comcast cameras to start watching you?

from newteevee: If you have some tinfoil handy, now might be a good time to fashion a hat. At the Digital Living Room conference today, Gerard Kunkel, Comcast’s senior VP of user experience, told me the cable company is experimenting with different camera technologies built into devices so it can know who’s in your living room.

The idea being that if you turn on your cable box, it recognizes you and pulls up shows already in your profile or makes recommendations. If parents are watching TV with their children, for example, parental controls could appear to block certain content from appearing on the screen. Kunkel also said this type of monitoring is the “holy grail” because it could help serve up specifically tailored ads. Yikes.

Kunkel said the system wouldn’t be based on facial recognition, so there wouldn’t be a picture of you on file (we hope). Instead, it would distinguish between different members of your household by recognizing body forms. He stressed that the system is still in the experimental phase, that there hasn’t been consumer testing, and that any rollout “must add value” to the viewing experience beyond serving ads.

Perhaps I’ve seen Enemy of the State too many times, or perhaps I’m just naive about the depths to which Comcast currently tracks my every move. I can’t trust Comcast with BitTorrent, so why should I trust them with my must-be-kept-secret, DVR-clogging addiction to Keeping Up with the Kardashians?

Kunkel also spoke on camera with me about fixing bad Comcast user experiences, the ongoing BitTorrent battle and VOD. But he mostly towed the corporate line on these issues (the monitoring your living room came up after my camera was put away).

update: comcast denies plan to monitor consumers
from paul joseph watson: Comcast has denied that it is developing camera devices built in to cable boxes that monitor consumers as they enter the room, despite the fact that Vice-President Gerard Kunkel admitted to a journalist that such a move would represent a "holy grail," and rival companies like TiVo and Microsoft have already filed patents for similar technology. A firestorm of controversy erupted last week after industry website newteevee.com carried an article by Chris Albrecht which revealed that Comcast was, "experimenting with different camera technologies built into devices so it can know who’s in your living room".

related: comcast pays stand-ins to keep protesters out of fcc hearing

outside the box bullhorns the fox

from alex ansary: Alex Ansary makes some noise outside a concert hall in Portland, Oregon where Vincente Fox spoke on March 19th, 2008. The former President of Mexico signed the SPP agreement with George Bush, and Paul Martin in 2005 in Waco Texas. Alex addressed the collapsing economy and how the elite are seeking to use this financial crisis to gradually move us into a North American Union. During a time when the nation's currency is collapsing, the most effective solution to avoiding a food shortage is to begin to grow more food locally so we are better prepared when the dollar is fully destroyed.

carlyle might buy some booz from the cia

from alternet: The Carlyle Group, one of the world's largest private equity funds, may soon acquire the $2 billion government contracting business of consulting giant Booz Allen Hamilton, one of the biggest suppliers of technology and personnel to the U.S. government's spy agencies. Carlyle manages more than $75 billion in assets and has bought and sold a long string of military contractors since the early 1990s. But in recent years it has significantly reduced its investments in that industry. If it goes ahead with the widely reported plan to buy Booz Allen, it will re-emerge as the owner of one of America's largest private intelligence armies.

are we giving the robots that run society too much power?

media monarchy episode068

episode068 of media monarchy features bloody anniversaries: iraq, my lai & rachel corrie. practice bombs, pandemics, desensitization, cctv, 9/11 books bombs & beliefs, emmanuel goldstein & no name maddox, music by spike jones and tons more...

download/digg/stream/subscribe

media monarchy is originally broadcast on the portland radio authority every friday at 10am pacific/1pm eastern and can also be heard on the revere radio network every sunday at 4pm pacific/7pm eastern...

plus, you can always get podcasts of previous episodes thanks to radio4all.net & archive.org

china's weather control brigade

from danger room: By now, you may have heard about China's efforts to keep the Beijing Olympics from being rained out. Fox News visits the Chinese weather controllers. Despite their arsenal of 4,000 rocket launchers, 7,000 anti-aircraft guns, and 30 airplanes for reverse cloud-seeding, they do not sound too sure they can hold China's traditional monsoon season at bay. "We are pretty sure we can deal with those small clouds," Zhang Qiang, with China's weather modification office says. "But to deal with those big ones... to be honest we are not quite confident." Hey Beijing: If you guys really want to make sure the Olympics go smoothly, lay off Tibet.

flashback: china leads weather control race

wargames, drills, exercises, simulations & desensitization

israel to hold its largest-ever wargames
from jerusalem post: In the face of a possible escalation with Syria and Iran's efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon, parts of the country will shut down next month in what security officials say will be the largest emergency exercise in Israel's history. The drill, which is being organized by the newly-established National Emergency Authority, will take place over five days starting on Sunday, April 6.

russian bear bombers to hold exercises in far east
from ria novosti: Russian Tu-95MS Bear strategic bombers will conduct exercises in Russia's Far East on March 20-22, the Air Force said in a statement on Wednesday. "Crews of an air regiment, equipped with Tu-95MS bombers, will participate in planned flight drills and long-range patrols over the Pacific," the statement said.

university tests disaster readiness with faux anthrax
from wustl: University administrators, St. Louis Department of Health officials and more than 200 campus volunteers collaborated in a public health drill Tuesday that simulated the distribution of medication at Mallinckrodt in the event of a terrorist anthrax attack, and tested the University's emergency text-message system. "We have protocols in place for a public health event, but we've never tried them and we haven't trained a lot of people," said Mark Bagby, the University emergency coordinator.

hhs includes online services in pandemic communication drill
from cidrap: The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently held a tabletop exercise to assess how it could best work with the news media - including blogs and other online-only information sources... Representatives from online avian-flu information services such as Avian Flu Diary, FluTrackers, FluWiki, WebMD, and CIDRAP News participated in the exercise along with those from several national media organizations, including ABC News, National Public Radio, and Reuters.

eco-terror scenario plays out at the port
from vancouver sun: At 6:30 a.m. Monday morning a radiation signature was detected in a shipping container at the Port Vancouver. Just after noon an improvised bomb containing radioactive material exploded leaving a dozen people injured and contaminated. This scenario was cooked up by the federal Centre for Security Science to let federal and local emergency personnel practice for a real bioterror attack.

livermore's sandia will take central role in bioterrorism response
from contra costa times: Like a bioterror crisis hotline, a new center in Livermore has become the nerve center for responding to the intentional or accidental release of a dangerous biological agents at public facilities across the country. Sandia/California National Laboratories in Livermore will be at the other end of calls from managers of high-profile transportation hubs, such as airports, and other public places, ready to give critical information to help them deal with biohazards.

mass casualty exercise to be held march 20th
from daily press: Fort Monroe will hold a mass casualty exercise from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday with local fire, police and medical response departments. "The exercise scenario will involve multiple casualties from a major traffic accident," according to a Fort Monroe news release. Traffic in and around the Hampton Army base will be "significantly impacted" in the late morning, lunch time and early afternoon portions of the exercise.

US pandemic flu plan would put chicago on lockdown
from reuters: Containing an influenza pandemic in a large U.S. city like Chicago would require widespread school closings, quarantines of infected households and bans on public gatherings, U.S. researchers said on Monday. But, if done quickly and well, such steps could reduce infections by as much as 80 percent, said researcher Stephen Eubank of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, based on a computer simulation of just such an event. (1.26mb PDF)

bradford county stages disease outbreak drill

from wetm-tv: Some people say they don't think the government is well-prepared when it comes to a disease outbreak or bio-terrorism event. "I don't have much trust right now in our government and how they would respond to things," remarked Deborah Young of Bradford County. "I know they're catching a lot, but they're missing a lot too." That's why Bradford County is practicing its Mass Medication Plan, in connection with the North Central Pennsylvania Regional Counter-Terrorism Task Force. The plan is known as the Strategic National Stockpile, or SNS Plan.

new name for masint, details emerge about futuristic spy tech
from gcn: The intelligence agencies have renamed their MASINT program and will now refer to the recondite spy discipline as the Advanced Technical Exploitation Program (ATEP). The name change surfaced in documents that describe a pending acquisition for contractor assistance in merging information from various types of sensors and systems to create cross-disciplinary intelligence.

drill at vmi helps crews prepare for large emergency
from wdbj: First responders from more than a dozen agencies gathered at VMI today to prepare for a large-scale emergency. VMI has been planning for a wide variety of natural and man-made disasters. Monday's exercise was a chance to bring together the outside agencies that would respond in the event of a large-scale emergency... SWAT team members secured the barracks in today's exercise. Emergency crews followed to deal with a large number of casualties. More than 60 people participated in the drill that also included Carilion Stonewall Jackson Hospital.

thanks again to daily dose of terror

emmanuel goldstein issuing new message

from ap: Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden will be issuing a new message timed to the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, a militant Web site with close connections to the group said Wednesday.

"Urgent, very soon by the will of God," read the announcement of the new message "the response is what you see and not what you hear, by the warrior sheik, Osama bin Laden."

Iraq marked the fifth anniversary of the war on Wednesday.

The announcement was text only and showed no pictures of the elusive militant leader.

The message would be bin Laden's first for 2008 and follows up an hour-long, late December audio missive in which he warned Iraq's Sunni Arabs against fighting al-Qaida in Iraq and vowed new attacks on Israel.

update1: new 'bin laden tape' threatens eu
from bbc: In a new audio message purportedly from Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader threatens the EU over the re-printing of a cartoon offensive to Muslims... The voice on the audio has not yet been verified as belonging to bin Laden.

update2: bin laden tape voice 'authentic'
from bbc: US intelligence agents believes the voice on a tape purportedly from Osama Bin Laden was authentic, the CIA and White House have said... "It can be said with a high degree of confidence that it is in fact the voice of Osama Bin Laden," a CIA official told Reuters news agency.

collateral 39: what does he know?

from collateral news: This week we look at the human connections in the US made by two alleged 9/11 hijackers who stayed on the west coast with a known FBI informant. Those connections place a strain on the official story which contends that the FBI had no knowledge of the 9/11 plot as it developed.

arthur c. clarke, futurist & sci-fi genius, dead at 90

from ap: Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who co-wrote "2001: A Space Odyssey" and won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday, an aide said. He was 90... Co-author with Stanley Kubrick of Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey," Clarke was regarded as far more than a science fiction writer.

arthur c. clarke: the final interview
from danger room: Spectrum has what appears to be the final interview with Arthur C. Clarke, conducted in January of this year (while Clarke was in the hospital). Clarke discusses geo-stationary communications satellites, space elevators, and his thoughts on private-sector space travel. It's an interesting dialog with a futurist and visionary who lived to see some of his predictions come true, most notably the satellites (space elevators are still a ways off). Clarke gave few interviews in his later years, so the Spectrum interview is well worth a listen.

dod delays brain scans for fear of what they'll find

pentagon admits postponing brain screenings
from guardian: The Pentagon has admitted that it delayed introducing a routine screening of troops returning from Iraq for mild brain injuries because it feared that the extent of the problem could mushroom to the scale of the Gulf War syndrome after the first Iraq war. The head of the Pentagon's medical assessments division has told USA Today that he wanted to avoid another controversy as potentially huge as Gulf War syndrome.

dod delayed brain injury scans
from usa today: For more than two years, the Pentagon delayed screening troops returning from Iraq for mild brain injuries because officials feared veterans would blame vague ailments on the little-understood wound caused by exposure to bomb blasts, says the military's director of medical assessments. Air Force Col. Kenneth Cox said in an interview that the Pentagon wanted to avoid another controversy such as the so-called Gulf War syndrome. About 10,000 veterans blamed medical conditions from cancer to eczema on their service.

scotus to rule against 1st & 2nd amendments

supreme court to debate landmark gun case
from dpa: The US Supreme Court on Tuesday will consider whether people in the United States have a constitutional right to own firearms in a landmark case that could have far-reaching implications for gun control legislation across the country. The case itself surrounds a 1976 law in the District of Columbia that effectively bans handguns and requires all other legal firearms - hunting rifles and shotguns - to be disassembled and unloaded when stored at home. Out of six Washington residents that sued the District, one case has made it all the way to the country's highest court. Dick Heller, a private security guard, argues he should be allowed to bring his handgun home after work.


US court to rule on tv expletives
from bbc: The US Supreme Court has agreed to review the issue of expletives on the airwaves, a move that may re-open the debate over broadcast indecency... The FCC's policy of fining networks for "fleeting expletives" or isolated utterances, is on hold following a legal challenge by Fox.

dirty water

potomac river filled with animal-killing chemicals
from washington post: The Potomac River contains an array of man-made chemicals that could play havoc with animals' hormone systems, federal scientists have found in their best glimpse yet of the river's problems with a mysterious new class of pollutant. The research, unveiled at a conference last week, found more than 10 of the compounds, including pesticides, herbicides and artificial fragrances. Through an accident of chemistry, formulas designed to kill bugs or add smell to soap might also interfere with vital signals in fish, amphibians and other creatures.

more drug testing of water sought
from ap: Test it, study it, figure out how to clean it - but still drink it. That's the range of reactions raining down from community leaders, utilities, environmental groups and policy makers in reaction to an Associated Press investigation that documented the presence of pharmaceuticals in major portions of the nation's drinking water supplies. "There is no wisdom in avoidance. There is wisdom in addressing this problem. I'm not suggesting that people be hysterical and overreact. There's a responsible way to deal with this - and collectively we can do it," said Washington-based environmental lawyer George Mannina.

nz filmmakers to release 'imagining the kennedys'

from film stew: From the age of eight, Palmerston North, New Zealand native Seamus Coogan has been fascinated with that fateful day in 1963 in Dallas when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. He worked odd jobs in his teenage years so that he could send away for books on the topic, and now, with the help of a boyhood friend and a Canadian woman, he has made an intriguing documentary titled 'Imagining the Kennedys'.

9/11: books, bombs & belief

25 intolerable contradictions:
the final undoing of the official 9/11 story
from global research: At last there is a book about 9/11 that politicians & journalists can openly discuss without fear of being labeled "conspiracy theorists". 9/11 Contradictions advances no theories. It simply exposes 25 astonishing internal contradictions that will haunt the public story of this unparalleled event for all time. Until now, the persistent and disturbing questions about the day that changed the world have confused & alienated journalists & politicians.

daniel sunjata on 9/11 truth
from 9/11 blogger: Daniel Sunjata, co-star of the critically-acclaimed FX Network television series, Rescue Me and Tony Award-nominated actor who has performed in film, television and in the theater and who came forward with his support of 9/11 Truth over a year ago tells Alex Jones' national radio audience how upset he is about the recent Geraldo Rivera vilification of 9/11 Truth activists.

top nyc cop thought towers were bombed
from paul joseph watson: Highly decorated former New York City detective Bo Dietl admits that his first instinct on 9/11 was that the twin towers were downed with explosives, as he conceded that he shared many questions about the official story with 9/11 truth activists he had formerly debunked on national television.


9/11 timeline update:
day of 9/11, hijackers & the saudi connection
from 9/11 blogger: There is a ton of new material about the Day of 9/11. There are more entries about the shootdown order, which could have been issued around 9:38 a.m., about 9:50 a.m., after 10:00 a.m., or about 10:18 a.m. Regarding military exercises, some NEADS staff were still unsure whether the day's military exercises had ended at 10:00 a.m., fighters from Otis were recalled from a training mission at about 9:03 a.m. and other jets on training were sent home at about 9:35 a.m. There were communication problems at NORAD and NEADS, which requested help from another air defence section around 10:00, and also for the three pilots scrambled from Langley.

we are change confronts larry silverstein


splc conflates neo-nazi's with 9/11 truth
from southern poverty law center: Also last December, the Church of Jesus Christ Christian, the religious alter ego of the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations, held an organizational meeting at a community center in Longview, a small (pop. 35,000), predominantly white (90%) city in southwestern Washington after announcing its intention to open a new branch there. While 400-500 anti-racist protesters held a simultaneous pro-diversity rally, about 30 skinheads and other neo-Nazis attended the racist gathering, which featured hate rock bands, a reading of poetry based on Viking mythology, and a video about the "myth of 9/11."

zelikow 'made it clear' to 9/11 commission
that richard clarke 'should not be believed'
from thinkprogress: [March 8th]’s Sydney Morning Herald prints an extract from Shenon’s book which provides further details about Rice’s incompetence. "Emails from the National Security Council’s counter-terrorism director, Richard Clarke, showed that he had bombarded Rice with messages about terrorist threats" before 9/11, Shenon writes... But 9/11 Commission staff director Philip Zelikow was not interested in pursuing criticisms against Rice. Zelikow - who had worked closely with Rice on the Bush transition team in 2000 and 2001 - "made it clear to the team’s investigators that Clarke should not be believed, that his testimony would be suspect."

this is gonna be hard for the american people to face

from raw replay: News Hour looks at just how bad the U.S. economy may become. The following video is from PBS’s Jim
Lehrer News Hour, broadcast on March 17, 2008.

new graves found at manson ranch

from metro: More grave sites have been discovered at a ranch where mass murderer Charles Manson lived. Investigators had always feared that Manson and his band of followers - the Manson Family - may have carried out more killings. It is thought more bodies may be buried at the ranch where Manson, now 73, went into hiding after his cult's killings... One Manson Family member, Susan Atkins, is said to have told her cell mate that there were "three people out in the desert that they done in".

A team of forensic experts has returned to the site with a specially trained dog and the latest technology. The group of experts, from California State University and Tennessee's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, used a magnetometer – an instrument that can see underground... Marc Wise, an Oak Ridge researcher, said: "There's definitely something down there." The scientists want the sites to be excavated... Manson convinced his followers to carry out the murder spree. He is currently in prison and is not eligible for parole until 2012.

uk teachers fear big brother takeover

from press association: Teachers warned of an "Orwellian" surveillance culture developing in schools as more classrooms are fitted with CCTV cameras to monitor pupils' behaviour. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) voiced concern over how increased monitoring of lessons and pressure to get better exam results risks undermining the quality of education.

New school buildings are being fitted with cameras to make sure children can be caught if they misbehave, according to Julia Neal, president of the ATL. "They (cameras) are probably put in to monitor behaviour," she said, speaking at the ATL annual conference in Torquay. "But because they are there they can then be used in other ways as well." She predicted that by 2013, the Government's focus on test results and school league tables - combined with increased observation of lessons - could have "led to a world with Orwellian overtones... It might be a far-fetched notion that Big Brother will be watching over schools in the next five years, but you only have to listen to what ATL delegates talk about this week to see the current reality of an over-measured, over-monitored education system," she said.

related: pupils 'to take allegiance oath'
from bbc: School-leavers should be encouraged to swear an oath of allegiance to Queen and country, says a report commissioned by Gordon Brown on British citizenship. Report author, ex-attorney general Lord Goldsmith, says it would give teenagers a sense of belonging... However, John Dunford from the Association of School and College Leaders said the citizenship ceremony was "a half-baked idea".

cctv: complete control takeover video

target creates license plate reading technology

from wcco: New technology is allowing law enforcement cars to go looking for trouble. Computers now installed in cruisers automatically run license plates and alert officers to wanted drivers. Police in Lakeville are testing that technology right now, but you might be surprised who came up with it: Target. The Minnesota-based corporation is working on technology that would take pictures of license plates that come into store parking lots. Last month, Target donated to the Lakeville Police Department the technology that reads and runs license plates through a crime database.

license plate scanner to look for ky law breakers
from kthv: The Pulaski County Sheriff's Department is using a new system that scans license plates of passing cars, checking up to 800 vehicles per hour to see if any are stolen or if the owners are subjects of warrants... The license numbers are checked through the FBI's National Crime Information Center to see if the vehicle is stolen or related to someone with an arrest warrant. The system will also reveal whether a missing person is connected with the vehicle.

red light cameras linked to crashes
from calgary herald: Red light cameras used to nab drivers who disobey traffic signals can lead to more accidents and injuries, according to researchers at the University of South Florida College of Public Health... "People who would otherwise run the yellow are trying to do a quick stop and in doing so they force everybody else to do the same behind them."

surveillance cameras may soon be required
from kalb: Alexandria city councilman wants to require some businesses in town to install surveillance cameras. News Channel 5’s Joel Massey spoke with some residents about the proposal... "I think they should be in any business to prevent crime if there’s cameras out nobody is going to do anything. You can’t hide from a camera."

chicago links school cameras to 911 centers
from chicago tribune: More than 4,500 cameras in Chicago public schools are being connected to police headquarters and the city's 911 center in a technological upgrade designed to improve safety, officials said Thursday. In an emergency, arriving officers also will be able to view real-time images from the cameras on screens in their squad cars. "The key is getting the information to the police officer in that car," said Mayor Richard Daley. Cameras belonging to the Chicago Transit Authority and other public agencies have been linked to the city's 911 center, and devices in some public buildings also have been connected as Daley seeks to consolidate video surveillance.

do americans even care about big brother?

from time: Pity America's poor civil libertarians. In recent weeks, the papers have been full of stories about the warehousing of information on Americans by the National Security Agency, the interception of financial information by the CIA, the stripping of authority from a civilian intelligence oversight board by the White House, and the compilation of suspicious activity reports from banks by the Treasury Department. On Thursday, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine released a report documenting continuing misuse of Patriot Act powers by the FBI. And to judge from the reaction in the country, nobody cares.