Just Over the Horizon in North America

 

One quote from this Doc that stuck with me was:

“You must learn to like fighting if you want to end the conflict.”

Words to live By.

Prepare Accordingly.

Stay Alert, Armed and Dangerous!

 

Modern Crime: Wolf Boys – A Profile Of Two Teenage Cartel Assassins

How Two American Teens Became Assassins for a Mexican Cartel

(click on above link to be re-directed)

This is a small snapshot of what is out there on the streets right now. Fifteen Year Old Stone Cold Killers. Be Prepared.

Stay Alert, Stay Armed and Stay Dangerous!

Espionage Files: Brit Spies Used URL Shortener to Honeypot Arab Spring Dissidents

A shadowy unit of the British intelligence agency GCHQ tried to influence online activists during the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests and the 2011 democratic uprisings largely known as the Arab Spring, as new evidence gathered from documents leaked by Edward Snowden shows.

The GCHQ’s special unit, known as the Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group or JTRIG, was first revealed in 2014, when leaked top secret documents showed it tried to infiltrate and manipulate—using “dirty trick” tactics such as honeypots—online communities including those of Anonymous hacktivists, among others.

The group’s tactics against hacktivists have been previously reported, but its influence campaign in the Middle East has never been reported before. I was able to uncover it because I was myself targeted in the past, and was aware of a key detail, a URL shortening service, that was actually redacted in Snowden documents published in 2014.

THE HONEYPOT

A now-defunct free URL shortening service—lurl.me—was set up by GCHQ that enabled social media signals intelligence. Lurl.me was used on Twitter and other social media platforms for the dissemination of pro-revolution messages in the Middle East.

These messages were intended to attract people who were protesting against their government in order to manipulate them and collect intelligence that would help the agency further its aims around the world. The URL shortener made it easy to track them.

Read the Remainder at Motherboard

Warrior Tech: Bulletproof Headscarf

Beirut fire sergeant Wissam Bleik was killed by a stray bullet during the Beirut municipal elections in May. He was a victim of celebratory gunfire, which usually follows political speeches in Lebanon.

Lebanese authorities are struggling to battle this dangerous ritual, which often happens at weddings, funerals and elections. Advocacy groups like Cheyef 7alak have been creating videos to show the dangers of firing stray bullets, but the crime continues.

One Beirut designer Salim Kadi has come up with a solution—the world’s first bulletproof headscarf which he recently unveiled at Beirut Design Week.

“Historically, the keffiyeh was worn to protect one from the environment, but violence is our new environment,” said Kadi.

“I thought it was necessary to re-imagine what a contemporary keffiyeh would be.”

The K29 Keffiyeh 001 is a 120 by 120 cm headscarf embroidered with Kevlar, a strong plastic which is typically used for bulletproof vests, boats and airplanes.

Kevlar is not easily transported between countries, as it is illegal to import body armor without prior authorization from border protection and sometimes requires a license issued by the government. It is illegal to export Kevlar from the US. There is a10% sales tax and a duty rate of 5%to get Kevlar into Lebanon.

Kadi smuggled it into Lebanon. He then gave it to Dalida Faris, a seamstress in Ain al-Hilweh, a Palestinian camp on the outskirts of Saida in southern Lebanon. It took two weeks for her to make it “under very trying circumstances,” said Kadi, including little electricity.

The keffiyeh has always been a symbol of resistance; it was a national for solidarity often worn by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, it has been worn in the military and as a fashion statement. But none of these clichés seem to interest Kadi.

“I am interested in the images of demonstrations around the world—whether in Paris, Buenos Aires or Jerusalem—where the keffiyeh seems to operate as a symbol in a universal struggle against injustice,” he said. “In those images, those who wear it appear to me like fantastic superheroes.”

Stopping a bullet to the head would require at least nine layers of Kevlar, which is possible in the way one wraps the keffiyeh around the head.

“The Kevlar is quite stiff in comparison to cotton, but the more it is worn, the suppler it becomes,” said Kadi. “Wearing it feels like wearing a motorcycle helmet, without the extra weight.”

At first, Kadi created an umbrella-like shield made of Kevlar, but he said it was “too passive as a pun and too bourgeoisie as an object.” That led him to designing an object he could relate to symbolically. “The Kevlar and the keffiyeh is a perfect match,” he said.

Kadi designed this for his friends, family and everyone who could potentially fall victim to stray bullets caused by celebratory gunfire—he hopes to mass produce them and make them available for an affordable price, or even for free.

“Myself, last year, I was stepping out of a bar on a bright Sunday afternoon when a stray bullet landed with a loud ‘TAKH!’ on the pavement two meters away from me,” said Kadi.

“Much like many things in Lebanon, this gunfire is sadly never questioned enough and is accepted as a natural consequence of being here. Most people tend to run indoors but many times the bullets are not heard until it is too late. It often results in multiple accidental fatalities.”

Read the Original Article at Motherboard

 

 

Surveillance State: Police CANNOT Track Your Cell Phone Without A Warrant Now

In a first, a Manhattan federal judge presiding over a narcotics case has decided that drug evidence obtained through cell phone surveillance technology called “Stingray” won’t be admissible in court.

StingRay (also known as “Hailstorm” or “TriggerFish”) is an “IMSI catcher“ basically acts like a cell phone tower, and sends out signals which force cell phones to ping them back with information showing their owner’s location and other identifying information. If an agent is tracking a suspect, the pings kind of work like the game “hot or cold.” The closer you get to the phone, the stronger (or hotter) the pings will become.

Judge William Pauley on Tuesday ruled that defendant Raymond Lambis’ rights were violated when DEA agents used a Stingray without a warrant to locate and search his Washington Heights apartment in Manhattan during a drug-trafficking investigation.

According to court documents, the DEA sent a technician with the StingRay to the area where Lambis lived. The technician walked around, sending out signals, until the strength of responding pings led him to Lambis’ apartment building. The technician entered the building and then walked up and down the hallways until he found the specific apartment where the pings were the strongest.

Later that evening, DEA agents knocked on Lambis’ door and asked his father for permission to search the apartment. In Lambis’ bedroom, agents recovered “narcotics, three digital scales, empty zip lock bags, and other drug paraphernalia.”

Privacy advocates say the use of the Stingray technology without a warrant encroaches on or even violates people’s constitutional rights. But despite concerns, the devices have become an increasingly common and popular item in law enforcement’s arsenal.

Research by the American Civil Liberties Union found that at least 13 federal agencies use StingRay technology, including the NSA, Homeland Security, the FBI and the army. In New York (and in many other states), both state and local police are equipped with Stingrays. An investigation by USA Today found that the technology was used even for routine crimes, like petty theft.

The ACLU found that the NYPD had used Stingrays more than 1,000 times between 2008 and May 2015 without any written policy on obtaining a warrant.

“If carrying a cell phone means being exposed to military grade surveillance equipment, then the privacy of nearly all New Yorkers is at risk,” Donna Lieberman, executive director of the ACLU’s New York branch said earlier this year.

Pauley’s ruling on Tuesday follows what was celebrated as a landmark decision by privacy advocates in April, when Maryland’s second highest court ruled that police need a probable cause warrant to track cell phones using StingRays.

After the decision, the Baltimore office of the public defender began reviewing hundreds of cases which hinged on StingRay technology, all of which could potentially be challenged as a result of the Maryland court ruling.

Read the Original Article at Vice News