Free Republic

The profit-maximizing corporations that covet your "digital health" data hide behind nonprofit umbrella groups that pose as public interest do-gooders. These vaccine passport profiteers are turning millions of human beings into walking QR codes in the name of fighting COVID-19 and under the guise of bringing "normalcy" back. It's an unprecedented worldwide racket that rewards compliant sheep and punishes free-thinking, autonomy-seeking citizens. Let's name them. Here in my adopted home of Colorado, the state government is pimping the Smart Health Card "allowing users to verify and share their vaccination status." Who's behind Smart Health Card technology, which is now being...

Now that coronavirus vaccines are starting to roll out in the US and abroad, many people may be dreaming of the day when they can travel, shop and go to the movies again. But in order to do those activities, you may eventually need something in addition to the vaccine: a vaccine passport application. Several companies and technology groups have begun developing smartphone apps or systems for individuals to upload details of their Covid-19 tests and vaccinations, creating digital credentials that could be shown in order to enter concert venues, stadiums, movie theaters, offices, or even countries. The Common Trust...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15, 2011 – A dispute between Walgreens and a TRICARE contractor will not stop beneficiaries from getting their prescriptions filled, despite a Walgreen’s ad campaign to the contrary, a TRICARE official said today. Don’t let that advertising, letter and Internet outreach campaign scare you, Navy Rear Adm. Christine Hunter, deputy director of the TRICARE Management Activity, said. Even if contract renewal negotiations fall through and Walgreens drops out of TRICARE’s retail pharmacy network on Jan. 1, beneficiaries still will have plenty of other options for getting their prescriptions filled. Hunter called the dispute between Walgreens and Express Scripts,...

In response to the continuous compromise of networks, multiple countries have begun developing secure platforms and operating systems. Computer companies, university researchers, defense R&D contractors and militaries around the world recognize the criticality of networks and embedded processors within their equipment. They also recognize how vulnerable they are and that’s why so much attention is being given to building in security at every level of the system including the operating system. As discussed here, China’s Trusted Computing Platform (TCP) program has been underway for some time now and can be traced back to the early 2000s. The Chinese TCP includes...

Thermal depolymerization The loading station of the pilot plant in Carthage, Missouri Thermal depolymerization (TDP) is a process for the reduction of complex organic materials (usually waste products of various sorts, often known as biomass) into light crude oil. It mimics the natural geological processes thought to be involved in the production of fossil fuels. Under pressure and heat, long chain polymers of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon decompose into short-chain petroleum hydrocarbons with a maximum length of around 18 carbons. The process has been referred to with various names, including thermal conversion process (TCP). Thermo chemical conversion (TCC) is a...

Innovation Scorecard When it comes to alternative and renewable energy, it's not enough to have the coolest non-oil-using eco-friendly widget. From: Issue 93| April 2005 | Page 65 By: Michael A. Prospero By its very nature, the renewable-energy industry is one of the most innovative around. Solar power, wind power, fuel cells -- all are the result of technologies deployed mostly in just the past decade. But what makes this generation of upstarts truly exciting isn't the power (literally) of their inventions, but the manner in which those innovations came to be. Check out the winners of this month's Innovation...

A Milwaukee computer security expert's research has helped discover a potential for serious Internet traffic-flow vulnerabilities. Left unchecked, hackers could disrupt Web surfing, e-mail and other forms of electronic communication. Paul Watson, who works for Rockwell Automation's Information Security Group, has been working with the British government's National Infrastructure Security Coordination Centre. The organization released information Tuesday addressing flaws that could allow hackers to knock computers off-line and disrupt vital traffic-directing devices, called routers, that coordinate the flow of data among distant groups of computers. "It's a vulnerability that everyone has known about but never really talked about," Watson, 35,...

Software breaks data-transfer record Traffic-sensitive transmission tool could speed science and entertainment. 27 March 2003 John Whitfield [graphic] The new protocol sends data at 7 gigabytes a minute. © GettyImages A new piece of software more than trebles the speed at which information can be sent over the Internet. It changes the way that computers monitor and respond to online traffic conditions. Steven Low, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, and his colleagues have sent data 3,500 times faster than a typical broadband connection - at about 7 gigabytes a minute. This is a new speed record for...