CNN's iReport turning 1 million Google Glass wearers into spies
CNN has become the first news agency to integrate Google Glass stream reporting to their breaking newsroom through the iReport platform for wearable technology.
This 'citizen spying portal' called iReport allows Google Glass wearers to be assigned journalistic tasks such as bringing news to CNN of first-hand, real-time incidents with photos, video and interviews.
iReport gives average people the chance to “contribute stories” on CNN’s news website. Three years ago, an estimated 1 million individuals registered to be part of iReport.
One million citizen spies using facial recognition software!
The addition of the use of Google Glass adds an element of expansion to CNN’s program. The iReport portal has been tested for its acceptance among US audiences and is currently not an international program.
Katie Hawkins-Gear, editor for iReport, explained: “From an iReport standpoint, making it easier for people to upload iReports and share stories with CNN is key for us.
The Google Glass functionality is part of that. We’re also focused on better integration with social networks like Instagram, where countless people are sharing amazing images and stories every day.”
Lambda Labs is developing a facial recognition app for Google Glass users.
The success of the beta-test in 2012 brought together an international initiative for a common goal: to create a biometric control that would become a trendy addition to Google Glass.
The app will remember your friend’s face, find your friend in a crowd, match “interesting” potential persons for networking purposes, highlight “intelligence contacts” and more.
Steve Lee, director of product management for Google Glass claims : “We’ve consistently said that we won’t add new face recognition features to our services unless we have strong privacy protections in place.”
However, Google Glass is expected to be fitted with technology that will allow the user to take a picture of a person and use their biometric information to collect personal data on them nearly instantaneously. While the app has yet to manifest, users of Google+ are subject to facial recognition software online.
http://www.occupycorporatism.com/home/cnn-ireport-turns-google-glass-wearers-citizen-journalists/
Privacy complaint against Snapchat results in 20-Year FTC consent order:
Following a 2013 EPIC complaint, the FTC has signed a consent order with Snapchat, the publisher of a mobile app that encourages user to share intimate photos and videos.
Another private company encouraging citizens to spy on each other and what's the common denominator? Its the money Snapchat is worth $800 million!
Snapchat claimed that pictures and videos would "disappear forever." However, the images could be retrieved by others. As EPIC wrote in the complaint "Snapchat photos and videos remain available to others even after users are informed that the photos and videos have been deleted."
“Despite Snapchat’s claims, the complaint describes several simple ways that recipients could save snaps indefinitely,” the FTC said in a press release.
The FTC went into detail on how even those people who aren’t particularly tech-savvy could save Snaps. “When a recipient got a video message, Snapchat stored the file in a location outside of the app’s ‘sandbox,’ the private storage area on the device that other apps can’t access.
Because the file was in an unrestricted place, the recipient could connect their device to a computer and use simple browsing tools to locate and save the video,” the blog post says. “That method was widely publicized as early as December 2012, but the FTC says Snapchat didn’t fix the flaw until almost a year later when it began encrypting video files sent through the app.”
The complaint also detailed how Snapchat deceived its users regarding the amount of personal data it collected and the security measures taken to protect that data. It accused Snapchat of “failure to secure its Find Friends feature resulted in a security breach that enabled attackers to compile a database of 4.6 million Snapchat usernames and phone numbers,” the statement said.
“If a company markets privacy and security as key selling points in pitching its service to consumers, it is critical that it keep those promises,” FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said in the statement.
“Any company that makes misrepresentations to consumers about its privacy and security practices risks FTC action.”
Under the settlement, Snapchat will be subject to 20 years of privacy audits, and will be prohibited from making false claims about its privacy policies. EPIC pursued similar claims involve false promises about data deletion with AskEraser.
http://epic.org/2014/05/epics-snapchat-privacy-complai.html
Senator John McCain: Americans should “accept” that their private conversations are being monitored
Senator John McCain told a radio show recently that Americans should “accept” the notion that their private conversations are being recorded by the government, even in the privacy of their own homes.
McCain was asked by host Dan Patrick what his thoughts were on the Donald Sterling controversy, in particular the concept of private conversations being recorded and then released publicly. Sterling’s controversial remarks became public after his girlfriend V. Stiviano taped hundreds of hours of private discussions between the two. “What about taping somebody in his own home, using that…..” asked Patrick. “It’s the world we’re living in, you don’t like it, but everything I say I expect to be recorded,” McCain responded.“It’s just the way we live, Dan. It’s something you’ve got to accept. I don’t particularly like it, but it is what it is,” added the Senator, making reference to a recent poll which revealed that 53% of Americans believed their telephone conversations were being listened to. McCain went on to remark that young people were naive about government surveillance of private communications because the country had forgotten the lessons of 9/11. “We’re all grown people and we have to realize we live in the 21st century,” added McCain. Though McCain denied that the NSA was listening to every telephone conversation in America, as former NSA employee turned whistleblower William Binney has emphasized on multiple occasions, the space required to store mere metadata and not actual content of conversations is minimal. The reason the NSA is building huge data centers which cover 1.5 million square feet, like the facility in Bluffdale, Utah, is because the agency is storing actual content of phone calls, online chats and conversations. Indeed, according to Binney, the NSA is analyzing conversations in real time and has a Google-style search capability for all our communications.http://www.infowars.com/mccain-americans-should-accept-that-their-private-conversations-are-being-monitored/
Police using private security company to spy on residents:
Newport News, VA. – Shaundra Newby is one of about ten security officers taking action to assist police and take back the streets of Newport News.
“I’ve noticed that as soon as my car comes up, they scatter,” she says. “I’m serious about this job. I take it very serious.”
They all work for New Hope Security Company, a private business that reached out to police to find a way to help.
On foot and in marked cars, the security officers patrol the East End of the city from 39th street to the river. It’s an area typically riddled with criminal activity.
“The more eyes and the more ears we have out there the better we can do our job,” says Newport News Police officer Capt. Keith Hartman.
Some of the security officers are legally armed, however Hartman says their job is only to observe. Up until now, he says there have been no issues.
“I know that they’ve called the police dispatch to let them know so far what they’ve observed,” Capt. Hartman says. “So far so good.”
So now private companies are spying on citizens and reporting, sending in photos or videos of whoever they deem suspicious. You can bet EVERY single report is forwarded to the Virginia Fusion Center, where DHS will store your report indefinitely.
Newby says just their presence has had an impact. (Of course it will have an impact, you're a private company openly spying on citizens!)
“Definitely if I go park in that parking lot over there they’ll be gone within a few minutes because they don’t like being watched,” she says.
No one likes being watched, Period!
http://wtkr.com/2014/05/09/private-security-company-takes-action-to-fight-crime-in-east-end-of-newport-news/
http://wavy.com/2014/05/09/security-guard-team-up-with-nn-police/
http://www.wvec.com/my-city/nnews/Newport-News-police-team-up-with-security-firm-to-fight-crime--258721931.html