Searching for monitoring

Android security researcher Trevor Eckhart has recently found himself in some hot water after performing a deep dive into mobile tracking software from a company called Carrier IQ. He managed to figure out how Carrier IQ's software worked and what it could monitor, but in doing so he has earned the company's ire. Carrier IQ has filed a cease-and-desist letter [PDF] against Eckhart claiming that he committed copyright infringement by reproducing some of the company's training materials in his post and that he made "false allegations" about the nature of their software.

If you have a website or a network, it is quite wise to keep tabs on it and fix any issues as soon as they occur. The most easiest and handy way of doing it is by using any server/network monitoring tool that will monitor your infrastructure for any problems that may arise.

Microsoft has patented a technology for tracking employee work habits by monitoring e-mails, phone calls and even mannerisms in video conferences.

Security researchers for DARPA are developing a Big Data Analytics system to sift through mindbogglingly massive datasets, terabytes and petabytes, to spot lone wolf insider threats to the government. About a quarter billion daily IMs, texts, emails, and other digital records will be analyzed by PRODIGAL over long periods of time to find the employees who "may not realize they are going down the slippery slope," to tackle and solve insider threat and lone wolf type of problems.

In the continued spotlight on mass surveillance, WikiLeaks Spy Files posted Gamma videos teaching intelligence agencies how to hack iTunes, Gmail and Skype. But Tatiana Lucas, one of the people behind profiting from the secret snoop ISS conferences, wants you to believe that exposing surveillance methods will cost U.S. jobs, make companies hesitant to support government surveillance, and maybe stop Congress from updating a lawful-interception law. Yet this company that profits on mass monitoring fails to mention privacy rights, civil liberties, or human rights.

WASHINGTON — The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking for a tool to mine social media for intelligence tips. The US domestic law enforcement agency is asking information technology contractors about the feasibility of building a tool that would “enhance its techniques for collecting and sharing �open source’ actionable intelligence.�

The Food and Drug Administration is being accused of monitoring the personal e-mails of six employees who had previously reported inappropriate device approvals to Congress and the press.

With all the data hoarding that happens since the DOJ, DHS, FBI have jumped on the social media data-mining bandwagon -- you never know when that comment might be considered dissent and come back to bite you. It's tech turned against us like we are all potential terrorists or cybercrooks which will eventually come to light after hovering up and storing our digital communications. It's a difficult area, but the EFF says to fight for transparency about government social media monitoring.

Google Inc. and other ad companies have been bypassing the privacy settings of millions of people using Apple Inc.'s Web browser on their iPhones and computers—tracking the Web-browsing habits of people who intended for that kind of monitoring to be blocked.

In another important victory for Internet users’ fundamental rights and the open Internet, the highest court in Europe ruled yesterday that social networks cannot be required to monitor and filter their users’ communications to prevent copyright infringement of music and movies. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) found that imposing a broad filtering obligation on social networks would require active monitoring of users’ files in violation of EU law and could undermine citizens’ freedom of expression.