Just ran across this by accident. Don't know if it has already been mentioned in this Thread.
Now that Congress has told the NSA to stop bulk collection of telephone records of innocent U.S. citizens, they only collected 151 million records of U.S. phone calls in 2016. Good job, NSA. Can I have 151 million crimes without any penalties?
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/us/politics/nsa-phone-records.html?_r=0

 

Just ran across this by accident. Don't know if it has already been mentioned in this Thread.
Now that Congress has told the NSA to stop bulk collection of telephone records of innocent U.S. citizens, they only collected 151 million records of U.S. phone calls in 2016. Good job, NSA. Can I have 151 million crimes without any penalties?
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/us/politics/nsa-phone-records.html?_r=0

"Now, phone companies turn over only the calling histories of people suspected of terrorism links and everyone with whom they have been in contact."

That's a very broad spectrum. Who would, or wouldn't, qualify as a suspect and why?

 

If you used these sites to buy and sell your illegal goodies then it's likely your Privacy is lost, (and your money)
https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/20/16003046/alphabay-takedown-hansa-marketplace-fbi-europol-sessions

An international law enforcement effort has brought down two of the dark web’s largest marketplaces, AlphaBay and Hansa Market. According to a Europol announcement, AlphaBay hosted roughly $1 billion in transactions since its founding in 2014, primarily focused on drugs and fraudulent IDs. At the time of its takedown, it reached over 200,000 users and 40,000 vendors, with nearly $4 million in bitcoin stored in escrow wallets on the site.

https://www.wired.com/story/alphabay-hansa-takedown-dark-web-trap/

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/alphabay-largest-online-dark-market-shut-down

 

That's a very broad spectrum. Who would, or wouldn't, qualify as a suspect and why?

This information has been posted before. It's hard not to be a terrorist suspect when the criteria include:
being ex-military
believing The Constitution has some value
practicing (any) religion

 

Of all the possible gadgets intruding in one's privacy, this is the one I least expected to become a problem:

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-40714398

"IRobot, the maker of the Roomba smart vacuum, could one day sell data drawn from the maps the devices build up of individual homes as they clean."

 

Of all the possible gadgets intruding in one's privacy, this is the one I least expected to become a problem:

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-40714398

"IRobot, the maker of the Roomba smart vacuum, could one day sell data drawn from the maps the devices build up of individual homes as they clean."

I'll just use real live maids to keep my dirty secrets.

 

Clarfication for post #221:
The NSA says that the missteps amount to a small number — less than 1 percent — when compared to the hundreds of thousands of specific phone numbers and email addresses the agencies intercepted through the so-called Section 702 warrantless spying program created by Congress in late 2008.
http://thehill.com/policy/national-...memos-detail-extent-of-improper-obama-era-nsa

rather than the U.S. government first trying to figure out who the bad guys might be and then collecting records of who they spoke to on the phone, federal officials simply compiled a database of who every person in the U.S. was speaking to on the phone, updated in real time.
http://theconversation.com/the-real-costs-of-cheap-surveillance-67763

If 151 million is less than 1% then their total of vacuumed emails and phone calls per year is not "hundreds of thousands, it is hundreds of billions, specifically more than 662 Billion intercepts.
Privately wondering what the payroll is for enough people to inspect over 600 billion intercepts per year.

And, while I'm here, Disney is using facial recognition on audiences at their movies.
"Disney’s researcher team tested their "Neural Net" facial biometric system at 150 showings of nine mainstream movies such as "Big Hero 6," "The Jungle Book" and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
https://massprivatei.blogspot.com/2017/07/star-wars-movies-to-use-facial.html?m=1

Concerned about connected car privacy? Bluetooth sensors used to track traffic
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/0...-bluetooth-sensors-to-track-traffic-patterns/

Google has expelled 20 Android apps from its Play marketplace after finding they contained code for monitoring and extracting users' e-mail, text messages, locations, voice calls, and other sensitive data.
https://arstechnica.com/information...s-recorded-calls-and-stole-e-mails-and-texts/

achieving continuous monitoring for everyone who resides in or travels to the United States is now a reality.
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/how-not-to-catch-the-next-reality-winner/

As usual, this is only from one day's news. Multiply it by 365 to get what an average year looks like to a U.S. citizen.
(And you thought this was the kind of crap only a totalitarian nation like Russia would pull.
Guess what? We are the new Russia.)

 

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2017/08/nsa_collects_ms.html

One example of the sheer creativity with which the TAO spies approach their work can be seen in a hacking method they use that exploits the error-proneness of Microsoft's Windows. Every user of the operating system is familiar with the annoying window that occasionally pops up on screen when an internal problem is detected, an automatic message that prompts the user to report the bug to the manufacturer and to restart the program. These crash reports offer TAO specialists a welcome opportunity to spy on computers.

 

Interesting about the bluetooth data. Our narrow winding street here in the suburbs has seen a huge increase in traffic over the past couple years. From a few hundred cars a day to more than four thousand. It appears to be due to Google (Waze) directed traffic using the street as a shortcut between two major arteries. We are trying to get the city to put some kind of restrictions in place so we can regain our quiet neighborhood. In this our modern world that means attack the problem caused by technology with more technology. At a recent meeting with the city the traffic engineer commited to using blue tooth readers at several strategic intersections in order to map the traffic patterns. It will be interesting the results although actually making any changes will be difficult. The key will be making our street a less desireable route and getting agreement on that may be impossible. If I was king of the world a 100 ton block of concrete in the middle of the street would do nicely.

 

Our narrow winding street here in the suburbs has seen a huge increase in traffic over the past couple years.

The main entrance to my subdivision full of narrow, winding streets had an increase in traffic, including school buses. The 57 residents of that street used the increased traffic to get their very own three color traffic signals installed. Then they petitioned to get speed bumps installed. That street is now a ghost town as far as traffic is concerned. The last time I went down that street, the decorative plastic panel on the back of my SUV cracked and the gallon of milk bounced so high that it was ruptured.

The point is, you can turn this to your advantage. You can have a traffic light system for multiple thousand cars a day and speed bumps to keep the traffic down to a hundred cars a day.

 

"Internet service providers (ISPs) can peek at the internet-connected devices people use in their own homes – baby monitors, TV set-top boxes, vibrators – even when those devices are specifically set up to protect users’ privacy."

https://www.newscientist.com/articl...der-can-use-your-smart-devices-to-spy-on-you/

 

In what may be good news for privacy the highest court in India has confirmed privacy as part of a basic set of rights. This in a country with one billion people carrying biometric identity cards. Check it out:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-41037992

Regards

 

Some stirring words from the Indian court:

• Privacy includes at its core the preservation of personal intimacies, the sanctity of family life, marriage, procreation, the home and sexual orientation. Privacy also connotes a right to be left alone. Privacy safeguards individual autonomy and recognises the ability of the individual to control vital aspects of his or her life. Personal choices governing a way of life are intrinsic to privacy. Privacy protects heterogeneity and recognises the plurality and diversity of our culture.

My emphasis.

 

Here we go. The CIA is so curious about everything that they are spying on the other spy networks.
https://www.engadget.com/2017/08/25/cia-fake-software-update-expresslane-fbi-nsa/

Universal Surveillance by just about every company that provides Internet content or connectivity.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...g-data-extraction-amazon-whole-foods-facebook

What to do to the citizens.
https://www.technocracy.news/index....aponized-killer-drones-going-full-production/

What the citizens can do about it.
https://www.theguardian.com/austral...disgusted-at-suggestion-of-sodomy-as-solution

 

The last time I went down that street, the decorative plastic panel on the back of my SUV cracked and the gallon of milk bounced so high that it was ruptured.

I lived on a dead end road growing up, until they cut a dirt road to the main road on it. The kids in the apartments built at the front of the road found they could hall ass to the dirt portion until one day a girl hit the section in the middle of the road with a dip, next thing I see is her entire rear end fly out from underneath and the rear of the car came crashing to the road.

I laughed so hard I nearly passed out with an asthma attack.

kv

 

TIKAD.....Maybe it really will eventually become machine vs machine. I'll bet a lot of entities are looking into this tech.

Probably a lot more than we know. The drone age cometh.

 

I'm not sure I understand this idea:

https://www.newscientist.com/articl...ed-project-means-you-are-who-you-say-you-are/

Would it be an improvement and help prevent identity theft and such?

 

For the first time I can remember, I was watching video of myself when I didn't know I was on camera.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/beware-your-home-security-cam-is-watching-you/

 

Why am I not surprised?

A major flaw has been detected in the newly-unveiled Google Home Mini speaker that allows it to secretly record conversations without users knowing.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/11/technology/google-home-mini-security-flaw/index.html

 

Here's a discussion about the Police State suing people who request information about the Surveillance State in order to bankrupt and intimidate them:
http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.co...ent-for-open-records-request-on-surveillance/
And here's the U.S. Attorney General announcing that there is no right to privacy for your emails or other written communication, therefore the government can make cryptography illegal:
http://fourthamendment.com/?p=29661#more-29661
And here's the opposing view:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/...eins-responsible-encryption-demand-bad-and-he
And here's the "Justice" Department demanding to know who has a political opinion which objects to Trump:
http://fourthamendment.com/?p=29663
And here's the opposing view:
https://reason.com/blog/2017/10/11/judge-wont-let-feds-have-full-access-to
And here's the NSA trying to deceive Congress about the Surveillance State:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/10/national-security-agencies-are-evading-congressional-oversight
Here is, "TechDirt" arguing that Las Vegas has the most surveillance per square foot of any place in the U.S. and that didn't stop a mass shooting incident:
"Considering the unshakable belief "more cameras = more safety," how do surveillance supporters explain the recent shooting in Las Vegas, perhaps the most heavily-surveilled city on the planet?"
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/2...-it-clear-more-surveillance-isnt-answer.shtml
Meanwhile, all the (U.S.) mass shootings in the last 40 years combined account for 700 deaths, but American police have killed 3X that many people THIS YEAR and Hillary Clinton is arguing to disarm the citizens, but not the police.
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/citizens-kille-police-mass-shooting/
And here is where those numbers came from:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/11/police-killings-counted-harvard-study
Of course there is a useful result of all this surveillance. With over 300,000 Federal Regulations which most people couldn't reasonably know about, our government can make anybody a criminal if they watch you long enough.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/03/29/crime-law-criminal-unfair-column/70630978/
And here's a new (to me) idea: Implanted microchips that can tell the government if and when anybody takes drugs. This article is about athletes, but you know our government knows no limits, so these chips will soon be available for everybody.
https://www.rt.com/sport/406399-athletes-microchips-dogs-olympians-chief/

I don't normally post much in this Thread, but there are so many stories IN ONE DAY that I thought I could describe another normal day in our Surveillance State with this post.