Hi-tech weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin presented its latest effort in surveillance technology this week – a web of self-organising sensors with the ability to trigger any kind of device from a distance and have it operating autonomously. The presentation took place at the annual meeting of The Association of the United States Army (AUSA) that took place Monday through Wednesday.
Author: mediahitman
Twenty-one countries, including US allies France and Mexico, have now joined talks to hammer out a UN resolution that would condemn “indiscriminate” and “extra-territorial” surveillance, and ensure “independent oversight” of electronic monitoring. The news was reported by Foreign Policy magazine, which has also obtained a copy of the draft text.
By Lucy Kinder The invention of the microwave revolutionised cooking but now a ‘reverse-microwave’ does the opposite, it can chill a drink in 45 seconds. Up until now there has not been a gadget available to cool items without a long wait. A new system can cool drinks, including wine bottles and fizzy drink cans, from room temperature to four degrees in a matter of seconds.
By 2030, more than half of Americans could be obese, taxing the nation’s health while costing the country $500 billion in lost economic productivity. The food industry, however, is doing its best to keep the public hooked – no matter what the price. With one out of three adults clinically obese and 40 percent of children officially overweight, the US is the fattest country in the developed world. The burgeoning public health crisis will see instances of diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer skyrocket over the next two decades, taking an already strained healthcare system to breaking point.
US authorities have reported their largest-ever Bitcoin bust amounting to $28 million of the digital currency. It was seized from the owner of the controversial Silk Road website, which was shut down three weeks ago. A Friday statement by federal prosecutors in New York details the seizure of 144,336 bitcoins, which were discovered on the computer belonging to Silk Road founder Ross William Ulbricht, alias “Dread Pirate Roberts,” Reuters reports. Ulbricht was arrested Oct. 1 in San Francisco on several charges of conspiracy.
A partnership between police departments and social media sites discussed at a convention in Philadelphia this week could allow law enforcement to keep anything deemed criminal off the Internet—and even stop people from organizing protests. A high-ranking official from the Chicago Police Department told attendees at a law enforcement conference on Monday that his agency has been working with a security chief at Facebook to block certain users from the site “if it is determined they have posted what is deemed criminal content,” reports Kenneth Lipp, an independent journalist who attended the lecture.
An investigative journalist says federal agents raided her home earlier this year and confiscated the notes she used to report on a government cover-up. Now she fears her sources have been compromised. Audrey Hudson told The Daily Caller that the files were taken during a SWAT raid of her Shady Side, Maryland home this past August conducted as part of an investigation into her husband, Paul Flanagan. Authorities were following up on a lead that Flanagan unlawfully possessed a number of firearms, and reportedly pilfered his wife’s personal documents during an armed raid of the couples’ home.
The website for the United States National Security Agency suddenly went offline Friday. NSA.gov has been unavailable globally as of late Friday afternoon, and Twitter accounts belonging to people loosely affiliated with the Anonymous hacktivism movement have suggested they are responsible.
North Dakota, which ranks second in the US in terms of oil production, endured almost 300 oil spills in under two years and yet managed to avoid reporting a single one of them to the public, according to a new report. Documents viewed by the Associated Press indicate that, since January 2012, as many as 750 “oil field incidents” were recorded in North Dakota. The distinction between spills and incidents was not immediately clear but presumably was related to the magnitude of the accident.
The National Security Agency eavesdropped on hundreds of phone numbers belonging to dozens of world leaders, newly leaked documents supplied by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden reveal. Britain’s Guardian newspaper wrote Thursday that a classified memo provided to them by Mr. Snowden suggests that the NSA encouraged officials within the United States government and intelligence community to share among their colleagues contact information pertaining to international heads of state.
An infant girl who was treated for HIV right after being born in Mississippi still shows no sign of infection at the age of three. US researchers say her healthy reaction to treatment is no fluke, and they say she is in “sustained remission.” Some outside experts not familiar with her case had queried whether she was infected at all.
American and British special services spied on Italy’s leadership and Defense Ministry, Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who broke the story on NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, told the L`Espresso weekly. The US National Security Agency (NSA) was spying on several “European governments, including the Italian one,” Greenwald told the magazine.
Comedian and political commentator Russell Brand has delivered a scorching diatribe against the current state of politics in an interview this week that quickly went viral, inspiring countless internet users to voice their agreement with Brand. Brand sat down with the BBC’s “Newsnight” to discuss his temporary position as the guest editor of the New Statesman magazine. The conversation began with Jeremy Paxman
The cost of keeping each American soldier in Afghanistan is set to nearly double to 2.1 million, at the same time that crucial sectors of the US military are underfunded, according to a new analysis of the Pentagon’s budget. US military planners are scrambling to explain why the cost has ballooned to $2.1 million, after holding steady at $1.3 million annually for the past five years.
The US Navy confirms that two people, both soldiers, were injured when a shooter opened fire near Millington Naval Base, just north of Memphis, Thursday afternoon. The shooting occurred at a Navy property which is leased to the National Guard and manages personnel records, said Patrick Foughty spokesman for Naval Installations Command.
The American Legion is withdrawing all financial support for the Morton Grove Park District until a park board member stands for the Pledge of Allegiance or is no longer on the board. Post 134 Commander Joseph Lampert attended the Oct. 24 park board meeting to confront Commissioner Dan Ashta on his choice not to stand for the Pledge, and to announce the Legion’s decision.
An earthquake of 7.3 magnitude has hit 231 miles (371 kilometers) east of Japan’s Honshu Island with tremors felt in Tokyo. The quake prompted an evacuation at the devastated Fukushima Daiichi plant and sent tsunami fears across 5 prefectures. The quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometers at 17:10 GMT, 320 kilometers southeast of Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture, according to the US Geological Survey. Strong tremors could be felt on Japan’s main Honshu Island, as well as on the northern island of Hokkaido.
Over one hundred organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union and dozens of diverse religious and community groups are calling on the New York Police Department to stop spying on the area’s Muslim population. The ACLU is leading the campaign to curb the expansive New York City surveillance program after a series of Pulitzer Prize-winning articles penned by investigative reporters at the Associated Press have in recent years exposed evidence that NYC police administer a number of initiatives directed squarely on Muslims.