Credit and debit cards have taken the place of cash for most modern transactions.信用卡和借记卡已取代现金为最现代化的交易。 What’s next?下一步做什么？ According to research from Emme Kozloff, a Sanford Bernstein analyst, the power to buy groceries will soon be at your fingertips.据考证，从emme kozloff ，一个机构Sanford Bernstein分析师，有权在购买食品杂货将很快在你的指尖。

Wal Mart and Costco are looking into biometric payment systems.沃尔玛沃尔玛和Costco正考虑生物识别支付系统。 These work by recognizing the fingerprint of registered users.这些工作，由认识到指纹的注册用户。 The customers place their fingertip on a pad, then select which form of payment they would like to use — check, debit, or credit.客户把他们的指尖上的跳板，然后选择其中的付款方式，他们想用-检查，借记卡或信用卡。 Proponents of the new system applaud its benefits to customer security and faster checkout speeds.倡议者的新系统赞扬它的好处，以客户安全性和更快的结帐速度。

Critics of biometric payment point out that fingerprints are left on everything a person touches.批评者的生物统计金指出，指纹是左对一切人触及。 It would be fairly easy to take a piece of tape and “lift” these latent fingerprints for fraudulent use.这将是相当容易采取的一块带和"搭便车" ，这些潜伏指纹为冒用。 There is also concern about having one’s fingerprint images stored in a computer, but biometric vendors insist that the prints themselves are not stored.还有人担心，大约有一个人的指纹图像存储在一台电脑，生物识别厂商坚持认为，版画本身都没有储存。 Instead, encrypted measurements of the prints are kept.反之，加密测量的版画保存。 These do not permit recreation of a full print.这些不容许康乐一个完整的打印。

Customers are advised to keep their hands clean when making biometric transactions.顾客宜保持双手清洁时，有生物特征资料的交易。 If hands are too dirty, the machine might not be able to read the fingerprint.如果手中有太多肮脏的，这台机器可能无法读取指纹。

Credit Card Blog信用卡博客

By由 David Morrison大卫摩利臣

FORT WORTH, Texas – OmniAmerican Bank, an institution that started life as OmniAmerican Credit Union before converting to a bank charter in 2005, has suffered a date security breach that allowed some of the bank depositors to have money stolen, according to local press reports.在沃斯堡-o mniamerican银行，一所院校开始的人生o mniamerican信用合作社前转换到一个行章程，在2 005年，已遭到了最新的安全漏洞，使一些该银行的存户将钱被盗，据当地新闻报道。

The local media quoted Tim Carter, president of the former CU bank, as saying that the scheme was “pretty sophisticated.” Carter is quoted in the Fort Worth Star Telegram as calling the amount stolen minimal and that the former CU had fewer than 100 accounts compromised.当地媒体援引添卡特总统的前铜银行，称该计划是"相当成熟" 。卡特是引述在沃思堡星电报作为通话金额被盗减至最低，而且在于前者铜已不到100账户失密。

Nevertheless the bank has placed limits on some ATM and debit card transactions, particularly those outside the state of Texas and had reported to have reissued 40,000 debit cards.不过，银行已放在限制一些ATM和借记卡的交易，特别是那些国家之外的德克萨斯州，并已据报已颁发40000借记卡。

According to the bank, the criminals were able to hack into the bank records and obtain card numbers and personal identification numbers as well as create new PINs.据该银行，犯罪分子能够潜入银行纪录，并取得卡号及个人识别号码，以及创造新的旗杆。 They then fabricated debit cards and withdrew cash from ATMs across Eastern Europe, including Russia.然后，他们伪造借记卡，并撤回现金从银行柜员机整个东欧，包括俄罗斯在内。

When the government announced last month that a top-secret spy satellite would, in the next few months, come falling out of the sky, American officials said there was little risk to people because satellites fall out of orbit fairly frequently and much of the planet is covered by oceans. 当政府上月宣布一项绝密的间谍卫星将在未来数个月内，前来闹翻了天，美国官员说，当时几乎没有什么风险的人，因为卫星落下的轨道相当频繁，大部分的星球是涵盖的海洋。

But they said precious little about the satellite itself. 但他们说，宝贵的不多，卫星本身。

Such information came instead from Ted Molczan, a hobbyist who tracks satellites from his apartment balcony in Toronto, Ontario, in Canada, and fellow satellite spotters around the world.这些资料来，而是由泰德molczan ，癖者轨道卫星，从他的公寓阳台上，在加拿大安大略省多伦多消息，在加拿大，和同胞卫星检举员世界各地。 They have grudgingly become accustomed to being seen as “propeller-headed geeks” who “poke their finger in the eye” of the government’s satellite spymasters, said Molczan, taking no offense.他们不情愿地成了习惯被视为"助推器户主怪杰"的"戳自己的手指在眼"的，政府的卫星spymasters说， molczan ，不采取进攻。 “I have a sense of humor,” he said. "我也有幽默感， "他说。

Molczan, a private energy conservation consultant, is the best known of the satellite spotters who, needing little more than a pair of binoculars, a stop watch and star charts, uncover some of the deepest of the government’s expensive secrets and share them on the Internet. molczan ，一个私人节约能源顾问公司，是最知名的卫星检举员的人，需要多一点对双筒望远镜，秒表和星图，发现一些最深的，政府的昂贵机密和分享他们对互联网。

Thousands of people form the spotter community.成千上万的人，组成检举。 Many look for historical relics of the early space age, working from publicly available orbital information.不少寻找历史文物的早期太空时代，工作，从公开的轨道信息。 Others watch for phenomena like the distinctive flare of sunlight glinting off bright solar panels of some telephone satellites.别人观赏供现象一样鲜明耀斑的阳光glinting小康光明太阳能电池板的一些卫星电话。 Still others are drawn to the secretive world of spy satellites, with about a dozen hobbyists who do most of the observing, said Molczan.还有一些是提请隐秘世界的间谍卫星，与大约12名爱好者，他们做大部分的观察，说molczan 。

In the case of the mysterious satellite that is about to plunge back to earth, Molczan had an early sense of which one it was, identifying it as USA-193, which gave out shortly after reaching space in December 2006.在案件的神秘卫星，这是即将投身回地球， molczan了早期意义上的哪一个，它是确定它作为美国- 193 ，这使得在短期内达成后，太空在2006年12月。 It is said to have been built by the Lockheed Martin Corporation and operated by the secretive National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).据说这是已建成由洛克希德马丁公司和经营的，由秘密的国家侦察办公室（美国家侦察局） 。

Another hobbyist, John Locker, of Britain, posted photos of the satellite on a Web site,另一癖者，约翰衣柜，英国，张贴照片的卫星上了一个网站， galaxypix.com . 。

John E. Pike, director of约翰派克说，主任 GlobalSecurity.org globalsecurity.org , a private group in Alexandria, Virginia, that tracks military and space activities, said the hobbyists exemplified fundamental principles of openness and of the power of technology to change the game.一个民间团体在维吉尼亚州亚历山大市，可以追踪军事和航天活动时表示，玩家体现了基本原则的开放性和对技术的力量来改变游戏。

“It has been an important demystification of these things,” said Pike, “because I think there is a tendency on the part of these agencies just to try to pretend that they don’t exist, and that nothing can be known about them.” "这一直是一个重要的demystification这些东西， "派克说， "因为我觉得有一种趋势是对的一部分，这些机构只是试图假装它们不存在，并没有任何东西可以被称为他们。 "

The spotters are also pursuing a thoroughly unusual pastime, one that calls for long hours outside, freezing in the winter and sweating in the summer, straining to see a moving light in the sky and hoping that a slip of the finger on the stopwatch does not delete an entire night’s work.该检举员也在采取彻底不寻常的消遣方式，就是要求很长的时间外，冻结在冬季出汗在夏季，紧张，看到一个移动光在空中的希望溜了手指上的秒表不删除一整夜的工作。 And for the adept, there is math.并为擅长，有数学。 Lots of math.大量的数学。

“It’s somewhat time consuming and tedious,” said Molczan, acknowledging that the precise and methodical activities might seem, to the uninitiated, “a close approximation to work.” "这有点耗费时间和繁琐的，说： " molczan ，我承认是准确和有条不紊的活动可能看似庞大，以不了解情况" ，密切近似的工作" 。

When a new spy satellite is launched, the hobbyists will collaborate on sightings around the world to determine its orbit, and even guess at its function, sharing their information through the e-mail network SeeSat-L, which can be found via the Web site当一个新的间谍卫星启动时，玩家将合作踪迹世界各地，以确定它的轨道，甚至猜测，在其功能，分享他们的信息通过电子邮件网络seesat - L时，可以发现，透过网站 satobs.org . 。

From his 23rd-floor balcony, or the roof of his 32-floor building, Molzcan will peer through his binoculars at a point in the sky he expects the satellite to cross, which he locates with star charts.从他的第23楼阳台上，或者屋顶上的32层大楼， molzcan将同行通过他的双筒望远镜在一个点，在空中，他预计该卫星过境，而他的位置，与星图。 When the moving dot appears, he determines its direction and the distance it travels across the patch of sky over time, which he can use to calculate its speed.当移动斑点出现后，他决定了它的方向和距离，在穿越整个片天空随着时间的推移，他可以用来计算它的速度。

Molzcan declined a request to visit him in Toronto and to be photographed for this article, saying: “No offense intended, but this is beginning to sound like more of a human interest story than one about the substance of the hobby. molzcan婉拒请求来看望他，在多伦多，并合影留念，为这个文章，说： "没有进攻的意图，但这种情况正在开始听起来更像是一个人的故事，有兴趣超过一个关于物质的嗜好。 My preference is for the latter.我的意愿，是在为后者。 Also, I prefer not to have photos of myself published.”另外，我宁愿不要有照片的个人出版" 。

Locker, who favors a telescope for his camera work, said that people like him and Molczan were not, as he put it, “nerdy buffs who lie on our backs and look into the sky and try to undermine governments.” Spotting, he said, is simply a hobby.更衣室，他们主张通过望远镜为他的相机工作时说，人们喜欢他，并molczan没有，因为他的话讲， " nerdy发烧友，他们的谎言，我们要看看天空，并试图破坏政府" 。检举，他说： ，只是一种爱好。

“There are people who look at train timetables and go watch trains,” he said. "有一些人看看火车时刻表及前往观赏火车， "他说。 People are drawn to what interests them, he said, and “it’s what draws people to any hobby.”人们得出什么利益，他说， "这是什么触及人们的任何业余爱好" 。

While recent news coverage has focused on the current satellite’s threat to people when it falls from above, that threat is, statistically, very small.而最近的新闻报道都集中在目前的卫星的威胁，以人时，适逢从以上，这种威胁是，在统计上，非常小。 Even when the space shuttle Columbia broke up over Texas five years ago and rained debris over two states, no one on the ground was injured.甚至当哥伦比亚号航天飞机解体，在德克萨斯州上空5年前的碎片，下雨超过两个国家，没有一个是关于地面人员受伤。

Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, noted that 328 satellites had come down in the past five years without injury to anyone.戈登Johndroe ）的一名发言人在谈到美国国家安全委员会指出， 328颗卫星已回落在过去的五年里，没有伤害到任何人。 While Johndroe declined to divulge much about the current satellite aside from the fact that it carries no nuclear material, he said that the government would take responsibility in the remote chance of damage or injury.而Johndroe ）拒绝透露不多，目前的卫星除了事实，即它没有核材料，他说，政府会承担责任，在偏远的机会，损害或伤害。

The government’s relationship with the hobbyists is not a comfortable one.政府的关系，与爱好者，是不是不好受。 Spokesmen for the National Reconnaissance Office have stated that they would prefer the hobbyists not publish their information, and suggest that foreign countries try to hide their activities when they know an eye in the sky will be passing overhead.代言人，为国家侦察办公室已经表示，他们宁愿爱好者没有公布他们的资料，并表明外国尝试隐藏自己的活动，当他们知道一个天上的眼睛，将穿越架空。

The satellite spotters acknowledge that this may be so, though they doubt that such tactics are effective.卫星检举员承认，这可能是这样，虽然他们怀疑这种策略是有效的。 Molczan said he believed that the hobbyists hurt no one but that “you can’t say with absolute certainty what effect you’re having.” molczan说，他相信，这次爱好者伤害任何人，但"你不能说绝对肯定有什么影响你有" 。

Pike said the officials who complained about the hobbyists “don’t like it, but they’ve got to lump it.” Despite the many clever ways that the spy agencies try to minimize the likelihood that their satellites will be spotted, he said, they will be.派克说，官员抱怨爱好者" ，不喜欢它，但是他们要有一笔，它" ，虽然有很多聪明的方法，间谍机构，尽量减少可能性，他们的卫星将被检举时，他说，他们会如何。 And that, he said, is a valuable warning: a world with so many eyes on the skies renders deep secrets shallow.而且，他说，是一种宝贵的警示：一个世界有这么多着眼于天空变得深机密浅。

“If Ted can track all these satellites,” said Pike, “so can the Chinese.” "如果泰德能追踪所有这些卫星说： "派克" ，这样的中国人" 。

http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=15189

PM hits the streets and gets looked at more than ever before, then heads to the shop for first-look details on a futuristic car so efficient it’ll make your jaw drop. 时触礁街道贼看比以往任何时候更加元首，然后向店首次看看细节，对一个未来的汽车，让有效率的，它可以使你的下巴下降。 The good news? 好消息吗？ It’s coming next year. 它的未来明年。

Three hundred miles per gallon and a Jetsons -style look are enough to get anyone excited. 300英里每加仑和jetsons式看，是足以让任何人感到兴奋。 But ever since但自从 the word got out on it last month字失控，就在上个月 , Aptera’s innovative Typ-1 three-wheeler has been the target of relentless theorizing and conjecture across the Web. ， aptera创新的典型- 1 3 -惠勒一直的目标，无情的论调，推测整个网络。 Is it real?是真？ Does it have what it takes to be a practical vehicle for daily transport?它有没有什么需要的是一个实用的工具，日常的交通吗？ Is it stable enough to drive?是它不够稳定，以推动？ Does it even actually drive?难道连其实驾驶？ Well we wondered some of those things, too, so we scouted out if a drivable prototype really exists.好，我们想知道的一些东西，也使我们观察出，如果一辆原型确实存在。

It does.的确如此。

This week we visited Aptera’s headquarters in Carlsbad, Calif., and became the very first outside of the company to hit the street in the Typ-1 e.这个星期我们走访了aptera的总部设在加州Carlsbad ，并成为第一个境外公司，以击中街道，在典型- 1体育 And, as you can see from the video of our 20-mile test drive above, we’re impressed.而且，正如你可以看到从视讯我国20英里试驾以上的，我们留下深刻的印象。

Aptera has two innovative models that are almost production-ready at $30,000 and below: for next year, the all-electric, 120-mile-range Typ-1 e that we drove; and, by 2009, the range-extended series gasoline Typ-1 h, which Aptera says will hit 300 mpg. aptera有两种创新模式，这几乎是生产就绪在$ 30000以下：从明年起，全电式， 120英里的中程典型- 1 E的，我们驱车，以及到2009年，其范围延伸型系列汽油典型-1 h后，其中aptera说，将达到300哩。 A more conventional third model, called “Project X” or perhaps Typ-2, is now in the design phase, with plans for a four-wheeled chassis and seating up for to five passengers.一个更传统的第三个模式，所谓的"项目X "的，或者典型- 2 ，目前正处于设计阶段，并计划为四个轮子的底盘和座位，为到五名乘客。

For now, though, the Typ-1 will certainly do.不过，目前的典型- 1一定会做的。 Check out a full gallery for the inside scoop on all the specs from the shop and the street …签出充分画廊为内斗上的所有规格，从车间和街头… …

The Typ-1’s exposed chassis shows how the company has taken inspiration from aircraft, boats and high-performance cars.这个典型- 1的暴露底盘显示出该公司已采取了灵感，从飞机，船只和高性能的汽车。 For durability as well as weight and cost savings, the majority of the Typ-1 is constructed from a top and bottom advanced composite structures bonded together along the midsection.耐用性以及重量和节约成本，大多数的典型- 1 ，是由一个底部和顶部的先进复合材料结构件的保税一起沿着中间。 With the top and bottom weighing in at a mere 160 and 180 pounds, respectively, the entire vehicle sits at approximately 1480 pounds today.与顶部和底部称量在仅仅160和180磅，分别后，整个车辆坐落于大约1480磅今天。

The chassis has steel reinforcements in key areas: at the roll hoop, along the bottom of the windshield, in the doors (for side impact protection) and, of course, in the front subframe (for the suspension system as well as the engine and battery cradle).底盘钢增援，在关键领域：在轧辊箍，沿底部的挡风玻璃，在门（侧面碰撞保护） ，当然，在前面的副车架总成（为悬架系统以及引擎和电池摇篮） 。

On the all-electric model, the battery pack lives in the center space of the subframe.对全电式模型，电池组生活在空间中心的副车架总成。 A tiny gasoline internal combustion engine in the hybrid models shares that space.弹丸之地汽油内燃发动机，在混合动力型号的股份空间。 In fact, this chassis has part of the hybrid’s exhaust, which you can see just below and to the left of the subframe.事实上，这种底盘部分的混合的排气管，你可以看到，仅低于和向左边的副车架总成。

The rear-drive wheel is mounted to a steel swing arm similar to that of motorcycle—but with a design optimized to handle the Aptera’s loads.该后轮驱动车轮装到一个钢摆臂类似当年的摩托车，但与设计优化，以处理aptera的负荷。 The rear wheel has 3 in. of up travel and 2 in. of droop.后轮已3英寸高达旅行和2英寸的下垂。

A belt drive system connects to an electric motor that has regenerative braking to help charge the battery pack.皮带驱动系统连接到一个电动马达具有再生制动，以帮助电池充电套。 The tires on the prototype are the same 165/65R14 tires from the Honda Insight.轮胎上的原型是相同的165/65r14轮胎从本田Insight 。

The Typ-1 e is expected to have a target range of 120 miles per charge.这个典型- 1 E是预期有一个目标范围内的120英里不等。 A ful1 recharge of the pack will take about 4 to 6 hours with a standard 110-volt outlet.一ful1回灌的纪念套折，需时约4至6个小时，一个标准的110伏特的电源插座。 Aptera’s team is still evaluating lithium phosphate battery packs from a few suppliers, so the final specs of the 10-kWh batteries remain confidential. aptera的团队仍然在评估磷酸锂电池组，由数个供应商，所以最终规格的10万千瓦的电池一直保密。 (The hybrid model will use a smaller battery pack.) （混合模式将使用一个较小的电池组） 。

This wall of equipment is part of the battery test station.这道墙的设备，部分的电池测试站。 Twin super capacitors augment the battery pack for when you neeed quick boosts of power (think passing stupefied fellow drivers on the highway).孪生超级电容器充实电池包，因为当你neeed快速提升的功率（觉得及格愣研究员司机对高速公路） 。

Continue..继续..

Intrusive Brain Reading Surveillance Technology 侵入脑部读监测技术

“We need a program of psychosurgery for political control of our society. "我们需要一个程序psychosurgery为政治控制的社会。 The purpose is physical control of the mind. 目的是有形的精神控制。 Everyone who deviates from the given norm can be surgically mutilated. The individual may think that the most important reality is his own existence, but this is only his personal point of view. 凡是偏离既定的规范，可手术肢解。个体可能认为最重要的现实是，他自己的存在，不过，这只是他个人的观点。 This lacks historical perspective. 这种缺乏历史的眼光。 Man does not have the right to develop his own mind. 男子没有权利发展自己的心态。 This kind of liberal orientation has great appeal. 这种自由取向有很大的吸引力。 We must electronically control the brain. 我们一定要通过电子控制大脑。 Someday armies and generals will be controlled by electric stimulation of the brain. 总有一天，军队和将领，将控制电刺激大脑。 ~~Dr José Delgado. 〜 〜医生何塞德尔加多。 Director of Neuropsychiatry, Yale University Medical School Congressional Record, No. 26, Vol. 总的神经精神科，耶鲁大学医学院国会纪录，第26号，第二卷。 118 February 24, 1974. 118 1974年2月24日。

The Guardian newspaper, that defender of truth in the 卫报，即捍卫真理的，在 United Kingdom联合王国 , published an article by the Science Correspondent, Ian Sample, on 9 February 2007 entitled: ，发表了一篇文章，是由科学的通讯员，伊恩样本，对2007年2月9日，题为：

‘The Brain Scan that can read people’s intentions’, with the sub-heading: ‘Call for ethical debate over possible use of new technology in interrogation”. '脑扫描，可以阅读人的意图' ，与子标题： '请为伦理争论有可能利用新的技术在审问" 。

“Using the scanner, we could look around the brain for this information and read out something that from the outside there’s no way you could possibly tell is in there. "用扫瞄器，我们可以看看周围的脑组织，为这方面的资料，并宣读了东西，从外面有没有办法，你可能会说，是在这里。 It’s like shining a torch around, looking for writing on a wall”, the scientists were reported as saying.这就像擦火把靠近，寻找写在墙上" ，但科学家报告说。

At the same time,在同一时间内， London伦敦 ’s Science Museum was holding an exhibition entitled ‘Neurobotics: The Future of Thinking’. '科学博物馆举行的展览题为' neurobotics ：未来的思考' 。 This venue had been chosen for the launch in October 2006 of the news that human thoughts could be read using a scanner.这个场地已被选定为发射在2006年10月的消息说，人类的思想可以阅读使用扫描器。 Dr Geraint Rees’ smiling face could be seen in a photograph at the Neurobotics website, under the heading “The Mind Reader”.博士（ Geraint里斯'笑脸，可以看到一张照片，在neurobotics网站上的标题下， "思维阅读" 。 Dr Rees is one of the scientists who have apparently cracked the problem which has preoccupied philosophers and scientists since before Plato: they had made entry into the conscious mind.博士里斯是一位科学家，他们已明显地破获了这方面的问题，惹来哲学家和科学家，因为前柏拉图：他们已进入自觉心。 Such a reversal of human historical evolution, announced in such a pedestrian fashion, makes one wonder what factors have been in play, and what omissions made, in getting together this show, at once banal and extraordinary.这样一个颠倒的人的历史沿革，宣布在这样一个行人时装，让人不知是什么因素一直在玩，有什么遗漏的，在聚在一起，这显示，一旦陈腐和非同寻常。 The announcement arrives as if out of a vacuum.公布抵犹如走出一个真空。 The neuroscientist - modern-style hunter-gatherer of information and darling of the “Need to Know” policies of modern government - does little to explain how he achieved this goal of entering the conscious mind, nor does he put his work into any historical context.该神经学家-现代气派的狩猎采集信息和亲爱的"需要知道"的政策，现代政府-无助解释他如何做到这一点的进入自觉心，他也没有把他的工作纳入任何历史背景。 Instead, we are asked in the Science Museum’s programme notes:相反，我们被要求在科学博物馆的计划说明：

How would you feel if someone could read your innermost thoughts? 怎样你会不会觉得，如果有人能够看到你的内心想法？ Geraint Rees of UCL says he can. （ Geraint里斯的UCL的说，他可以。 By using brain-imaging technology he’s beginning to decode thought and explore the difference between the conscious and unconscious mind. 利用脑成像技术，他的开始解码思路，并探讨差异，意识和无意识记。 But how far will it go? 但将走多远？ And shouldn’t your thoughts remain your personal business? 应该不是你的想法仍是你的个人商务？

If Dr Rees has decoded the mind sufficiently for such an announcement to be made in an exhibition devoted to it, presumably somewhere is the mind which has been, and is continuing to be, decoded.如果医生里斯已解码头脑，足以为这样一个公告，以取得一个展览专门为它投入，大概某个地方，是考虑到它一直是，并将继续得到，解码。 He is not merely continuing his experiments using functional magnetic resolution scanning (fMRI) in the way neuroscientists have been observing their subjects under scanning devices for years, asking them to explain what they feel or think while the scientists watch to see which area lights up, and what the cerebral flow in the brain indicates for various brain areas.他不只是继续他的实验，利用功能性核磁共振扫描（功能磁共振成像）在道路神经科学家已观察其科目下的扫描装置，多年来，要求他们解释什么，他们觉得还是觉得，而科学家们观赏，看看哪方面的灯，什么脑血流在大脑中显示，各脑区。 Dr Rees is decoding the mind in terms of conscious and unconscious processes.博士里斯是解码心而言，意识和无意识过程。 For that, one must have accessed consciousness itself.对于这一点，必须有存取意识本身。 Whose consciousness?其意识？ Where is the owner of that consciousness – and unconsciousness?哪里是老板说，意识-与无意识？ How did he/she feel?怎么他/她什么感觉呢？ Why not ask them to tell us how it feels, instead of asking us.为什么不请他们告诉我们如何感觉，而不是问我们。

The Neurobotics Exhibition was clearly set up to make these exciting new discoveries an occasion for family fun, and there were lots of games for visitors to play.该neurobotics展览显然是成立的，目的是使这些令人振奋的新发现，一个机会，全家共享的乐趣，并有大量的游戏，让游人玩。 One gets the distinct impression that we are being softened up for the introduction of radical new technology which will, perhaps, make the mind a communal pool rather than an individual possession.人们得到的印象是，我们正在软化了，为推行激进的新技术，这将可能使心公用游泳池，而不是一个单独的藏。 Information technology seeks to connect us all to each other in as many ways as possible, but also, presumably, to those vast data banks which allow government control not only to access all information about our lives, but now also to our thoughts, even to our unconscious processing.信息技术的目的是连接我们大家互相补足的，因为有很多方法，为可能的，但同时，据推测，这些巨大的数据银行，让政府控制，不仅获得的全部资料，我们的生命，但现在也对我们的思想，甚至以我们的无意识加工。 Does anyone care?有没有人照顾？

One of the most popular exhibits was the ‘Mindball’ game, which required two players to go literally head-to-head in a battle for brainpower, and used ‘brainpower’ alone.其中最热门的展品是' mindball '的游戏，这需要两名球员去字面上一对一一场战斗，为争取人才，用'脑力' 。 Strapped up with headbands which pick up brain waves, the game uses neurofeedback, but the person who is calm and relaxed wins the game.紧张了，这头拿起脑波，游戏利用神经反馈的，但人是平静和轻松胜出游戏。 One received the impression that this calmness was the spirit that the organisers wished to reinforce, to deflect any undue public panic that might arise from the news that private thoughts could now be read with a scanner.一收到的印象，这是冷静的精神，主办单位希望，以强化转移任何不必要的公众恐慌可能出现的，由新闻，私人的想法，现在可以改为使用扫描仪。 The ingress into the mind as a private place was primarily an event to be enjoyed with the family on an afternoon out:该浸入到心作为一个私人地方，主要是一项活动，享有与家人于一个下午出来：

Imagine being able to control a computer with only the power of your mind. 想象可以控制一台电脑只有电源的主意。 Or read people’s thoughts and know if they’re lying. 或阅读人的思想，并知道如果他们在说谎。 And what if a magnetic shock to the brain could make you more creative…but should we be able to engineer our minds? Think your thoughts are private? 什么如果一个磁冲击到大脑，可以使你更有创意的… …但是我们应该能够工程师主意？觉得你的想法是私人？ Ever told a lie and been caught red-handed? 告诉一个谎言被人当场捉住交给了吗？ Using brain-scanning technology, scientists are beginning to probe our minds and tell if we’re lying. 用脑扫描技术，科学家已开始探索着我们的头脑，告诉如果我们想要在说谎。 Other scientists are decoding our desires and exploring the difference between our conscious and unconscious mind. 其他科学家解码我们的欲望和探索的区别，我们有意识和无意识记。 But can you really trust the technology? 但你能真心信任你的技术吗？

Other searching questions are raised in the program notes, and more games:其他搜寻问题，提出了该计划中注解，以及更多游戏：

Find out if you’ve got what it takes to be a modern-day spy in this new interactive family exhibition. 找出如果你有什么需要的是一个现代日常间谍在这种新的互动家庭展览。 After being recruited as a trainee spy, explore the skills and abilities required by real agents and use some of the latest technologies that help spies gather and analyse information. 被招募为间谍，见习，探索技能和能力所需要的真正的代理商，并利用一些最新的技术，可帮助间谍，搜集和分析信息。 Later go on and discover what it’s like to be spied upon. 后来去发现什么，它的喜欢被刺探。 Uncover a secret store of prototype gadgets that give you a glimpse into the future of spy technologies and finally use everything you’ve learnt to escape before qualifying as a fully-fledged agent! 发现了一个秘密商店的原型小玩意，让你一窥未来的间谍技术，并最终利用一切你已经学会了逃生，才符合作为一个完全独立的代理人！

There were also demonstrations of grateful paraplegics and quadriplegics showing how the gods of science have so unselfishly liberated them from their prisons: this was the serious也有一些示威的感激截瘫和四肢瘫痪，载明如何神明的科学有这么无私地解放了他们从自己的监狱：这是严重 Nobel Prize诺贝尔文学奖 side of the show.一边的文戏。 But there was no-one representing Her Majesty’s government to demonstrate how these very same devices can be used quite freely, and with relative ease, in our wireless age, to conduct experiments on free-ranging civilians tracked anywhere in the world, and using an infinitely extendable form of electrode which doesn’t require visible contact with the scalp at all.不过，却没有一个是代表英国政府，以说明如何用这些非常相同的器件可用于相当自由，并相对容易，在我们的无线年龄，可以进行试验，对自由放养的平民履带式在世界上任何地方，并用一个无限延展的形式电极不需要有形接触头皮都没有。 Electrodes, like electricity, can also take an invisible form – an electrode is a terminal of an electric source through which electrical energy or current may flow in or out.电极，如电力，也可以采取一种无形的形式-一个电极是一个终端的一个电源通过电能或电流可能流进或调出。 The brain itself is an electrical circuit.大脑本身是一个电气线路。 Every brain has its own unique resonating frequency.每个大脑有自己独特的共振频率。 The brain is an infinitely more sensitive receiver and transmitter than the computer, and even in the wireless age, the comprehension of how wireless networks operate appears not to extend to the workings of the brain.大脑是一个无穷更为敏感接收器和发射器比电脑，而且即使在无线时代，理解如何无线网络的运作似乎没有延伸到运作的大脑。 The monotonous demonstration of scalps with electrodes attached to them, in order to demonstrate the contained conduction of electrical charges, is a scientific fatuity, in so far as it is intended to demonstrate comprehensively the capability of conveying charges to the brain, or for that matter, to any nerve in the body, as a form of invisible torture.单调示范scalps电极重视他们，以显示包含传导的电气费，是一个科学的昏庸，在目前为止，因为这是为了表现出全面的能力，输送费到脑部，或就此，对任何神经在体内，作为一种无形的折磨。

As Neurobotics claims: ‘Your brain is amazing’, but the power and control over brains and nervous systems achieved by targeting brain frequencies with radiowaves must have been secretly amazing government scientists for many years.作为neurobotics还声称： '你的大脑，是了不起的' ，但权力并控制大脑和神经系统，实现了针对脑频率电波，必须是被秘密了不起的科学家多年。 The problem that now arises, at the point of readiness when so much has been achieved, is how to put the technology into action in such a way, as it will be acceptable in the public domain.这个问题，现在发生时，在点的准备情况时，使已经取得了很大成就，是如何把科技转化为行动，在这样一种方式，因为这将是可以接受的是在公共领域。 This requires getting it through wider government and legal bodies, and for that, it must be seen to spring from the unbiased scientific investigations into the workings of the brain, in the best tradition of the leading universities.这就要求它获得通过更广泛的政府和法律机构，以及为此，它要被视为春天，由无偏见的科学调查，将运作的大脑，在优良传统的一流大学。 It is given over to Dr Rees and his colleague, Professor Haynes, endowed with the disclosure for weightier Guardian readers, to carry the torch for the government.这是由于给医生里斯和他的同事，教授海恩斯，赋有披露为重监护人读者，对我进行了火炬传递，为政府。 Those involved may also have noted the need to show the neuroscientist in a more responsible light, following US neuroengineer for government sponsored那些参与，也可能注意到，有必要以显示神经学家在一个更负责任的轻，继美国neuroengineer为政府赞助 Lockheed Martin洛克希德马丁公司 , John Norseen’s, ingenuous comment, in 2000, about his belief about the consequences of his work in fMRI:约翰norseen的，巧妙包装的评论，在2000年，对他的信仰有关的后果，他的工作，在功能性磁共振成像：

‘If this research pans out’, said Norseen, ‘you can begin to manipulate what someone is thinking even before they know it.’ And added: “The ethics don’t concern me, but they should concern someone else.” '如果这项研究平底锅出' ，说norseen ' ，你就可以开始操纵什么人，是思想，甚至在他们知道这一点。 ' ，并补充说： "伦理不关心我，但他们应该关心别人" 。

While the neuroscientists report their discovery (without even so much as the specific frequency of the light employed by this scanner/torch), issuing ethical warnings while incongruously continuing with their mind-blowing work, the government which sponsors them, remains absolutely mute.虽然神经学家报告，他们发现了（甚至没有这么多，作为特定频率的光受雇于这扫描器/喷灯） ，发行伦理警告，而incongruously继续与他们心目中吹工作，政府赞助，仍然是绝对静音。 The present probing of people’s intentions, minds, background thoughts, hopes and emotions is being expanded into the more complex and subtle aspects of thinking and feeling.目前探索的人的意图，思想，背景，思想，希望和情绪正在扩大到更为复杂和微妙方面的思想和感情。 We have, however, next to no technical information about their methods.不过，我们已旁边没有任何技术资料，他们的方法。 The description of ‘shining a torch around the brain’ is as absurd a report as one could read of a scientific endeavour, especially one that carries such enormous implications for the future of mankind.描述的'光辉火把周围大脑'一样荒谬一份报告，由于其中一个可阅读的科学努力中，尤其是一个有这样巨大的影响，为人类的未来。 What is this announcement, with its technical obfuscation, preparing us for?这是什么公告，其技术令人困惑的，我们准备为？

Writing in Wired contributing editor Steve Silberman points out that the lie-detection capability of fMRI is ‘poised to transform the security system, the judicial system, and our fundamental notions of privacy’.写作有线撰稿编辑史蒂夫曾任指出，有关测谎侦查能力的功能性磁共振成像是'充分准备，改造的安全体制，司法体制，我们的根本观念的隐私' 。 He quotes Cephos founder, Steven Laken, whose company plans to market the new technology for lie detection.他援引cephos创始人，潘国laken ，其公司计划向市场的新技术测谎。 Laken cites detainees held without charge at laken举被拘留者在未经指控在 Guantanamo Bay关塔那摩湾 as a potential example.作为一个潜在的例子。 ‘If these detainees have information we haven’t been able to extract that could prevent another 9/11, I think most Americans would agree that we should be doing whatever it takes to extract it’. '如果这些被拘留者的资料，我们已不再能提取物可以防止另外9 / 11 ，我想大多数美国人都同意，我们应做的一切所能提取物' 。 Silberman also quotes Paul Root Wolpe, a senior fellow at the Center for Bioethics at the曾任也寻获保罗根沃尔普，资深研究员生物伦理中心在 University of Pennsylvania宾夕法尼亚大学 , who describes the accelerated advances in fMRI as ‘ a textbook example of how something can be pushed forward by the convergence of basic science, the government directing research through funding, and special interests who desire a particular technology’. ，他们描述了加速进步的fMRI作为'一本教科书的例子，如何可以向前推进，由收敛的基础科学，政府指导研究通过提供资金，和特殊利益的人的愿望，一个特殊技术' 。 Are we to believe that with the implied capability to scan jurors’ brains, the judiciary, the accused and the defendant alike, influencing one at the expense of the other, that the legal implications alone of mind-accessing scanners on university campuses, would not rouse the Minister for Justice from his bench to say a few words about these potential mind weapons?我们相信，随着暗示的能力，以扫描陪审员动脑筋，司法机关，被告和被告一样，是影响一个建立在牺牲另外，在法律上的影响，仅记存取扫描器对大学校园里，将不会振奋司法部长，由他的替补说几句话，对这些潜在的心目中武器？

So what of the ethical debate called for by the busy scientists and the Guardian ’s science reporter?那么什么的伦理辩论中所要求的忙碌科学家和监护人的科学记者？ Can this technology- more powerful in subverting thought itself than anything in prior history – really be confined to deciding whether the ubiquitously invoked terrorist has had the serious intention of blowing up the train, or whether it was perhaps a foolish prank to make a bomb out of chapatti flour?可这技术更强大的颠覆思想的本身比什么都在事先历史-真的只限于决定是否引用了无所不在的恐怖了严重的意图炸毁火车，还是也许是一个愚蠢的恶作剧制造炸弹列对chapatti面粉？ We can assume that the government would certainly not give the go-ahead to the Science Museum Exhibition, linked to Imperial College, a major government-sponsored institution in laser-physics, if it was detrimental to surveillance programs.我们可以假设，政府一定不会让方能首肯到香港科学馆展览，挂帝国学院的一个主要由政府赞助的机构，在激光物理，如果是不利的监控程式。 It is salutary to bear in mind that government intelligence research is at least ten years ahead of any public disclosure.这是有益的，以铭记政府情报研究是至少十年前的任何公开披露。 It is implicit from history that whatever affords the undetectable entry by the gatekeepers of society into the brain and mind, will not only be sanctioned, but funded and employed by the State, more specifically by trained operatives in the security forces, given powers over defenceless citizens, and unaccountable to them.这是隐从历史中，无论提供了undetectable入境守门的社会进入脑和心，不仅会受到制裁，但资金并受聘于国家，更具体地说，由受过训练的操作工在安全部队，由于权力手无寸铁公民和不负责任给他们。

The actual technology which is now said to be honing the technique ‘to distinguish between passing thoughts and genuine intentions’ is described by Professor John-Dylan Haynes in the Guardian in the most disarmingly untechnical language which must surely not have been intended to enlighten.该技术的实际也就是现在说是珩磨技术'区分合格的思想和真正的意图是描述教授约翰-迪伦海恩斯在监护人在最disarmingly untechnical语言必须是绝对不会有意启迪。

The Guardian piece ran as follows: 卫片冉如下：

A team of world-leading neuroscientists has developed a powerful technique that allows them to look deep inside a person’s brain and read their intentions before they act. The research breaks controversial new ground in scientists’ ability to probe people’s minds and eavesdrop on their thoughts, and raises serious ethical issues over how brain-reading technology may be used in the future. 一队是世界最先进的神经科学家们制定了一个强大的技术，让他们照顾我内心深处，一个人的大脑，并宣读了他们的意图之前，他们的行为。休息研究新的争议，在地面科学家的能力，探索人们的思想和窃听对他们的思想，并引起了严重的伦理问题，如何脑读技术，有可能在将来使用。

‘Using the scanner, we could look around the brain for this information and read out something that from the outside there’s no way you could possibly tell is in there. '用扫瞄器，我们可以看看周围的脑组织，为这方面的资料，并宣读了东西，从外面有没有办法，你可能会说，是在这里。 It’s like shining a torch around, looking for writing on a wall,’ said John-Dylan Haynes at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in这就像擦火把靠近，寻找写在墙上，说：约翰-迪伦海恩斯在马克斯普朗克研究所，为人类认知和脑科学 Germany德国 , who led the study with colleagues at University College ，领导这项研究的同事与大学学院 London伦敦 and及 Oxford University牛津大学 . 。

We know therefore that they are using light, but fMRI has been used for many years to attempt the unravelling of neuronal activity, and while there have been many efforts to record conscious and unconscious processes, with particular emphasis on the visual cortex, there has been no progress into consciousness itself.我们知道，所以说，他们是利用光，但功能磁共振成像已使用多年，试图瓦解的神经元活动，虽然有很多的努力，以记录意识和无意识过程中，尤其注重对视觉皮层，出现了没有进展到意识本身。 We can be sure that we are not being told the real story.我们可以肯定的是，我们并没有被告知的真实情况。

Just as rats and chimpanzees have been used to demonstrate findings from remote experiments on humans, electrode implants used on cockroaches to remotely control them, lasers used to steer fruit-flies , and worms engineered so that their nerves and muscles can be controlled with pinpricks of light, the information and techniques that have been ruthlessly forged using opportunistic onslaughts on defenceless humans as guinea pigs - used for myriad purposes from creating 3D haptic gloves in就像老鼠和黑猩猩已被用来研究结果表明，从偏远的实验在人体上，电极植入用于对蟑螂远程控制他们，激光器用来引导果实蝇，及蠕虫病毒设计，使他们的神经和肌肉可以得到控制与pinpricks的轻，信息和技术，已被无情地利用伪造伺机攻击，对手无寸铁的人，作为豚鼠-用于多种用途，从创建三维触觉手套 computer games电脑游戏 to creating artificial intelligence to send visual processing into outer space - require appropriate replication for peer group approval and to meet ethical demands for scientific and public probity.以创造人工情报派遣视觉处理进入外层空间-需要适当的复制同侪团体审批，并满足伦理要求的科学的大众的操守。

The use of light to peer into the brain is almost certainly that of terahertz, which occurs in the wavelengths which lie between 30mm and 1mm of the electromagnetic spectrum.使用轻朋辈影响到大脑几乎可以肯定是说，太赫兹，这是发生在波长位于之间30毫米和1 mm的电磁频谱。 Terahertz has the ability to penetrate deep into organic materials, without (it is said) the damage associated with ionising radiation such as x-rays.太赫兹有能力深入渗透到有机材料，如果没有（这是说）的损害与电离辐射，如X光检查。 It can distinguish between materials with varying water content – for example fat versus lean meat.它可以分辨出材料在不同水分含量-例如脂肪与瘦肉。 These properties lend themselves to applications in process and quality control as well as biomedical imaging.这些特性使它们应用在工艺和质量控制以及生物医学成像。 Terahertz can penetrate bricks, and also human skulls. Terahertz波可以穿透砖，也是人头骨。 Other applications can be learnt from the major developer of terahertz in the其他申请可以据悉，从大的开发商，太赫兹波在 UK英国 , Teraview, which is in ， teraview ，这是在 Cambridge剑桥 , and partially owned by Toshiba. ，并部分拥有的东芝。

Efforts to alert human rights’ groups about the loss of the mind as a place to call your own, have met with little discernible reaction, in spite of reports about over decades of the dangers of remote manipulation using technology to access the mind, Dr Nick Begich’s book, Controlling the human mind , being an important recent contribution.努力提高警觉，人权团体约损失头脑作为一个地方打电话给你自己的，已经受到了小辨反应，尽管有报道说是几十年来的危险，遥控操纵，利用高科技仪器进入头脑，医生尼克贝吉奇的书， 控制人的头脑 ，作为一项重要最近的贡献。 A different approach did in fact, elicit a response.不同的方式，在事实上，做出回应。 When informed of the use of terahertz at当得知利用太赫兹波在 Heathrow希思罗 and Luton airports in the和卢顿机场在 UK英国 to scan passengers, the news that passengers would be revealed naked by a machine which looked directly through their clothes produced a small, but highly indignant, article in the spring 2007 edition of the leading human rights organisation, Liberty.扫描乘客的消息，乘客会被发现赤裸，由一台机器看上去直接通过自己的衣服制作了一个小型的，但非常气愤，文章在2007年春季版的著名人权组织，自由。 If the reading of the mind met with no protest, seeing through one’s clothes certainly did.如果读的心灵满足，没有抗议，透过现象看一个人的衣服当然。 It seems humans’ assumption of the mind as a private place has been so secured by evolution that it will take a sustained battle to convince the public that, through events of which we are not yet fully informed, such former innocence has been lost.看来，人类承担了大量本该铭记作为一个私人的地方，已使担保演变，这是需要持续的战斗，以说服公众，通过活动，而我们尚未充分了解，如前无罪推定原则已经消失。

Trained light, targeted atomic spectroscopy, the use of powerful magnets to absorb moisture from human tissues, the transfer of radiative energy – these have replaced the microwave harassment which was used to transmit auditory messages directly into the hearing.训练有素的轻，有针对性的原子光谱法，使用威力强大的磁铁，以吸收水分，人体组织，转让辐射能量-这些已取代微波骚扰被用来传送听觉信息直接到听证会。 With the discovery of light to disentangle thousands of neurons and encode signals from the complex circuitry of the brain, present programs will not even present the symptoms which simulated schizoid states.与发现轻解开数以千计的神经元和编码信号，从复杂的电路部分的大脑，目前的计划将不会出席，甚至症状，其中模拟精神分裂。 Medically, even if terahertz does not ionise, we do not yet know how the sustained application of intense light will affect the delicate workings of the brain and how cells might be damaged, dehydrated, stretched, obliterated.医学上，即使太赫兹波并不ionise ，我们还不知道如何持续地采用激烈的轻型会影响微妙的运作，大脑和细胞如何可能受到损害，脱水，紧张的功绩。

This year, 2007, has also brought the news that terahertz lasers small enough to incorporate into portable devices had been developed.这一年， 2007年，同时也带来了巨大的消息，太赫兹激光器小到足以纳入便携设备已制定的。

Sandia National Laboratories in the US in collaboration with MIT have produced a transmitter-receiver (transceiver) that enables a number of applications.桑迪亚国家实验室在美国的合作与麻省理工学院已经产生了发射机接收器（收发器） ，使许多应用场合。 In addition to scanning for explosives, we may also assume their integration into hand-held communication systems. ‘These semiconductor devices have output powers which previously could only be obtained by molecular gas lasers occupying cubic meters and weighing more than 100kg, or free electron lasers weighing tons and occupying buildings.’ As far back as 1996 the US Air Force Scientific Advisory Board predicted that the development of electromagnetic energy sources would ‘open the door for the development of some novel capabilities that can be used in armed conflict, in terrorist/hostage situations, and in training’ and ‘new weapons that offer the opportunity of control of an adversary … can be developed around this concept’. ‘These semiconductor devices have output powers which previously could only be obtained by molecular gas lasers occupying cubic meters and weighing more than 100kg, or free electron lasers weighing tons and occupying buildings.’ As far back as 1996 the US Air Force Scientific Advisory Board predicted that the development of electromagnetic energy sources would ‘open the door for the development of some novel capabilities that can be used in armed conflict, in terrorist/hostage situations, and in training’ and ‘new weapons that offer the opportunity of control of an adversary … can be developed around this concept’.

The surveillance technology of today is the surveillance of the human mind and, through access to the brain and nervous system, the control of behaviour and the body’s functions. The messaging of auditory hallucinations has given way to silent techniques of influencing and implanting thoughts. The development of the terahertz technologies has illuminated the workings of the brain, facilitated the capture of emitted photons which are derived from the visual cortex which processes picture formation in the brain, and enabled the microelectronic receiver which has, in turn, been developed by growing unique semi-conductor crystals. The development of the terahertz technologies has illuminated the workings of the brain, facilitated the capture of emitted photons which are derived from the visual cortex which processes picture formation in the brain, and enabled the microelectronic receiver which has, in turn, been developed by growing unique semi-conductor crystals. In this way, the technology is now in place for the detection and reading of spectral ‘signatures’ of gases. All humans emit gases. Humans, like explosives, emit their own spectral signature in the form of a gas. With the reading of the brain’s electrical frequency, and of the spectral gas signature, the systems have been established for the control of populations – and with the necessary technology integrated into a cell-phone.

‘We are very optimistic about working in the terahertz electromagnetic spectrum,’ says the principal investigator of the Terahertz Microelectronics Transceiver at Sandia : ‘This is an unexplored area, and a lot of science can come out of it. We are just beginning to scratch the surface of what THz can do to improve national security’.

~~~~~~

Carole Smith was born and educated in Australia, where she gained a Bachelor of Arts degree at Sydney University. She trained as a psychoanalyst in London where she has had a private practice. In recent years she has been a researcher into the invasive methods of accessing minds using technological means, and has published papers on the subject.

She has written the first draft of a book entitled: “The Controlled Society”.The ethical implications of building machines to read people’s minds, DISSENT, Issue 25, http://www.dissent.com.au/index.htm

From Carole Smith newcriteria@blueyonder.co.uk Dec 12/07. The Canberra-based magazine DISSENT is sold at selected bookshops and by subscription.

Hackers have succeeded in breaking into the computer systems of two of the US’ most important science labs, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

John E. Dunn

Hackers have succeeded in breaking into the computer systems of two of the US ‘ most important science labs, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico . 。

In what a spokesperson for the Oak Ridge facility described as a “sophisticated cyber attack,” it appears that intruders accessed a database of visitors to the Tennessee lab between 1990 and 2004, which included their social security numbers and dates of birth. Three thousand researchers reportedly visit the lab each year, a who’s who of the science establishment in the US

The attack was described as being conducted through several waves of phishing emails with malicious attachments, starting on Oct. 29. Although not stated, these would presumably have launched Trojans if opened, designed to bypass security systems from within, which raises the likelihood that the attacks were targeted specifically at the lab.

ORNL director, Thom Mason , described the attacks in an email to staff earlier this week as being a “coordinated attempt to gain access to computer networks at numerous laboratories and other institutions across the country.”

“Because of the sensitive nature of this event, the laboratory will be unable for some period to discuss further details until we better understand the full nature of this attack,” he added.

The ORNL has set up a web page giving an official statement on the attacks, with advice to employees and visitors that they should inform credit agencies so as to minimize the possibility of identity theft.

Less is known about the attacks said to have been launched against the ORNL’s sister-institution at Los Alamos , but the two are said to be linked. It has not been confirmed that the latter facility was penetrated successfully, though given that a Los Alamos spokesman said that staff had been notified of an attack on Nov. 9 - days after the earliest attack wave on the ORNL - the assumption has to be that something untoward happened there as well, and probably at other science labs across the US It has not been confirmed that the latter facility was penetrated successfully, though given that a Los Alamos spokesman said that staff had been notified of an attack on Nov. 9 - days after the earliest attack wave on the ORNL - the assumption has to be that something untoward happened there as well, and probably at other science labs across the US

The ORNL is a multipurpose science lab, a site of technological expertise used in homeland security and military research, and also the site of one of the world’s fastest supercomputers. Los Alamos operates a similar multi-disciplinary approach, but specializes in nuclear weapons research, one of only two such sites doing such top-secret work in the US

Los Alamos has a checkered security history, having suffered a sequence of embarrassing breaches in recent years. In August of this year, it was revealed that the lab had released sensitive nuclear research data by email, while in 2006 a drug dealer was allegedly found with a USB stick containing data on nuclear weapons tests.

“This appears to be a new low, even drug dealers can get classified information out of Los Alamos,” Danielle Brian , executive director of the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), said at the time. Two years earlier, the lab was accused of having lost hard disks

The possibility that the latest attacks were the work of fraudsters will be seen by some as optimistic - less positive would be the possibility of a rival government having been involved. Given the apparently coordinated nature of events, speculation will inevitably point to this scenario, with the data theft a cover motivation for more serious incursions.

Iain Thomson

Boeing and Ford have successfully tested a new hydrogen aircraft engine with a simulated flight that lasted nearly four days.

The project, called the High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft, is being run to test the feasibility of having unmanned craft in permanent flight to act as communications systems that can be quickly and cheaply set up where coverage by traditional means isn’t available. The project, called the High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft, is being run to test the feasibility of having unmanned craft in permanent flight to act as communications systems that can be quickly and cheaply set up where coverage by traditional means isn’t available 。

“This test could help convince potential customers that hydrogen-powered aircraft are viable in the near-term,” said Boeing Advanced Systems president George Muellner.

“This is a substantial step towards providing the persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities our customers desire.”

The HALE’s engine is a modified four cylinder Ford engine that can use hydrogen as a fuel and run for extended period. In a simulation chamber the engine ran for nearly four days, powering the craft up to an equivalent of 65,000 feet. In a simulation chamber the engine ran for nearly four days, powering the craft up to an equivalent of 65000 feet.

“This simulated flight allows us to showcase the capabilities of Ford’s proprietary hydrogen engine technology and the durability of our four-cylinder engines,” said Gerhard Schmidt, vice president of Ford Research and Advanced Engineering.

“We are very pleased with the results. The gasoline version of this same engine can be found in our Ford Fusion and Escape Hybrid vehicles.”

By John E. Dunn

Large organisations in the UK are being offered a new service that could be the ultimate in physical security – building surveillance via satellite.

The service is the work of two companies, Scyron and Datasat , which have spied a need among large multi-nationals and government agencies to secure remote buildings and assets remotely. Scyron supplies the software analysis element, which can assess threat using satellite imagery, while Datasat has access to a satellite network to supply input for the application.

Scyron - which invested in its partner Datasat in July - uses the example of a shipping company watching over its fleet in any part of the world. If suspicious incidents are recorded, the system can adjust bandwidth to ensure the efficient transfer of images back to its monitoring HQ. It can also be tied into biometric and audio security systems as an extra layer.

Such a service doesn’t come cheap, but then again neither does any remote security analysis. The company claims its approach will still save time and money when compared to manual incident analysis.

In addition to maritime and transport, other industries that might be interested include border controls, utilities, and even the military, though the latter might be expected to have their own systems in place for such security.

“The system gives a solution to the headache of permanently manned controls at numerous locations across the world. It is more targeted as it only alerts to suspicious activity but also in conjunction with satellite – it reaches the parts which others just cannot reach,” said Phil Emmel, Datasat’s managing director.

What the company describes as an ‘entry-level’ system would set an organisation back 50,000 euros, but an accurate cost would depend on the number and type of sites being secured, the company said. What the company describes as an ‘entry-level’ system would set an organisation back 50000 euros, but an accurate cost would depend on the number and type of sites being secured, the company said. The service was demonstrated at the Alarmes, Protection Securite Expo, held this week in Paris.

By William Thomas

The story sounded like a sequel to “Dr. Strangelove”. Leaked by the Pentagon’s news service, Military Affairs to quell scuttlebutt racing through the ranks-and perhaps warn the world-a US Air Force B-52 strategic bomber “mistakenly” loaded with six nuclear cruise missiles took off from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota on August 30, 2007 and flew for more than three hours over at least five states, before landing at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Leaked by the Pentagon’s news service, Military Affairs to quell scuttlebutt racing through the ranks-and perhaps warn the world-a US Air Force B-52 strategic bomber “mistakenly” loaded with six nuclear cruise missiles took off from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota on August 30, 2007 and flew for more than three hours over at least five states, before landing at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

The mistake was so egregious, the National Command Authority comprising President George BU.Sh and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates were quickly informed. The SecDef has since been assured that nuclear weapons “were part of a routine transfer between the two bases… at no time was the public in danger.”

Both statements are false.

In fact, nuclear weapons like these are carefully crated for shipment between bases, and placed inside the bomb bays or cargo compartments of transporting aircraft. In stunning contrast, this reporter has learned from two independent and highly placed sources that the six Advanced Cruise Missiles dangling from the B-52’s fatigued and flexible wings were fully armed and ready to fire-except for a single fail/safe switch under the Command Pilot’s control. In stunning contrast, this reporter has learned from two independent and highly placed sources that the six Advanced Cruise Missiles dangling from the B-52’s fatigued and flexible wings were fully armed and ready to fire-except for a single fail/safe switch under the Command Pilot’s control.

The quickly blacked out episode has prompted an Air Force investigation. Gates, whose official defense computer was hacked last June, necessitating the shutdown of the entire SecDef network, has ordered daily briefings on the Air Force inquiry. The Minot base commander, who might turn out to be the hero in this frightening affair, was relieved of his command.

DR. STRANGELOVE VISITS BOURBON STREET
As far as anyone knows, no US aircraft has ever been armed with a full wartime loadout of six nuclear weapons. “Nothing like this has ever been reported before and we have been assured for decades that it was impossible,” declared Representative Markey, co-chair of the House Task Force on Nonproliferation. [AP Sept 5/07; Seattle Times Sept 5/07] “Nothing like this has ever been reported before and we have been assured for decades that it was impossible,” declared Representative Markey, co-chair of the House Task Force on Nonproliferation. [AP Sept 5/07; Seattle Times Sept 5/07 ]

Hans Kristensen, an expert on US nuclear forces, says he knows of no other publicly acknowledged case of live nuclear weapons being flown on bombers since the late 1960s. [http://ace.mu.nu]

Director Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” was released in 1964 Each of the six ACMs carried a “dialable” 150-kiloton W80-1 warhead–for a combined total of 60-times the destructive power of the bomb that melted the city and inhabitants of Hiroshima–over the unsuspecting residents of five states. Strangelove Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” was released in 1964 Each of the six ACMs carried a “dialable” 150-kiloton W80-1 warhead–for a combined total of 60-times the destructive power of the bomb that melted the city and inhabitants of Hiroshima–over the unsuspecting residents of five states. Depending on the route flown, a half-dozen armed nuclear weapons wafted for three-and-a-half hours over North Dakota and either South Dakota or Minnesota, Nebraska or Missouri, Oklahoma or Arkansas, and Louisiana.

It’s no secret that Dick Cheney and his presidential surrogate intend to bomb Iran into the Kingdom to Come. [BBC News Aug 29/07]

But New Orleans? “What does the government have against Louisiana?” asked a blogger named Lobster Martini. [www.democraticunderground.com]

TOUGH LOVE
The “mistake” was supposedly discovered when the B-52 landed at Barskdale, where the plane should have been secured by an armed security detail. Instead, it simply parked on the flight line, where ground crew noticed the words “nuclear armed” stenciled on the sides of the missiles. [ ]

Three officers confirmed the warheads were, in Bush’s argot, “nucular.” But the mission could have ended in a “broken arrow” nuclear calamity if the bomber had crashed, or inadvertently dropped its ordnance. Munitions, and even entire engines-such as the No. 1 turbine that fell off an American Airlines DC 10 after taking off from Chicago’s O’Hare airport in May, 1979, killing two people on the ground and all 271 people onboard-occasionally drop from underwing pylons in flight. [Chicago Tribune May 26-30/79; National Transportation Safety Board Aircraft Accident Report NSTB-AAR-79-17] Munitions, and even entire engines-such as the No. 1 turbine that fell off an American Airlines DC 10 after taking off from Chicago’s O’Hare airport in May, 1979, killing two people on the ground and all 271 people onboard- occasionally drop from underwing pylons in flight. [Chicago Tribune May 26-30/79; National Transportation Safety Board Aircraft Accident Report NSTB-AAR-79-17]

A few other examples: — A B-36 ferrying a nuclear weapon from Biggs Air Force Base, Texas to Kirtland accidentally drops a bomb in the New Mexico desert.

[ww.nuclearfiles.org] – A fighter pilot accidentally dropped a BDU-33 dummy bomb into a house, narrowly missing a family of three. [www.f-117a.com ]

– A 500-pound bomb fell from an FA-18 plane during a routine training exercise and exploded on the edge of a US base 100 miles north of Sarajevo. [ AP July 17/02]

– A National Guard F-16 fighter jet on a nighttime training mission strafed an elementary school in New Jersey with 25 rounds of depleted uranium ammunition. [AP Nov 4/04]

– Another US Air Force practice bomb accidentally on the Yorkshire countryside in England. [ BBC Jan 12/04]

– Electromagnetic interference from military transmitters may have caused an F-16 jet to accidentally drop a 500 pound bomb on rural West Georgia. [Montreal Gazette May 12/89]
A crash, mid-air explosion or structural breakup-not uncommon occurrences with heavily-laden B-52s-could have ignited the high explosives used to implode the warheads. The ultimate dirty bomber’s fantasy could have seen plutonium–the deadliest substance ever conjured by humans-raining down over what would become a statewide “national sacrifice zone”, off-limits to all life-forms for more than 4 billion years.

Barksdale AFB is no stranger to nuclear accidents. On July 6, 1959, a C-124 “Flying Boxcar” crashed on takeoff, completely destroying the aircraft and the nuclear weapon it was carrying. [www.cdi.org]

[See: “Broken Arrows” ]

PROTOCOLS
The Air Combat Command has ordered a command-wide stand down for September 14, 2007 to “review procedures.” Though they actually responded flawlessly to apparently authentic orders, the highly trained specialists who carried out the nuclear loadout have been temporarily “decertified” from handling nukes. The Air Combat Command has ordered a command-wide stand down for September 14, 2007 to “review procedures.” Though they actually responded flawlessly to apparently authentic orders, the highly trained specialists who carried out the nuclear loadout have been temporarily “decertified” from handling nukes. Representative Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, called the mishandling of arms capable of destroying cities “deeply disturbing. There is no more serious issue than the security and proper handling of nuclear weapons.”

[AP Sept 5/07]

The crewdogs who flew their assigned mission without mishap have been ordered not to mention that all pilots are required to perform a “walk around” inspection of their airplanes and calculate elaborate “weight-and-balance” graphs before attempting to aviate. Failure to notice or be informed of the much heavier nuclear casings on the missiles they were carrying would have jeopardized flight safety. According to a well-informed and extremely thorough US military source I call “Hank” (with whom I have broken major stories over the past 15 years), someone “must have adjusted the bomber’s balance. Failure to notice or be informed of the much heavier nuclear casings on the missiles they were carrying would have jeopardized flight safety. According to a well-informed and extremely thorough US military source I call “Hank” (with whom I have broken major stories over the past 15 years), someone “must have adjusted the bomber’s balance. It had to have been done.”

In addition to knowing what is externally attached to their airplane, the amount of paperwork, signatures, and discrete passwords involved in releasing a nuclear weapon from its storage bunker and loading it onto an airframe are more formidable than flak.

And there were six of them.
PICKUP AND DELIVERY
The coded message to upload and launch the B-52 from Minot with six live nuclear weapons carried the signature of the
“football” containing the day’s nuclear launch codes that is carried close to the president at all times by a specially detailed aide. After checking and counter-checking their coded orders, as few as a dozen people in uniform were actually involved in the subsequent secret nuclear mission. According to Hank, at least three high-ranking officers were escorted into Minot AFB’s nuclear arms bunker after passing through multiple doors secured by pass codes, whose complete sequences were supplied each officer, who only knew part of each code. After checking and counter-checking their coded orders, as few as a dozen people in uniform were actually involved in the subsequent secret nuclear mission. According to Hank, at least three high-ranking officers were escorted into Minot AFB’s nuclear arms bunker after passing through multiple doors secured by pass codes, whose complete sequences were supplied each officer, who only knew part of each code. One hiccup, a fumbled code sequence, or “the wrong wrench” would have cancelled the loadout instantly.

SAFETY FIRST
Because the base had stood down for Labor Day, the timing was ideal for security. In his standing orders for August 30, 2007, 5th Bomb Wing commander Colonel Bruce Emig encouraged his troops to “Enjoy a safe Labor Day weekend.

“Warbirds, It’s hard to believe that Labor Day weekend is already here!” the colonel wrote. “Though cooler temperatures are right around the corner, the weather forecasters tell me that we should have a warm, summer-like weekend. Since Air Combat Command and Air Force Space Command have declared Friday a Family Day, many of you should be able to enjoy a nice, 4-day break as we transition from summer to fall. I wish all of you a relaxing and enjoyable time off, and urge you all once again to please keep safety in mind in all you do!” [www.libertypost.org]

Under a bomber’s nuclear umbrella in a discrete corner of the sprawling airbase, air, ground and ordnance crews did not converse with each other. Or anyone else. Everyone involved knew better than to ask questions that could abruptly end their careers by inadvertently tipping people who did not need to know.
LOADOUT
Within hours, an airplane with a wingspan longer than the Wright Brothers’ first flight was safely loaded with avgas, sandwiches, and six nuclear weapons. Uploaded to the bomber using an accordion cradle on each missile trolley, each Advanced Cruise Missile was fueled once it was secured to a hard point under the aircraft’s wings. Because the ACMs were not inside a bomb bay, where they could be armed in flight, each underslung missile had to be fully armed before takeoff. “Wing walker” is not a B-52 job description. The plates connecting the firing circuits of each warhead to the cockpit were then activated, and the safeties were pulled from each clearly marked “nuclear weapon”-rendering it “live”. For the Explosive Ordnance Disposal detail who performed the loadout, there could be no doubt they were activating six nuclear weapons.

Alarms on the flight line should have sounded as soon as they sniffed hot ions leaking from the pulled pile rods in six slowly fissioning warheads. But the alarms remain silenced. That order, Hank insisted, could only have come under the properly coded signature of the National Command Authority-Commander-in-Chief GW Bush or Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates.

The ensuing takeoff was an event branded on the central nervous system of every creature in auditory range as eight jet engines at maximum takeoff thrust levitated six missiles, up to 46,000 gallons of fuel, and an airplane the length of a 150-foot ship into a blue yonder that had just become much wilder. The ensuing takeoff was an event branded on the central nervous system of every creature in auditory range as eight jet engines at maximum takeoff thrust levitated six missiles, up to 46000 gallons of fuel, and an airplane the length of a 150-foot ship into a blue yonder that had just become much wilder. Everyone within miles knew that a B-52 had come into Minot and taken off again. But only God and the devil knew where it was going. [www.boeing.com]

And they weren’t saying.
WHO DUNNIT?
In the silence left by this momentous departure, if there were questions, nobody voiced them. Perhaps there were a few quietly delivered high-fives instead. Despite the high stress that runs counter to every human instinct, everyone involved had carried out their assigned duties with complete attention to the details required to launch a half-dozen live nuclear weapons “safely”. The professionally conducted operation was carried off in complete secrecy, without a hitch, only after the loadout and launch order had been digitally confirmed as coming from the NCA. There was only one problem regarding the originators of those orders, Hank emailed me:

“IT WAS NOT US.”
FAULTY (COMPUTER) TOWERS
Let us quickly review. My earlier exclusive on my former website, willthomas.net, disclosed how in October 2006, North Korea’s leaders asked China to take out Japan’s shiny new recon satellite before it could be tasked by American officers to monitor Pyongyang’s first atomic test. My earlier exclusive on my former website, willthomas.net, disclosed how in October 2006, North Korea’s leaders asked China to take out Japan’s shiny new recon satellite before it could be tasked by American officers to monitor Pyongyang’s first atomic test. Blowing up someone’s satellite is an act of war. But overriding its “Made In China” microchips with a remote command from the ground could never be proven. Even if no solar flares were recorded at the time. This first Chinese demo got the Pentagon’s attention. After all, their stated goal of “Full Spectrum Dominance” over Earth’s land, seas, airspace and electromagnetic spectrum depends on America’s successful weaponization of space. But as the Joint Chiefs are only now discovering, many of the supposedly secure chips in America’s civilian infrastructure-as well as all military communications, surveillance and weapons systems-have been “Wal-Marted” by US corporations to low-bid Chinese suppliers-who rigged them for failure or takeover by “command override” in the event of war. But as the Joint Chiefs are only now discovering, many of the supposedly secure chips in America’s civilian infrastructure-as well as all military communications, surveillance and weapons systems-have been “Wal-Marted” by US corporations to low-bid Chinese suppliers-who rigged them for failure or takeover by “command override” in the event of war.

[See: “Faulty Microchips Threaten US Attack On Iran” ]

SEE DICK RUN
The second demonstration of China’s newfound capabilities to manipulate microchips came in late February 2007, when Dick Cheney’s 757, flying home from Australia where the Vice President had not been well received by the locals, was forced to divert to Singapore. In a story intriguingly tagged, “US Denies Cheney Forced To Land,” Agence France-Presse reported that the White House admitted the Vice-President’s “specially secured” Boeing 757 had “suffered electrical problems” before landing in Singapore. But Cheney spinner Lea Anne McBride insisted, “This was the preplanned, scheduled refueling stop. We were not diverted. The vice president did not get off the plane during his refueling stop.” [AFP Feb 26/07]

Wrong again. According to US military personnel present on the tarmac at Paya Lebar Air Base-who according to Hank said were “trying to yak with the locals: ‘Can you get us this part? Do you have a Radio Shack?’”-a small Chinese delegation met with Cheney outside his electronically-challenged aircraft. Wandering in and out of the brief conversation, Hank’s sources described the brief encounter, which occurred shortly after 1400 hours Singapore time.

Disembarking Air Force One, Cheney said something like, “Gosh, we got this kind of interesting problem…”

“No, you don’t understand sir,” a Chinese official interrupted. “This is how we brought you here. And this is why.”

Cheney’s visitors itemized the separately wired galley stoves, reading lights, in-flight video, and power outlets onboard the Vice President’s aircraft that had all conked out in flight. They knew this, they said, because the electronic signals that had disabled the microchips controlling these various devices had been directed by their government. In an impressive feat, the Chinese military had located and selectively targeted a stealthy aircraft painted with radar-absorbent materials flying at nearly 500 knots at 35,000 feet without a public itinerary. In an impressive feat, the Chinese military had located and selectively targeted a stealthy aircraft painted with radar-absorbent materials flying at nearly 500 knots at 35000 feet without a public itinerary.

According to Hank’s boots-on-the-tarmac sources, the mostly one-way conversation in Singapore concerned “Gulf of Tonkin possibilities.”

“They reached out and touched someone,” Hank related. “They had a message they wanted to get across: ‘You’ve got ships out there in the Gulf. If this thing cooks off, all bets are off because some of the things that are put out there, we are really now wanting people to talk about.’”

The Chinese were referring to their control of most of the microchips on this planet.

A very thoughtful Dick Cheney departed two hours later.

OPENING THE GATES
The next Chinese digital demo came last June. In what came to be called “the most successful cyber attack ever mounted on the US defence department,” Chinese military hacked into a Pentagon computer network serving the defense secretary’s personal office. Like their American counterparts, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) regularly probes US military networks. In what came to be called “the most successful cyber attack ever mounted on the US defence department,” Chinese military hacked into a Pentagon computer network serving the defense secretary’s personal office. Like their American counterparts, the People’s Liberation Army ( PLA) regularly probes US military networks. But American officials said these latest cyber attack caused grave concern when China demonstrated it “could disrupt US defenses systems at critical times.”

“The PLA has demonstrated the ability to conduct attacks that disable our system… and the ability in a conflict situation to re-enter and disrupt on a very large scale,” revealed a former official, adding that the PLA has also penetrated the networks of US arms corporations and war-launching think-tanks. [Financial Times Sept 3/07] “The PLA has demonstrated the ability to conduct attacks that disable our system… and the ability in a conflict situation to re-enter and disrupt on a very large scale,” revealed a former official, adding that the PLA has also penetrated the networks of US arms corporations and war-launching think-tanks. [Financial Times Sept 3/07]

A Chinese official named Jiang repeated his government’s denial that it had penetrated other government and military computer networks. But British and German newspapers cited intelligence and other officials saying that government and military networks in Germany, the United States and Britain had been broken into by Chinese army hackers this summer. According to the Associated Press: “China’s military has openly discussed using cyber attacks as a means of harrying or defeating a more powerful conventional military. But British and German newspapers cited intelligence and other officials saying that government and military networks in Germany, the United States and Britain had been broken into by Chinese army hackers this summer. According to the Associated Press: “China’s military has openly discussed using cyber attacks as a means of harrying or defeating a more powerful conventional military. In a 1999 paper on unconventional strategies titled ‘Unlimited Warfare’ two top Chinese military figures wrote that a hacker could have more power than a nuclear bomb.”

In a report this year, security software maker Symantec Corp. listed China as having the second most malicious computer activity in the world-after the United States. [AP Sept 6/07]

Speaking as a soldier, Hank commented, “The June hack showed an enormous hole in our ability to protect and communicate our information.

LOST IN SPACE
The next hack came almost immediately, when Russian computers controlling the International Space Station’s orientation and supplies of oxygen and water inexplicably failed while the station’s three crewmembers were hosting seven visiting shuttle astronauts.

Among the station’s network of six Russian computers, only two remained functioning. A system-wide re-boot usually resolved smaller hitches, But this time, the system was unable to re-boot.

“A failure of this type has not occurred before,” the BBC reported. [BBC June 14/07]

“This is serious,” stated James Oberg, a retired rocket scientist turned author and consultant. “These computers run their life support, so if they can’t be restored, the space station could become uninhabitable.” Oberg added, “Statistically, this is not random. There is some new environmental factor that must identified and isolated, and neither step is trivial.” [TechNewsWorld June 14/07]

Russian flight controllers and onboard engineers traced the problem to “odd readings” in electrical power cables feeding the Russian computers through a corroded junction box labeled BOK 3. [Space.com July 16/07]

The gremlins returned to the Russian machines on February 5, when another ISS computer system crashed in the Zvezda Service Module that routes data between orientation sensors and four positioning gyroscopes. The space station’s solar power stopped supplying power, and communications were cut with Earth.

Though power and comms were restored three hours later, New Scientist reports, “The cause of the computer crash remains a mystery. NASA has so far not identified the cause of the crash.” [New Scientist Feb 5/02]

But Hank was on it. “They had limited oxygen, a limited time frame,” he observed. The astronauts onboard the space station didn’t know if the next computer malfunction “would open an airlock.” But like an airliner in flight, the station should have smoothly shifted over to backup systems.

It didn’t.

“The word ‘redundancy’ never got into the story,” Hank pointed out. Instead, all three backup circuit boards wired into three isolated circuits, “had to blow out in the same way at the exact same time. The fault that occurred in the first board, the second board, and the third board all had to be the same damn thing at the same damn time.”

“Impossible,” he declared. Especially, since each of the simultaneously faulty microchips had been “stress tested to hell and back. Except for internal stressors.”

Except for “Made In China” microchip mischief.

While it is not yet confirmed that the February 5 microchip malfunction was related to the June 14 space station hack, according to Hank’s sources, on that earlier date the Chinese pulled the equivalent of Cheney’s Singapore diversion–in space. “Nobody got busted for it,” he adds. “You always hear about the company at fault.”

Not this time.
AC WE SEE
While White House fundamentalists remained mesmerized by the firepower ostensibly under their command, Beijing kept trying to send a very different message. Their next installment came in early September 2007, when US Air Force officers passed through multiple levels of security and entered the inner computer sanctum of America’s Air and Space Command deep under Cheyenne Mountain. This digital repository stores regularly updates archives needed to execute “clean reinstalls” in case air force computer systems crash or are otherwise compromised.

Entering the quietly humming room, the air force officers were shocked to see monitors aglow with light. The displays were supposed to be off. As they watched in shock and awe, randomly typed letters scrolled across a screen. The words were gibberish. But the message was heart-stoppingly clear: “We Can Play With Your Toys!”

The sender “left breadcrumbs,” Hank related. The deliberately attached ISP (Internet Service Provider) pointed to China.

This was bad enough. But what really freaked out the officers was the realization that none of these “stand alone” machines was online. None of them contained a modem!

The only way to access these machines, Hank revealed, is to “use the sneaker net to walk up to it and tap on the keyboard. And yet they were interacting, and they were doing it in real time. They fussed with our stuff. These guys were able to go into what was a stand alone system and take control of it.”

How did the PLA hack supposedly secure air force computers lacking network modems? Just like as select power companies can now pipe the Internet to home computers through electrical power lines, the Chinese were able to play on SAC’s supposedly secure computers through the AC power cables connecting them to the national power… “grid”.

But how did they break supposedly “unbreakable” military encryption?

And how were they able to transmit signals to override specific chips buried under a mountain of granite halfway around the globe? According to Hank, the International Space Station was not in line-of-sight with China when it’s onboard computers and back-up systems simultaneously went down.

HIT MAN
When it comes to dialing up a bomber to drop nuclear weapons on another country, “It’s kind of like hiring a hit man,” Hank explained. You meet him in the parking lot with the assignment, a weapon, and cash. Later, you confirm that you haven’t changed your mind. Then the mission proceeds, and either the target or the hit man is taken out.

In the case of the mission out of Minot, the First Phase began with an initiation order authorizing weapons release to arm a B-52 specially flown in for this operation. Proper codes and paperwork provided the Pilot in Command with an initial heading to fly, and initial waypoints or nav points to punch into the plane’s GPS. No destination was provided. The pilots were just supposed to get in and drive.

They did.

Once the B-52 was airborne, it flew into an electronic black hole. No electromagnetic emissions came from the bomber. There were no radio calls to home base asking, “Are you guys sure you really want to do this?” Even more startling, no coded IFF squawks identified the BUFF (Big Ugly Fat Fucker) as friendly to prowling post-9/11 fighters. There were no radio calls to home base asking, “Are you guys sure you really want to do this?” Even more startling, no coded IFF squawks identified the BUFF (Big Ugly Fat Fucker) as friendly to prowling post-9/11 fighters 。 And no transponder beeps identified the airplane and its mission.

This is not the normal procedure for transporting weapons, or flying a B-52 through heavily-trafficked air corridors over the Continental United States. Every aircraft flying at high altitudes over CONUS, (or through Controlled Airspace around airports at lower attitudes) must transmit their identity on an assigned transponder frequency.

Commercial planes squawk in their own dialect. “When you’re talking a government vehicle, like a C-130 [military transport], that’s another level up,” Hank noted. “It’sa different kind of squawk. ATC knows how to treat that kind of traffic differently. A B-52 is another level up. Controllers don’t see that every day. A C-5 [flying down from Colorado to dust a hurricane, for example]-they really don’t see that every day.”

The transponder code of the B-52 out of Minot would have prioritized it to civilian Air Traffic Control, and they would have cleared a corridor for its exclusive track-much like a presidential motorcade.

If this Bad Boy had been transferring six advanced nuclear cruise missiles to Barksdale, as official spin insisted, its transponder would have squawked: “Hey, guess what? We’ve got nukes onboard! Make sure no one runs into us. And if this signal stops scramble recovery people wearing proper attire.”

Or code to that effect.

But this did not happen.

“The Situation Room in the White House was not stood up, but they still have people there,? Hank continued. ?One of their jobs is to track nuclear weapons. Somebody in that head shed should have seen a transponder code matched up with nuclear weapons loaded onto that aircraft. That should have been something that went up on the board. They would have known that a B-52 was getting a full loadout, and that all procedures had been followed. And someone else would have said, ‘ Mmm , six nukes. We’ll keep an eye on it.”

And given an order for radar operators to push a button to highlight that particular blip.

Instead, the blacked-out BUFF flew on.

TARGET IRAN
High in the stratosphere, where the nitrous oxide exhaust from eight fuel-hungry turbines attacked this planet’s shredding ozone layer, boosting global warming another notch toward a catastrophic methane meltdown, wings never designed to carry heavy ordnance flexed up and down like a bird in flight. High in the stratosphere, where the nitrous oxide exhaust from eight fuel-hungry turbines attacked this planet’s shredding ozone layer, boosting global warming another notch toward a catastrophic methane meltdown, wings never designed to carry heavy ordnance flexed up and down like a bird in flight. The crew must have considered the long roster of crashed Stratofortress with ?broken arrows? onboard. Not for a second could they forget that the six live nuclear weapons strapped to their wings were as close to detonation as a gremlin’s wet dream.

Or the fail-safe switch under the Plane Commander’s gloves.

An hour or two out of Minot, a bell chimed in the cockpit and a secure printer spat out a coded paper message. Even if they betrayed no emotion, the pilots must have felt a chill. Because the mission’s next critical Fail-Safe had been passed. “We’ve thought about it, and the mission is still a go,” the message essentially read. If these new orders had not been received, or had been issued incorrectly, the plane would have immediately turned back to the nearest base capable of handling its special needs.

But their orders were in order. Positively authenticated by both pilots as coming from the NCA, the new message received onboard the bomber issued the radio frequencies, call signs and rendezvous coordinates for “hitting” one of three aerial refueling planes constantly orbiting over the Gulf of Mexico. Their new “Go Code” also identified their target region. After topping off their tanks, they were to take up a heading for another Gulf, half a world away.

BLIND MAN’S BUFF
Wouldn’t the base commander, or the other officers involved in sending live nuclear weapons toward Iran have second thoughts about a strike that could trigger an even bigger political-military chain reaction?

Not necessarily, Hank explained. Military leaders usually favor intimidation in place of bloodshed. If the Iranians could be dissuaded from acquiring a nuclear deterrent of their own, or decide to stop supplying their Shiite brothers next door with sophisticated shaped-charge rockets capable of penetrating the depleted uranium hides of M-1 Abrams tanks-terrific! Everyone involved in the mission must have hoped that in this high-stakes brinksmanship, when Iranian sensors picked up the radioactive signature of an inbound American nuclear bomber strike, the mullahs in Teheran would burn their Korans and turn to Jesus.

On the other hand, how do you say “pissed off” in Persian? The mullahs might panic and start pushing buttons of their own. Especially when the Israeli Air Force was notified of the strike, and launched “supporting” fighter-bombers of their own.

In any case, it was out of the hands of the base commander and his immediate superiors. Since any one of these key staff officers could conceivably be kidnapped or impersonated during a nuclear strike, none had the authority to issue a recall order. Even if someone in the chain of command issued an RTB (Return To Base), SAC bomber crews en route to the final IP coordinates to commence their attack are trained to ignore all such entreaties.

In fact, a frantic “Come home for lunch,” or “Call your wife” command would confirm for the crew that something really was amiss, and they were at war.

In this way, a series of rote military assumptions can make an ash out of you and me.

WHAT, ME WORRY?
Meanwhile, the man under whose digitally coded authority this strike was being carried out, remained completely unaware that six nuclear cruise missiles with his name on them were headed toward Iran.

Phase Three would have issued coded authorization to take out their assigned targets. One target confirmed by two highly placed, independent sources was a nuclear power plant hard against the mountains of Iran. “But the bomber would still have five missiles left. And it would not leave the area empty,” Hank insisted. “If they go loaded for bear, they’re not going to leave with a rabbit.”

After all, he added, a pre-BDA [Bomb Damage Assessment] would have been done before launching the bomber “to determine how many it would take. And they needed six ?”

Despite all the Hollywood hype, cruise missiles are notoriously inaccurate. Just ask the folks ducking strays in Kuwait or Iran. Still, a cruise missile striking within 30 miles would have taken out that Iranian power plant. But if the nuclear-tipped ACM had detonated over its pile?

“Bad. Bad. Very bad,” as Hank would say. Because the resulting electromagnetic pulses from such a synergistic chain reaction would have–among other things–fried every unhardened Chinese microchip aboard every American ship, plane and vehicle in the Persian Gulf.

“You don’t have to sink the CAG, just turn it off,” Hank said, referring to the formidable–yet completely microchip dependent–Carrier Air Group steaming off the coast of Iran. “Once they realized that these ships were just bobbing around out there,” the bad guys would have “launched 10,000 rowboats” from surrounding shorelines to go play pirates. “Once they realized that these ships were just bobbing around out there,” the bad guys would have “launched 10000 rowboats” from surrounding shorelines to go play pirates.

Was this why several Chinese Aegis destroyers were steaming in from the east about 250 nautical miles from the Straits of Hormuz? Was this why two or three Chinese submarines had been deployed to the area of the transiting destroyers the week before?

Or were the two Chinese anti-aircraft destroyers part of an elaborate fail-safe in case the demonstration glitched and the bomber could not be recalled? Even if their anti-aircraft missiles could not reach the distant plane (easily tracked through its rigged Chinese chips), specific signals sent from the ship could have turned the plane around. Or its fuel off.

What were the Chinese thinking?

CHINESE CHECKERS
Ever since Katrina, and the subsequent standing wave put up off the south coast of Africa by HAARP to deflect hurricanes from the US Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, Beijing has felt under siege as earthquakes and wild, shipping-interrupting storms continue to be conducted “all the way to China” by the powerful Gakona, Alaskan transmitter. Ever since Katrina, and the subsequent standing wave put up off the south coast of Africa by HAARP to deflect hurricanes from the US Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, Beijing has felt under siege as earthquakes and wild, shipping-interrupting storms continue to be conducted “all the way to China” by the powerful Gakona, Alaskan transmitter. [See “Where Have All The Hurricanes Gone”-upcoming on willthomasonline.net]

Three times, the Chinese have attempted to override HAARP. And failed. Elaborate demonstrations of their electronic warfare capabilities–including fizzing circuits in space, and a face-to-face with the US Vice-President in Singapore–had not persuaded American leaders to A: Refrain from hoisting a false flag over a Persian Gulf of Tonkin, and B: Turn HAARP off. Elaborate demonstrations of their electronic warfare capabilities–including fizzing circuits in space, and a face-to-face with the US Vice-President in Singapore–had not persuaded American leaders to A: Refrain from hoisting a false flag over a Persian Gulf of Tonkin , and B: Turn HAARP off.

Surely, Beijing must have reasoned, ordering a United State Air Force strategic bomber loaded out with six armed nuclear weapons to fly over the United States and then on towards Iran would conclusively demonstrate who was now in charge.

“This op would not have ‘Made In China’ stamped all over it,” Hank pointed out. “Instead, American bombs, American bombers and American systems were used.” No matter how the mission had proceeded, if Washington had been forced to tell the world, “It wasn’t us. We lost control of our bomber carrying six atomic warheads”–how would that have looked to a global audience already angry over America’s misuse of its military might?

Whatever Beijing’s intentions, Hank was not the only person in the US military to have his head rearranged by this latest Chinese demonstration. “They might have wanted to go all the way. Of they might have wanted to put pieces in play and see how far they could go,” he surmised. “Maybe the Chinese started, and stopped it.”

Either way, the unauthorized Minot mission has bluntly shown the White House and the Pentagon: “If you start something, we can stop it. You no longer know how much control you have over your own weapons systems because we can play with them at will. No matter where you are, no matter what you’re doing, if you’re using our chips you are vulnerable. And you can’t know if our Trojan chips are in your systems unless you tear apart every circuits in every surveillance, communications, weapons system, pipelines, telecom and power grid in your entire military and civilian inventory and look. And then dismantle every network they are connected to.”

“And one more thing,” Beijing inferred, “If you take offense and pop off a missile, remember, we might make it do a loop-de-loop and come right back down on its originating silo.”

Hank and others in America’s command hierarchy remain alarmed and puzzled-which makes them even more uneasy. Would China’s leadership have precipitated a cloud of radioactive fallout downwind over their own population? Emphatically, yes . The country’s generals have long counted an expendable population and land mass as key factors in “winning” a nuclear war.

Best case scenario, this recent flight of fancy was a warning for Washington to chill the bomb Iran rhetoric, and dial down HAARP.

“Maybe the Chinese got it right and they were just messin’ with us,” Hank mused. “Or they got it wrong, and something very bad almost happened. But why only one plane? Why stop there? It’sa limited use of a system that is now exposed.”

But what can we do about it?

And what a message it sent!


[See “Cyber War”]

RECALL
Phase Three of the mission would have sent coded target grid coordinates and time(s) of weapon(s) release, as well as updates on weather over the area, enemy defense status and friendly escorts. Those orders never came.

Instead, Phase Four was initiated. When the cockpit teleprinter spat out paper tape again, it read, in so many words: “Forget the whole thing. Abort the mission. Turn back.” The only people capable of issuing a nuclear strike recall order would be the President, the Secretary of Defense, a specific designate of the SecDef authorized by special code. Or a Chinese military hacker.

As Hank notes, “The plane had to be diverted to a base that could handle nuclear weapons.” That would be Barksdale. But…

“Live hot nukes would have tripped alarms on the tarmac when it touched down. Either they were nonfunctional on both ends [Minot and Barksdale], which is scary beyond belief considering what we’re talking about.” Or the Joint Chiefs or the NCA could have ordered the radiation sensors silenced to keep the mission-and the hijacked mission-under wraps. Either they were nonfunctional on both ends [Minot and Barksdale], which is scary beyond belief considering what we’re talking about.” Or the Joint Chiefs or the NCA could have ordered the radiation sensors silenced to keep the mission-and the hijacked mission -under wraps. Or the Chinese could have turned them off. If the system is digital, Beijing probably controls it.

Bottom line: if the incoming bomber had crashed approach, no one responding would have known they were dealing with a quiver-full of “broken arrows”.


BARKSDALE
Thought the missiles were never launched, they still remain in play. As Hank worried, “Six nukes are now forward deployed to the air force base that handles Middle East ops.”

A former counter-terrorism expert with the CIA and the State Department shares his concern. Larry Johnson does not buy the official story that six nuclear weapons were “mistakenly” flown over the USA-not after a retired B-52 pilot reminded him. “The only time you put such weapons on a plane is when they are on alert, or if the crew has been tasked to move the weapons to a specific site.” Besides running nuclear war exercises like the Global Guardian drill it ran on the morning of 9/11, Barksdale AFB deploys “heavies” to the Middle East. “The only time you put such weapons on a plane is when they are on alert, or if the crew has been tasked to move the weapons to a specific site.” Besides running nuclear war exercises like the Global Guardian drill it ran on the morning of 9/11, Barksdale AFB deploys “heavies” to the Middle East.

Like Hank, Johnson wants to know, “Why would we want to preposition nuclear weapons at a base conducting Middle East operations?” His pilot pal believes that an insider leaker tried to send up a bright red flag. Johnson asks, “Did someone at Barksdale try to indirectly warn the American people that the Bush Administration is staging nukes for Iran?” [www.antiwar.com]

But Hank points out another problem. Cruise missiles-which are essentially autonomous, unpiloted drones-have special needs. Since six cruise missiles showing up at Barksdale were an oddity, can they be adequately stored and maintained there? The Gulf Coast is “a very different environment” than Nebraska, Hank emphasizes. How long is Barksdale going to hold onto them? In the hurricane season?

“Are we going to see some of them floating out on the tide?” Hank wants to know. Americans need a big confirm that these weapons have been sent back north to a better home.

This is a question that we all must think hard about because many Governments and private companies around the world are building up vast databases of personal data, biometrics and more.

The UK Government has already begun the roll out of biometric technology in passports, fingerprinting of school children and is well underway with the the UK National ID card and National Identity Register which will allow private companies and public sector to verify UK citizens using a single card and record all this activity. The UK Government has already begun the roll out of biometric technology in passports, fingerprinting of school children and is well underway with the the UK National ID card and National Identity Register which will allow private companies and public sector to verify UK citizens using a single card and record all this activity. The UK ID card will also make use of iris scans, DNA and fingerprints. The UK Govt. also embarked on the NHS NPfIT (National Health Service National Programme for IT) in which all patient records will be centralised and can be accessed from anywhere.

Former PM Tony Blair and his successor have already shown their support for a national DNA database holding DNA for every UK citizen and the Home Office IPS (Identity & Passport Service) are also looking at RFID implants.

The UK Govt. like others has a terrible record when it comes to delivering IT projects and recent cases where NHS staff where viewing the records of a celebrity being treated at a different hospital, CSA (Child Support Agency) failing to deliver anything, NHS staff swapping swipe cards and leaving passwords at computer terminals and a report from the US about a company forcing RFID implants upon it’s staff are all signs of what is to come. like others has a terrible record when it comes to delivering IT projects and recent cases where NHS staff where viewing the records of a celebrity being treated at a different hospital, CSA (Child Support Agency) failing to deliver anything, NHS staff swapping swipe cards and leaving passwords at computer terminals and a report from the US about a company forcing RFID implants upon it’s staff are all signs of what is to come.

Should we be embarking on these projects to use this IT technology to monitor, track, document and watch citizens 24/7?

HM Government and UK citizens have no formal relationship documented in the form of a constitution and this therefore allows this UK Government and future ones the right to use these systems as they like.

What implications for the future?
Do you want the police and Government to know your entire private life?
Is it the job of Govt. to award citizens identity or is it just the job of Govt. to serve the people?

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/forums/0,1000000782,39289511-39001037c-20087441o,00.htm

The UK’s big five mobile phone firms have switched on a payment system that turns handsets into digital wallets. Called PayForIt, the scheme is designed for those buying goods and services with a value of up to £10.

The industry hopes it will be used to pay for ringtones, train tickets, parking fees and eventually as a payment system on web shops and sites.

Any cash spent via the scheme will automatically be added on to a customer’s phone bill.

Cash crunch

The scheme standardises the way phones can be used to make payments so the process is the same no matter which operator a customer has signed up for or which handset they are using.

Mike Short, chairman of the Mobile Data Association, said PayForIt had been developed as an alternative to other systems such as premium rate SMS.

Many people, said Mr Short, were unhappy using that payment system because of past uncertainty about how much they would pay and who they turn to if things go wrong.

“It’s for those customers who have not felt comfortable with mobile transactions or payments,” he said.

Trust in mobile payments would be boosted, said Mr Short because shoppers will know who they are buying from and what they are spending.

Anyone paying for goods with PayForIt will see an information screen that lays out what they have bought, who it has been bought from and how much it will cost.

“It’s about opening up the micro payment choices,” said Mr Short, “but it’s not a total cash replacement.”

PayForIt will appear as a payment option on sites that people can get to via their handset and soon will also appear as a way to pay on websites too, said Mr Short.

Bad experiences have made some wary of paying via handset

Companies such as I-play, Gameloft, EA, Multimap, SonyEricsson and Samsung have become the first to sign up and let people pay using the PayForIt system.

PayForIt was first announced in March 2006 and the official start date for the scheme was 1 September.

“Most big brands would not use premium rate SMS to run their services, it’s not a good experience, it’s not consumer friendly,” said Anuj Khanna, a spokesman for Tanla Mobile which is one of the firms administering payments made via PayForIt. “Most big brands would not use premium rate SMS to run their services, it’s not a good experience, it’s not consumer friendly,” said Anuj Khanna, a spokesman for Tanla Mobile which is one of the firms administering payments made via PayForIt.

“It’s entirely geared at the low value, high volume transaction market,” he said.

Paul Hunt, an expert on mobile commerce at consultancy Atos Origin, said there had been many failed attempts to set up similar schemes in the past. He said PayForIt has a good chance of success.

“There’sa much wider age range of mobile users and the capabilities of handsets have changed,” he said. “The click to buy reality is catching up with the hype.”

But, he added, the backers of the scheme had to work hard to distinguish PayForIt from alternatives to ensure people realise how it differs from other schemes.

BBC

Daily Mail

Bank customers could soon enter their PIN codes at cash machines just by looking at the numbers in the right order.

The system is designed to beat fraudsters looking over your shoulder to see which keys you press.

The technology, called EyePassword, is being developed in America - and High Street banks in Britain are already interested in using it.

It works by shining an infrared light on your eye. This stays in the same spot on your eye no matter where you look.

As you gaze at the cash dispenser key pad, your pupil moves. When your eye comes to rest on a number, a camera compares the position of your pupil with the fixed light in your eye.

The system is then able to work out which direction your pupil has moved in and how far and, therefore, which number you are looking at.

EyePassword has a three per cent error rate and it can take six times longer to enter your pin.

But Lloyds, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland have expressed an interest in the technology.

However, its inventor, Manu Kumar, of California’s Stanford University, warned: “There are lots of issues to be resolved, probably the biggest one being cost.”

Computer security specialist Dr Jeff Yan, of Newcastle University, said cash dispensers using EyePassword could cost £5,000, £3,000 more than a conventional ATM. Computer security specialist Dr Jeff Yan, of Newcastle University, said cash dispensers using EyePassword could cost £5000, £3000 more than a conventional ATM.

The Observer

Benefit claimants and job seekers could be forced to take lie detector tests as early as next year after an early review of a pilot scheme exposed 126 benefit cheats in just three months, saving one local authority £110,000. Benefit claimants and job seekers could be forced to take lie detector tests as early as next year after an early review of a pilot scheme exposed 126 benefit cheats in just three months, saving one local authority £110000.
Last May, the Department for Work and Pensions asked Harrow council in London to undertake a year-long, £63,000 pilot of the ground-breaking Voice Risk Analysis (VRA) technology. Last May, the Department for Work and Pensions asked Harrow council in London to undertake a year-long, £63000 pilot of the ground-breaking Voice Risk Analysis (VRA) technology.

‘We will wait until the end of the formal evaluation period to make a final decision about rolling the technology out across the country but this early review by the council is very positive,’ said a spokesman for the DWP.

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‘If our own review comes to similar conclusions to Harrow’s, we would like to see this technology rolled out across Britain as soon as possible.’
VRA technology works by measuring slight, inaudible fluctuations in the human voice known as ‘micro-tremors’ that indicate when a speaker delivers words under stress, and when those moments of stress are generated by an attempt to deceive. Voice patterns are analysed and displayed on a computer.

Normal speech ranges in frequency from 8 to 12 hertz. When they are being honest, the average sound is below 10 hertz. When they lie, the stress causes the frequency to rise to above 10 hertz.

‘This technology is successfully used in the insurance industry and analyses changes in a caller’s voice, giving an indication of the level of risk that they are lying,’ said Richard Sheridan from Capita Group which owns the technology and is helping implementation for Harrow council. ‘This technology is successfully used in the insurance industry and analyses changes in a caller’s voice, giving an indication of the level of risk that they are lying,’ said Richard Sheridan from Capita Group which owns the technology and is helping implementation for Harrow council. ‘These changes are measured against the caller’s “normal” voice which is recorded at the beginning of the phone call, ensuring that nervousness or shyness is not a trigger. If the technology flags up a caller as being suspicious, they will be asked to provide extra evidence to support their claim.’

The technology is being tested on people claiming housing or council tax benefit but will be extended at Harrow Jobcentre for other benefits this year. The government claims the technology also improves services.

‘Operators trained in intelligent questioning and behavioural analysis will use the system to identify suspect cases at the start of the claim process, enabling low-risk claimants to be fast-tracked,’ said a DWP spokesman.

Over the past two years the procedure for claiming benefits has been reformed. The claim often begins with a telephone interview, after which people may need to provide evidence and sign forms.

Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, said the system ‘adds to the demonisation of claimants’.

‘Whatever their views on welfare policy, anyone who cares about science and reason should also be alarmed: lie detectors do not work, they are as likely to finger the innocent but nervous as the genuinely guilty,’ he said. ‘Innocent people will account for a majority of those whose claims are delayed while they provide extra evidence.’

Experts in America, where the most comprehensive scrutiny of the technology has taken place, warn that the technology is far from failsafe.

David Ashe, chief deputy of the Virginia Board for Professional and Occupational Regulation, said, ‘The experience of being tested, or of claiming a benefit and being told that your voice is being checked for lies, is inherently stressful.

‘Lie detector tests have a tendency to pass people for whom deception is a way of life and fail those who are scrupulously honest.’

By Declan McCullagh and Anne Broache

A recent federal court decision raises the question of whether antivirus companies may intentionally overlook spyware that is secretly placed on computers by police.

In the case decided earlier this month by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, federal agents used spyware with a keystroke logger–call it fedware–to record the typing of a suspected Ecstasy manufacturer who used encryption to thwart the police.

A CNET News.com survey of 13 leading antispyware vendors found that not one company acknowledged cooperating unofficially with government agencies. Some, however, indicated that they would not alert customers to the presence of fedware if they were ordered by a court to remain quiet.

Most of the companies surveyed, which covered the range from tiny firms to Symantec and IBM, said they never had received such a court order. The full list of companies surveyed: AVG/Grisoft, Computer Associates, Check Point, eEye, IBM, Kaspersky Lab, McAfee, Microsoft, Sana Security, Sophos, Symantec, Trend Micro and Websense. Only McAfee and Microsoft flatly declined to answer that question. (Click here for the verbatim responses to the survey.)

Because only two known criminal prosecutions in the United States involve police use of key loggers, important legal rules remain unsettled. But key logger makers say that police and investigative agencies are frequent customers, in part because recording keystrokes can bypass the increasingly common use of encryption to scramble communications and hard drives. Microsoft’s Windows Vista and Apple’s OS X include built-in encryption.

Some companies that responded to the survey were vehemently pro-privacy. “Our customers are paying us for a service, to protect them from all forms of malicious code,” said Marc Maiffret, eEye Digital Security’s co-founder and chief technology officer. “It is not up to us to do law enforcement’s job for them so we do not, and will not, make any exceptions for law enforcement malware or other tools.” eEye sells Blink Personal for $25, which includes antivirus and antispyware features.

Others were more conciliatory. Check Point, which makes the popular ZoneAlarm utility, said it would offer federal police the “same courtesy” that it extends to legitimate third-party vendors that request to be whitelisted. A Check Point representative said, though, that the company had “never been” in that situation.

This isn’t exactly a new question. After the last high-profile case in which federal agents turned to a key logger, some security companies allegedly volunteered to ignore fedware. The Associated Press reported in 2001 that “McAfee Corp. contacted the FBI… to ensure its software wouldn’t inadvertently detect the bureau’s snooping software.” McAfee subsequently said the report was inaccurate.

Later that year, the FBI confirmed that it was creating spy software called “ Magic Lantern ” that would allow agents to inject keystroke loggers remotely through a virus without having physical access to the computer. (In both the recent Ecstasy case and the earlier key logging case involving an alleged mobster , federal agents obtained court orders authorizing them to break into buildings to install key loggers.)

Government agencies and backdoors in technology products have a long and frequently clandestine relationship. One 1995 expose by the Baltimore Sun described how the National Security Agency persuaded a Swiss firm, Crypto, to build backdoors into its encryption devices. In his 1982 book, The Puzzle Palace , author James Bamford described how the NSA’s predecessor in 1945 coerced Western Union, RCA and ITT Communications to turn over telegraph traffic to the feds.

More recently, after the BBC reported last year on supposed talks between the British government and Microsoft, the software maker pledged not to build backdoors into Windows Vista’s encryption functions.

By Mick Meaney
RINF Alternative News

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Cambridge, US, have managed to light a 60-watt light bulb from an energy source seven feet away. They hope the system can be adapted to charge mobile phones, MP3 players, laptops and other appliances. The technology is being dubbed “WiTricity” by the scientists.

Nicola Tesla demonstrated the potential over 100 years ago, in Colorado Springs in 1899 by lighting 200 light bulbs - from 26 miles away.

The new approach involves two coils joined by an invisible resonating magnetic field with one coil attached to a power source acting as a sender unite, the field resonates with a receiver coil.

One coil attached to a power source acts as a sender unit and the field resonates with a receiver coil, inducing a current to flow through it.

Professor Peter Fisher, who helped to conduct the research said: “As long as the laptop is in a room equipped with a source of such wireless power, it would charge automatically, without having to be plugged in. In fact, it would not even need a battery to operate inside of such a room.” Professor Peter Fisher, who helped to conduct the research said: “As long as the laptop is in a room equipped with a source of such wireless power, it would charge automatically, without having to be plugged in. In fact, it would not even need a battery to operate inside of such a room.”