choose to look at it, Big Brother is on the greatest roll in all of history. No Pharaoh, no Caesar, no commissar ever had anything approaching the surveillance and manipulation capacities of modern rulers. And in support of it all stand Jane and Joe Average, ever-compliant, who simply don’t want to know. Give them the slightest excuse to close their eyes, and they will.

This kind of thing doesn’t often end well.

Two Recent Outrages

Not that many people will actually be outraged, of course; there won’t be a great deal of that so long as ignorance remains possible. Joe and Jane have already forgotten about Snowden, after all. Still, I will continue to do my part.

One of the hundreds of US government offices, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), recently announced that they developed a system to predict the psychological status of smartphone users. They’re in the process of farming this out to businesses now. Continue reading →