[LINK] Technology and privacy

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Six Technologies and Privacy

Number six is especially surprising to me .. molecular level scanning?


1. Our TVs are watching us back. An IT consultant in England got suspicious 
after he noticed that his shiny new LG smart TV began showing him targeted 
advertisement based on programs he’d just been watching. So he used his 
laptop to monitor wireless traffic between the TV and his Wi-Fi receiver, 
and discovered every show he watched and every button he pressed on his 
remote control were being sent back to LG’s corporate headquarters in South 
Korea.

London's Daily Mail wanted to know: What if someone were giving credit card 
information to a shopping app that comes with these smart TVs? That might 
be intercepted by an identity thief. It certainly argues against a "smart 
TV."


2. Street lights that can record conversations. Illuminating Concepts makes 
LED-based streetlights called Intellistreets, which can auto-adjust to the 
brightness outside to help save power. They also include a Wi-Fi connection 
and built-in speaker, to stream audio broadcasts to anyone within earshot. 
Oh, and they also have audio and video recorders. These are supposedly to 
field calls for assistance; but if you're walking in a city with 
Intellistreets, like with Las Vegas or Branson, Missouri, how comfortable 
are you knowing that the lampposts have Wi-Fi transmitters, a camera, and a 
microphone?

Also included: proximity sensors to record pedestrian and road traffic, and 
optional video displays to broadcast advertising, Amber Alerts, and other 
"civic announcements." And yes, this was with paid for with federal funds.


3. Police using data-extraction devices on cell phones. A cop asks for you 
license, registration, and cell phone. In his car, your phone is connected 
to Cellebrite to download your text messages, photos, video, and even GPS 
data. Your four-digit security code can't hide your naughty sexting. The 
law is on your side in this -- for now. The Michigan State Police, the 
first force in the nation to adopt Cellebrite, only uses the devices after 
obtaining a search warrant or the phone's owner's consent. But given the 
histories of some police departments, I'm wary.

Cellebrite's products are used to transfer your data from an old phone to a 
new one at a cell phone story, so this is another case of questionable use 
of good technology. 


4. Palantir Technologies, Lord of the Spy Rings. Palantir started to help 
PayPal fight against fraud, but has since moved into Big Data analytics for 
the FBI, CIA, and others. Its advisors include former Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice and former CIA director George Tenet.

Palantir identifies related pieces of information in dozens or hundreds of 
databases within an organization and puts everything together at incredible 
speed. It can help banks find fraudsters -- but it can know your every 
move. Rumors say Palantir was involved in finding Osama Bin Laden. With 
Palantir, the FBI can quickly assemble dossiers on citizens, "tying 
together surveillance video outside a drugstore with credit-card 
transactions, cell-phone call records, e-mails, airplane travel records, 
and Web search information."


5. Software that will analyze and store millions of voices. The NSA's 
metadata collection was just the beginning. Federal agencies and law 
enforcement are using a database called VoiceGrid Nation and developed by 
Russia's Speech Technology Center (which operates under the name SpeechPro 
in the United States) to scan and identify voices on phone calls within 
seconds.

When authorities intercept a call and they're not sure who is speaking, 
VoiceGrid is called into action. SpeechPro claims 90 percent accuracy if 
the recording is decent quality and more than 15 seconds in length.

The company's president says the software is being is used in 70 countries 
to collect, store, and match voice recordings of intercepted conversations. 
Why were they intercepted? Why do you need to know that?


6. Molecular scanners that can secretly scan you from 164 feet away. Genia 
Photonics makes a laser scanner technology that it says is able to 
"penetrate clothing and many other organic materials and offers 
spectroscopic information, especially for materials that impact safety such 
as explosives and pharmacological substances." Genia claims it can identify 
individual cancer cells in a real-time scan or detect trace amounts of 
harmful chemicals in sensitive manufacturing processes.

But as always, it's not so much the technology itself as how it can be used 
or misused. With Genia's tech, the Department of Homeland Security will be 
able to scan you from up to 164 feet away for traces of drugs or explosives 
on your clothes, or even for changes in your biochemistry -- if your 
adrenaline levels are up, they might want to have a talk with you.


Ref: <http://www.arnnet.com.au/slideshow/536548/pictures_8_privacy-
destroying_technologies_should_scare/?image=1>
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Cheers,
Stephen

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