This is very old news, but most have never heard of it before. U.S. laser printer manufactures have, in cooperation with the federal government, included special tracking dot systems with their printers, so that every page printed contains hard to see dot patterns encoding the serial number of the printer and the time and date that a given page was printed. Read More

A federal judge recently ruled that if someone has their cell phone turned on, their location data does not deserve protection under the Fourth Amendment, meaning law enforcement can track individuals without a search warrant.

New York magistrate judge Gary Brown decided in favor of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents who were seeking his approval over a warrant on a doctor who they suspected was being paid for issuing thousands of prescriptions. Read More

Is Microsoft reading your Skype instant messages?

That’s the inflammatory allegation that a UK-based security blog made in a post earlier today:

Anyone who uses Skype has consented to the company reading everything they write. The H’s associates in Germany at heise Security have now discovered that the Microsoft subsidiary does in fact make use of this privilege in practice. Read More

By Iain Thomson

Draft legislation to impose fines on companies that refuse to provide wiretap facilities to US federal agents is in the planning stages, government officials have told the Washington Post under condition of anonymity.

Initial plans are for an automatic fine for refusal in the range of tens of thousands of dollars, an amount that would escalate over time. After 90 days, a judicial review would be held which could double the monetary reparations and possibly impose extra charges. Read More

Nicholas West
Activist Post

GPS tracking and positioning technology was brought to us by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), commonly known as the “mad science” element of military development. Apparently, DARPA has done such a good job thoroughly embedding GPS into military applications, as well as permitting it to trickle down to “civilian devices,” that it has become a potential threat to national security. Read More

The UK’s National Grid has proposed all white goods for the British consumers to be fitted with special sensor chips, which would automatically and without owner’s consent turn the device off in the event of abnormal nationwide electricity demand. Read More

by Declan McCullagh

Senior Obama administration officials have secretly authorized the interception of communications carried on portions of networks operated by AT&T and other Internet service providers, a practice that might otherwise be illegal under federal wiretapping laws.

The secret legal authorization from the Justice Department originally applied to a cybersecurity pilot project in which the military monitored defense contractors’ Internet links. Read More

By Robert Watts

It had been thought that only police, intelligence agencies and the taxman would be able to use the Communication Data Act, which will also allow scrutiny of social network sites including Twitter and Facebook.

But dozens of public sector organizations have applied to use the powers. They include nine Whitehall departments, NHS trusts, the Environment Agency, the Charity Commission and the Pensions Regulator. Read More

Madison Ruppert
Activist Post

According to documents recently obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) believes they have the authority to read the private e-mail messages, Facebook chats and other online communications of Americans without obtaining a warrant.

This probably isn’t surprising given the blatant nature of the government’s illegal spying Read More

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms is looking to build a huge “online data repository system” capable of spying on Americans and their associates via the use of just a few keywords, leading to concerns that the system will be deployed to track gun owners.

“Primarily, the ATF states it wants the database to speed-up criminal investigations. Instead of requiring an analyst to manually search around for your personal information Read More

by Declan McCullagh

Encryption used in Apple’s iMessage chat service has stymied attempts by federal drug enforcement agents to eavesdrop on suspects’ conversations, an internal government document reveals.

An internal Drug Enforcement Administration document seen by CNET discusses a February 2013 criminal investigation and warns that because of the use of encryption Read More

Madison Ruppert
Activist Post

Continuing the US military’s focus on developing robots that mimic animals, the US Naval Undersea Warfare Center and Office of Naval Research has funded a project that has already produced a prototype of a giant robotic jellyfish.

Other research includes insect-like drones capable of carrying out lethal missions Read More

By Seth Schoen
EFF

Yesterday, the Golden Gate Bridge switched to all-electronic tolling. As of March 27, drivers entering San Francisco no longer have the option to pay the $6 cash toll to a human toll collector. Unfortunately, all of the bridge’s electronic payment options track the identities of those paying the toll, and all represent a loss of privacy for visitors or commuters entering San Francisco by car. Read More

By Ryan Gallagher

Despite the pervasiveness of law enforcement surveillance of digital communication, the FBI still has a difficult time monitoring Gmail, Google Voice, and Dropbox in real time. But that may change soon, because the bureau says it has made gaining more powers to wiretap all forms of Internet conversation and cloud storage a “top priority” this year. Read More

Joe Schoffstall
CNS News

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) predicts 10,000 commercial drones could be in the skies by 2020 after guidelines are approved. For now, Congress has asked the FAA to write regulations on civil operation of small unmanned aircraft systems in the national airspace and submit them by 2015. Read More