Señor Jehuda, aka "El Blogo de Liberto", is an attorney and media professional with a background in TV marketing and production, copywriting, independent filmmaking, and spontaneously speaking perfect Spanish. A proud Texan who recently escaped from Los Angeles to Albuquerque, he spends far too much time thinking about movies - especially since his job requires it. Jehuda is also a contributor at YesButHowever.com and PJ Lifestyle.
New York grad student develops methods to defeat facial recognition systems.
Hey, if it’s already used at airports – and is coming to your favorite watering hole – might as well prepare now.
And if it makes for a more cyberpunk-looking society, so be it. I’m not sure that means we all have to look like dancers in an early 80′s music video, though. I think this face paint scheme would be more my style.
Staying true to form: “The Obama administration has essentially adopted the position of the Bush administration in these cases, even though candidate Obama was incredibly critical of both the warrantless wiretapping program and the Bush administration’s abuse of the state secrets privilege.”
Related content at Powerline: “The only possible conclusion, I think, is that Barack Obama (who criticized the NSA program during the campaign), James Risen, Eric Lichtblau, Bill Keller, the Pulitzer Prize committee and countless other liberals owe the Bush administration an apology.”
I’ll settle for Dick Cheney pouncing on this whole thing.
I remember reading a few days back a rumor about some member of Congress caught on tape talking to a foreign target of an NSA wiretap, but I don’t remember where I read that.
Now key details of the story have finally been unveiled by Congressional Quarterly: sources say it was U.S. Rep. Jane Harman (Democrat – CA) on the phone, trying to arrange a quid pro quo of some sort with “a suspected Israeli” back in 2005.
Allegedly, the whole thing then got covered up by the Bush administration, a favor Harman was – allegedly, again – glad to repay with political support for the NSA domestic surveillance program as it existed back then. (More …)
A federal appeals court in San Francisco has dealt a blow to the Obama administration’s “state secrets” argument in a wiretapping lawsuit against the federal government.
Of course, this is a development that most in the current administration would have celebrated only a few months before the last presidential election. But it sucks when you are the one fighting the War on Terror, doesn’t it?
The NYT reports:
The City of Chicago has linked its street cameras via a CAD system to its 911 network. Well, yeah, so?
This means that, as soon as someone dials 911 to report a crime, as long as “the 911 caller is in a location within 150 feet of one of [the] surveillance cameras”, the live feed of the 911 call locale is captured from the street cameras and broadcast to the dispatch center. The dispatcher can view the live feed, then pinpoint the suspect or location based on the initial call info and direct the officer who shows up at the scene where to go and who to nab.
Now, Durham, NC has recently tested out a program where six cameras (originally 13) were linked to its 911 system. While there were some good results, the overall ratings were reportedly less than satisfactory because of an outdoor wireless system and bandwidth issues.
However, this technology “was paid for with a $6 million grant from the Department of Homeland Security.” and “has been in use since a trial run in December.”
Let’s see how this plays out.
What’s especially interesting (pay attention, those of you who have issues with your Big Brother):
In addition to the city’s camera network…the new system can also connect to cameras at private sites like tourist attractions, office buildings and university campuses.
Twenty private companies have agreed to take part in the program…and 17 more are expected to be added soon. Citing security concerns, the city would not say how many cameras were in the system.
Cross-posted at culpering355.wordpress.com.
