Spy Balloons!

Before an An Air Force F-22 Raptor fired an AIM-9X missile and shot down the Chinese spy balloon that had floated all over the continental US and the political landscape, at least three others had surveilled America during the Trump administration. We didn’t hear about them because … well, spies, you know. Also, some flew over Hawaii and Guam, which many Americans don’t think of as, um, American. And last week, another Chinese spy balloon seen over Latin America was ignored by the chattering classes.

If you were wondering, spies use balloons because they are cheaper than spy satellites, spend longer over targets, and can detect things satellites can’t, like the U.S. military’s very low frequency (VLF) radio transmissions.

So why doesn’t the U.S. intelligence community use stratospheric balloons? It does. It even used them to spy on Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Illinois. The DARPA defense research agency tested Adaptable Lighter Than Air (ALTA) balloons almost a decade ago. The Department of Defense budgeted $27.1 million for balloon development in FY 2023, and many of their aircraft are produced by Raven Aerostar.

Note: After publication, the Aerostar promo video was apparently edited to omit some military application details.

Update:

“Russia Also Has A Fleet Of Spy Balloons,” Piotr Butowski, The Drive

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My Microwave Oven Is Spying On Me

My microwave oven is spying on me! Kellyanne Conway told me so:

Can Hackers Hijack Wi-Fi Barbie Doll to Spy On Your Kids?

The Mattel corporation has introduced the Hello Barbie ™ interactive doll that not only talks, it listens. And records your kid’s conversation with her. And connects to Wi-Fi so her recordings can be analyzed by the ToyTalk ™ voice-recognition software, and the information shared with parents or … who knows.  What could possibly go wrong?

Plenty, say Matt Jakubowski of LookingGlass Cyber Solutions and Andrew Browne of Lavasoft’s malware lab. Like Wi-Fi baby monitors, the dolls can be hacked by 3rd parties, and we’re not talking about Barbie’s Princess Tea Parties here, but persons of bad intent. ToyTalk says that’s not so, that Barbie’s software cannot be hacked. Frankly, we will reserve judgement until we can ask Hello Barbie ™ about this in person.

Creepy Barbie Doll Will Spy on Your Kids

The Mattel corporation has introduced the Hello Barbie ™ interactive doll that not only talks, it listens. And records your kid’s conversation with her. And connects to WiFi so her recordings can be analyzed by the ToyTalk ™ voice-recognition software and the information shared with parents or … who knows.  What could possibly go wrong?

So now girls will have a role model of anatomically impossible proportions who will teach them fashion consumerism and will eavesdrop on them, too. Talk about your multi-tasking. Welcome to the 21st Century, female offspring!

More:

“Privacy advocates try to keep ‘creepy,’ ‘eavesdropping’ Hello Barbie from hitting shelves,” Sarah Halzack, Washington Post

“Big Brother Has Enormous Plastic Boobs: ‘Hello Barbie’ Can Spy on Kids,” Ellie Shechet, Jezebel

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Technology Shields German Government from Spies

“German politicians are considering a return to using manual typewriters for sensitive documents in the wake of the US surveillance scandal.

The head of the Bundestag’s parliamentary inquiry into NSA activity in Germany said in an interview with the Morgenmagazin TV programme that he and his colleagues were seriously thinking of ditching email completely.”

More:

“Germany ‘may revert to typewriters’ to counter hi-tech espionage,” Philip Oltermann, The Guardian

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Et Tu, Skype? Yipe.

“Skype is being investigated by Luxembourg’s data protection commissioner over concerns about its secret involvement with the US National Security Agency (NSA) spy programme Prism, the Guardian has learned.

The Microsoft-owned internet chat company could potentially face criminal and administrative sanctions, including a ban on passing users’ communications covertly to the US signals Intelligence agency.

Skype itself is headquartered in the European country, and could also be fined if an investigation concludes that the data sharing is found in violation of the country’s data-protection laws.”

— “Skype under investigation in Luxembourg over link to NSA,” Ryan Gallagher The Guardian

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Who Elected You God? Oh Right, John Roberts.

The 11 judges of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court meet in secret to approve or deny (mostly approve) government surveillance requests. All judges of this secret court were appointed by Chief Justice Warren G. Roberts.