2 devices fired near US base in Japan

2 devices fired near US base in Japan
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Two “improvised launch devices” were fired near a US military base in Japan late on Thursday, US and Japanese officials said.

“There were no injuries and thus far we have found no damage or impact points here on base,” a US military spokesman in Japan said in a statement on Friday.

“The incident occurred at 11:30 p.m. on Thursday. Flying objects were launched near the US military’s Yokota airbase,” a spokesman for Tokyo Metropolitan Police said.

Residents near the base in western Tokyo called police last night to report hearing explosions, national broadcaster NHK said, adding that police found several metal pipes pointing at the base in a field some 300 meters away.

Japan is host to almost 50,000 US service personnel and their families. The two countries have a mutual defense agreement that, in practice, means Tokyo is given shelter under Washington’s significant security umbrella.

But many people in Okinawa, where the bulk of US troops are based, resent their presence and an increasingly vocal campaign wants them to leave.

The United States and Japan are currently taking part in a huge naval exercise involving dozens of warships, submarines and aircraft off the island of Okinawa, amid heightened tensions with China.

The AnnualEx 2013 war games, which kicked off on November 25, are designed to increase the defensive readiness and interoperability of US naval forces and their Japanese counterparts, according to the US Navy.

Thursday’s incident also comes as tensions run high in the region between China and Japan with the focus on a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea.

AHT/ARA

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Samsung to expand devices that work with Gear

Samsung to expand devices that work with Gear

NEW YORK (AP) — Samsung says its new Galaxy Gear computerized watch will be compatible with several older phones through a software update.
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FBI gives telecom firms spying devices

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is secretly pressurizing telecommunications providers into installing spying devices inside internal networks of companies in order to facilitate espionage programs.

Citing the authorization of the move under the Patriot Act, FBI officials have been discussing with carriers in their effort to deploy government-supplied software, which will enable intercepting and analyzing all communications streams, CNET reported.

The software, now identified as “port reader”, used to be known internally as the “harvesting program.”

The FBI spokesman has said the agency has the legal authority to use alternate methods to collect Internet metadata. “In circumstances where a provider is unable to comply with a court order utilizing its own technical solution(s), law enforcement may offer to provide technical assistance to meet the obligation of the court order.”

But, police cannot intercept the contents of real-time communication streams, including email bodies, Facebook messages or streaming video unless a wiretap order from a judge is obtained.

Notwithstanding, “The statute hasn’t caught up with the realities of electronic communication,” says Colleen Boothby, a partner at the Washington, D.C. firm of Levine, Blaszak, Block & Boothby who represents technology companies and industry associations.

Boothby said judges cannot always comprehend how technology has outpaced the law.

In the past, judges drew this conclusion that they have no ability to reject pen register and trap and trace requests as a federal magistrate judge in Florida, in reference to pen register law, wrote “The court under the Act seemingly provides nothing more than a rubber stamp.”

“If magistrates knew more, they would approve less,” said an industry participant, adding, it’s “an interception device by definition”.

The participant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said carriers are “extra-cautious” resisting installation of the software, as they say it poses privacy and security risks against a sensitive internal network.

AT/MA

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FBI gives telecom firms spying devices