An anonymous reader shares a report: Back in 2005, before the iPhone, Apple purportedly helped a U.S. Department of Energy contractor modify a 5th-generation iPod to secretly record and store data. The exact reason why remains a mystery, but an ex-Apple engineer involved in the project thinks it could have been a surreptitious Geiger counter. This bonkers story comes courtesy of…
Tag: spy
CIA Declassifies Cold War-Era Plans for a ‘Nuclear Bird Drone’
“During the Cold War, the CIA considered building a bird-sized drone designed to spy on the communist bloc,” reports Popular Mechanics. “The drone would carry ‘black box’ spy packages into Russia and China, as well as take secret photographs — all while hiding in plain sight disguised as a bird…” The project envisioned a fleet of 12 bird-shaped drones, powered by…
Should the U.S. Pardon Edward Snowden?
Long-time Slashdot readers 93 Escort Wagon and schwit1 both shared the news that U.S. President Trump is “considering” a pardon for Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who “leaked a trove of secret files in 2013 to news organizations that revealed vast domestic and international surveillance operations” carried out by the agency, according to Reuters: U.S. authorities for years…
Astronomers Spy a Milky Way-like Galaxy In the Very Early Universe
Slashdot reader sciencehabit quotes Science magazine: Astronomers imagine the early universe as a wild and lawless place, with chaotic fledgling galaxies full of swirling gases and frantic star formation. So an image released today comes as a surprise: a young galaxy, spied when the universe was just 10% of its current age, that looks remarkably like our calm and well-ordered Milky…
Astronomers spy a Milky Way look-alike 12 billion light-years away
This distant galaxy – SPT0418-47 – surprised astronomers by being organized enough to have a spinning disk and a galactic bulge, early in the history of our universe. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/alma-distant-milky-way-lookalike-galaxy-spt0418-47…
SpaceX wins Pentagon rocket contract to send spy satellites into orbit
SpaceX and United Launch Alliance will share the job of launching the Pentagon’s most important military equipment from 2022 to 2026. Source: https://www.livescience.com/spacex-ula-win-pentagon-rocket-contract.html
‘Stalkerware’ Phone Spying Apps Have Escaped Google’s Ad Ban
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Several companies offering phone-spying apps — known as “stalkerware” — are still advertising in Google search results, despite the search giant’s ban that took effect today, TechCrunch has found. These controversial apps are often pitched to help parents snoop on their child’s calls, messages, apps and other private data under the guise of…
Revealed: the CIA’s nuclear-powered bird drone
Newly declassified CIA documents have revealed details of a secretive Cold War spy drone that looked like a bird. Known as Project Aquiline, the unusu… Source: https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/338612/revealed-the-cias-nuclear-powered-bird-drone…
Locust Swarms Are Getting So Big That We Need Radar To Track Them
The desert locust upsurge is yet another of 2020’s horrors. From a report: In June, remote sensing analyst Raj Bhagat noticed a strange signal on India’s weather radar. It looked like a small band of rain near Delhi, moving southwest, but Bhagat was convinced it was a locust swarm. “People began to report it,” he says, referring to sightings on the…
The FBI Secretly Used Travel Company ‘Sabre’ As A Global Surveillance Tool
Engadget reports:
The FBI doesn’t necessarily have to rely on spy databases or phone records to collect vast amounts of information about suspects — it might just have to ask a travel company for help. Forbes understands the FBI is using info from Sabre, the world’s largest travel data holder, to conduct surveillance around the world. Officials have reportedly asked the company…