Getbig.com: American Bodybuilding, Fitness and Figure
Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Bindare_Dundat on May 16, 2011, 09:52:57 PM
-
Some interesting articles on the more negative ways technology is used against individuals. Everything from ,spying, warrentless tracking, alerts or special messages sent to us wether we want them or not, one person controlling web traffic, ripping off customers etc...
Lawsuit: PA School District Using School-Issued Laptop Webcams to Spy on Students
A class action lawsuit filed late yesterday in Federal Court in Philadelphia has shed light on a secret surveillance program targeting Americans, but this particular operation is not being run by the FBI or the NSA. It’s being run by the Lower Merion School District, in the old-money Main Line suburbs of Philadelphia, PA.
The complaint, filed by minor high school student Blake Robbins and his parents, alleges that the school district has been spying on the activities of students and students’ families through the “indiscriminant use of and ability to remotely activate the webcams incorporated into each laptop issued to students,” all without the knowledge or consent of any of the students or parents involved.
http://americasright.com/?p=3159
New Yorkers soon to get emergency cell phone alerts in what Bloomberg calls 'quantum leap forward'
Emergency officials will soon be able to blast critical alerts to anyone with a cell phone in a certain section of the city.
If Times Square needs to be evacuated because of a bomb threat or if a hurricane is bearing down on Queens, warnings will be bounced from cell towers.
"Making sure that [people] get useful and life-saving information, quickly and easily, right on their mobile phones, will help more people get out of harm's way when a threat exists," said Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator W. Craig Fugate.
The system - called PLAN or Personal Localized Alerting Network - uses cell phone towers to send messages to everyone currently in a certain area, regardless of whether they're visiting from out of town or have a phone registered elsewhere. People won't have to register in advance to receive the alerts.
The messages, including urgent blasts from the President, information on imminent threats and Amber Alerts about missing children, will supercede all other phone traffic so they won't be stalled or delayed.
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-05-09/local/29544253_1_cell-phone-quantum-leap-mayor-bloomberg
Obama Administration Fights to Allow Warrantless GPS Tracking
The Obama administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case involving warrantless tracking of suspects by law enforcement using GPS devices.
Federal prosecutors from the U.S. Department of Justice reached out to the Supreme Court after a three-judge panel of Democratic and Republican appointees in Washington D.C. unanimously threw out the conviction and life sentence of Antoine Jones, a nightclub owner convicted of operating a cocaine distribution ring. The judges objected to the month-long auto surveillance of Jones by police, ruling that law enforcement should have obtained a warrant before using a GPS tracker.
In many instances, suspects are not aware police are monitoring the movement of their cars unless they stumble upon the tiny GPS devices, usually hidden behind automobile bumpers.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1074474
In Texas schools, a picture's worth a thousand calories
A $2 million project being unveiled Wednesday in the lunchroom of a Texas elementary school will use high-tech cameras to photograph what foods children pile onto their trays — and later capture what they don't finish eating.
Digital imaging analysis of the snapshots will then calculate how many calories each student scarfed down. Local health officials said the program, funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, is the first of its kind in a U.S. school, and will be so precise that the technology can identify a half-eaten pear left on a lunch tray.
Researchers hope parents will change eating habits at home once they see what their kids are choosing in schools. The data also will be used to study what foods children are likely to choose and how much of if they're eating.
Should Obama Control the Internet?
Should President Obama have the power to shut down domestic Internet traffic during a state of emergency?
Senators John Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) think so. On Wednesday they introduced a bill to establish the Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor—an arm of the executive branch that would have vast power to monitor and control Internet traffic to protect against threats to critical cyber infrastructure. That broad power is rattling some civil libertarians.
The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 (PDF) gives the president the ability to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" and shut down or limit Internet traffic in any "critical" information network "in the interest of national security." The bill does not define a critical information network or a cybersecurity emergency. That definition would be left to the president.
http://motherjones.com/politics/2009/04/should-obama-control-internet
New York Testing Emergency Alerts Over Gaming Networks
NY state officials are intending to also send those Emergency Management Office issued alerts over gaming networks.
According to officials, the idea is to "reach younger residents who spend more time on the Xbox, PlayStation, or Wii than with television or radio" and it's actually part of a bigger program called Empire 2.0. Other things happening under the Empire 2.0 project include:
[T]he Department of Mental Health is monitoring some Facebook posts in an effort to spot suicidal behavior.
http://gizmodo.com/5408750/new-york-testing-emergency-alerts-over-gaming-networks
Lights that flicker in code
Lights that flicker in code. I'm Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.
Fluorescent lights brighten the rooms of many offices and homes. Now, one company is working on a way to use them for more than just illumination. Neil Lupton is president of the Talking Lights Company in Boston. He says fluorescent lights can also be used as part of a wireless communications network to transmit information.
Lupton:
This can be analog information, digital information, could contain audio, it could contain graphics, or it could contain computer control codes so that somebody in the vicinity of that light using a receiver can pick up the information that’s coming out of the light.
Their technology is based on the fact that fluorescent lights flicker at a rate of about forty to sixty thousand times a second, too fast for the eye to see. By installing a special device onto a light bulb, that flicker rate can be varied to send coded information. Receivers in the room then detect and interpret those light signals.
Lupton:
And some of the application areas that we’re using, for example, would be assisted technology to individuals like blind users that could then have a receiver. And the light would give them guidance in terms of where things are in a building, or how to go from one place to another.
http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/sci_update.php?DocID=126
Texas utilities admit billing errors with SmartMeters
Two major utilities in Texas have confirmed that some customers received inaccurate and sometimes inflated bills after turning to SmartMeters to measure their energy usage. PG&E is under fire for its program to install SmartMeters in Northern California. 7 On Your Side has been following the debate since last year.
Hundreds of consumers have blamed SmartMeters for overcharges and sudden spikes in their bills. Consumer advocates say the billing problems that occurred in Texas should be a lesson learned in California.
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/7_on_your_side&id=7386817
-
Hints? LOL... funny.... I think we're a tad past the hint stage....