SAVE MONEY, SPY BETTER

ITEM [via Schneier]: Companies like Wal-Mart and Sears have resorted to covert surveillance of employees, partners, journalists, and even Internet users to protect itself from "global threats."

Even better: to do this, they’ve been hiring ex-CIA agents. And at least one corporate espionage agency has been known to hire off-duty cops to search people’s trash, the idea being that if anyone demands to know what they’re doing, the cops can wave a real badge at them.

Because 9/11 changed everything, you know.

This interests me. It’s fairly reasonable to state that the real power these days lies in corporate boardrooms instead of the govt. We even have private police forces. They outnumber real cops 5 to 1, and the US govt has been known to outsource them from time to time. Why not have a private version of the CIA? Just think – if they become as good or better than the real CIA, then the US govt could dissolve the CIA and outsource its spying needs to Wal-mart.

With an exclusivity clause, of course. And probably a 500-page NDA.

Think of the savings.

Totally spies,

This is dF

TV EYE

Or, “I love living in the 21st Century, Part 826”

ITEM [via Textually]: Engineers at the University of Washington have for the first time used manufacturing techniques at microscopic scales to combine a flexible, biologically safe contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights.



Possible uses:

Drivers or pilots could see a vehicle's speed projected onto the windshield. Video-game companies could use the contact lenses to completely immerse players in a virtual world without restricting their range of motion. And for communications, people on the go could surf the Internet on a midair virtual display screen that only they would be able to see.

The upside: you can watch porn anywhere. On the bus, in class, in church, etc.

The downside: if you think losing a contact lens is a pain in the ass now ...

Look into my eye,

This is dF