According to numerous reports gathered by Computer World, the brand is deploying a telemetry client (a system data that is uploaded by the Connected User Experience and Telemetry component), on customer computers without asking permission.
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PRIVACY ALERT: HP Quietly Installs System-Slowing Spyware On Its PCs Without Consent
PRIVACY ALERT: HP Quietly Installs System-Slowing Spyware On Its PCs Without Consent
On the heels of Lenovo’s massive $3.5 million fine for preinstalling adware on laptops without users‘ consent, Hewlett-Packard is jumping in with both feet when it comes to installing spyware on its PCs without the consumer’s permission.
The software, which was first identified on November 15 of this year, is called “HP Touchpoint Analytics Service” and appears to replace the self-managed HP Touchpoint Manager solution. According to the official productivity description, it features “the tools you need to ensure all your managed devices’ security — and brings you greater peace of mind”. The problem is, it’s installing itself without permission and is wreaking havoc on customers’ systems.
And the consumers are noticing:
On 11/18/2017 Hp Touchpoint Analytics Client was installed on my computer without my concent, I’m assuming it was installed in the background as an update to Hp support or framework. However it happened I don’t appreciate it’s sneaky take over of my computer’s system resources. From yesterday to today it’s been making my computer work so hard I can hear it like cranking away and the light in the back of my computer is flashing rapidly in-tune with the cranking. –HP Forum
HP has not released an official response to the complaints either and it’s not yet clear how the new driver is being installed. It may have come with the latest Windows updates, or via HP and its support assistant processes, but regardless, customers aren’t happy.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
WARNING: The US Stock Market Has A 70% Chance Of Crashing RIGHT NOW
WARNING: The US Stock Market Has A 70% Chance Of Crashing RIGHT NOW
Vanguard’s chief economist Joe Davis said investors need to be prepared for a significant downturn in the stock market, which is now at a 70 percent chance of crashing. That chance is significantly higher than it has been over the past 60 years.
The economist added,“It’s unreasonable to expect rates of returns, which exceeded our own bullish forecast from 2010, to continue.” In its annual report, the company told investors to expect no better than four to six percent returns from stocks in the next five years. Vanguard, which manages roughly $5 trillion in assets and is a proponent of long-term investing, isn’t sounding the alarm bells to scare investors out of the market. They simply want investors to be prepared.
“The risk premium, whether corporate bond spreads or the shape of yield curve or earnings yields for stocks have continued to compress,” said Davis. “We’re starting to see, for the first time… some measures of expected risk premiums compressed below areas where we think it can be associated with fair value.“
‘The Great Crash of 2018’ will start in the deeper, darker depths of credit market – strategist https://on.rt.com/8slp
According to RT, Davis also said that overreaching is no better a solution for a lower-return environment than getting out of the market entirely. He expressed worries that after hearing of “lower returns,” some investors will view that as a catalyst to become more aggressive to generate the returns they have been used to in recent years.
“You need to stay invested, because of lower expected returns,” Davis said, adding “Don’t become overly aggressive. The next five years will be challenging, and investors need to have their eyes wide open.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Fault Line Wakes Up: New Zealand Could Be DESTROYED By Massive 9.0 Earthquake
Fault Line Wakes Up: New Zealand Could Be DESTROYED By Massive 9.0 Earthquake
A 2016 earthquake has awoken a fault line that was thought to be dormant. Now that it’s becoming active, fears have arisen that New Zealand could be destroyed by a massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake.
The devastating Kaikura earthquake in 2016 has resurrected the Hikurangi subductionzone where two tectonic plates clash and one is pushed down. Geologists are now warning that this trench could cause a massive earthquake on the ocean floor, and could trigger other 9.0 magnitude earthquakes and tsunamis that will reach the western coast of the islands in just seven minutes.
The Australian plate is heading north while the Pacific plate is heading west, and the combination of these motions means that the Pacific plate, which includes much of the South Island, is moving relative to the Australian plate at a rate of about 40millimeterss each year in a southwesterly direction.
Ursula Cochran, from the science firm GNS, told The Marlborough Express: “We need to think Japan 2011 basically, because if our whole plate boundary ruptured it would be a magnitude-9 earthquake.” The Great East Japan Earthquake and resulting tsunami smashed through the country’s north-eastern coast killing almost 16,000 people and destroying the lives of thousands more. It also triggered a major ongoing crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
“One of the biggest hazards of that kind of earthquake is the tsunami that is triggered by a fault rupture offshore.,” Cochran added. “We know from tsunami modeling from a hypothetical earthquake from the Hikurangi subduction zone that the travel times could be very short to the coast, so seven minutes for some of the south Wairarapa coast.”
One year after it struck, scientists are also warning that the Kaikoura quake was not the “big one” for the Hikurangi subduction zone. The quake on the Hikurangi subduction zone was
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Scarlet Fever Outbreak In England Leaves Researchers Confused: ‘We’re Concerned’
Scarlet Fever Outbreak In England Leaves Researchers Confused: ‘We’re Concerned’
Scarlet fever cases are now at 50-year-high sparking concerns for researchers, as they are baffled as to how “Victorian-era” diseases are making a comeback. The disease has been on the rise since 2014, and researchers are failing to find the cause.
Scarlet fever hit its highest level in England for 50 years, with more than 17,000 cases reported in 2016 according to research in the Lancet. The infection is most common in children under the age of 10 and although highly contagious (being spread easily with a cough) is easily cured with a round of antibiotics. But that, in and of itself, raises concerns of the disease becoming resistant to antibiotics, creating a global pandemic.
Doctors are urging the public to be aware of symptoms, which include a rosy rash, and seek help from their doctor. Data for 2017 suggests the rate of infection may be falling, but experts remain cautious, saying it is “too early to tell.” Normally, first world nations have a better chance of handling an outbreak such as this, but England is on the verge of losing control over this scarlet fever outbreak.
A joint investigation by public health authorities from across England and Wales found that the incidence of scarlet fever tripled between 2013 and 2014, rising from 4,700 cases to 15,637 cases. In 2016, there were 19,206 reported cases, the highest level since 1967. The majority of the outbreaks were in England.
“We are concerned – it’s quite a dramatic rise,” said Dr. Theresa Lamagni, head of streptococcal surveillance at Public Health England, who led the study. “We’ve always seen cases of scarlet fever – it’s just the scale in the past has been much lower than the last few years.” Dr. Lamagni described the soaring number of cases of scarlet fever as “baffling”, adding that no underlying causes had been identified.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
What Would Happen To The World If The Yellowstone Super Volcano Erupted Right Now?
What Would Happen To The World If The Yellowstone Super Volcano Erupted Right Now?
With the looming threat of a possible eruption at the Yellowstone super volcano, some preppers have wondered exactly how to prepare for such a cataclysmic event. Here is what would happen should the super volcano erupt right now.
Yellowstone’s supervolcano is essentially a giant, lid-topped cauldron, and it’s so vast that it can only truly be seen from low-Earth orbit. Its crater is 45 miles (72 kilometers) across, and its underlying plumbing contains several tens of thousands of cubic kilometers of magmatic material. But if it were to erupt right now, we would have very little time to even know that it is happening.
IFL Science spoke to one of the country’s most respected volcanologists to get the most up-to-date low-down on the future of the world’s most famous supervolcano. Hopefully, it will give preppers and idea of what to expect in the unprecedented event that it actually explodes.
According to Yellowstone Volcano Observatory’s Scientist-In-Charge, Dr. Michael Poland, the super volcano may not have enough energy at present to produce a supereruption. “Right now, much of Yellowstone’s magma body is partially solidified, and you need a lot of magma to feed a large eruption.” The chances of a supervolcanic paroxysm are currently around one-in-730,000, which makes it less likely than a catastrophic asteroid impact.
A sudden injection of new magma from beneath the caldera, or a sudden weakening of the geological layers encasing it, as unlikely as this is, may be enough to trigger a sudden depressurization event, and the entire system would violently expunge onto the surface and up into the atmosphere. What would happen next is speculative, but it may be important to understand just how dire that could be.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Humanity Sealed Its Own Fate: 15,000 Scientists Sign A “Doomsday Warning”
Humanity Sealed Its Own Fate: 15,000 Scientists Sign A “Doomsday Warning”
A catastrophic warning about humanity’s impending doom was just signed by 15,000 scientists; they all agree that we’ve already sealed our fate.
The signed letter, which was apparently first written in 1992, claims all of the predictions made by scientists have come true except one. Apart from the hole in the ozone layer, which has now stabilized, every one of the major threats identified in 1992 has worsened.
The prophetic warning letter from 1992 argued human impacts on the natural world were likely to lead to “vast human misery” and a planet that was “irretrievably mutilated.” Climate change, deforestation, loss of access to fresh water, animal species extinctions, and uncontrolled human population growth are all threatening mankind’s and the Earth’s future.
It’s been about 25 years since the first doomsday warning letter was signed and scientists are now saying that the Earth is in even more dire shape. More than 15,000 scientists from 184 countries said humans had “unleashed a mass extinction event,the sixth in roughly 540 million years.”
The message, which was posted online and is an update to the original Warning from the Union of Concerned Scientists and around 1,700 signatories delivered in 1992. The World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity was written and spearheaded by the late Henry Kendall, former chair of UCS’s board of directors. But scientists still agree that runaway consumption of natural resources by an exploding population remains the biggest danger facing humankind, say the scientists.
In the more recent doomsday warning, scientists warn that human beings should eat less meat, have fewer kids, consume less, and use green energy to save the planet. In the past 25 years, scientists have pointed out the following:
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Scientists Shocked As Fisheries Collapse On West Coast: ‘It’s The Worst We’ve Seen”
Scientists Shocked As Fisheries Collapse On West Coast: ‘It’s The Worst We’ve Seen”
Photo Credit: Alaska Outdoors Supersite
The Gulf of Alaska cod populations appears to have taken a nose-dive. Scientists are shocked at the collapse and starving fish, making this the “worst they’ve ever seen.”
“They [Alaskan cod] get weak and die or get eaten by something else,” said NOAA’s Steve Barbeaux. The 2017 trawl net survey found the lowest numbers of cod on record forcing scientists to try to unravel what happened. A lot of the cod hatched in 2012 appeared to survive, but by 2017, those fish were largely gone for the surveys, which also found scant evidence of fish born in subsequent years. Many of the cod that have come on board trawlers are “long skinny fish” according to Brent Paine, executive director of United Catcher Boats.
“This is a big deal,” Paine said. “We just don’t see these (cod) year classes disappear from one year to the next.” The decline is expected to substantially reduce the gulf cod harvests that in recent years have been worth — before processing — more than $50 million to Northwest and Alaska fishermen who catch them with nets, pot traps, and baited hooks set along the sea bottom.
Barbeaux says the warm water, which has spread to depths of more than 1,000 feet, hit the cod like a kind of a double-whammy. Higher temperatures sped up the rate at which young cod burned calories while reducing the food available for the cod to consume. And many are blaming “climate change” for the effects on the fish, although scientists aren’t directly correlating the two events. “They get weak and die or get eaten by something else,” said Barbeaux, who in October presented preliminary survey findings to scientists and industry officials at an Anchorage meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Surveillance State: An Inexorable March Toward Totalitarianism
The Surveillance State: An Inexorable March Toward Totalitarianism
Gizmodo released an article entitled “US Homeland Security Wants Facial Recognition to Identify People in Moving Cars,” on 11/2/17 by Matt Novak. The Surveillance State has slowed down its rate of growth since the President took office, however, it has not halted that growth. Instead, it lies festering below the veneer of daily events, inexorably growing its tentacles and extending their reach. Akin to an infestation of weeds, the roots are deep within the fabric of our communications networks: telephones, CCTV (Closed-Circuit Television) cameras, the Internet…all are thoroughly permeated.
Here is an excerpt from that article:
The proposed program would allow Homeland Security to maintain a database of everyone who leaves and enters the US that would now include photos taken by spying robot-cameras at every border crossing. Not only does DHS want this new facial recognition program to work without anyone having to exit their vehicle, the agency wants it to work even if the travelers are wearing things like sunglasses and hats. DHS also wants it to work without cars having to stop.
Seems they really want our information for their database. There is something more. One of the readers on the article’s website who uses the handle “Artiofab” posted this comment that is important, as he lives on the Texas border with Mexico:
“11/02/17 12:31pm Hi everybody I live near the US-MX border so I’m happy to give informed opinions on this topic, since I know that a lot of the audience at Gizmodo dot com apparently lives closer to the US-CA border.
Near the US-MX border along major US highways there are these interior checkpoints. If you’re traveling “into” the US (e.g., if you’re in New Mexico and you’re driving north) you stop your car, a USBP agent asks if you’re all US citizens, you say yes, they let you keep going.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
What Could Go Wrong? EPA Approves Bacteria-Infected Lab-Grown Mosquitoes
What Could Go Wrong? EPA Approves Bacteria-Infected Lab-Grown Mosquitoes
Lab-grown mosquitoes armed with bacterium Wolbachia pipientis have just been approved by the EPA. The agency is saying that these mosquitoes could be the key to killing off insects that often transmit dangerous viruses such as Zika.
Nothing can go wrong, right? The government would never do that to us. Famous last words, but nonetheless, the created mosquitoes are very real! Mosquitoes are annoying the way it is, and adding the Zika virus has been exactly no fun for anyone. But is it worth infecting mosquitoes with bacteria in order to help stop the Zika virus? The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) says “yes.”
On November 3, the Environmental Protection Agency approved a new approach from the biotech company MosquitoMate. The goal is to destroy populations of wild mosquitoes that could be carrying nasty viruses, according to a report from Nature magazine. –CNET
MosquitoMate infects lab-grown mosquitoes with the common bacterium Wolbachia pipientis, which affects mosquitoes but they claim, it does not affect not animals or humans. They chose to infect lab-grown mosquitoes over genetic modification, although the reason for this decision is not yet known. MosquitoMate will release these insects in 20 states (which include Washington D.C., and Kentucky) this summer.
The Wolbachia-infected male mosquitoes (which don’t bite) mate with the wild populations of female Asian tiger mosquitoes (which do bite). The eggs fertilized by MosquitoMate’s male mosquitoes won’t hatch because the paternal chromosomes don’t form properly due to the effects of the bacterium.
But the process to create these mosquitoes is time-consuming, and millions must be made and infected for the insects to do their job, and make a dent in the Zika virus.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Make No Mistake: “Tensions Are Heating Up” With North Korea
Make No Mistake: “Tensions Are Heating Up” With North Korea
Unprecedented actions occurred over the last two weeks as the tensions between the United States and North Korea remain at an all-time high. The North Koreans (as reported by Reuters and AP news) have been conducting mass evacuation drills for cities and towns. These drills have been augmented with “blackout” drills, where lights are either cut or masked in homes and businesses to make them less readily visible.
U.S. Secretary of defense Mattis has announced that President Trump (who travels with the “football,” the apparatus with the nuclear launch codes) will not be limited by Congress and will act on his (the President’s) executive authority to conduct a first-strike against North Korea. Mattis went on to say that such would occur if North Korea had either launched, or if a launch was imminent against the U.S. Although these statements were not ambiguous, the latter is certainly subjective: after a nuclear war or strike, how would it be verified that a launch by North Korea had been imminent?
A new Cold War has taken shape and materialized over the course of the past several years. The Mainstream Media (MSM) is quick to “paint” one side as the “hero/good guy” and the other as the “villain.” In this case the villain in journalistic obfuscation (the piece is “journalistic” and not objective journalism) is the The Sun. Here are two excerpts. You make the call, with the underlined words being the “sticking point”:
“President Donald Trump sent a nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bomber from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri on a long-range mission to the Pacific this weekend.”
Here’s number two:
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Gerald Celente Warns Of 2018 Recession: “We’ve Never Seen One Like This Before”
Gerald Celente Warns Of 2018 Recession: “We’ve Never Seen One Like This Before”
Trend forecaster Gerald Celente, who warned investors of the collapse of 2008 just weeks before the markets buckled, has issued a new recession warning for 2018 in his latest interview with Greg Hunter of USA Watchdog. But this time, says Celente, it’s going to be a different kind of scenario:
All the investment is at the top… and the top is the one that’s going to fall… and when they fall, the bottom will feel it but more psychologically than in their pocket… be cause it’s the “Bigs” that are going to fall…
You look at the tops in the condominium market, in the housing market with houses over $1.5 million… that market is slowing down dramatically… you go into the rich retail sectors around the country… Chicago, New York, San Francisco… you see a lot of For Rent signs… because the big multinationals that used to be there that are no longer making the money at the top that they were, are closing down… the rents are so high that they can’t fill them up with the average retailer… so we’re seeing the pressure from the top falling already…
We’re calling this a “Stage 1 Recession.”
That’s our top trend for 2018… we’ve never seen one like this before… so it’s going to start melting down from the top.
How far down will it go?
We’re looking for a 10% correction in the markets… we’re not looking for a crash at this point… it depends how far it melts.
Is It War? The First 2 Of 12 F-35 Fighter Jets Have Arrived In Japan
Is It War? The First 2 Of 12 F-35 Fighter Jets Have Arrived In Japan
The first two of 12 US Air Force F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets arrived in Okinawa on Monday. The aircraft will soon begin a six-month deployment in Japan as part of Pacific Command’s “theater security” program.
Is this a red flag for war with North Korea? Suspicions run high as tensions in the area continue to stiffen. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the most expensive and one of the most controversial weapons systems in United States history, is dubbed “the cornerstone” of US defense in the Pacific. But what exactly are we “defending” against?
The Marines deployed their version of this fighter jet to a US base in Iwakuni, Japan in January.
According to CNN, approximately 300 airmen from Hill Air Force Base, Utah’s 34th Fighter Squadron will accompany the fifth-generation fighters to Kadena Air Base, Japan. The remaining 10 jets are expected to arrive in Okinawa this week, according to Air Force spokesperson Victoria Hight.
This deployment marks the first time that the Air Force’s version of the F-35 has been sent to the region and is meant “to demonstrate the continuing US commitment to stability and security,” according to the service. “The F-35A gives the joint warfighter unprecedented global precision attack capability against current and emerging threats while complementing our air superiority fleet,” said Gen. Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, Pacific Air Forces commander, earlier this month. “The airframe is ideally suited to meet our command’s obligations, and we look forward to integrating it into our training and operations.”
While the Air Force said its F-35 deployment has been “long-planned,” their arrival comes as President Donald Trump prepares for his first official visit to Japan and amid simmering tensions with North Korea. The coincidences are just a bit much to miss this time.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
JFK Files: The CIA Planned To Murder American Citizens In Miami And Blame It On Cuba During Operation Mongoose
JFK Files: The CIA Planned To Murder American Citizens In Miami And Blame It On Cuba During Operation Mongoose
As reporters have began to sift through the thousands of newly revealed government documents relating to the assassination of President Kennedy and subsequent investigation, we are starting to see some stunning revelations concerning not only JFK but the overall mindset of the CIA at the time in their all out war against Communism.
One of the more scary revelations to come out so far details a copy of a paper on “Pretexts” for war with Cuba that described a plan, under Operation Mongoose, to conduct false flag terror attacks in Miami, to be blamed on Cuba but actually carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency.
“Operation Mongoose” was the operational name for the CIA’s plan to topple the Castro government which we now know included purposefully killing our own citizens.
The time was 1962, the same year that brought us the now infamous Operation Northwoods, which was also a plan to kill American citizens as a pretext for war with Communist Cuba.
“On April 12th, 1962, General Lansdale forwarded to Maxwell Taylor an “advance copy” of the Joint Chiefs paper on “Pretexts” stating, I am informed that the Chiefs approve of this,” reads the document.
Keep in mind that this is an admission that the Pentagon at the time was fully on board with killing Americans if it allowed them to wage war against Cuba.
“We could develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington. We could sink a boatload of Cubans enroute to Florida (real or simulated),” the false flag plan reads.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Bad Rabbit Ransomware: ‘This Is A Targeted Attack’
Bad Rabbit Ransomware: ‘This Is A Targeted Attack’
The Bad Rabbit ransomware is spreading across Europe not long after the WannaCry and NotPetya outbreaks. But Bad Rabbit is a “targeted attack” with widespread implications.
A new cyber attack is affecting numerous computer systems around Europe. The new strain of ransomware known as “Bad Rabbit” is believed to be behind all of the trouble. Bad Rabbit has spread to Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, and Germany. Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab, which is monitoring the malware, has compared it to the WannaCry and Petya attacks that caused so much chaos earlier in the year.
According to the Kaspersky Lab, the majority of victims are located in Russia, and the ransomware appears to have infected devices through the hacked websites of Russian media organizations. Interfax and Fontanka in Russia have both been hit by a cyber attack, as have Odessa Airport and the Kiev Metro in Ukraine.
“Based on our investigation, this is a targeted attack against corporate networks, using methods similar to those used in the ExPetr attack,” Kaspersky Lab has said. “However, we cannot confirm it is related to ExPetr.” According to Secure Lst, ExPetr is a wiper, not ransomware. “The dangerous aspect is the fact that it was able to infect many institutions which constitute critical infrastructure in such a short timeframe,” says Robert Lipovsky, a malware researcher at ESET, “which indicates a well-coordinated attack.”
Kaspersky also found strong evidence tying the new attack to the creators of NotPetya. After the June NotPetya outbreak, the company’s analysts found that one Ukrainian news site, Bahmut.com.ua, had been hacked to deliver the malware, along with dozens of other sites that were similarly corrupted—but hadn’t yet been activated to start infecting victims. Now Kaspersky has found that 30 of those hacked sites began to distribute the BadRabbit malware on Tuesday. –Wired
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Next Cyber Hurricane Is Coming And It’ll Take Down The Internet
The Next Cyber Hurricane Is Coming And It’ll Take Down The Internet
Last year, the botnet Mirai caused a massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack in October, knocking popular websites off the internet for millions of users. Right now, the next cyber hurricane is on the way, and it could take down the entire internet.
According to ZD Net, the botnet, dubbed “Reaper” by researchers at Netlab 360, is appearing on the radar of security researchers. A little over a month ago, the researchers detected the sizable botnet of infected Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Now, just weeks later, it’s on track to become one of the largest botnets recorded in recent years.
The botnet is said to have ensnared almost two million Internet-connected webcams, security cameras, and digital video recorders (DVRs) in the past month, says Check Point, which also published research, putting its growth at a far faster pace than Mirai.
Mirai was “beautifully simple,” said Ken Munro, a consultant at UK-based security firm Pen Test Partners. The malware would scan the internet and infect connected devices with default usernames and passwords, which either weren’t or couldn’t be changed by the owner. The collective bandwidth from the huge number of “zombie devices” that were infected and enslaved was directed at Dyn, an internet infrastructure company, which overloaded the company’s systems and prevented millions from accessing popular websites.
Reaper, on the other hand, is much more complex. It’s “what Mirai could easily have been,” said Munro. It takes a slightly different, more advanced approach by quietly targeting and exploiting known vulnerabilities in devices and injecting its malicious code. This effectively hijacks the device for whenever the botnet controller is ready to issue their commands. Each time a device is infected, the device spreads the malware to other vulnerable devices just like a worm.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
