In the wake of the 2016 U.S. election, Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange have become, if possible, even more controversial than they were previously. Yet their latest contribution to the political chaos swirling in Washington may set some kind of new record. In March, Wikileaks began publishing a trove of Central Intelligence Agency documents … Continue reading CIA spies on ‘liaison services’ — including other US intel community members?
This week, Reuters published a lengthy three part series on deaths linked to police use of Tasers, the "less lethal" stun gun weapons that have become ubiquitous among law enforcement agencies in the United States over the past two decades or so. While the series, "Shock Tactics" is worth reading in its entirety, for … Continue reading Tasers linked to hundreds of deaths despite company denials
The United States' military has been in Afghanistan for nearly 16 years. Yet details of the situation today in that country tend to remain unclear to many Americans, as the war has long faded into the background of the often asinine 24-hour news cycle. While U.S. civilians should probably pay more attention to their country's … Continue reading Thousands more U.S. troops stationed overseas than previously acknowledged
Recent revelations that U.S. diplomats in Cuba were allegedly targeted with some kind of "sonic weapon" of mysterious origin appear even more alarming this week, as reports emerge that the victims had received diagnoses as serious as "mild traumatic brain injury," beyond the previously reported symptoms such as hearing loss. The acoustic attacks on ten … Continue reading U.S. diplomats suffered ‘brain injury’ from sound weapon in Cuba
Several robot manufacturers were warned earlier this year of vulnerabilities in the security of their products, but most of the problems have yet to be fixed, the researchers who identified them say, according to Reuters. "In this research, we focused on home, business, and industrial robots, in addition to robot control software used by … Continue reading Robot makers haven’t fixed security flaws, researchers say
President Donald Trump gave a much-anticipated speech Monday "to lay out our path forward in Afghanistan and South Asia." But while many predicted a definite announcement of a troop increase in the long-running Afghanistan War, Trump was instead vague, seemingly leaving the door open to a privatized, mercenary contractor option that has been floated. "I’ve … Continue reading Trump offers vague Afghan strategy, leaves mercenary option on table
The U.S. military, building on the perceived success of its first "bug bounty" contest last year, has once again opened its cyber-defenses to scrutiny by outside hackers -- and this time not only by Americans. And, once again, the winner was a teenager. "Though inviting foreigners to hack military networks may sound unsafe, Air Force … Continue reading Pentagon opens ‘bug bounty’ to Five Eyes, teenager wins again
Cases of random people impersonating police officers, confusingly to many of the rest of us, are not uncommon. A recently revealed investigation, however, flips the typical script -- with real federal agents posing as members of a fake federal law enforcement agency in order to obtain over a million dollars worth of military gear through … Continue reading Military gives $1.2m of equipment to federal agents posing as police
It's been a busy year in the world of robotics and the politics surrounding it, the latest development coming in the form of potentially conflicting comments from two Pentagon officials hinting at what the future of an international killer robot ban -- or lack thereof -- might look like. Not only has the job-killing potential … Continue reading DoD officials offer conflicting hints on killer robot policy
While mass monitoring of internet and phone communications, along with image- or video-based technologies such as automated license plate readers and facial recognition, have received increasing media coverage in recent years, one area of surveillance -- iris recognition -- has gotten less attention. But that is starting to change. Earlier this month The Intercept, which … Continue reading Iris scanning on the rise
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