Category Archives: Technology

CIA Bested By — Google?

Seeking Iran Intelligence, U.S. Tries Google

When the State Department recently asked the CIA for names of Iranians who could be sanctioned for their involvement in a clandestine nuclear weapons program, the agency refused, citing a large workload and a desire to protect its sources and tradecraft.

Frustrated, the State Department assigned a junior Foreign Service officer to find the names another way — by using Google. Those with the most hits under search terms such as “Iran and nuclear,” three officials said, became targets for international rebuke Friday when a sanctions resolution circulated at the United Nations.

The real question is whether Google is any more reliable than the CIA. Well, the names they discovered aren’t even suspected to be connected with the weapons programs.

None of the 12 Iranians that the State Department eventually singled out for potential bans on international travel and business dealings is believed by the CIA to be directly connected to Iran’s most suspicious nuclear activities.

“There is nothing that proves involvement in a clandestine weapons program, and there is very little out there at all that even connects people to a clandestine weapons program,” said one official familiar with the intelligence on Iran. Like others interviewed for this story, the official insisted on anonymity when discussing the use of intelligence.

Wow. So they’re looking for the Manhattan Tehran Project, and they’ve found the National Institute of Science.

I don’t know who to be more disappointed in: the government for relying on Google, or Google for not supplying the right information!

Cool Uses of Technology

So, my family used to use Amazon’s (you don’t really need the URL, do you?) wish list feature for Christmas and birthday gift giving. But there were two problems with it. First, you could only list and link things sold on Amazon. That left plenty of possible gifts that I (or anyone else) might want unavailable for listing. And second, it was relatively easy for folks to see what gifts someone else had bought for them.

We changed that last year, using a service called Gift Geek. It solved our two problems. First, you should know that my wife and I are massive nerds. When first started Nerd Dating, we kind of held back how big nerds we were but then we realized we both liked the same stuff so there was no point hiding it! So, Gift Geek is perfect for us – you can list anything nerd related you want, with or without a URL to the item. For those of us that shop online, it works really well if you embed a URL. Second, you cannot see on your own list what was purchased for you before Christmas day.

This year, we changed to a new service called Family Gift Organizer. It has similar features to Gift Geek. How did Family Gift Organizer come about? From their website:

The Family Gift Organizer started out as a bunch of lists on my bulletin board in my home office. I had lists of what the kids wanted, lists of what they needed and lists of what they already had. I had lists of gifts I planned to purchase, gifts I had already purchased and stashed somewhere and lists of items I needed or wanted, not to mention lists of clothing sizes and favorite colors, lists of web sites with super deals and more.

Awesome. Such capabilities were unheard of not all that long ago. Now they are ubiquitous. Yet another way that technology has empowered the individual. It is fascinating how the advancement of technology has benefitted our lives, allowing us to have some of the best new gadgets and appliances within our own homes. Of course, some gadgets, such as the ones you’d find on somewhere like DrDrone.ca, are more suitable for the outdoors. Even so, who would have thought that we’d be able to fly our own personal drones in today’s age?

I know this isn’t politics, but I am very interested in the power that technology gives the individual and thought others reading this site might be too.

YouTube is Great!

These kids are great musicians. It helps, of course, that I love metal too. The Gauchos are a South American sibling garage band that does metal covers.

Like Iron Maiden’s The Trooper:

Or, their tribute to ELP:

But, this cover of Sepultura is probably my favorite:

Google was brilliant for acquiring YouTube. One more way that individuals are empowered by technology. Social media is obviously something else that allows individuals to use technology to their advance and grow their personal accounts to the level they want. Young musicians, for example, can use this platform to gain popularity regarding their music via Instagram and other platforms. Websites such as https://thesmallbusinessblog.net/hashtagsforlikes-review/ compare the best apps and websites used to gain followers and likes on Instagram, which are used to help individuals gain a strong following to promote their music. Music labels would have ignored these kids, as good as they are. With the Internet, they have been able to get their videos watched over 2 million times. These kids could grow to be music stars and YouTube hits, especially if they were to start using the likes of Increditools and other services to gain growth on specific online platforms early on, giving themselves more time to focus on better exposure and bigger audiences in the future.

YouTube is such a popular platform for aspiring artists, that it is now possible to Buy youtube likes to give your YouTube channel a boost. In the digital world we live in today, it is no secret that the number of likes and views accrued by your videos can make a huge difference to the popularity of your channel. In order to boost your channel even more, some YouTubers will consider buying some subscribers to kickstart their channel too. This can help their channel to get more recognition. For anyone wanting more subscribers, it could be worthwhile visiting a website like https://venturebeat.com/2021/01/20/how-to-buy-youtube-subscribers-that-are-real-and-active/. That could help the channel to get real subscribers that can help their channel grow naturally.


Perhaps I should set up a YouTube channel of my own? Watch this space…

H/T to Radley Balko

New Technologies For The Surveillance State

Apparently, the FBI is now able to use a cell phone microphone as an eavesdropping device:

The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile phone’s microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations.

The technique is called a “roving bug,” and was approved by top U.S. Department of Justice officials for use against members of a New York organized crime family who were wary of conventional surveillance techniques such as tailing a suspect or wiretapping him.

Nextel cell phones owned by two alleged mobsters, John Ardito and his attorney Peter Peluso, were used by the FBI to listen in on nearby conversations. The FBI views Ardito as one of the most powerful men in the Genovese family, a major part of the national Mafia.

The surveillance technique came to light in an opinion published this week by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan. He ruled that the “roving bug” was legal because federal wiretapping law is broad enough to permit eavesdropping even of conversations that take place near a suspect’s cell phone.

And the method apparently works even if the cell phone is turned off:

Kaplan’s opinion said that the eavesdropping technique “functioned whether the phone was powered on or off.” Some handsets can’t be fully powered down without removing the battery; for instance, some Nokia models will wake up when turned off if an alarm is set.

As the article explains, though, this isn’t the first time that we’ve learned that the FBI can remotely activate technology and listen in on conversations. In 2003, they used a similar method to activate the OnStar microphone in someone’s vehicle.

It’s enough to make you paranoid.

Appeals Court Strikes Down Illinois Video Game Law

A Federal Appeals Court has upheld a lower court ruling declaring Illinois ban on the sale of certain video games to minors unconstitutional:

ILLINOIS — The 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has affirmed the ruling of a judge who struck down a law that would have banned the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors.

Last year, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly ruled that the Illinois ban violated free-speech protections. The appeals court agreed that the law, which would have gone into effect Jan. 1, was too broad.

“The state must recognize that the question of a statute’s compliance with the 1st Amendment does not end once it is determined that the free speech rights of adults are unaffected,” the court wrote.

The law was championed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who had promised to fight for its survival. A spokeswoman for him said the court decision was being reviewed by the governor’s office.

The law would have made sales of such games to minors illegal and punishable by as much as a year in prison.

This means, of course, that parents in Illinois will be forced to raise their children themselves rather than relying on the state to do it for them. In my opinion, there is no reason for children to play violent video games when there are so many non-violent alternatives out there. Family favorites can be downloaded off the internet by using this Super Mario Sunshine ROM for GameCube, for example, meaning families can play them on their computer. Games like Mario offer a fun gaming experience without the gratuitous violence found in other games.

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