If You Have Nothing to Hide, Be Very WorriedMany people do not seem to mind the government peeping into their "metadata" or even into their emails, Internet habits, or phone calls. Mark Reid, the city manager of Bluffdale, Utah, where a large NSA data center is being built, doesn't worry: "If someone reads my emails,"he says, "they'll be pretty bored."
He should think twice.
Other people might not have as boring a li... (more)
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Obama Pushes for Warrantless Access to Phone Data... AgainAmid ongoing controversy over NSA warrantless spying programs, another legal battle exposes the Obama administration's willingness to steamroll civil liberties in the name of "security."
Last week, the Obama administration urged the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a precedent-setting ruling that the 4th amendment—which prohibits unreasonable and warrantless searches and seizures—somehow allows for warrantless searches of personal cell phones, the Washington Post reports.... (more)
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How The NSA Scours 75% Of The Nation's Internet Traffic - In One ChartThe NSA - which possesses only limited legal authority to spy on U.S. citizens - has, according to the Wall Street Journal, built a surveillance network that covers more Americans' Internet communications than officials have publicly disclosed, current and former officials say. The system has the capacity to reach roughly 75% of all U.S. In... (more)
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UK Gov't Forces Guardian To 'Destroy' Hard Drives With Snowden Info; Guardian Says Reporting Continues From NY Apparently, the UK government is now hellbent on demonstrating how broadly it will try (and fail) to censor the press these days. By now you've heard that the UK government detained David Miranda, Glenn Greenwald's partner, under an anti-terrorism law, all as a ruse to seize his electronic media and to int... (more)
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Journalist For Time Magazine Announces His Eagerness To Defend US Drone Strike Killing Julian AssangeWe've already discussed the odd and somewhat sickening way in which certain mainstream journalists have been clearly cheering on the criminalization of investigative journalism, but Time Maga... (more)
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The NSA Reveals That It Does 20 Million Database Queries Per MonthAs we noted earlier today, the NSA's two key "defenses" of the thousands of abuses and violations of the law that recently came out thanks to a leaked document are that there wasn't "intent" to abuse the system (we had no idea that made illegal things legal...) and, second, that it was such a small percentage of the activity that it's really no big deal. Glenn Greenwald quickly noted that the NSA is actually saying "we collect billion of emails and calls every day, so what's a few th... (more)
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Feds Threaten To Arrest Lavabit Founder For Shutting Down His ServiceThe saga of Lavabit founder Ladar Levison is getting even more ridiculous, as he explains that the government has threatened him with criminal charges for his decision to shut down the business, rather than agree to some mysterious court order. The feds are apparently arguing that the act of shutting down the business, itself, was a... (more)
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Just Weeks Ago, Keith Alexander Said Review Of NSA Found Not A Single Violation; Reality: Thousands Of ViolationsIt's been clear that various defenders of the NSA program have been lying, but given yesterday's revelations, now we can show just how much and how explicitly they were lying. It was just a couple weeks ago at the Black Hat conference that Keith Alexander told an audience that a review of NSA activities showed no violations at all:... (more)
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Manning Speaks: "I am a Good Person"Pfc. Bradley Manning spoke on his own behalf during the final sentencing phase of his trial in a military courtroom at Ft. Meade in Maryland on Wednesday.
What follows is the transcribed version of his spoken testimony as recorded by the stenographer sponsored by the Freedom of the Press Foundation (via FireDogLake's K. Gosztola):
First, your honour I want to start off with an apology. I am sorry that my actions hurt people. I ‘m sorry that they hurt ... (more) Translation: Manning forced to prostrate himself before his abusers. |
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Judge Refuses To Dismiss Suit Against Feds Who Arrested Former Marine For His Controversial Facebook PostsAlmost exactly a year ago, former Marine Brandon Raub was taken from his home by federal agents and involuntarily committed to a psychiatric ward, all because of some controversial postings to his Facebook account, including some 9/11 conspiracy-related articles and violent song lyrics.
On August 16, 2012, Ra... (more)
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Owner of Snowden's Email Service on Why He Closed Lavabit Rather Than Comply With Gov't
Lavabit, an encrypted email service believed to have been used by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, has abruptly shut down. The move came amidst a legal fight that appeared to involve U.S. government attempts to win access to customer information. In a Democracy Now! broadcast exclusive, we are joined by Lavabit owner L... (more)
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NSA Spying Threatens Law-Abiding AmericansI was talking with an older German citizen about the NSA’s data collection program that has recently been the subject of much debate. He worked for the East German government during the Cold War and viewed the NSA’s activities as similar to the Stasi’s under communist rule, but potentially more threatening.
The argument often given for the NSA’s activities is to stop terrorist activities before they occur. Rather than waiting for someone to break the law, o... (more)
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"Parallel Construction": Government Term for Lying About Its InvestigationsPresident Obama pledged to create “...an unprecedented level of openness in Government...” and to “... work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration.” With all the recent revelations about IRS abuses and NSA snooping that the president wants to keep secret, transparency in government increasingly appears to mean ... (more)
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Former NSA Boss Calls Snowden's Supporters Internet Shut-ins; Equates Transparency Activists With Al-QaedaSome of the most ardent defenders of our nation's Skynet surveillance programs and other forms of cyber-overreach have one thing in common: they continue to belittle their opponents as a loose confederation of basement-dwelling loners who exist solely on The Internet. I'm sure this form of disparagement plays well with like-minded people who take comfort in belittling things they don't understand (anyone more than 5 years younger than them; The Internet; bitcoin exchange rates; bronies*).... (more)
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DEA Conceals Reliance on Surveillance Conducted by Intelligence AgenciesNEW YORK - The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is using secret surveillance tactics - including wiretaps and examining telephone records - to make arrests while concealing the source of the evidence from judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys, according to a story published today by Reuters. In cases where this intelligence is used to make an arrest, the DEA trains law enforcement to recreate the investigative trail in order to conceal the origins of the evidence.
"The DE... (more)
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Comcast NBC Universal Already Moving Past Six Strikes; Trying New Malware Popups Urging Downloaders To BuyThe "six strikes" Copyright Alert System (CAS) is barely under way and already Comcast/NBC Universal are looking to go beyond it with malware-like popups that show up as you download a piece of content, pushing you to buy it (well, "license" it) via an authorized source. Variety has the details at the link above, though late in the article it seems t... (more)
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Greenwald: Is U.S. Exaggerating Threat to Embassies to Silence Critics of NSA Domestic Surveillance?
The Obama administration has announced it will keep 19 diplomatic posts in North Africa and the Middle East closed for up to a week, due to fears of a possible militant threat. On Sunday, Senator Saxby Chambliss, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the decision to close the embassies was based on information collected by the National Security Agenc... (more)
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