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Russian Spies Interested in New Tech
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 2:56 am
by MSimon
Donald Heathfield, who worked for a management consulting firm and lived in Cambridge, Mass. — home to Harvard and MIT — had ties to several organizations involved in forecasting emerging technologies. "He hung around the world of futurists," said retired George Washington University professor William Halal.
The two were business partners in TechCast, a think tank that tries to predict the shape of tomorrow's technologies, and had also been members of a board at the Lifeboat Foundation, a nonprofit organization that encourages scientific advancements. Prosecutors said that in 2004, Heathfield met with an employee of the U.S. government "with regard to nuclear weapons research."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100630/ap_ ... ia_arrests
Do you suppose Rick and Co have gone silent because some one detected an interest from the Russians or someone else?
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 3:37 pm
by ladajo
Nope.
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 4:45 pm
by MSimon
Dang. And I thought we could have some fun with this one.
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 7:01 pm
by Skipjack
Well, given the fact that the US secret service has been doing commercial espionage in European countries for decades now, I am not suprised to see the Russians doing the same in the US. I am sure they are here too, as is the CIA and the Mossad and the Lybians. In fact, spooks from pretty much any nation are in Vienna at any given time. I got used to it.
Re: Russian Spies Interested in New Tech
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 7:13 pm
by DeltaV
MSimon wrote:Donald Heathfield, who worked for a management consulting firm and lived in Cambridge, Mass. — home to Harvard and MIT — had ties to several organizations involved in forecasting emerging technologies. "He hung around the world of futurists," said retired George Washington University professor William Halal.
The two were business partners in TechCast, a think tank that tries to predict the shape of tomorrow's technologies, and
had also been members of a board at the Lifeboat Foundation, a nonprofit organization that encourages scientific advancements. Prosecutors said that in 2004, Heathfield met with an employee of the U.S. government "with regard to nuclear weapons research."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100630/ap_ ... ia_arrests
Do you suppose Rick and Co have gone silent because some one detected an interest from the Russians or someone else?
Small world.
http://nextbigfuture.com/
Nextbigfuture is the Lifeboat Foundation Technology Research News Website.
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 7:27 pm
by MSimon
DeltaV,
It was just speculation on my part. Heh. But I put out the relevant info.
And now I'm a fookin genius. Strange.
Curiouser and curiouser.
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 7:31 pm
by DeltaV
MSimon wrote:Dang. And I thought we could have some fun with this one.
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 7:46 pm
by MSimon
Are we having fun yet?
I'll say!
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 9:32 pm
by GIThruster
". . .given the fact that the US secret service has been doing commercial espionage in European countries for decades now. . ."
I for one would like to see some evidence of this.
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 9:34 pm
by Skipjack
I for one would like to see some evidence of this.
I will digg it up, but a few years ago it was all over our local news.
The CIA is wire tapping into EU companies. It is pretty much common knowledge here. It also was the reason for quite some noise a few years ago (and an image loss of the US in the EU).
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 9:48 pm
by MSimon
GIThruster wrote:". . .given the fact that the US secret service has been doing commercial espionage in European countries for decades now. . ."
I for one would like to see some evidence of this.
It is standard in the spy business.
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 9:49 pm
by GIThruster
Wire tapping is not the same as commercial espionage. Commercial espionage is the act of stealing commercial secrets for monetary gain. It would be very surprising if CIA or Secret Service were involved in such a thing. Rather, they were probably noted listening in on EU corporate entities busy selling banned items in places like Iran.
Yeah, you need some evidence. There's endless US bashing going on in Europe right now, ever since our economy has faltered, as if our European friends are only friends so long as it's financially rewarding for them. I've seen so many baseless accusations from European sources that it starts to stagger after a time.
It's almost as if we were great friends with Germany, so long as we dumped fantastic amounts of money into their economy by keeping the world's largest military base there, and once we left, they decided to befriend those we were protecting them from for half a century.
Oooops. . .did I say "it's almost as if. . ."?
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 9:54 pm
by MSimon
GIThruster wrote:Wire tapping is not the same as commercial espionage. Commercial espionage is the act of stealing commercial secrets for monetary gain. It would be very surprising if CIA or Secret Service were involved in such a thing. Rather, they were probably noted listening in on EU corporate entities busy selling banned items in places like Iran.
Yeah, you need some evidence. There's endless US bashing going on in Europe right now, ever since our economy has faltered, as if our European friends are only friends so long as it's financially rewarding for them. I've seen so many baseless accusations from European sources that it starts to stagger after a time.
It's almost as if we were great friends with Germany, so long as we dumped fantastic amounts of money into their economy by keeping the world's largest military base there, and once we left, they decided to befriend those we were protecting them from for half a century.
Oooops. . .did I say "it's almost as if. . ."?
Well, you have to keep a lookout for commercial advances. Some might have military applications. So commercial espionage need not be done for economic gain.
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 9:59 pm
by Skipjack
Well, I heard of some secrets being sold to General Motors...
Also, Germany is among the worlds largest producer of weapons. The German manufactured weapons are among the best in the world, often toping US counterparts.
As I said, I will look it up. This is not a recent thing. It was a scandal a few years ago, long before the economic crisis bacame a topic.
I do not quite get the German bashing by GiThruster. IMHO, the French are much more of a target for your unjustified accusations. Even they have the right to complain about certain things though. They certainly dont have to do every bidding the US has.
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 10:07 pm
by GIThruster
I'm not bashing Germany. I consider all our European friends as friends. Yes, German weapons are easily on par with American weapons, as are Brit weapons, French weapons, etc. That's not the issue.
If US intelligence agencies are wire tapping in Europe, it's probably not to steal commercial secrets. It's for defense related issues. That's not "commercial espionage". That's standard intelligence gathering for defense purposes. US agencies do the same sort of intel gathering with US companies for in fact, this is the only means we have to ensure these companies do not fill their pockets at the expense of our national defense.
If there are real instances of US intelligence agencies spying in order to steal industrial secrets, that is something the average Joe here in the US ought to know about, and I certainly don't. Not saying it can't happen, but if it does, we ought to know about it so perhaps we can do something about it.