Wednesday, 13 November 2013

USAHitman | Conspiracy News

Google seeks patent for lie-detecting neck tattoo

Posted: 12 Nov 2013 06:08 PM PST

Google has applied for a patent for a temporary neck tattoo that would emit an electronic signal capable of connecting to a mobile device and working as a lie detector.
Motorola Mobility, which is owned by Google, has submitted an application for what is effectively an adhesive device “that compromises an electronic skin tattoo capable of being applied to a throat region of the body.”
While a low percentage of patents ever become actual products, the intent behind this latest filing appears to be to allow a person to wear the tattoo on their neck while keeping their mobile device in their pocket. The temporary tattoo would transmit the conversation from the individual’s mouth to the mobile phone, for example, and could make it easier for them to communicate hands-free.
The patent filing suggests the device would be used by security teams working in noisy atmospheres or by undercover police who would need to hide their communication devices.
“Mobile communication devices are often operated in noisy environments,” the document states. “For example, large stadiums, busy streets, restaurants, and emergency situations can be extremely loud and include varying frequencies of acoustic noise. Communication can reasonably be improved and even enhanced with a method and system for reducing the acoustic noise in such environments and contexts.”
The filing also notes the possibility that the technology will not be exclusive to humans. “Here it is contemplated that the electronic tattoo can be applied to an animal as well. Audio circuitry can also include a microphone for emitting sound corresponding to fluctuations of muscle or tissue in the throat.”
The new idea is already taking on the same criticisms that Google Glass has struggled against – that it is simply too invasive for those who do not want to participate. Yet some critics have said this technology would go even further than Google Glass, by containing a “galvanic” barometer – a reference to measuring skin’s natural electricity.
“Optionally, the electronic skin tattoo can further include a galvanic skin response detector to detect skin resistance of a user,” the patent application reads. “It is contemplated that a user may be nervous or engaging in speaking in falsehoods may exhibit different galvanic skin response than a more confident, truth telling individual.” The tattoo would therefore serve a similar purpose as a polygraph machine.
Power for the tattoo would come from a variety of sources, “solar panel technology, capacitive technology, nanotechnology, or electro-mechanical technology” among them.
Although reluctance to the product was expected, social media and the blogosphere met the news with practicality, suggesting the lie-detection could be beneficial.
“They could run a few tests on this patch in Washington DC,” one commenter wrote. “Require one on the forehead of every politician.”
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Germany warns US facilities could be targeted in wake of NSA leaks

Posted: 12 Nov 2013 04:09 PM PST

Officials in Germany have cautioned authorities to prepare for possible attacks against United States facilities overseas as revelations continue to emerge about America’s secretive National Security Agency.
As leaked classified documents continue to disclose the covert operations of the NSA, a domestic intelligence warning obtained by Germany’s Der Spiegel suggests the revelations made possible by former contractor Edward Snowden’s leaked files are inspiring potentially violent protests.
Der Spiegel, an outlet which has worked closely with Snowden and some of the leaked documents since earlier this year, announced on Monday that it had received a domestic intelligence memo from Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution – the contents of which cautioned officials that “an emotional response from certain segments of the population cannot be ruled out.”
According to the magazine, the government office said that a “potential threat” had emerged following the information disclosed by the NSA leaks, adding that “security measures aimed at protecting US facilities in Germany should be increased.”
Anti-American sentiment has spread across the globe in recent weeks as Snowden’s leaks continue to expose evidence of questionable surveillance operations conducted by the NSA – including recent revelations in which the agency was linked to violating the privacy of German citizens and even the country’s chancellor, Angela Merkel.
A poll published in the wake of those revelations by public broadcaster ARD suggested that only 35 percent of German citizens still see the US as a reliable partner. At the dawn of US President Barack Obama’s first term as president, more than three-quarters of Germans polled in a similar survey said they trusted America.
Earlier this week, Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) called for the head of the NSA to leave office. Snowden’s leaks have caused much embarrassment in Washington since June, and former friends of the US have demanded answers after being told through leaked documents that they’ve been subjected to surveillance.
“The head of the NSA, the president of the United States, the Congressional Intelligence Committees [and] all of these contractors we pay that were responsible for performing the background checks” should be considered for “wholesale housecleaning,” McCain told Der Spiegel in an interview published over the weekend.
“Friends spy on friends. We all know that, but there have been certain boundaries,” added McCain. “Those boundaries were probably, to some degree, there because we didn’t have the capabilities we have now. But when you go to the point where you invade someone’s privacy…one of the most foremost leaders in the world, Angela Merkel, then it was a mistake.”
According to Der Spiegel, the head of Germany’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution demanded “urgent clarification” with regards to the heightened security alert, but had not received a reply from federal authorities as of Tuesday.
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FED official responsible for quantitative easing: ‘It was the greatest backdoor Wall Street bailout’

Posted: 12 Nov 2013 04:06 PM PST

A former Federal Reserve employee responsible for managing the agency’s quantitative easing program has written an op-ed apologizing for what he called “the greatest backdoor Wall Street bailout of all time.”
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Andrew Huszar detailed his concerns about the Fed’s massive bond-buying measures. He argued that while the Reserve initially claimed the program would lower borrowing rates for average citizens, the trillion-dollar initiative primarily ended up lining the pockets of Wall Street executives.
“Despite the Fed’s rhetoric, my program wasn’t helping to make credit any more accessible for the average American,” Huszar wrote. “The banks were only issuing fewer and fewer loans. More insidiously, whatever credit they were extending wasn’t getting much cheaper. QE may have been driving down the wholesale cost for banks to make loans, but Wall Street was pocketing most of the extra cash.”
What’s more, Huszar claimed that several Federal Reserve managers expressed apprehension over the effects of quantitative easing (QE) only to find their concerns ignored.
“Our warnings fell on deaf ears,” he wrote. “In the past, Fed leaders—even if they ultimately erred—would have worried obsessively about the costs versus the benefits of any major initiative. Now the only obsession seemed to be with the newest survey of financial-market expectations or the latest in-person feedback from Wall Street’s leading bankers and hedge-fund managers.”
Between 2009 and 2010, Huszar helped manage the purchase of $1.25 trillion in mortgage bonds before leaving the Fed for the second time to return to the private sector. The op-ed claimed that QE policy has relieved lawmakers in Washington from the pressure to address the weak economy, but that the $4 trillion spent purchasing bonds has only resulted in .25 percent GDP growth.
Still, QE as policy is likely to stick around in the near-term. President Obama’s choice to replace Ben Bernanke as Fed Chairmen, Janet Yellen, supports keeping the program in place for as long as the economy continues to lag. Some economists, meanwhile, believe that QE has outlived its usefulness and should be terminated.
The Senate Banking Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for Yellen on Thursday, November 14. If approved, her nomination will move to the Senate floor, where she’s likely to have the votes to become the first woman to head the US central bank.
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US-Israeli computer super-worm hit Russian nuclear plant – Kaspersky

Posted: 12 Nov 2013 04:04 PM PST

The CEO of one of the world’s foremost computer security firms says the Stuxnet worm that targeted Iranian nuclear facilities may have also infiltrated similar critical systems in Russia.
If accurate, allegations that Stuxnet snuck its way into Russia could implicate the United States and Israel in an even broader act of cyberwar than previously reported.
Since Stuxnet was discovered in 2010, the media has all but confirmed that the US and Israel collaborated on the computer worm to try and cripple machinery inside Iran’s nuclear power plants. Senior White House officials speaking to the New York Times have previously lent credence to that accusation, National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden confirmed in a Der Spiegel interview earlier this year and the origin of the worm is nowadays hardly contested. Speaking in Australia last week, however, the head of the international IT firm, Kaspersky Lab, raised new questions regarding the actual scope of the secretive program.
Eugene Kaspersky was making a presentation at the National Press Club of Australia on the topic of cybersecurity when he warned of the serious ramifications that could be caused by unleashing viruses.
According to the computer scientist, he received a message a few years ago from a friend who worked at a Russian nuclear power plant in which the source claimed “their internet network [was] badly infected by Stuxnet.”
The facility in question, Kaspersky added, is not wired to the Internet, suggesting that Stuxnet may have hopped its way onto an air-gapped system after being manually brought into the Russian nuke plant, such as on a portable drive.
Kaspersky didn’t point the finger at any parties in particular, but said, “Unfortunately, these people who are responsible for offensive technologies recognize cyber weapons as an opportunity.”
Security expert, Graham Cluley, wrote about the Stuxnet worm on his website this week and acknowledged, “Indeed, the very fact that it spread out of control, was what lead to its discovery by security firms.” But while companies like Kaspersky and Symantec have made great headway in tracking down the origin of Stuxnet and its sister worms, Flame and Gauss, revelations like the one last year in which Chevron claimed to have been infected by the same piece of malware has already suggested that the virus’s authors may have caused more collateral damage than they had bargained for.
With regards to the latest claims about the Russian plant, serious fallout could occur between major world powers if Kaspersky’s claim is correct and the disconnected nuclear system there really was infected by the Stuxnet worm.
“If the claim of the Russian nuclear plant infection is true, then it’s easy to imagine how this ‘collateral damage’ could have turned into a very serious incident indeed, with obvious diplomatic repercussions,” Cluley added.
After Kaspersky’s remarks began to circulate like wildfire on the Web, his company issued a press release reiterating the size and scope of Stuxnet, based on what scientists have already managed to learn.
“According to data from the Kaspersky Security Network, by the end of September 2010, more than 100,000 computer systems in approximately 30,000 organizations around the world were infected by Stuxnet,” the company confirmed.
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Anonymous launches Twitterstorm to close Utah school over alleged torture of students

Posted: 12 Nov 2013 04:03 PM PST

Hactivist group Anonymous has launched a campaign to shut down a Utah boarding school where it claims students have been beaten, tortured, kept in solitary confinement, and sexually abused.
“The only way to stop these atrocities from hiding in the dark is to shine a massive spotlight on them. Nobody can fight for what they aren’t aware of,” Anonymous said in press release.
Former students of Logan River Academy recount undergoing cruel treatment which, according to them, was school policy.
The so-called Twitterstorm, accompanied by the hashtag ‘ShutLoganRiver,’ has been active since Monday. Anonymous has urged users to post tweets containing the hashtag “no more than once every five minutes” to raise awareness of “this billion dollar enterprise of cruelty” and its “often fatal abuses.”
The collective has also drafted a petition on change.org which already has over 900 signatures.
There is also a website dedicated to the cause, along with a Facebook page called ‘Shutdown Logan River Academy.’ The group has also put together a four-minute video based on testimonies of former students and their parents.
Logan River Academy, which calls itself one of “the premier residential treatment centers” on its website, gained the attention of Anonymous after a number of testimonies appeared online.
Twitterstorm participants shared testimonials, reportedly posted by former students and their family members, which criticize the school.
Former students of Logan River Academy, a facility for teenagers with behavioral and psychological problems such as autism and anger issues, claim they were submitted to solitary confinement for months as part of what the school calls “devo time” – short for “development time.”
“The system called “Devo” is one in which any student who partakes in infract-able behavior is sent to a small room where he is aggressively ordered to sit up straight without looking or communicating with other students,” one of the testimonies from a sender named Max R reads.
Devo time was allegedly handed out to students for “offences” such as having their feet visible from under a desk or bringing a moist towelette from the dining area to clean glasses.
There is reportedly a stricter level of devo time, called “Precaution,” in which students are completely isolated for up to 30 days.
Precaution means that the student’s every move takes place in devo – including sleeping and eating. The student “would literally never leave” other than to walk to the bathroom. But even there, personal hygiene procedures were watched by staff, according to the former students.
“Some students report allegations of being stripped naked for it,” the petition reads, citing student testimonies.
In one of the recent testimonies, a student’s parents write that they pulled their son out of the school “after only 5 months, the last 3 of which were spent primarily in “devo” (solitary).”
Another widely used term, according to students, is “PI,” which stands for “Physical Incident or Physical Intervention.”
It “is an excuse for irritable staff to physically bully students who they don’t like,” Max R wrote.
One testimonial given to Anonymous alleged that a member of staff had sexual relations with a student.
Most of the collected experiences echo the testimony of Michael Carter, 28, who spent 13 months at the academy. His 10-minute story on YouTube was one of the first testimonies to surface.

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Border patrol agents go to jail after forcing drug smugglers to eat pot

Posted: 12 Nov 2013 04:02 PM PST

Two U.S. Border Patrol agents who forced four suspected drug traffickers to eat marijuana and run aimlessly into the Arizona desert have each been sentenced to two years in federal prison.
Back in April, both Dario Castillo, 25, and Ramon Zuniga, 31, were convicted for violating the civil rights of the four Mexican men, who had entered the United States illegally. U.S. District Judge Jennifer Zipps handed down the sentence, which includes three years of probation after release.
Border Patrol had previously fired both men, though they said they were stressed and fatigued at the time of the incident, which occurred at the end of their shift. Before their sentences were given, Zuniga and Castillo read short statements expressing remorse for their behavior.
“I allowed these individuals to get the best of me that night,” Zuniga said to the judge, according to Reuters. “I’ve regretted those actions every single day for the past five years.”
The incident began in 2008, when an agent on horse patrol found a group of 20 individuals sleeping in a dry stream in the Arizona desert, a popular route for drug smugglers and those bringing illegal immigrants into the United States. When the horse patrol called for assistance, Castillo and Zuniga arrived on the scene.
The group of men dispersed immediately, but the agents were able to round up four of them, all of which remain unidentified. Border Patrol also confiscated bundles of marijuana worth $600,000 at the scene.
After removing the men’s jackets and shoes – standard procedure for situations involving numerous suspects – Castillo lit a fire and began burning their clothing, according to the witness accounts heard in court. Zuniga then forced the men to eat marijuana while they were on their knees in handcuffs before casting them off into the desert night, when the temperature was at 50 F.
Castillo was convicted on four felony counts of violating civil rights, each of which holds a maximum of 10 years in prison. Zuniga faced up to one year in prison for each of his four misdemeanor counts.
According to Judge Zipps, however, both men were equally to blame in the situation and deserved the same sentence, even though they were convicted on different charges.
All of the suspected smugglers were deported after authorities declined to charge them with a crime.
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