Journal ISSN 1078-1935 – Page 1614 – Public Intelligence Blog

Germany, France to mastermind European data network – bypassing US

Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande will review plans to build up a trustworthy data protection network in Europe. The challenge is to avoid data passing through the US after revelations of mass NSA spying in Germany and France.

Merkel has been one of the biggest supporters of greater data protection in Europe since the revelations that the US tapped her phone emerged in a Der Spiegel news report in October, based on information leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Earlier, France learned from reports in Le Monde that the NSA has also been recording dozens of millions of French phone calls, including those of the French authorities. According to the report, in just one month between December 10, 2012 and January 8, 2013, the NSA recorded a total of 70.3 million French phone calls.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Germany, France to mastermind European data network – bypassing US”

2014/02/17

SchwartzReport: One in Four Americans Dumb As A Rock

Cultural Intelligence

Here we see the dark cloud of the New Dark Ages Trend. What is the future of a country whose citizens have reverted to medieval thinking?

One in Four Americans ‘Do Not Know the Earth Circles the Sun'
BARNEY HENDERSON – The Telegraph (U.K.)

One in four Americans are completely unfamiliar with Nicolaus Copernicus's 1543 theory that the Earth circles the Sun, according to a study by the National Science Foundation.

The survey, released on Friday at an annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, asked 2,200 people nine factual questions about physical and biological science, with the average score being just 5.8 correct answers.

The question – “Does the Earth go around the Sun, or does the Sun go around the Earth” – was answered incorrectly by 26 per cent of respondents.

Fewer than half of the respondents – 48 per cent – are aware that humans evolved from earlier species of animals and just 39 percent answered correctly that “the universe began with a huge explosion”.

A total of 42 per cent of Americans said that astrology is either “very scientific” or “sort of scientific”.

2014/02/16

Eagle: Citizen Summary of All the Ways US Government Tracks Citizens & Activists

07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Law Enforcement, Military

300 Million Talons... — 300 Million Talons…

How Do They Track Thee? Let Me Count the Ways…

Sat, 15 Feb 2014 10:00:00 PST

By Foster Gamble with Nick Alheit

As we said in the movie THRIVE, “Every phone call and email we send is collected and archived, and can be inspected at any time.”

Some viewers were skeptical… “they wouldn’t do that even if they could, which they can’t”. Fast forward to the days of Edward Snowden style wake-up calls, and it’s actually being admitted. Proven liar-to-Congress, James “No…Not wittingly” Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, has finally admitted that the NSA surveils this country’s entire domestic population.

So what’s it all about?

Read full article.

2014/02/16

Berto Jongman: Nullify NSA Movement Grows – Utah Legislation Could Cut Off All Water to the NSA Data Center

Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Military

Utah — Achilles' Heel of the Surveillance State

Justin Raimondo

OpEdNews, 2/15/2014

The movement to end the Surveillance State is finally getting serious. With the failure by Congress to rein in the NSA — although the heroic Rep. Justin Amash nearly succeeded in doing so — activists on the state level are mounting a campaign that promises to hit Big Brother where it really hurts — by cutting off the NSA's water supply at its Bluffdale, Utah, Data Center.

A bill introduced in the Utah legislature by state representative Marc Roberts (R-Santaquin) would cut off the water supply to the NSA's massive facility which will gobble up 1.7 million gallons of water per day — in a state already hit hard by a region-wide drought.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Nullify NSA Movement Grows – Utah Legislation Could Cut Off All Water to the NSA Data Center”

2014/02/162014/02/16

Jean Lievens: Amsterdam enabled private rentals as non-businesses, encouraging the sharing economy

Civil Society, Commerce, Ethics, Government

Amsterdam adopts new private rental policy that benefits Airbnb hosts and the sharing economy

By Josh Ong,

The Next Web, Thursday, 13 Feb '14

The city of Amsterdam has approved a new set of rules that allows residents to rent out their homes on Airbnb with less red tape. Previously, Amsterdam required renters to secure permits in order to list on Airbnb, a move that wasn’t exactly a ban, but did serve as an obstacle to would-be hosts.

Under the new policy, citizens can classify their houses as “Private Rentals.” They’ll still have to pay taxes on the income, and renters that cross the line into running a business may be subject to investigation.

Airbnb’s Head of Global Public Policy David Hantman celebrated the rules as “great news” for the startup’s customers.

Continue reading “Jean Lievens: Amsterdam enabled private rentals as non-businesses, encouraging the sharing economy”

2014/02/16

Eagle: Consumer manipulation pace set by casinos with confusion by design; addictiveness by design; and use of play money

Commerce, Corruption

Casinos’ worrying knack for consumer manipulation

The spread of machine gambling offers a portent of other economic developments

Tim Harford, Undercover Economist

What if the future of capitalism is not to be found in Shenzhen, Abu Dhabi or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab – but in the Nevada desert? Natasha Dow Schüll, an anthropologist, has spent 15 years conducting field research in Las Vegas, culminating in a disturbing book, Addiction by Design. We are used to thinking of Vegas as a city of gaudy spectacle and the green baize of poker, blackjack and roulette tables. It is now a city of slot machines, which have grown like weeds because they are fantastically profitable. And the spread of machine gambling offers a worrisome portent of developments elsewhere in the economy.

Three slot-machine innovations stand out: first, confusion by design; second, addictiveness by design; third, the use of play money. All have been made possible by the digital automation of the machine itself, which in Las Vegas as elsewhere eliminates the skilled service jobs of croupiers and replaces them with highly paid jobs in interface design and low-paid work as a security guard or waitress.

Continue reading “Eagle: Consumer manipulation pace set by casinos with confusion by design; addictiveness by design; and use of play money”

2014/02/162014/02/16

Stephen E. Arnold: Baidu Chinese Search Engine Company Moves Against Google

IO Technologies

Baidu, Chinese Search Engine Company Expands Into New Markets

The article on ITWorld titled China’s Baidu Testing Search Engines for Brazil, Egypt, Thailand explores the ambition of China’s premier search engine. For some years the company has contemplated moving beyond China, and in 2008 began targeting Japan. Now they are readying to move into Egpyt, Thailand and Brazil, although the search sites are still currently in the internal testing phase according to Baidu spokesman Kaiser Kuo. The article explains,

“The three sites can be found at www.baidu.com.eg, www.baidu.co.th, www.baidu.net.br and are designed in the local language of each market. In addition to a search bar, the landing pages to the sites offer direct links to popular services such as Facebook, YouTube, as well as Hao123, Baidu’s own local Web directory. Besides Web search, the sites also contain different features such as image and video search, along with language translation.”

The expansion into international waters means contending with Google, the giant that claims just under 70% of all searches as of December 2013. In the same month Baidu accounted for just under 20% of searches on desktop PCs. Spokesman Kuo made it clear that Baidu is not content to stop at Egypt, Thailand and Brazil, but plans to develop search engines for other nations too, and is currently building an office in Shenzhen solely for international operations.

Chelsea Kerwin, February 16, 2014

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