In light of the recent public anger over the Monsanto Protection Act, here’s a simple, printable list of companies that use Monsanto products. By avoiding products made by companies on this list, you can help ensure your money isn’t going to Monsanto and also watch out for the health of your family and yourself.
If you wish to print, simply click on the list and choose “Print” from your browser’s menu (or press CTRL+P/CMD+P).
Regina Dugan, former director of the Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA) and current head of Google-owned Motorola’s research division, introduced a prototype “vitamin authentication” tablet which turns your entire body into a walking authentication token.
“We got to do a lot of epic shit when I was at DARPA,” Dugan said. Indeed, DARPA has been involved in everything from weaponized hallucinations to tiny spy computers to military human enhancements to automated drone-borne targeting and tracking systems to linking rat brains over the internet and much more.
Forget traditional usernames and passwords, this technology unveiled at D11 uses a tiny stomach acid-powered tablet to produce an 18-bit signal which can be detected by outside devices and used for authentication.
Dugan also showed off wearable electronic tattoos produced by a company called MC10, in partnership with Motorola, which serve a similar function.
The rationale behind these technologies, according to Dugan, is the annoyances caused by traditional authentication.
“Authentication is irritating,” Dugan said. “After 40 years of advances in computation, we’re still authenticating basically the same way we did years ago.”
The tablet, made by Proteus Digital Health, has already been approved by the FDA, according to Popular Science.
“The tablets contain a small chip with a switch and something that amounts to an inside-out potato battery,” Wired UK explains. “After swallowing it the acids in your stomach act as electrolytes, which power the battery and turn the switch on and off in a sequence.”
This produces an 18-bit ECG-like signal, turning the entire person into an “authentication token,” which Dugan called “vitamin authentication,” according to the Verge.
“This isn’t stuff that is going to ship anytime soon. But it is a sign of the new boldness inside Motorola,” said Dennis Woodside, CEO of Motorola.
However, Woodside did successfully complete a demonstration of the tablet authenticating a phone.
“The authentication could be activated by touch, since the human body conducts electricity — touch your phone or laptop and you’re in,” according to Discovery.
“Google won’t be force feeding you these pills like this is some kind of a twisted, science-fiction movie,” Tech2 reports.
Yet the attraction is obvious. If people could protect their computers, phones, homes, businesses, etc. without having to constantly type long, complex passwords it’s not difficult to see them wanting to do so.
That’s especially true when one would only have to take a pill regularly and in doing so would provide an authentication method that is more secure than one could imagine in times past. Wired UK states that the development of this type of technology shows “that hacking is a major concern as we conduct more and more of our business online.”
Given the clear benefits of a technology like this, it’s not hard to see companies requiring their employees to use a tablet like this, especially among companies that are especially concerned about security.
Just as some companies have required fingerprint scanners, iris scanners or other biometric identification methods, it’s not hard to imagine some companies jumping on this “vitamin authentication” technology.
Monsanto plans to halt lobbying for its genetically modified plant varieties in Europe due to low demand from local farmers, a representative from the US agricultural giant told a German daily.
"We are no longer working on lobbying for more cultivation in
Europe," Brandon Mitchner a representative for Monsanto’s
European branch, Tageszeitung, said in an interview set to be
published on Saturday.
"Currently we do not plan to apply for the approval of new
genetically modified crops. The reason is, among other things,
low demand of the farmers,” he continued.
A spokeswoman for Monsanto Germany, Ursula Luttmer-Ouazane,
admitted that Monsanto recognizes that GMO crops were currently
not embraced on the European market.
"We've understood that such plants don't have any broad
acceptance in European societies," Luttmer-Ouazane said.
“It is counterproductive to fight against windmills," she
added.
A spokesperson for the German Ministry of Economy and
Technologies described the move as an “entrepreneurial
decision” which needed no further comment. The ministry
added, however, it has long made its opposition to gene
modification technologies known.
"The promises of the GM industry have not come true for
European agriculture, nor have they for the agriculture in
developing and emerging economies," the ministry said in a
statement.
Eight national governments in the European Union have already
banned Monsanto's MON810 maize and other forms of GMO cultivation
in their countries under an environmental protection provision
known as the 'Safeguard Clause'.
Particularly fierce protests in Germany prompted the government
to introduce the measures in 2009 due to concerns that such
cultivation could lead to ecological degradation.
Monsanto’s rivals, such as Bayer CropScience, BASF and Syngenta,
had by and large pulled out of the German market because of
large-scale public opposition, the German daily reported.
Austria, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg and most
recently Poland are among other EU member states enforcing the
ban. In April, Italy joined the ranks of EU states looking to ban
the cultivation of GM crops on its soil.
The announcement comes amidst a series of recent public relations
battles that have brought the US firm considerable worldwide
attention.
On Wednesday, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it had
conducted genetic tests on wheat from an 80-acre farm in Oregon
this past April. The tests revealed the wheat was an experimental variety
created by Monsanto that had never been approved for sale.
The discovery prompted Japanese authorities to cancel part of a tender offer to buy US western
white wheat and have suspended imports of both that variety and
feed wheat, while several other large importers of US-wheat
throughout Asia said they were closely monitoring the situation.
The European Union for its part said it will test any incoming
shipments, with plans to block those containing GMO wheat.
The USDA announcement followed a massive, global "March Against
Monsanto" held on Saturday that saw demonstrations against the
Missouri-based firm in 52 countries. Organizers for the
global protest said around 2 million protesters showed up at rallies being held
in 436 cities to protest against the seed giant and the
genetically modified food.
An electronic WristBand will track people around Disney World; contactless wallets like Google’s allow similar data collection in the real world.
Disney’s MagicBand can be used to “tag” into rides, hotel rooms and pay in stores (Credit: Disney)
Disney just announced an electronic wristband for visitors to its theme parks that neatly illustrates why companies like Google and cellphone networks are pushing the idea of using contactless technology in phones for payments, tickets, boarding passes and more. The short answer? They want data.
Disney’s MagicBand, an ID tag that uses Bluetooth and contactless NFC technology, is being introduced at Walt Disney World in Florida. It replaces a person’s ticket and can be used to tag into rides and other attractions at the park. It can also be used to open a guest’s hotel door, and to pay in stores at the resort. In the future, the Bluetooth link will make it possible for you to wander up to an attraction or Disney character and be greeted using your first name.
To sum up, a person opting to use a MagicBand could find their stay much more convenient, and perhaps even leave their wallet back at their hotel. It’s a very similar pitch to that made by companies including Google, and the consortium of major cellphone networks, Isis, for contactless “wallets” based on near field communication chips (NFC) built into phones.
However, Disney’s MagicBand program has significant benefits to the company, too. The MagicBand collects valuable data each time it is tagged or used to buy something, providing a new perspective on what Disney’s customers are doing at the resort. It becomes possible to do things like look for relationships between the attractions and rides a person visits, or the characters they meet, and what they spend money on in the gift shop. Disney could look for signs of the social dynamics of groups of people that arrive at the park together.
Disney has plans to install devices that use Bluetooth to log any MagicBand that passes by, said Thomas Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Theme Parks and Resorts, Wednesday. People will be able to opt out of that part of the data collection he said, but whether data logged when a person actively tags a band would be treated in the same way wasn’t mentioned.
Using a contactless wallet app on your phone could provide similar data harvesting opportunities. A person using one might get to leave their wallet at home, and could pay for stuff or provide tickets and boarding passes with a tap of their phone. The provider of the wallet app would get a detailed feed on where its users went, what they were doing and what they spent money on.
Some people will be wary of such data collection, many more probably won’t care. Putting that issue aside, though, Disney’s MagicBand sounds like it is genuinely useful and thanks to the company’s ability to ensure everything inside its resorts works with the technology, could make your stay at Disney’s resort go more smoothly. The stuttering progress of NFC wallets and the like outside the magic kingdom – despite the hype (see “Google Wallet, Who’ll Buy In?”) – is to a large degree because the real world is a much messier place. Neither Google nor the cellphone carriers or other companies pushing their own MagicBand-style wallets can yet offer something that works in every store, with every bank and in every place. For now, the benefits of contactless wallets are much clearer to the providers of them than to consumers.
OK, so the dominant internet technology company is in business to harvest information on the inner recesses of each unique login. Should a cyber sleuth be concerned? Well, according to the scholarly paper, The Google-NSA Alliance: Developing Cybersecurity Policy at Internet Speed by Stephanie A. DeVos:"When data mining systems are placed at the core of interactive services in a rapidly changing and sometimes adversarial environment, statistical models need to be combined with ideas from control and game theory; for example, when using learning in auction algorithms.
Research at Google is at the forefront of innovation in machine learning and data mining - we have one of the most active groups working on virtually all aspects of data mining."
PC World in the article, The Google-NSA Alliance: Questions and Answers lists the following concerns and would have you believe there is nothing ominous behind any alleged relationship."On February 4, 2010, the Washington Post reported that Google and the National Security Agency had partnered to analyze the cyberattacks, with the objective of better defending Google and its users from future attack. Though neither organization commented on the partnership, sources told the Washington Post that the alliance allows for the sharing of critical information without violating Google’s policies or laws that protect Americans’ privacy of online communications. Under the terms of the alliance, Google will not be sharing proprietary data and the NSA will not be viewing users’ searches or e-mail accounts. The article stated that Google approached the NSA shortly after the attacks, but due to the sensitivity of the alliance, the deal took time to be formulated. Any agreement would be the first instance where Google had entered a "formal information-sharing relationship" with the NSA."
If the nature of the relationship between Google and the National Security Agency is innocent, where is the transparency? This item from Legal Times, DOJ Asks Court To Keep Secret Any Partnership Between Google, NSA, has a disturbing appearance.1) Is the Google-NSA alliance really happening?
2) What would be the point of a Google-NSA partnership?
3) Would the government gain access to my personal information?
4) Why would Google work with the NSA instead of the Department of Homeland Security?
5) Has the NSA worked with Google before?
Another concern comes from a report in Higher Thinking Primate. "The ruling comes as controversy has been growing around CISPA, a bill that passed the House last month that would allow private firms like Google to share a wide range of information with government agencies like the NSA for cybersecurity reasons.""The Justice Department is defending the government's refusal to discuss—or even acknowledge the existence of—any cooperative research and development agreement between Google and the National Security Agency.
The Washington based advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center sued in federal district court here to obtain documents about any such agreement between the Internet search giant and the security agency.
The NSA responded to the suit with a so-called "Glomar" response in which the agency said it could neither confirm nor deny whether any responsive records exist. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington sided with the government last July."
Even if one accepts that, the NSA agreement preserves Google's stated policies on Americans' privacy, what will be the effect of the new CISPA legislation on the supposed firewall protecting your personal data history?
The technology behind the most successful search engine evolves as different objectives develop. Anyone conducting Google searches knows that changes to their algorithms have the net effect of filtering out results that once were routine. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has concerns about "the vagueness of what Google considers to be a high number of removal notices, how Google plans to make its determinations, and how "there will be no process of recourse for sites who have been demoted."Many civil libertarians fear that the sordid political agenda of the NSA is influencing the business practices of Google to ban "undesirable" content from search queries.
Wire publishes a disturbing article, NSA Mimics Google, Pisses Off Senate."In 2008, a team of software coders inside the National Security Agency started reverse-engineering the database that ran Google.
They closely followed the Google research paper describing BigTable — the sweeping database that underpinned many of Google’s online services, running across tens of thousands of computer servers — but they also went a little further. In rebuilding this massive database, they beefed up the security. After all, this was the NSA."
Even more sinister is the description of NSA projects on How The NSA Used Google To Spy On Americans — Until The Internet Figured It Out. The 634-page book, "Untangling the Web: A Guide to Internet Research", which is available for download and was published by the NSA’s Center for Digital Content, has an interesting chapter entitled "Google Hacking."
Once online, the data lives eternally. Act accordingly.
Starbucks' head honchos in Hong Kong may have some explaining to do.
After photos of a "Starbucks Only" water spout in a bathroom emerged on the web, many customers questioned whether Starbucks is using "toilet water" to brew its coffee.
The series of photos, reportedly taken at the chain's Bank of China Tower location, appear to show a man retrieving water from a spout in a men's bathroom a few feet away from a urinal and then using a container on a cart to transport it to the coffee shop.
Hong Kong-based tabloid Apple Daily first published images of the questionable practice along with a report stating that Starbucks staff fetch water from the public restroom in the building's parking garage several times every day and use it to brew coffee.
The publication, which sent reporters to investigate after receiving a tip, noted that employees filter the water before brewing. It is believed that the practice has been occurring since the Starbucks first opened in 2011.
According to the Agence France-Presse, Starbucks spokeswoman Wendy Pang confirmed that water used to brew coffee at Starbucks' Bank of China Tower location was taken from a dedicated tap in a restroom and put through a filtration system in order to meet standards established by local authorities and the World Health Organization.
"There is no direct water supply to that particular store, that’s why we need to obtain the drinking water from the nearest source in the building,” Pang told AFP.
However, she added, the branch is now using distilled water.
While the filtered water may have adhered to set standards, the system may have failed to remove all potential hazards to humans.
Ben Cowling, an associate professor at University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health, told HK Magazine that a filtration system may remove bacteria, but could miss viruses, which tend to be smaller in size.
Cowling also expressed another concern: “If the staff need to frequently visit the toilet they may increase the risk of bringing other pathogens from the washroom into their food and drink preparation area."
Starbucks did not respond to The Huffington Post's request for comment at the time this story was published.
