Daily Archives: 26. Oktober 2016


26.10.2016 - 21:14 [ Boing Boing ]

UAE surveillance contractor is recruiting an army of foreign hackers to break into its citizens‘ devices

The world‘s most sophisticated security experts have been bombarded with recruiting offers from UAE-based company Darkmatter, which bills itself as a major state security contractor — but people who‘ve taken the bait say they were then told that they were being hired to weaponize huge arsenals of zero-day vulnerabilities so that the UAE can subject its own population to fine-grained, continuous surveillance.

26.10.2016 - 19:32 [ Portal amerika21.de ]

Proteste gegen Fracking im Norden von Kolumbien

Mehr als tausend Menschen haben vergangene Woche gegen die Lieferung der Fracking-Maschinen und den bevorstehenden Beginn der Erdölförderung im Landkreis San Martín en Cesar im Norden von Kolumbien protestiert.

26.10.2016 - 19:30 [ Portal amerika21.de ]

Venezuela zwischen Putschvorwürfen und Dialog

Die Aufforderung der Opposition an das Militär wies Verteidigungsminister Vladimir Padrino López indes in einem Kommuniquee im Namen der Streitkräfte deutlich zurück. Niemand könne von ihnen einfordern, was sie bereits täten: die Verfassung zu respektieren und zu verteidigen. Ein Bruch der verfassungsmäßigen Ordnung liege nicht vor. Er mahnte stattdessen die Opposition, diese zu achten

26.10.2016 - 18:04 [ Fusion / Youtube ]

The Naked Truth: Trumpland

They have been called „deplorable“ but they have changed the face of presidential politics in 2016. Fusion is uncovering the real people that drive the Trump campaign.

26.10.2016 - 18:00 [ nj.com ]

Despite the pundits who‘ve decided the race is over, polls show the Donald refuses to die

On the one hand, we have a candidate who‘s accused of hiring crazed fanatics to aid in her campaign.

On the other hand, we have a candidate who gets crazed fanatics to help in his campaign for free.

Who‘s going to win? At the moment the most reliable poll in recent history is giving a slight edge to the guy who fires up fanatics for free.

That‘s Donald Trump, and as of Saturday the Investors Business Daily/TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence Poll had him leading Hillary Clinton by two points in a four-way race.

26.10.2016 - 17:52 [ Mother Jones ]

I Went Undercover With a Border Militia. Here‘s What I Saw.

We are in a Walmart parking lot in Nogales. Captain Pain and a couple of others go into the store to get supplies. In Pain‘s absence, Showtime is our commanding officer. He is a Marine special­-ops veteran who did three tours in Afghan­istan. He has camo paint on his face and a yeti beard. He gets in the cab to check Facebook on his phone while Destroyer, Jaeger, Spartan, and I stand with our backs to the truck, rifles in hand, keeping watch for anything suspicious. The Mexican border is three miles away.

26.10.2016 - 17:28 [ Washington Post ]

U.S. has secretly expanded its global network of drone bases to North Africa

Obama administration officials say they have tried to shore up Tunisia’s fledgling democracy and position the country as a key counterterrorism partner in the region. Though the drones operating out of Tunisia currently conduct only surveillance missions, U.S. officials said they could be armed in future, if Tunisia gives the United States permission. The Tunisian embassy in Washington declined to comment.

26.10.2016 - 17:17 [ Salon.com ]

We are torturers and murderers: America’s first casualty of war is the Constitution

(6.4.2016) Let’s face it: in times of war, the Constitution tends to take a beating. With the safety or survival of the nation said to be at risk, the basic law of the land — otherwise considered sacrosanct — becomes nonbinding, subject to being waived at the whim of government authorities who are impatient, scared, panicky, or just plain pissed off.

The examples are legion.

26.10.2016 - 17:16 [ Haaretz ]

Hillary’s War: Can a No-fly Zone Over Syria Work?

(19.10.2016) But unlike the wars that Washington has embarked on in the Middle East, no-fly zones have clear objectives and limits. They have been enforced three times – in Iraq, Bosnia and Libya – with various degrees of success.

Syria is in many ways a much more difficult situation, mainly because a large and well-equipped air force is already operating there with impunity. But that’s arguably why a no-fly zone is so urgently needed.

26.10.2016 - 14:23 [ Netzpolitik.org ]

Mehr Videoüberwachung: Minister de Maizière plant Gesetzesänderung

Bundesinnenminister Thomas de Maizière hat erneut seinen Willen betont, die Videoüberwachung an öffentlichen Plätzen mitsamt intelligenter Auswertungstechnik auszubauen. Dazu zählt die automatische Gesichtserkennung von Passanten an Flughäfen, Bahnhöfen oder Einkaufszentren. Der Minister setzt damit Vorhaben aus einem ganzen Paket an Überwachungsmaßnahmen in Gang, die im Sommer schon angedroht worden waren.

26.10.2016 - 14:16 [ Techdirt ]

The Clinton Campaign Should Stop Denying That The Wikileaks Emails Are Valid; They Are And They‘re Real

So it‘s been a bit bizarre watching people try to insist that the troves of John Podesta emails that Wikileaks has been releasing are somehow fake, doctored or manipulated. We recently wrote about Newsweek reporter Kurt Eichenwald going crazy insisting that he had proved that Wikileaks and the Russians teamed up to „manipulate“ an email. Of course, the reality turned out to be that a young American part-time reporter for a Russian-owned news site, had simply misread a tweet and turned it into an article. No big conspiracy. No manipulation. And, certainly, none of that has anything to do with Wikileaks (amusingly, Eichenwald then deleted all his tweets claiming proof that Wikileaks was a part of this conspiracy, and apparently tried to silence the young reporter by telling him he‘d try to get him a job elsewhere).

26.10.2016 - 14:09 [ James Petras ]

Washington’s ‘Pivot to Asia’: A Debacle Unfolding

The ‘pivot to Asia’ did not shift existing resources from the Middle East, it added military commitments to the region, while provoking more conflicts with Russia and China.

The “pivot to Asia” meant that the US was extending and deepening its regional military alliances in order to confront and encircle Russia and China. The goal would be to cripple their economies and foster social unrest leading to political instability and regime change.

The US onslaught for greater empire depended on the cooperation of proxies and allies to accomplish its strategic goals.

26.10.2016 - 14:05 [ RT ]

Russland: US-Koalition bombardiert mehrfach Zivilisten in Mossul – Über 60 Tote in nur drei Tagen

In den Medienberichten hieß es zuvor beispielsweise, dass Russland ein Krankenhaus in Aleppo angegriffen und zerstört hätte. Die jüngsten Aufnahmen belegen jedoch, dass das Krankenhaus nach wie vor unversehrt ist und die Vorwürfe somit haltlos. Rudskoi kam nach der Widerlegung der Vorwürfe wegen angeblicher Kriegsverbrechen in Syrien auf die Anti-IS-Operation in der irakischen Stadt Mossul, die letzte Woche begonnen wurde, zu sprechen und machte den USA schwere Vorwürfe.

26.10.2016 - 14:02 [ Techdirt ]

Appeals Court Says Government Doesn‘t Have To Disclose Contents Of Its Secret Terrorist Organization List

An attempt to force the government to reveal its secret list of terrorist groups has been shot down by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals [PDF]. The Heartland Alliance Immigrant Justice Center‘s FOIA request for „Tier III“ terrorist groups can remain unfulfilled. [h/t Brad Heath]

Without giving too much away (and neither the court nor the government does), „Tier III“ is apparently more nebulous and fluid than tiers I and II.

26.10.2016 - 14:01 [ Sputnik ]

Luftschläge auf Mossul: USA bitten Russland um mehr Daten

„Was die Vermutung über die zivilen Opfer betrifft, ist der Süden von Mossul eine große Region. Wir brauchen konkretere Informationen, um festzustellen, ob die Flugzeuge der Koalition in den fraglichen Vorfall verwickelt waren“, so der Koalitionssprecher. „Falls die russischen Behörden über mehr Informationen zu dieser Vermutung verfügen, bitten wir sie, uns diese mitzuteilen, damit wir ermitteln können“, hieß es.

26.10.2016 - 13:07 [ German Foreign Policy ]

Weltpolitik nach Obama (II)

Tatsächlich böte eine deutsche Opposition gegen eine als untragbar empfundene Politik der nächsten US-Administration eine populäre Legitimation für das alte Berliner Bestreben, eine führende Rolle in der Weltpolitik zu übernehmen.

26.10.2016 - 10:19 [ netzpolitik.org ]

„Save The Link“: EU-Parlamentarier gegen Oettingers Leistungsschutzrecht (Update)

„Wir haben in Deutschland schon einen ähnlichen Versuch gehabt, und da haben wir gesehen, dass es gescheitert ist.“ Es gebe keinen Grund zu der Annahme, dass das auf der europäischen Ebene anders wäre, erklären die Parlamentarier. Der Plan der Kommission sei absurd, denn er verfehle die digitale Wirklichkeit. „Links mit Anreißern sind Werbung für Artikel und nicht Diebstahl.“

26.10.2016 - 10:10 [ Heise ]

Fahrassistenten werden zum Problem für Waschanlagen

Grund seien beispielsweise Kollisionsvermeidungsysteme, die den Unterschied zwischen einer massiven Wand und den riesigen Reinigungsbürsten einer Waschstraße nicht erkennen können. Andere Systeme blockieren die Räder automatisch, wenn das Auto mehr als drei Sekunden gestanden hat – auch wenn es eigentlich durch eine Waschstraße gezogen werden soll.

26.10.2016 - 09:02 [ Guardian ]

Why Hillary Clinton‘s plans for no-fly zones in Syria could provoke US-Russia conflict

Retired senior US military pilots are increasingly alarmed that Hillary Clinton’s proposal for “no-fly zones” in Syria could lead to a military confrontation with Russia that could escalate to levels that were previously unthinkable in the post-cold war world.

The former strategists spoke to the Guardian as Clinton’s Republican rival Donald Trump warned that Clinton’s proposal to establish “safe zones” to protect beleaguered Syrian civilians would “lead to world war three”.

26.10.2016 - 08:55 [ CNN ]

Trump warns of World War III if Clinton is elected

„What we should do is focus on ISIS. We should not be focusing on Syria,“ Trump told Reuters on Tuesday morning at his resort in Doral, Florida. „You‘re going to end up in World War III over Syria if we listen to Hillary Clinton.“

The Republican nominee, who has called for a rapprochement with Russia in order to jointly combat ISIS, argued that his Democratic rival‘s calls for taking a more aggressive posture in Syria to bring the conflict there to an end and combat ISIS will only draw the US into a larger war.

26.10.2016 - 08:51 [ spiegel.de ]

Terrorgefahr: Innenminister für mehr Kameras in Stadien und Einkaufszentren

Den angekündigten Einsatz von Gesichtserkennungssystemen an Bahnhöfen und Flughäfen zur Fahndung nach Terrorverdächtigen will de Maizière dem „Handelsblatt“ zufolge in einem Pilotprojekt erproben. In der Antwort auf eine Kleine Anfrage der Grünen-Fraktion heißt es demnach, man sei darüber mit der Deutschen Bahn „in Abstimmung“.

26.10.2016 - 08:46 [ Alternative Daily ]

The FBI Has a Secret Biometric Database — What Does it Mean for You?

(Mai 2016) Fueling suspicion is the fact that the agency is very secretive about its program and wants to keep it exempt from the requirements of the Privacy Act, the 1974 law that regulates what the federal government can and cannot do with information about citizens. In particular, federal officials do not want to disclose who is in the database or why they are in there.

Presently, there are between 50 million and 70 million people in the FBI’s registry. The information the agency has includes iris scans, voice recordings and gait measures, as well as records of scars, tattoos and other distinguishing characteristics.

26.10.2016 - 08:41 [ Wikipedia ]

Next Generation Identification

Next Generation Identification (NGI) is a project of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The project‘s goal is to expand the capabilities of the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), which is currently used by law enforcement to identify subjects by their fingerprints and to look up their criminal history. T

26.10.2016 - 08:30 [ analytik-news.de ]

Bioinformatisches Tool zur Durchsuchung von Sequenzierungsdaten

Zunächst war etwa 30 Jahre lang fürs Entziffern des DNA-Codes von Mikroben die 1975 entwickelte Sanger-Sequenzierung vorherrschend. Mit dieser Methode konnte die Abfolge der Bausteine auf der DNA aufgeklärt werden – das läutete die Ära der Genomforschung ein. Inzwischen haben die sogenannten Next Generation Sequencing-Technologien (NGS) zu einer weiteren Revolution geführt: Die aktuellen Geräte können mit geringem personellem Aufwand innerhalb von 24 Stunden so viele Daten erzeugen wie zuvor hundert Durchläufe der ersten DNA-Sequenzierungsmethode.