Daily Archives: 19. Juli 2015


19.07.2015 - 13:28 [ Radio Utopie ]

Spionage und Informationskontrolle: Der technologische Quantensprung in 1943

(20.Juli 2014) Obenstehende Inhalte entstammen dem NSA Papier „TEMPEST – A Signal Problem“ aus 1972. Das Potential der Spionage via elektromagnetischer Strahlung bzw Abstrahlung wird der zivilen Öffentlichkeit 1985 durch den Wissenschaftler Wim van Eck bekannt gemacht, durch das Papier “Electromagnetic Radiation from Video Display Units An Eavesdropping Risk”. Wim van Eck berichtet in diesem u.a. von einem gemeinsam mit der „British Broadcast Television“ (BBC) inmitten von London durchgeführten Experiment. Wim van Eck beschreibt dazu 1985, wie es ihm und den BBC Reportern aus einem entsprechend ausgerüsteten Fahrzeug heraus möglich war die innerhalb von Gebäuden auf Bildschirmen dargestellten Inhalte, etwa auf Terminals, selbst „aus großer Entfernung“ auszuspionieren. Van Eck wörtlich:

„Obwohl das Experiment vor aller Augen („in broad daylight“) durchgeführt wurde und uns viele Leute beobachteten, fragte uns niemand was wir da tun.“

19.07.2015 - 13:22 [ Radio Utopie ]

DER MOBILE TELEVISOR (IV): „Nutzung eines informationstechnischen Systems in der Wohnung überwacht“

(20.Februar 2013) 1985 machte der Wissenschaftler Wim van Eck die Möglichkeiten der Spionage durch Messung elektromagnetischer Abstrahlung von Bildschirmen bzw Kabelstrecken und Verbindungen öffentlich (hier das Original Papier „Electromagnetic Radiation from Video Display Units An Eavesdropping Risk“). In seiner Einleitung heißt es:

„Es ist wohl bekannt, dass elektronische Ausrüstung elektromagnetische Felder erzeugt, die Interferenzen für den Empfang von Radio und Fernsehen verursachen können. Das dem zugrunde liegende Phänomen ist über einige zurückliegende Jahrzehnte hinweg gründlich studiert worden.“

Wie gründlich, zeigt u.a. dieses (Link zur N.S.A.) mittlerweile für die Öffentlichkeit freigegebene Papier der National Security Agency N.S.A. namens „TEMPEST – A Signal Problem“ aus dem Jahre 1972.

19.07.2015 - 13:18 [ Universität Tel Aviv ]

Stealing Keys from PCs using a Radio: Cheap Electromagnetic Attacks on Windowed Exponentiation

Q1: What information is leaked by the electromagnetic emanations from computers?

This depends on the specific computer hardware. We have tested numerous laptop computers, and found the following:
In almost all machines, it is possible to tell, with sub-millisecond precision, whether the computer is idle or performing operations.
On many machines, it is moreover possible to distinguish different patterns of CPU operations and different programs.
Using GnuPG as our study case, we can, on some machines:
distinguish between the spectral signatures of different RSA secret keys (signing or decryption), and fully extract decryption keys, by measuring the laptop‘s electromagnetic emanations during decryption of a chosen ciphertext.

19.07.2015 - 13:11 [ Netzpolitik ]

Laser, Strahlenwaffen und Störsender: BKA leitet zwei internationale Arbeitsgruppen zur Abwehr kleiner Drohnen

(8.Juli) Möglich sind beispielsweise Sensoren zur Feststellung von Bewegung, Radar oder Laser. Mikrofone können Drohnen an ihren Geräuschen erkennen. Die Systeme strahlen aber auch elektromagnetische oder elektrostatische Emissionen aus, die eine Wiedererkennung bekannter Typen ermöglichen. Mithilfe weiterer Sensoren können Drohnen auch am Aussehen, der Temperatur oder der genutzten Funkfrequenz der Fernbedienung erkannt werden. Schließlich kann auch erkannt werden, wenn in der Nähe Bilder übertragen werden.

19.07.2015 - 13:09 [ Techdirt ]

Shocking: Software Used To Monitor UK Students Against Radicalization Found To Be Exploitable

Well, that didn‘t take long. It was only a month or so ago that we brought to you the delightful news that software for monitoring the UK youth in classrooms was being recommended to comply with the UK‘s insane policy that conscripts teachers to watch out for scary future-Muslim-terrorists. The idea was that the software, from American company Impero Software, would report back to teachers should the children under their watchful gaze search around for terms deemed to be terrorist related. The teachers were then supposed to involve school admins, law enforcement, or parents as deemed necessary. Because, see, possible-might-be-future-terrorists sprouting up from our own children is a very scary, albeit not-yet-existing threat to something something.

19.07.2015 - 13:08 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

Pluto Wags its Tail: New Horizons Discovers a Cold, Dense Region of Atmospheric Ions Behind Pluto

Artist’s concept of the interaction of the solar wind (the supersonic outflow of electrically charged particles from the Sun) with Pluto’s predominantly nitrogen atmosphere. Some of the molecules that form the atmosphere have enough energy to overcome Pluto’s weak gravity and escape into space, where they are ionized by solar ultraviolet radiation. As the solar wind encounters the obstacle formed by the ions, it is slowed and diverted (depicted in the red region), possibly forming a shock wave upstream of Pluto. The ions are “picked up” by the solar wind and carried in its flow past the dwarf planet to form an ion or plasma tail (blue region). The Solar Wind around Pluto (SWAP) instrument on the New Horizons spacecraft made the first measurements of this region of low-energy atmospheric ions shortly after closest approach on July 14. Such measurements will enable the SWAP team to determine the rate at which Pluto loses its atmosphere and, in turn, will yield insight into the evolution of the Pluto’s atmosphere and surface. Also illustrated are the orbits of Pluto’s five moons and the trajectory of the spacecraft.

19.07.2015 - 13:06 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

New Horizons Reveals Pluto’s Extended Atmosphere

Scientists working with NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft have observed Pluto’s atmosphere as far as 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) above the surface of the planet, demonstrating that Pluto’s nitrogen-rich atmosphere is quite extended. This is the first observation of Pluto’s atmosphere at altitudes higher than 170 miles above the planet’s surface (270 kilometers).

The new information was gathered by New Horizon’s Alice imaging spectrograph during a carefully designed alignment of the sun, Pluto, and the spacecraft starting about an hour after the craft’s closest approach to the planet on July 14. During the event known as a solar occultation, New Horizons passed through Pluto’s shadow while the sun backlit Pluto’s atmosphere.

19.07.2015 - 13:05 [ National Aeronautics and Space Administration ]

NASA’s New Horizons Discovers Frozen Plains in the Heart of Pluto’s ‘Heart’

In the center left of Pluto’s vast heart-shaped feature – informally named “Tombaugh Regio” – lies a vast, craterless plain that appears to be no more than 100 million years old, and is possibly still being shaped by geologic processes. This frozen region is north of Pluto’s icy mountains and has been informally named Sputnik Planum (Sputnik Plain), after Earth’s first artificial satellite. The surface appears to be divided into irregularly-shaped segments that are ringed by narrow troughs. Features that appear to be groups of mounds and fields of small pits are also visible. This image was acquired by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on July 14 from a distance of 48,000 miles (77,000 kilometers). Features as small as one-half mile (1 kilometer) across are visible. The blocky appearance of some features is due to compression of the image.

19.07.2015 - 11:31 [ WIRED ]

Spying on the Spies—With Google Maps

lorian Freier embraced this reality and turned it against Germany’s surveillance state in his project Cached Landscapes, using Google Maps to watch the watchers. The irony is he didn’t take the photos, or even the screenshots featured in his elaborate composite images. All of them were pulled from a subfolder holding a thumbnail cache of every web page he visits. It’s a fascinating yet unsettling look at observation and surveillance, proving that even when you’re spying on others, someone probably is spying on you.

19.07.2015 - 11:30 [ TruthDig ]

Here’s How One German Artist Turned the Tables on the Surveillance State

Freier’s work is a response to that call. Some time before beginning the project, Freier learned every time he visited a page or clicked around on a map online, his browser cached an image—something he discovered while digging through his hard drive. For Cached Landscapes, he did it intentionally, using Google Maps to explore sites believed to be key to German’s signals-intelligence (SIGINT) apparatus—US and German military bases, embassies and the like. “I liked that I was trying to find these hidden landscapes that Paglen was looking for but the data on my computer was also its own hidden landscape,” he says.

19.07.2015 - 11:23 [ Guardian ]

High court rules data retention and surveillance legislation unlawful

Emergency surveillance legislation introduced by the coalition government last year is unlawful, the high court has ruled. A judicial challenge by the Labour MP Tom Watson and the Conservative MP David Davis has been upheld by judges, who found that the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (Dripa) 2014 is “inconsistent with European Union law”. The act requires internet and phone companies to keep their communications data for a year and regulates how police and intelligence agencies gain access to it.

19.07.2015 - 11:01 [ Spiegel ]

Günstige Inseln: Warren Buffett kauft sich in Griechenland ein

Auf der Webseite von Private Islands Online, das sich selbst als Marktplatz für private Inseln beschreibt, ist das Angebot für das Eiland zu finden – unter dem englischen Namen St. Thomas. Angepriesen wird die Mischung aus Abgeschiedenheit und Nähe. Die Hafenstadt Megara und das Ferienörtchen Korfos seien schnell zu erreichen. Die Insel eigne sich vorzüglich als Rückzugsort für Europas Elite, heißt es weiter. Potenzielle Interessenten werden zudem darauf hingewiesen, dass griechische Inseln das „ultimative Statussymbol“ seien.

19.07.2015 - 10:56 [ Chaos Computer Club ]

Generalbundesanwalt verschleppt Ermittlungen wegen NSA-Massenüberwachung

(11.Juli 2014) Der Generalbundesanwalt hat sich nach langem Schweigen zur Strafanzeige mehrerer Bürgerrechtsorganisationen gegen die Bundesregierung wegen des massenhaften Ausspionierens der Bevölkerung durch Geheimdienste geäußert. Er zögert die Einleitung eines Ermittlungsverfahren aber weiter hinaus. Wir veröffentlichen das Schreiben.

19.07.2015 - 10:48 [ Telegraph ]

Greece is being treated like a hostile occupied state

To make matters worse Greek premier Alexis Tsipras cannot make a plausible case to his own people that he has secured debt relief, the one prize that could have saved him. Germany blocked even this.

It did so despite massive pressure from the Obama White House and the IMF, and even though France, Italy, and the leaders of the EU Commission and Council accept that a haircut of some sort is necessary.

19.07.2015 - 10:26 [ Spiegel ]

WikiLeaks-Chef Assange bietet NSA-Untersuchungsausschuss Hilfe an

„Ich würde mich freuen, wenn die Abgeordneten zu mir kämen, um ihre Fragen zu stellen“, sagte Assange in einem Gespräch mit dem Nachrichten-Magazin DER SPIEGEL. Er könne ihnen insbesondere über die US-Listen mit überwachten deutschen Politikern, inklusive Kanzlerin Angela Merkel und Außenminister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Auskünfte erteilen.

19.07.2015 - 08:58 [ Peterson Institute for International Economics ]

Hungary under Orbán: Can Central Planning Revive Its Economy?

Since the promising start of its transition from a centrally planned economy to capitalism, Hungary has failed to join Western Europe in terms of living standards and democracy. The dominant political figure in Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, shares many features with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Both view the increasing role of the state as economically beneficial, and both consider the Western European economic model to be flawed. Hungary is headed towards centrally planned capitalism, demonstrated by the partial nationalization of the banking sector, the monopolization of some sectors of the economy, and the reversal of the pension reforms of 1998. Plagued by the most persistent budget deficit of any post-communist country, Hungary‘s greatest challenge is to establish a fiscally sustainable growth path.

19.07.2015 - 08:36 [ Mixcloud ]

Projection in an Empty Room by black_ops

trompe l´oeil
artwork: James Turrell. Afrum (White), 1967. Light projection.

19.07.2015 - 08:05 [ Ashoka Mody / Bloomberg ]

Germany, Not Greece, Should Exit the Euro

The latest round of wrangling between Greece and its European creditors has demonstrated yet again that countries with such disparate economies should never have entered a currency union. It would be better for all involved, though, if Germany rather than Greece were the first to exit.

19.07.2015 - 08:04 [ Ben Bernanke / Brookings ]

Greece and Europe: Is Europe holding up its end of the bargain?

Importantly, Germany‘s large trade surplus puts all the burden of adjustment on countries with trade deficits, who must undergo painful deflation of wages and other costs to become more competitive. Germany could help restore balance within the euro zone and raise the currency area‘s overall pace of growth by increasing spending at home, through measures like increasing investment in infrastructure, pushing for wage increases for German workers (to raise domestic consumption), and engaging in structural reforms to encourage more domestic demand. Such measures would entail little or no short-run sacrifice for Germans, and they would serve the country‘s longer-term interests by reducing the risks of eventual euro breakup.

19.07.2015 - 08:00 [ Jeffrey D. Sachs / Project Syndicate ]

Saying No to the Warmongers

The accord struck in Vienna to rein in Iran’s nuclear activities has warmongers fulminating. Citizens worldwide should support US President Barack Obama’s brave effort to outmaneuver them, taking heart from the fact that the signatories include not just the United States, but all five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.

Many of the warmongers are to be found in Obama’s own government agencies. Most Americans struggle to recognize or understand their country’s permanent security state, in which elected politicians seem to run the show, but the CIA and the Pentagon often take the lead – a state that inherently gravitates toward military, rather than diplomatic, solutions to foreign-policy challenges.

19.07.2015 - 07:53 [ Ben Bernanke / Brookings ]

Germany‘s trade surplus is a problem

(3.April) The comparatively weak euro is an underappreciated benefit to Germany of its participation in the currency union. If Germany were still using the deutschemark, presumably the DM would be much stronger than the euro is today, reducing the cost advantage of German exports substantially.

19.07.2015 - 07:45 [ Radio China ]

EU-Kommission gewährt Griechenland Übergangsfinanzierung

Die 28 EU-Mitgliedsstaaten hätten die Freigabe von rund sieben Milliarden Euro aus dem alten Rettungsfonds EFSM bewilligt, teilte EU-Kommissions-Vizepräsident Valdis Dombrovskis vor den geplanten Verhandlungen über ein drittes Hilfspaket mit.

Dombrovskis zufolge soll der Kredit von 7,16 Milliarden Euro bis Montag an Athen ausgezahlt werden. Am selben Tag muss Griechenland 4,2 Milliarden Euro an die Europäische Zentralbank (EZB) zurückzahlen.