Public Intelligence Blog – Page 2364 – The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.

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Phone Data Value And What Companies Are Doing With It

May 23, 2013

Smartphones are an extension of a person’s life and they record it every time a person uses it. Smithsonian Magazine takes a look at how phone companies are tracking and using the data from phones in, “What Phone Companies Are Doing With All That Data From Your Phone.” Verizon Wireless is aware of the phone data goldmine and has added a new division called Precision Market Insights and Telefonica is adding a new business unit Telefonica Dynamic Insights to do the same thing. Phone data is being used for market, medical, and social science research. The biggest usage is tracking how people move in real time. The data collected is supposed to remain anonymous, but that is not happening.

People can be tracked:

“But a study published in Scientific Reports in March found that even data made anonymous may not be so anonymous after all. A team of researchers from Louvain University in Belgium, Harvard and M.I.T. found that by using data from 15 months of phone use by 1.5 million people, together with a similar dataset from Foursquare, they could identify about 95 percent of the cell phones users with just four data points and 50 percent of them with just two data points. A data point is an individual’s approximate whereabouts at the approximate time they’re using their cell phone.”

People’s travel and cell phone patterns are repetitive and unique, making it easy to narrow down results to an individual user. Anonymity is a hard thing to achieve with a smartphone. To confuse the data, a person could get two mobile phones, but then does that increase the fun or increase the risk?

Whitney Grace, May 23, 2013

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search

2013/05/232013/05/23

Neal Rauhauser: One World, Three Conflict Zones (Americas, Middle East/Muslims, Asia/Pacific)

Key Players, Peace Intelligence, Policies, Strategy, Threats

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One World, Three Reporting Domains

There are 249 sovereign territories, one sovereign military order, and a few bits of terra nullius that remain unclaimed for obscure reasons. The foreign policy challenges the U.S. faces can be separated into three broad geographic zones – Central & South America, The Muslim World, and the Pacific Rim & Southeast Asia.

I had a good reading background and I spent the first quarter of 2013 focused on The Muslim World. Having sorted out the good news sources and collected a bunch of maps in the process, I determined that simply staying on top of happenings is a full time job. I have not done the same with the other two regions, but I am going to assume that the Pacific Rim & Southeast Asia is roughly the same volume of work, while Central & South America is slightly less busy.

Continue reading “Neal Rauhauser: One World, Three Conflict Zones (Americas, Middle East/Muslims, Asia/Pacific)”

2013/05/232013/05/23

Berto Jongman: Tom Engelhardt on Terracide by Terraists — Legalized Crime Destroying Earth & Humanity — Beyond Genocide, Beyond Ecocide

Commerce, Corruption, Earth Intelligence, Government, Lessons, Officers Call, Threats

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Terracide and the Terrarists

Destroying the Planet for Record Profits

By Tom Engelhardt

We have a word for the conscious slaughter of a racial or ethnic group: genocide. And one for the conscious destruction of aspects of the environment: ecocide. But we don’t have a word for the conscious act of destroying the planet we live on, the world as humanity had known it until, historically speaking, late last night. A possibility might be “terracide” from the Latin word for earth. It has the right ring, given its similarity to the commonplace danger word of our era: terrorist.

The truth is, whatever we call them, it’s time to talk bluntly about the terrarists of our world. Yes, I know, 9/11 was horrific. Almost 3,000 dead, massive towers down, apocalyptic scenes. And yes, when it comes to terror attacks, the Boston Marathon bombings weren’t pretty either. But in both cases, those who committed the acts paid for or will pay for their crimes.

In the case of the terrarists — and here I’m referring in particular to the men who run what may be the most profitable corporations on the planet, giant energy companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP, and Shell — you’re the one who’s going to pay, especially your children and grandchildren. You can take one thing for granted: not a single terrarist will ever go to jail, and yet they certainly knew what they were doing.

It wasn’t that complicated. In recent years, the companies they run have been extracting fossil fuels from the Earth in ever more frenetic and ingenious ways. The burning of those fossil fuels, in turn, has put record amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Only this month, the CO2 level reached 400 parts per million for the first time in human history. A consensus of scientists has long concluded that the process was warming the world and that, if the average planetary temperature rose more than two degrees Celsius, all sorts of dangers could ensue, including seas rising high enough to inundate coastal cities, increasingly intense heat waves, droughts, floods, ever more extreme storm systems, and so on.

How to Make Staggering Amounts of Money and Do In the Planet

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Tom Engelhardt on Terracide by Terraists — Legalized Crime Destroying Earth & Humanity — Beyond Genocide, Beyond Ecocide”

2013/05/232013/05/23

Berto Jongman: 5 Ways to Achieve Open Informed World

Cultural Intelligence

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Top 5 ways to achieve an open and informed world

Thinking about World Press Freedom Day earlier this month, I found myself asking: why does it matter? One of the key messages of this annual event is that freedom of the press, and by extension, expression, is more than just an important right. It is also central to creating informed, open societies.

An informed society is one where citizens have the resources, education and skills to access and participate in the free flow of reliable and useful information through a diverse range of platforms and media organizations that empower them to make considered decisions about their economic, social and political lives.

Like so many of today’s challenges, it’s easier to identify examples of what isn’t working than what is. Every year, organizations like Freedom House and Reporters Without Borders release statistics and examples of governments that are clamping down on free speech, or placing restrictions on expression. In much of their research, there is a correlation between dictatorial or authoritarian regimes and a lack of open discussion.

And yet even in supposedly more liberal countries, freedom of speech does not guarantee a properly informed society. Social media provides a platform on which anyone can share their views, but recent cases have shown that this isn’t always a good thing. Just look at the aftermath of the Boston bombings, where false information was spreading across Twitter, and crowd sourcing websites like Reddit identified innocent people as criminals. Soon after, the Associated Press Twitter feed was hacked, causing a stock market fall after pranksters announced an attack on President Obama.

It’s clear, then, that having the right resources and access to information is still not enough for an informed society to flourish. People need to have the skills to be able to navigate this new media landscape. How do we stay informed in a world where our traditional media and tools for doing so are declining or even collapsing? Conversely, how can we exploit the new media, and capitalize on its promise to keep societies better informed? What should governments, corporations, civil society and the media industries themselves do?

Ultimately, an integrated approach will be needed, since every stakeholder stands to benefit from a truly informed society. There are five dimensions and corresponding principles for achieving an open and informed world.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: 5 Ways to Achieve Open Informed World”

2013/05/232013/05/23

Jon Rappoport: White House Blood Relative with CBS News President — How Benghazi Exposure Was Stopped

Corruption, Government, Media

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Explosive: president of CBS News and WH Benghazi fiction-writer are blood brothers

President of CBS News and WH Benghazi fiction-writer are blood brothers

by Jon Rappoport

May 23, 2013

www.nomorefakenews.com

Just a coincidence. Nothing to see. Move along.

Remember the Benghazi attacks? Remember how the White House rewrote their talking points to scrub out mention of a terrorist attack?

Well, here are some new talking points.

Point one: Star CBS investigative reporter, Sharyl Attkisson, has been discussing leaving CBS since April. She can’t get some of her Benghazi stories on the air. Attkisson was hot on the trail of figuring out who, at the White House, rewrote the Benghazi talking points.

Point two: One sure candidate at the White House? Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser and “mind-melding” speechwriter.

Point three: Who is Ben Rhodes’ brother? He is David Rhodes, who happens to be Sharyl Attkisson’s boss, the president of CBS News.

Point four: Read point three again.

Point five: Those White House Benghazi rewrites scrubbed prior mention of “terror attacks.”

Point six: Again, reporter Attkisson was hot on the trail of the White House fiction writers—which could have led to her boss’s brother.

Point seven: Again, Attkisson got into hot water at CBS for her Benghazi coverage.

Point eight: Again, the president of CBS News, her boss, is the brother of the man who helped organize the White House fiction writing on Benghazi.

The Daily Caller broke this story.

Point nine: Somebody has been fiddling with reporter Attkisson’s computers. Attkisson has been assembling evidence on the what and the who for several months.

You’re welcome, CBS. I just wanted to arrange all this information so you could release it in coherent form.

My question is: who at your network will do the rewrites on my talking points? I’d like to be in the room.

The September 2012 Benghazi attacks killed US Ambassador Christopher Stevens, embassy information officer Sean Smith, and embassy security officers Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.

The White House, in their talking-points rewrites, wanted to avoid calling this a planned terrorist attack. Why? Because investigating the terrorists opens the door to the matter of their funding and support.

That investigation, unimpeded, could lead to the fact that the US government has been recruiting, arming, and using thugs/terrorists/mercenaries from Libya to destabilize parts of Africa and the Middle East.

And then we would come to the possibility that some of those US recruits attacked the Benghazi embassy in 2012.

These talking points, of course, aren’t in the CBS or White House portfolio. They’re buried deep under the White House, under CIA buildings in Langley, and under CBS News headquarters at Black Rock in New York.

Jon Rappoport

2013/05/23

SchwartzReport: Growing Global Challenge to Monsanto GMO Greed

01 Poverty, 03 Environmental Degradation, 07 Other Atrocities, Commerce, Corruption, Earth Intelligence, Government

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I take this to be good news about bad news. Finally, the reality of Monsanto is beginning to be understood. There is nothing new here; it will all be familiar to regular SR readers. (See: The Great Experiment: Genetically Modified Organisms, Scientific Integrity, and National Wellness. But this essay puts it all into one package and, I think, you will be able to see why I believe Monsanto is an evil corporation.

The common problem we face is the power of concentrated wealth and monopolistic corporate interests. This has created a crony capitalist economy that uses government to further enrich the wealthy at the expense of the people, often threatening our basic necessities for life. A clear example of this is found in the behavior of the chemical and seed corporation, Monsanto.Monsanto threatens the world's food supply; this is a major challenge of our era. This struggle is central to the global ecosystem, economy and energy crises. Monsanto also pushes poisonous chemicals into the environment and promotes agricultural practices that exacerbate climate change.

Monsanto's actions truly affect each of us. They put their profits over the need for healthy foods, diverse seed supplies and the stability of the agricultural economy. They employ a variety of tools to control access to seeds and aggressively push genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and toxic chemicals despite serious safety concerns about them. And they accomplish this with great help from the US government.

When President Obama appointed a Monsanto lobbyist, Michael Taylor, as the “food czar” (officially the deputy commissioner for foods) – avoiding the Senate confirmation process, which would have brought public attention to the appointment – it was one more example of how corrupted both parties have become by corporate influence.

A global grassroots movement is building to challenge Monsanto as more people realize that we are in a struggle for our survival. May 25 is a global day of action against Monsanto taking place in hundreds of cities and 41 countries. Monsanto must be stopped before its unfettered greed destroys our health and environment. We urge you to join the effort to stop Monsanto.

Monsanto: A Threat to Public Health and the Environment
Continue reading “SchwartzReport: Growing Global Challenge to Monsanto GMO Greed”

2013/05/23

ADMIN: Network Solutions India Site Hosed — Upgrading in June

IO Impotency

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Apologies to all who could not access the site for half the day today. Our understanding is that Network Solutions has realized its capabilities in India are not up to the requirement, and that they are building out a completely new solution for roll-over in June or July. However, Network Solutions has failed to communicate to its many customers — including Gold customers — its recognition of the problem and its plans with date certain for resolving them.

At this time Network Solutions has dropped from #1 to #10. We are planning to migrate all of our web sites including this one in June. The switch over will not be visible nor will it interrupt service, it will simply eliminate all these overly frequent collapses in service.