Tab clearing

Can your car get hacked?  Yes.  Next question:

While there are no reported cases of cars being maliciously hacked in the real world, in 2010, researchers affiliated with the Center for Automotive Embedded Systems Security (CAESS—a partnership between the University of California San Diego and the University of Washington) demonstrated how to take over all of a car’s vital systems by plugging a device into the OBD-II port under the dashboard.

It gets worse. In a paper that’s due to be published later this year, those same researchers remotely take control of an unnamed vehicle through its telematics system. They also demonstrate that it’s theoretically possible to hack a car with malware embedded in an MP3 and with code transmitted over a Wi-Fi connection.

Such breaches are possible because the dozens of  independently operating computers on modern vehicles are all connected through an in-car communications network known as a controller-area-network bus, or CAN bus.

RFID-like tracking at ranges of a kilometer:

Covert radar tags were descried in a 2004 report by the National materials Advisory Board. Inkode, a company that also provides cheap RFID tags for supermarkets, has developed a means of embedding aluminum fibers in paper and other materials. The fibers are described as 6.5 millimeters long and 1.5 micrometers in diameter.

When illuminated with radar, the backscattered fields interact to create a unique interference pattern that enables one tagged object to be identified and differentiated from other tagged objects,” the company says. “For nonmilitary applications, the reader is less than 1 meter from the tag. For military applications, the reader and tag could theoretically be separated by a kilometer or more.”

The fibers can be embedded in “paper, airline baggage tags, book bindings, clothing and other fabrics, and plastic sheet.” Eight thousand fibres can be embedded in a typical 8½ by 11 inch piece of paper, which could be seen by radar at a similar distance to a meter-square target. So even something as small as a cigarette paper could be detected through walls, uniquely identified and precisely located from a tactically-useful distance in order to direct a missile strike.

But fear not, Citizen - this tracking would never be automated in, say, traffic cameras and then find its way into NSA's metadata database.

The State's assault on the family:

From: The Ludwig von Mises Institute 

In turning to Sweden, we find a classic case of bureaucratic manipulation to destroy the state's principal rival as a focus of loyalty: the family. Viewing this rivalry between state and family, it is important to understand that a basic level of "dependency" is a constant in all societies. In every human community, there are infants and children, persons who are very old, individuals who have severe handicaps, and others who are seriously ill. These people cannot take care of themselves. Without help from others, they will die. Every society must have a way of giving care to these dependents. Under the domain of liberty, the natural institution of the family (supplemented and supported by local communities and voluntary organizations) provides the protection and care which these "dependent" people need. Indeed, it is in the autonomous family—and only in the family—where the pure socialist principle actually works: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

The only thing I would add is to point out that the Swedish State removed 7 year old Dominic Johansson from his family because they chose to (legally) home school him.  Remember your place, prole.

The definition of Game Over:

Short summary: The NSA's activities don't just stand to compromise the privacy of ordinary citizens.  They also stand to compromise the privacy, and thus the integrity, of government officials.

Legislators.  Judges.

Generals.

How many prominent government officials who have publicly opposed the administration have had personal scandals thrown into public view in the past few years and been forced out of office?

The only thing I would add is Paula Dean.  The Roman Republic foundered when those hungry for power instituted proscription - the publication of a list of names allowing anyone interested to kill the named individuals and take some of their property.  Today's enlightened world won't sink to crass bloodletting (well, maybe) but that same power grabbing instinct shows the same appetite to destruction of personal fortune.  As long as it advances the political careers of The Right Sort Of People™.

If you run your own Wordpress blog, check your plugins:

Research from security vendor Checkmarx revealed that 12 of the top 50 plug-ins for the WordPress platform are susceptible to attacks such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting.

A new study has found that roughly 20 percent of the 50 most popular plug-ins for the WordPress platform are vulnerable to common Web attacks.

If you have your blog hosted at Wordpress you may or may not have a problem.  RTWT.