From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
It has handed a $1.7 million (£1.4 million) grant to researchers from Cornell University, who are working to build a system which can “conduct surveillance as a single entity with many eyes”.
The cash was handed over by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, which is dedicated to developing new forms of military and civilian technology. Continue reading “U.S. Navy funds development of robot surveillance system which can spy on humans in incredible detail”
New York Times – by Vindu Goel
SAN FRANCISCO — Fingerprint sensors have turned modern smartphones into miracles of convenience. A touch of a finger unlocks the phone — no password required. With services like Apple Pay or Android Pay, a fingerprint can buy a bag of groceries, a new laptop or even a $1 million vintage Aston Martin. And pressing a finger inside a banking app allows the user to pay bills or transfer thousands of dollars.
While such wizardry is convenient, it has also left a gaping security hole.
Continue reading “That Fingerprint Sensor on Your Phone Is Not as Safe as You Think”
New York Daily News – by Laura Dimon
Cops busted a mentally unstable man who walked into a Bronx junior high school on Friday clutching a glass vial that he claimed was a “chemical nerve agent” — prompting a school evacuation — police said.
Ryan Roderick, 45, temporarily escaped the law until he returned hours later and was cuffed at the scene. Continue reading “Man claiming to have ‘chemical nerve agent’ busted at Bronx junior high school”
Rep. Maxine Waters (D, Calif.) slammed President Donald Trump on Sunday for his temporary refugee ban and backed a MoveOn.org petition calling for the United States to take in 100,000 Syrian refugees.
MoveOn.org held a publicized telephone call with Waters on Sunday, when she claimed that if Trump “really cared about the plight of Syrian children … he would rescind his executive order banning Syrian refugees.” Continue reading “Maxine Waters Supports 100,000 More Syrian Refugees in U.S.”
Nearly one year ago, Americans across the country initiated a boycott over Target’s transgender bathroom policy. Now, the company reveals the boycott really hurt the company’s bottom line.
On April 19 of 2016, Target publicized their bathroom policy in a blog post. The store stated their policy was that customers were welcome to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with, despite concerns over child safety. Continue reading “New report shows Target is feeling the devastating effects of their transgender bathroom policy”
Bloomberg – by Lindsey Rupp , Lauren Coleman-Lochner , and Nick Turner
The battered American retail industry took a few more lumps this week, with stores at both ends of the price spectrum preparing to close their doors.
At the bottom, the seemingly ubiquitous Payless Inc. shoe chain filed for bankruptcy and announced plans to shutter hundreds of locations. Ralph Lauren Corp., meanwhile, said it will close its flagship Fifth Avenue Polo store — a symbol of old-fashioned luxury that no longer resonates with today’s shoppers. Continue reading “America’s Retailers Are Closing Stores Faster Than Ever”
Bleeping Computer – by Catalin Cimpanu
Even before its official launch, smartphone experts are criticizing Samsung Galaxy S8 phones after one of their colleagues managed to bypass the facial recognition feature that ships with these phones by flashing a photo of himself in front of the phone.
In terms of bypass techniques, facial recognition systems getting fooled by photos is as bad as it gets, right there with storing passwords in cleartext. Continue reading “You Can Bypass Facial Recognition on New Samsung Galaxy S8 Phones Using a Photo”
Bleeping Computer – by Catalin Cimpanu
Microsoft turned a new leaf today and published a list of diagnostics data the company will be collecting from users of Windows 10 Creators Update, scheduled for launch next week, on April 11.
The list’s publication came as a surprise for all, as Microsoft has been very secretive about the telemetry data Windows 10 collected in the past. Continue reading “Microsoft Reveals for the First Time the Data It Collects in Windows 10”
Cue the outrage…
This British Headteacher of West Rise Junior School is giving kids an education that they will never forget.
He’s taking kids outdoors and having them shoot, pluck, gut, and cook pigeons over an open fire. Continue reading “BAD@SS ALERT: School Teaches KIDS To Shoot, Kill, Clean & EAT Animals – Suck On That PETA”
USA Today – by William Cummings
Fox News host Bill O’Reilly may have apologized for saying Maxine Waters had a “James Brown wig,” but Wednesday night the California congresswoman performed the big payback.
“Bill O’Reilly needs to go to jail,” Waters said in an interview on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes, in which she also called O’Reilly’s network a “sexual harassment enterprise.” Continue reading “Maxine Waters: O’Reilly ‘needs to go to jail’; Fox a ‘sexual harassment enterprise’”
The Blaze – by Tré Goins-Phillips
The largest developer and manufacturer of Tasers and police surveillance equipment announced Wednesday that it plans to offer body cameras — free of charge — to every police officer in the United States.
Taser International, which just changed its name to Axon, announced that the initiative will also provide law enforcement offices with supporting hardware, software, data storage, and training for one year, also free, CNBC reported. Continue reading “Company plans to offer free body cameras to every police officer in the United States”
ZD Net – by Zack Whittaker for Zero Day
Several users have complained that ads served through Microsoft’s Skype app are serving malicious downloads, which if opened, can trigger ransomware.
News of the issue came from a Reddit thread on Wednesday, in which the original poster said that Skype’s home screen — the first screen that shows up on consumer versions of the software — was pushing a fake, malicious ad, purporting to be a critical update for the Flash web plug-in. Continue reading “Skype users hit by ransomware through in-app malicious ads”
A fighter jet has crashed in a wooded area about two miles south of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, a fire official said about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Homes near the scene are being evacuated as a precaution due to the possibility of hazardous materials, Mark Brady of Prince George’s County Fire & EMS said. Authorities are knocking on the doors of homes and are alerting residents. Continue reading “F-16 Jet Crashes Near Joint Base Andrews”
Bloomberg – by Anthony Capaccio
The U.S. Air Force’s military transport chief is tapping Silicon Valley, the defense industry and the Pentagon’s new innovation office in search of electronic cloaking technologies out of “Star Trek” to shrink the profiles of aerial tankers on enemy radar.
“I’ve got airplanes with big fat bodies and long wings,” General Carlton Everhart, head of the Air Mobility Command, said Tuesday in an interview at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York. “I’ve got first-generation tankers refueling fifth-gen fighters. The enemy doesn’t have to look for the fighter — he just has to look for me.” Continue reading “This Air Force General Wants a Cloaking Device for His Aerial Tankers”
Payless ShoeSource filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday.
It’s the latest blow to brick-and-mortar retailers, which are struggling to survive in the age of Amazon (AMZN, Tech30). Online shopping has caused a decline in foot traffic at America’s malls, once a mainstay for companies like Payless. Continue reading “Payless ShoeSource is filing for bankruptcy”
STOCKHOLM (AP) — The syringe slides in between the thumb and index finger. Then, with a click, a microchip is injected in the employee’s hand. Another “cyborg” is created.
What could pass for a dystopian vision of the workplace is almost routine at the Swedish startup hub Epicenter. The company offers to implant its workers and startup members with microchips the size of grains of rice that function as swipe cards: to open doors, operate printers, or buy smoothies with a wave of the hand. Continue reading “Cyborgs at work: employees getting implanted with microchips”
