Ebola: 400 under surveillance in Rivers, says NCDC director

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The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control Project Director, Dr. Abdulsalami Nasidi, has said that the health ministry is monitoring about 400 people in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for signs of Ebola after they came in contact with a Port Harcourt doctor who died of the disease but hid the fact that he had been exposed.

Nasidi said this on Thursday in Geneva, saying that there is a sense of “hopelessness” due to the lack of proven drugs or vaccines to treat Ebola that has infected 18 people in the country.
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Ebola Update: 69 persons on surveillance, two quarantined

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The Federal Government has placed 69 persons, who had first contact with the Liberian-born victim of Ebola Virus, Patrick Sawyerr, on surveillance, while two persons have been quarantined (isolated), the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said.

Sawyer died in a Lagos hospital on Friday last week.

Chukwu debunked reports that the government had closed its borders, saying such move might not be taken “except when it becomes necessary.”

Lawmakers say white house surveillance plan won’t work

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A chief element of President Barack Obama’s attempt to overhaul U.S. surveillance will not work, leaders of Congress’ intelligence committees said Sunday, pushing back against the idea that the government should cede control of how Americans’ phone records are stored.

Obama, under pressure to calm the controversy over government spying, said Friday he wants bulk phone data stored outside the government to reduce the risk that the records will be abused. The president said he will require a special judge’s advance approval before intelligence agencies can examine someone’s data and will force analysts to keep their searches closer to suspected terrorists or organizations.

Google engineer blasts US mass surveillance program after receiving NSA award

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Dr. Joseph Bonneau, an engineer for Google, was announced the winner of the National Security Agency's first annual "Science of Security Competition" on July 19 for his paper "The Science of Guessing," which analyzed over 70 million user passwords. Dr. Bonneau shared his "conflicted feelings" over receiving the award and chastised NSA surveillance.

On the same day when Dr. Bonneau was named the winner of the Science of Security (SoS) Competition he wrote a blog post about his "conflicted feelings" around the US surveillance program.

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German spy service plans more online surveillance, injects 100M Euro: Report

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Germany's foreign intelligence service plans a major expansion of Internet surveillance despite deep unease over revelations of US online spying, Der Spiegel news weekly reported Sunday.

Spiegel said that the BND planned a 100 million euro ($130 million) programme over the next five years to expand web monitoring with up to 100 new staff members on a "technical reconnaissance" team.

The report came ahead of a state visit to Berlin by US President Barack Obama during which the German government has pledged to take up the controversy over the US phone and Internet surveillance programmes.

Spiegel said the BND aimed to monitor international data traffic "as closely as possible", noting that it currently kept tabs on about five percent of emails, Internet calls and online chats while German law allowed up to 20 percent.

Photo: Indian Scientists Develop ‘Snake Robots’ For Surveillance, Rescue Operations

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Indian scientists have developed ‘snake robots’ that can slither through the rubble of buildings brought down by earthquakes, locate survivors and alert rescuers, hence to saving lives during disasters.

Fitted with a high-definition camera and ultrasonic sensors, snake robots are flexible enough to enter into a narrow opening and locate survivors under the rubble.

[VIDEO] NSA Whistleblower: Everyone in US under virtual surveillance, all info stored, no matter the post

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RT talks to William Binney, whistleblower and former NSA crypto-mathematician who served in the agency for decades. Virtual privacy in US, Petraeus affair and whistleblowers’ odds in fight against the authorities are among key topics of this exclusive interview.