Tag: technology

New Mexico’s use of Dominion Voting Systems raises more questions than answers

Sidney Powell, a member of President Trump’s legal team, said in an interview, “We’re beginning to collect evidence on the financial interests of some of the governors and secretaries of state who actually bought into the Dominion Systems, surprisingly enough. Hunter Biden-type graft to line their own pockets by getting a voting machine in that would either make sure their election was successful or they got money from their family from it.” 

Powell said the Trump team had identified at least 450,000 blank ballots in the key states “‘miraculously’ have only have a mark for Joe Biden and no other candidate.”

“She listed the approximate numbers of ballots that were found primarily in the battleground states: 98,000 in Pennsylvania; 90,000 in Georgia; 42,000 in Arizona; 115,000 in Michigan and 62,000 in Wisconsin,” according to one report.

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Google Sued For Data Costs After Android Phones Found Transferring “Unapproved, Undisclosed” Data

A new lawsuit against Google filed on Thursday of last week raises interesting questions about whether or not the tech giant is “stealing Android users’ cellular data allowances though unapproved, undisclosed transmissions to the web giant’s servers”. 

The suit, filed in US federal district court in San Jose by 4 plaintiffs aims to be certified as a class action. It alleges that Google is using Android users’ limited cellular data allowances to transmit information about the users unrelated to the use of Google services. The case surrounds “data sent to Google’s servers that isn’t the result of deliberate interaction with a mobile device”, according to The Register. 

In other words, data transfers happening in the background, when the phone isn’t in use. The suit alleges that none of the four agreements accepted to participate in the Google ecosystem say anything about cell data transfers taking place in the background.

The suit states: “Google designed and implemented its Android operating system and apps to extract and transmit large volumes of information between Plaintiffs’ cellular devices and Google using Plaintiffs’ cellular data allowances.”

It continues: “Google’s misappropriation of Plaintiffs’ cellular data allowances through passive transfers occurs in the background, does not result from Plaintiffs’ direct engagement with Google’s apps and properties on their devices, and happens without Plaintiffs’ consent.”

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China uses microwave weapons to blast Indian troops in disputed border region

China got round a no-live-shots agreement during a border stand-off in the Himalayas by deploying microwave weapons to “cook” enemy troops from India, a Beijing-based academic has claimed.

The Chinese military used “high-energy electromagnetic radiation” technology to effectively turn “two strategic hilltops that had been occupied by Indian soldiers into a microwave oven”, The Times reports.

The attack left the Indian troops “vomiting” and unable to stand within 15 minutes, enabling the People’s Liberation Army to “retake two strategically important hilltops in the Himalayas without any exchange of live fire”, according to Jin Canrong, a professor of international relations at China’s Renmin University.

The academic told attendees at a recent lecture that China didn’t publicise the victory, in late August, “because we solved the problem beautifully”.

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How the U.S. Military Buys Location Data from Ordinary Apps

The U.S. military is buying the granular movement data of people around the world, harvested from innocuous-seeming apps, Motherboard has learned. The most popular app among a group Motherboard analyzed connected to this sort of data sale is a Muslim prayer and Quran app that has more than 98 million downloads worldwide. Others include a Muslim dating app, a popular Craigslist app, an app for following storms, and a “level” app that can be used to help, for example, install shelves in a bedroom.

Through public records, interviews with developers, and technical analysis, Motherboard uncovered two separate, parallel data streams that the U.S. military uses, or has used, to obtain location data. One relies on a company called Babel Street, which creates a product called Locate X. U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), a branch of the military tasked with counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, and special reconnaissance, bought access to Locate X to assist on overseas special forces operations. The other stream is through a company called X-Mode, which obtains location data directly from apps, then sells that data to contractors, and by extension, the military.

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Futuristic device from Israeli firm puts music in your head, without headphones

Imagine a world where you move around in your own personal sound bubble. You listen to your favorite tunes, play loud computer games, watch a movie or get navigation directions in your car — all without disturbing those around you.

That’s the possibility presented by “sound beaming,” a new futuristic audio technology from Noveto Systems, an Israeli company. On Friday it will debut a desktop device that beams sound directly to a listener without the need for headphones.

The company provided The Associated Press with an exclusive demo of the desktop prototype of its SoundBeamer 1.0 before its launch Friday.

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Secret Facial Recognition Program Could Cover Every State

America’s law enforcement has been secretly using a facial recognition program that can be used to ID activists and protesters.The first-ever acknowledgement of the program was recently revealed by the Washington Post.

“The court documents are believed to be the first public acknowledgment that authorities used the controversial technology in connection with the widely criticized sweep of largely peaceful protesters ahead of a photo op by President Trump.”

What makes this so troubling are two things. One, it appears to be used by law enforcement nationwide.

As the Washington Post explains, “the case is one of a growing number nationwide in which authorities have turned to facial recognition software to help identify protesters accused of violence.”

And two, this secret law enforcement facial recognition database contains images of at least 1.4 million Americans.

“The case also provides the first detailed look at a powerful new regional facial recognition system that officials said has been used more than 12,000 times since 2019 and contains a database of 1.4 million people but operates almost entirely outside the public view. Fourteen local and federal agencies have access.”

The name of this new facial recognition program is called the “National Capital Region Facial Recognition Investigative Leads System” (NCRFRILS).

A thousand law enforcement agencies could have access to a billion public records.

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The Space Force Has Created an “Orbital Warfare” Unit, and Now Has Its Own Spaceship

It’s not specifically a TIE fighter or X-Wing from the “Star Wars” series, but The Drive reported last week that Trump’s recently created Space Force is now in charge of the experimental X-37B spacecraft. A craft that was prior in the ownership of the Air Force, which should turn many heads.

The unit is also precariously known as Delta 9, according to the service. Military.com reports:

Space Operations Command was activated last month during a ceremony at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. Under the field commands are deltas and squadrons, according to the Space Force’s command hierarchy.

Delta 9’s Detachment 1 “oversees operations of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, an experimental program designed to demonstrate technologies for a reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform for the U.S. Space Force,” according to the unit’s fact sheet.

Delta 9 consists of three active-duty squadrons headquartered at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado: 1st Space Operations Squadron, 3rd Space Operations Squadron and 750th Operations Support Squadron, along with Detachment 1. The three squadrons conduct “protect-and-defend operations from space and provide response options to deter and defeat adversary threats in space,” according to the chart.

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Smart TV hackers are filming people having sex on their sofas – and putting it on porn sites

Next time, you’re snuggling up to your other half on the sofa, imagine that some sweaty, sex-pest nerd might be watching you through your TV’s webcam. Horrifyingly, it’s actually true: hackers HAVE ‘watched’ couples making love on their sofas via webcams built into smart TVs – and put the video on porn sites. Many ‘smart TVs’ have poor security, and hackers can take over various functions – including webcams built for Skype. Laura Higgins of the Revenge Porn Helpline told the Daily Mail, ‘We have dealt with one couple who were filmed making love in their living room through their smart TV by someone who had taken control of it. ‘The footage just appeared on a website.

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