On Remote Island, GPS Hackers Prepare for Invisible War

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On Remote Island, GPS Hackers Prepare for Invisible War (Maria)

The author writes, “Jammertest is an open-air hacking festival set on a remote island 186 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Its aim is simple but mind-bending: Use satellite signals to mess with time itself  — and see whether receivers in everything from clocks to drones can withstand the pressure. At the heart of this experiment is a technology that runs much of the modern digital world: Global Navigation Satellite Systems. … Power grids, telecom networks, stock market and more depend on GNSS synchronisation.”

NYC Mayor Mamdani Releases 9/11 Records Showing Officials Misled New Yorkers About Air Quality Around Ground Zero (Dana)

From CNN: “New York City has released more than 170,000 pages of previously undisclosed records about air quality following the September 11, 2001, attacks, showing city officials at the time knew conditions around Ground Zero were unsafe to breathe despite repeated assurances to the public. Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the release at a news conference Tuesday. … At least 140,000 people from all 50 states have enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program, and 49,000 have been diagnosed with certified WTC-related cancers, according to the 9/11 Memorial. Mamdani said Tuesday that more people are eligible for assistance than are currently enrolled, including residents who lived near the site but have not received outreach and those who live outside of New York.”

UAE Warned Netanyahu of Major Hamas Operation Days Before Oct. 7 Attack (DonkeyHotey)

The author writes, “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was directly warned by the president of the United Arab Emirates that Hamas was planning a major offensive just days before the group attacked on Oct. 7, 2023, according to an Israeli newspaper report. UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed spoke with Netanyahu 10 days before the attack and said Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza at the time, was planning an operation, the Haaretz daily said. Bin Zayed said it would lead to bloodshed and could destabilize the region and undermine the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab and Muslim-majority nations, the newspaper reported. But Netanyahu ‘reacted with relative calm,’ according to Haaretz, which said he assured bin Zayed that Israel was prepared for any scenario and a possible attack was more likely to come from the occupied West Bank.”

Ballots Discounted for Late Postmarks Surged in Washington and Oregon After Postal Service Changes (Reader Steve)

From the AP: “The number of ballots rejected for late postmarks has soared in the vote-by-mail states of Washington and Oregon, according to newly released data highlighting concerns about recent changes in US Postal Service operations ahead of this fall’s pivotal midterm election. The struggling agency has been consolidating its operations with an emphasis on regional hubs in an effort to save billions of dollars. Some US senators and election officials for months have been warning that the changes could delay the application of postmarks to ballots — even if they’re mailed on or before Election Day. That would prevent otherwise valid votes from counting. That prediction is being borne out, they say, with thousands of voters having their ballots rejected during this year’s primaries.”

Cops Are Using Flock to Spy on People for the Crime of Standing Around (Sean)

From The Intercept: “Flock Security likes to describe its national private network of cameras and license plate scanners as a public safety boon. ‘I can think of no greater mission than rescuing our children,’ tweeted Flock CEO Garrett Langley, sharing a promotional company video. ‘Another child rape suspect located and arrested with help from Flock,’ chief strategy officer Rahul Sidhu posted last month. Last week, venture capital firm and Flock investor Andreessen Horowitz put the company’s benefits in civilizational terms: ‘Flock eliminates crime. Decline is a choice.’ Though Flock’s investors and executives insist its surveillance dragnet thwarts the most serious of crimes, it turns out police are also using the company’s technology to go after some of the pettiest possible offenses: curfew violations, loitering, and simply being homeless.”

Mothers for Sale (Bethany)

The author writes, “In my experience, many liberal Americans are surprised to discover that their country is an outlier in its enthusiasm for commercial surrogacy. In Britain, where I live, a ban on the practice enjoys substantial support among feminists, who worry about the power differential between paid surrogates and wealthy would-be parents. (Altruistic surrogacy, in which the surrogate carries a baby solely out of generosity, is less controversial and is permitted.) A recent UN report went even further, declaring that commercial surrogacy ‘constitutes the sale of children, which is a crime,’ and that ‘surrogacy arrangements can amount to or resemble slavery.’ … Because so much can go wrong, every country in the European Union has banned commercial surrogacy.”

How Decoding Beluga Whales’ Chitchat May Save Them — And Teach Us More About Ourselves

From The Guardian: “Ever since the earliest known recording of whale song was made in 1949, researchers have been captivated by the wails, rumbles, clicks, grunts and squeals of their communication. Sound is the fabric of these creatures’ highly sociable lives: they sing in breeding grounds, chatter in groups during birth, and echo-locate to help each other find food. Individual species have dozens of distinctive dialects, and the structural makeup of their communication shows parallels with human speech. … With the emergence of new analytical technologies, insights into whale communication are amassing swiftly. In an era when most whales are protected from hunting but face myriad other threats, researchers are asking: what clues do their sounds contain to better protect whales from a noisier, warmer and more unpredictable ocean?”