Smart TVs Lie to You

So-called "smart TVs" have hit the marketplace, essentially turning TVs into computers that let watchers search for videos, install applications or interact with ads. But that connectivity may be a two-way street, as manufacturer LG investigates claims that its line of smart TVs is collecting data on its customers. 

According to an LG corporate video, "LG Smart Ad analyses users' favorite programs, online behavior, search keywords and other information to offer relevant ads to target audiences. For example, LG Smart Ad can feature sharp suits to men or alluring cosmetics and fragrances to women." 

But what happens when your online behavior trends just a bit naughtier than clothes or cosmetics? Meghan Lopez talks to RT web producer Andrew Blake about spying smart TVs and other trending tech topics in this week's Tech Report. (more)

In  other news...
LG has admitted it continued collecting data on viewing habits even after users had activated a privacy setting designed to prevent it.

The TV manufacturer has apologized to its customers and said it would issue an update to correct the problem. (more)

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Last Week on Halloween

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When Business Espionage Doesn't Work the Next Step is Sabotage

Real News or Business Sabotage? You decide...

The following "news story" was found in Yahoo News. It is filled with anonymous quotes, no proof, no substance, no follow-up with the side being attacked.

“Apple’s new operating system is making me nauseous and giving me a headache - just like when you try to read in the car,” says one user.

Others complain of “vertigo” when apps “zoom” in and out - and say that using iOS 7 devices has left them feeling ill for days.

Apple’s new iOS 7 operating system has been downloaded 200 million times - and some users are complaining that the animations make them seasick - or worse. (more)

To our clients... In addition to your TSCM bug sweeps and our other business espionage reductions, keep an eye out for business sabotage. Document it. Go after it.

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Alps Slayings Could be Linked to Industrial Espionage - Prosecutor

French authorities said Friday they were investigating the possibility that the British family shot dead while on holidays in the Alps a year ago was executed over industrial espionage. (more)

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FutureWatch: On the Road to The Corporate State

Tech Companies and Government May Soon Go to War Over Surveillance

via Patrick Gray, wired.com...
On the very day the media dropped detailed documents on the NSA’s X-Keyscore collection program, the Facebook engineering team published a blog post stating that all access to Facebook via apps and web browsers was now SSL encrypted. Given X-Keyscore was a program primarily designed to intercept unencrypted internet traffic, you could be forgiven for interpreting Facebook’s post as a middle finger pointed in NSA’s direction...

You don't need a Weatherman to know...

You want us to execute that warrant for you? Ok, sure, but the user will get a nice big popup warning telling them that their messages are likely being intercepted!

There are new interception hurdles everywhere you look. Even plain old SSL encryption is becoming more difficult to snoop on. Previously, governments could rely on complicit or compromised certificate authorities to provide them with the means to intercept encrypted traffic. Thanks to the Iranian government’s overly enthusiastic use of this technique, Google made changes to the Chrome browser to neuter the practice. Similar updates are expected soon in Internet Explorer. There goes another interception technique for law enforcement!

And it’s only going to get worse for the poor ole G-Men. Technology companies are enabling security features that make certain types of government surveillance extremely difficult, and it’s a trend that’s set to continue. That’s why the U.S. government has long wanted laws that force tech companies to make their products wiretap friendly. (more)

"Knowledge is power." Whoever holds the knowledge, holds the power. (sing-a-long)

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Britain’s Fraud Agency Admits to Loss of Data and Audio Tapes

The Serious Fraud Office has admitted accidentally sending a huge cache of confidential documents from an investigation into Britain's biggest arms firm, BAE, to the wrong person.
It did not realise for up to a year that it had misplaced the material which comprised 32,000 pages of documents, 81 audio tapes and computer files.

The material had originally been given to the SFO by 59 sources that helped the agency during one of its most high-profile investigations.

The SFO is not identifying at the moment the individual who inadvertently received the documents, nor did it spell out what they contained. (more)

If someone dumped 32,000 pages of documents, 81 audio tapes and computer files on you - "by accident" - wouldn't you immediately call the sender and say, "What do I look like, a freakin' warehouse?!?!"

Time to call in the Monty Python Very Very Serious Fraud Office to investigate.

Not a joke. Click to enlarge.

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New Video Game Steeped in Surveillance, Wiretapping and SpyCaming

One of several surveillance-related games at E3, "Watch Dogs" casts players as Aiden Pearce, a vigilante who can tap into security cameras and listen in on phone calls across a virtual rendition of an automated Chicago...

The timing of "Watch Dogs" is remarkable in light of recent revelations about the National Security Agency's controversial data-collection programs. They were revealed in media stories by The Guardian and The Washington Post, leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. 

Is "Watch Dogs" a case of a video game imitating life — or the other way around? (more)

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Patent Wars - VoIP Wiretaps

After Microsoft acquired Skype, we looked at a Microsoft patent called "Legal Intercept" meant for monitoring and recording VoIP communications. At that time, there were questions about if Microsoft would ruin Skype by making a backdoor for easy spy and pry government and law enforcement access. But a California-based company called VoIP-Pal already had such a surveillance patent that is meant to "allow government agencies to 'silently record' VoIP communications."

The Microsoft patent was filed in December 2009, but a company called Digifonica (International) Limited had filed a similar wiretapping VoIP patent in 2007. Then, in May 2012, VoIP-Pal attained five VoIP patents from the acquisition of Digifonica Gibraltar. One of the five patents is called "Lawful Intercept" and is meant for "intercepting VoIP and other data communications." (more)

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2012 China Report Released... no surprises.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission was created by Congress to report on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the United States and the People's Republic of China.

"This Report conveys our findings from the past year, along with providing recommendations to Congress about how best to respond to some of the problems we have identified."
2012 REPORT TO CONGRESS
 
Excerpts:
"Travelers to China sometimes report Chinese officials tampering with their electronic devices upon entry or exit. Customs or border enforcement entities may perform or enable such activities."

"Some corporate entities in China may engage in, support, or benefit from cyber espionage. The prevalence of stste-owned or -controlled enterprises in the telecommunications and IT sectorsin China mean that such activities would often constitute state sponsorship."

Just coincidence?

 

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