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Category Archives: Defense

Location data firm helps police find out when suspects visited their doctor

Ars Technica: “A location-tracking company that sells its services to police departments is apparently using addresses and coordinates of doctors’ and lawyers’ offices and other types of locations to help cops compile lists of places visited by suspects, according to a 404 Media report published today. Fog Data Science, which says it “harness[es] the power of data to safeguard national security and provide law enforcement with actionable intelligence,” has a “Project Intake Form” that asks police for locations where potential suspects and their mobile devices might be found. The form, obtained by 404 Media, instructs police officers to list locations of friends’ and families’ houses, associates’ homes and offices, and the offices of a person’s doctor or lawyer. Fog Data has a trove of location data derived from smartphones’ geolocation signals, which would already include doctors’ offices and many other types of locations even before police ask for information on a specific person. Details provided by police on the intake form seem likely to help Fog Data conduct more effective searches of its database to find out when suspects visited particular places. The form also asks police to identify the person of interest’s name and/or known aliases and their “link to criminal activity.” “Known locations a POI [Person of Interest] may visit are valuable, even without dates/times,” the form says. It asks for street addresses or geographic coordinates.”

America’s Phone Networks Could Soon Face Financial and Criminal Penalties for Insecure Networks

The head of America’s FCC “has drafted plans to regulate the cybersecurity of telecommunications companies,” reports the Washington Post [via MSN]and the plans could include financial penalties phone network operators with insufficient security — “the first time the agency has asserted such powers under federal wiretapping law.” Rosenworcel said the FCC’s authority in this matter… Continue Reading

Misinformation exploits outrage to spread online

Science. 28 Nov 2024. Vol 386, Issue 6725. pp. 991-996. DOI: 10.1126/science.adl2829 – “Misinformation remains a major threat to US democratic integrity, national security, and public health. However, social media platforms struggle to curtail the spread of the harmful but engaging content. Across platforms, McLoughlin et al. examined the role of emotions, specifically moral outrage (a… Continue Reading

Water Conflict Chronology

Citation: Pacific Institute (2024) Water Conflict Chronology. Pacific Institute, Oakland, CA. https://www.worldwater.org/water-conflict/ – “In an ongoing effort to understand the connections between water resources, water systems, and international security and conflict, the Pacific Institute initiated a project in the late 1980s to track and categorize events related to water and conflict, which has been continuously… Continue Reading

Craigslist founder is giving away $200 million to prevent cybercrimes against the US

Yahoo Finance: “Craig Newmark, the 71-year-old founder and former CEO of classifieds site Craigslist, is alarmed about potential cybersecurity risks in the US. “The deal is our country is under attack now,” he told Yahoo Finance executive editor Brian Sozzi on the Opening Bid podcast (video above; listen in below). “It’s not like I’m in… Continue Reading

Trump’s criminal conviction won’t stop him from getting security clearance as president

Via LLRX – Trump’s criminal conviction won’t stop him from getting security clearance as president – Law professor Dakota Rudesill explains that because Trump was elected to a second term, he will again have expansive access to classified information and control over it as of noon on Jan. 20, 2025, when his term begins. He will also… Continue Reading

GAO Congressional and Presidential Transition Resources

[On November 5, 2024] Americans voted for members of the 119th Congress and a new president. Representatives and senators will be sworn in on Friday, January 3. As they take office, our nation faces many significant challenges—including those that threaten national security, financial stability, public health, and more. Our work here at GAO highlights some… Continue Reading

What are Americans afraid of?

“The Chapman Survey of American Fears has asked Americans about their greatest fears (almost) almost every year since 2015…The top ten often shifts in response to recent events, such as the 55% who reported being afraid of the “American Healthcare Act/Trumpcare” in 2017. Yet the one thing most Americans say they’re afraid of has remained… Continue Reading

Threatening ‘the enemy within’ with force: Military ethicists explain the danger to important American traditions

Via LLRX – Threatening ‘the enemy within’ with force: Military ethicists explain the danger to important American traditions – Marcus Hedahl, Professor of Philosophy, United States Naval Academy and Bradley Jay Strawser, Professor of Philosophy, Naval Postgraduate School worry that Trump’s actions while president, and his comments about his plans for a potential second term,… Continue Reading

Foreign Malign Election Meddling Persists but Struggles to Gain Traction

Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD): “In September 2024, FDD published a report documenting Russian, Chinese, and Iranian influence operations targeting the 2024 U.S. elections. This follow-up report details the ongoing efforts of U.S. adversaries who seek to undermine voters’ confidence in the electoral process in the weeks leading up to the November election.… Continue Reading

Is It Fascism? A Leading Historian Changes His Mind

The New York Times unlocked article Robert Paxton thought the label was overused. But now he’s alarmed by what he sees in global politics — including Trumpism…Paxton, who is 92, is one of the foremost American experts on fascism and perhaps the greatest living American scholar of mid-20th-century European history. His 1972 book, “Vichy France:… Continue Reading