Since 2014 American drivers have had to put up with a “black box” device that automatically records various items of information about their vehicle and how they’re driving it. Those recordings can be – and have been – extracted from vehicles after accidents and used as evidence to exonerate, or convict, their drivers. Nobody… Continue reading Big Brother on the road, getting more intrusive
Tag: Computers
Digital intelligence: a two-edged sword?
Strategy Page notes that military digital intelligence technology is increasingly making its way into the civilian economy. Several small commercial firms are producing software systems that enables non-military users to quickly, often instantly, analyze large quantities of digital data to track trends. Developers of this software are building on decades of work in this… Continue reading Digital intelligence: a two-edged sword?
You’ve got to hand it to China. It’s out to exploit everything!
It may be intensely annoying to those of us in the western world to admit it, but China’s systematically eating our lunch when it comes to exploiting data: gathering it, analyzing it, and using it for competitive, military, strategic and geopolitical advantage. My hat’s off to them. The Wall Street Journal reports (bold, underlined… Continue reading You’ve got to hand it to China. It’s out to exploit everything!
An Android solution to locating snoopers’ AirTags?
Yesterday I mentioned how urban criminals were beginning to use Apple AirTags to target vehicles they wanted to steal, or people they wanted to follow. They use the signal from the AirTag to locate the homes of the prey they’ve selected. I noted that those using Apple smartphones could locate AirTags near them, but… Continue reading An Android solution to locating snoopers’ AirTags?
A massive police operation proves, yet again, that NO electronic communication is secure
I’m cynically amused by those who believe that an allegedly “secure” or “private” electronic communications facility – an encrypted cellphone, an e-mail service like Protonmail, a commercial encryption program, or whatever – will preserve their electronic privacy. That’s a pipe-dream. Today, anyone – not just police or governments, but private citizens too – can… Continue reading A massive police operation proves, yet again, that NO electronic communication is secure
Heh
Scott Adams captures the singularity dilemma perfectly. Click the image to see a larger view at the Dilbert Web page. We can take comfort in the fact that it can’t be more destructive to our way of life, or do it any faster, than the Biden administration! Peter
The darker side of publishing a manuscript
I’ve just finished three days of purgatory, trying to sort out the bugs and problems besetting a manuscript before running it through a publishing program to produce print- and e-book-ready files. The manuscript is for my wife’s third novel, “Going Ballistic“, which was published in e-book format last year. Due to a number of… Continue reading The darker side of publishing a manuscript
If the Internet goes down, how will we communicate?
I’m by no means a conspiracy theorist. Nevertheless, the increasing frequency of “Big Brother” forecasts or analyses, followed closely by action that uncannily resembles those forecasts or analyses, is very troubling. The most obvious example is the Event 201 “global pandemic exercise”, held about a year before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The… Continue reading If the Internet goes down, how will we communicate?
A reminder to disable Amazon Sidewalk if you value your privacy
Today, Tuesday, Amazon Sidewalk begins operation. Amazon has made this automatic for all users of its Alexa, Echo and Ring devices and services; you’ll have to deliberately opt out if you don’t want part of your wireless Internet connection to be made available to others. Sidewalk will probably be applied to other Amazon devices and… Continue reading A reminder to disable Amazon Sidewalk if you value your privacy
A culture clash leads to airline safety complications
I was intrigued to read about an airline safety issue caused by different cultures and the assumptions they produced. In this case, no accident resulted, but it highlights an important conflict. Investigators have traced a take-off weight error on a TUI Airways Boeing 737-800 to a flaw introduced to a reservations system by international differences… Continue reading A culture clash leads to airline safety complications