Monthly Archives: July 2007 »
Secret drug company payments to doctors remain legal in 48 states
By David Gutierrez Only five states and the District of Columbia require that pharmaceutical companies report gifts they make to doctors, and even in these jurisdictions the laws are so poorly enforced that the
Read More »Watchdog: Corruption Hinders US-Funded Reconstruction Projects
AP The latest audit report to Congress on Iraq reconstruction says corruption in the country, including fraud, theft and skimming amounts to a “second insurgency” is hindering the rebuilding effort. Stuart Bowen, who wrote
Read More »E-voting hacks to get Capitol Hill spotlight
By Anne Broache A recent report documenting computer scientists’ ability to hack into voting machines certified for use in the state of California has already begun reverberating on Capitol Hill. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.),
Read More »Committee demanding details of NSA data-mining
A House committee is requesting Justice Department documents on a data-mining project that identified the senders and recipients of calls and e-mails intercepted via the National Security Agency’s eavesdropping program. In a Monday letter, Rep.
Read More ȣ31m poured into ID cards scheme
By Gemma Simpson The ID cards scheme has cost more than £30m over the past financial year. During the year ending 31 March, 2007, the government spent £30.9m on setting up the National Identity
Read More »ID cards will give ‘false’ data
By Sarah Spiller The government’s ID card system will give thousands of “false matches” when more than six million people are registered on its database, an academic has claimed. Biometric data holding a person’s
Read More »MPs outraged by pupil fingerprinting
Guidelines raise concerns over security, consent and access By Dinah Greek MPs have criticised new guidance from Becta that shows schools can fingerprint pupils without first asking for parental permission. Although the guidelines from
Read More »Britain will take troops out of Iraq regardless of US, says PM
By Andrew Grice Gordon Brown has paved the way for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq by telling George Bush he would not delay their exit in order to show unity with the
Read More »MoD’s PR army of spin is out of control
By Ben Bold Britain’s defence chiefs are spending millions of pounds on more than 1,000 spin doctors to improve the public image of the armed forces, but admit that they have no idea who
Read More »Bush calls for retroactive legalization of illegal wiretapping
by Adam Thomas US President George W. Bush today asked for more powers to wiretap without warrants, in effect retroactively legalizing the unlawful National Security Agency wiretapping, which the President ordered in 2002. The
Read More »Pentagon to implant microchips in soldiers’ brains
By Adam Thomas The Department of Defense is planning to implant microchips in soldiers’ brains for monitoring their health information, and has already awarded a $1.6 million contract to the Center for Bioelectronics, Biosensors
Read More »Defense Earnings Continue To Soar
War, Technology Drive Up Spending By Renae Merle Several of Washington’s largest defense contractors said last week that they continue to benefit from a boom in spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
Read More »Police demand law change for drug drivers
David Batty Monday July 30, 2007 Guardian Unlimited Police want to drop the field impairment test for drivers suspected of drug driving. Photograph: Niall Carsonpa/PA Anyone who drives after taking illegal drugs should
Read More »Da Vinci’s Last Supper: New conspiracy theory
By Matthew Moore It is a conspiracy theory worthy of a Dan Brown novel. New claims that Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper contains a hidden image of a woman holding a child are
Read More »Britain accused of failing in its responsibility to refugees
By Nigel Morris The few Iraqi refugees who complete the perilous and expensive trip to Britain have little prospect of being allowed to stay. Of the two million Iraqis who have fled their homeland,
Read More »Most vote machines lose test to hackers
John Wildermuth State-sanctioned teams of computer hackers were able to break through the security of virtually every model of California’s voting machines and change results or take control of some of the systems’ electronic
Read More »MPs reject Brown call for 56-day detention
By Nigel Morris Legislation proposed by the Government to allow terrorist suspects to be held for up to 56 days without charge will be condemned today by a parliamentary committee. The Joint Committee on
Read More »Bush Aide Blocked Report
Global Health Draft In 2006 Rejected for Not Being Political By Christopher Lee and Marc Kaufman A surgeon general’s report in 2006 that called on Americans to help tackle global health problems has been
Read More »Beware of Mr Brown. He’s after your rights
The new Prime Minister is subtler than Mr Blair, but he also believes our freedom gets in the way of security Henry Porter The Observer It is precisely because the Prime Minister appears so
Read More »RFID: Every Step You Take … They’ll Be Watching You
By Todd Lewan Radio frequency ID chips already track products. What about people? The implantation of RFID chips in human beings has lead critics to draw comparisons to livestock, George Orwell’s 1984 and even
Read More »The True and Shocking History of the CIA
By Tim Weiner An on-the-record master history of the CIA has finally been published, and it lesson is that an incompetent intelligence agency can be as great a threat to national security as not
Read More »Mining of Data Prompted Fight Over U.S. Spying
By SCOTT SHANE and DAVID JOHNSTON A 2004 dispute over the National Security Agency’s secret surveillance program that led top Justice Department officials to threaten resignation involved computer searches through massive electronic databases, according
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