Mexico Adopts Alarming Surveillance LegislationThe Mexican legislature today adopted a surveillance legislation that will grant the police warrantless access to real time user location data. The bill was adopted almost unanimously with 315 votes in favor, 6 against, and 7 abstentions. It has been sent to the President for his approval.
There is significant potential... (more)
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NSA Power Grab: New Legislation Would Give It Broad Powers To Spy On 'Critical' Private NetworksWell, we saw this one coming a mile away. Last week, in talking about the current fight in the Senate over the new cybersecurity legislation that's making the rounds, we noted that the behind-the-scenes story appeared to be that the NSA was going to make a power play to try to get responsibility for cybersecurity handed to it, rather than Homeland Security.... (more)
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Iowa town could ban tattoos from parksBETTENDORF, IOWA - The Bettendorf Park Board is considering a policy that would address the tattoos, piercings and attire that a guest is allowed to display at their city facilities.
Last summer at Splash Landing water park, a patron complained about another patron’s tattoo – stating it was inappropriate. The staff member asked the guest to cover their tattoo but the guest decided to leave instead.
Bettendorf Parks and Recreation Director, Steve Grimes ... (more)
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U.S. Homeland Security Seizes Bodog.comIn breaking news on Monday night in the United States, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has seized the Bodog.com domain name. Trying to access Bodog.com now yields the all-too-familiar Department of Justice and U.S. Homeland Security emblems. As an update, on Tuesday, Federal investigators indicted Bodog founder Calvin Ayre.
Below the two images is the text, &... (more)
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Last Month's Supreme Court GPS Tracking Ruling Shuts Down Thousands of FBI Surveillance PlotsLast month’s Supreme Court ruling that long-term surveillance using implanted GPS devices requires a warrant has had a massive impact on FBI policy, according to the bureau’s General Council Andrew Weissmann. Weissmann says that the FBI shut down some 3,000 such tracking plots in the wake of the ruling.
The Supreme Court ruling was criticized by some ... (more)
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Windows 8: Millions of PCs Will Get Kill Switches for the First TimeVia: Bloomberg:
Janne Kytömäki, a Finnish software developer, was cruising Google’s (GOOG) Android Market for smartphone apps last year when he noticed something strange. Dozens of best-selling applications suddenly listed the same wrong publisher. It was as if Stephen King’s name had vanished from the covers of his books, replaced by an unknown author. Kyt&ou ... (more)
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Report: More Than 100,000 Americans Are Domestic TerroristsAn L.A. Times report which characterizes the Sovereign Citizen movement as “a major threat” on a par with Islamic extremism infers that “more than 100,00 Americans” are domestic terrorists as a result of their affiliation with the group.
The article, entitled ‘Sovereign citizen’ movement now on FBI’s radar, frames the belief that ... (more)
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The 'Show Me' StatesYou might think the New York Police Department, with its notoriety for abusing civilians and a list of scandals so long it requires its own page in Wikipedia, would avoid furnishing us with yet another reason to despise it.
But no. Like many such forces across the country, the NYPD has grown increasingly fond of strip-searches – and not just of suspected crim... (more)
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How Internet Companies Would Be Forced to Spy on You Under H.R. 1981Online commentators are pointing to the Internet backlash against H.R. 1981 as the new anti-SOPA movement. While this bill is strikingly different from the Stop Online Piracy Act, it does have one thing in common: it's a poorly-considered legislative attempt to regulate the Internet in a way experts in the field know will have serious civil liberties consequences. This bill s... (more)
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The NSA Unchained [Infographic]In November 2001, the National Security Agency began illegally intercepting Americans’ phone calls and emails without warrants or suspicion of wrongdoing. In 2008, Congress amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), rubber-stamping this warrantless wiretapping program and giving the NSA power to conduct dragnet surveillance of Americans’ international communications.
... (more)
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Document Proves DHS Is Monitoring Social Media For Government CriticismA Homeland Security training manual belies claims made by DHS representatives during a Congressional hearing last week that the federal agency is only monitoring social media outlets for “situational awareness,” and proves the fact that Bis Sis is also tracking online criticism of government, including discussion of airport body scanners.
“Analysts for a Department of Homeland Security program that monitors social networks like Twitter and Facebook have been inst... (more)
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Chris Dodd Extends SOPA 'Olive Branch' To Silicon Valley... And Proceeds To Bash Them Over The Head With ItNot this again. Ever since SOPA/PIPA were shelved, we've been hearing from MPAA and RIAA officials about how important it is that they "sit down and meet" with "the opposition." Part of the problem is that they still can't figure out who the opposition really was. They usually blame Google. And sometimes Wikipedia. We keep hearing these requests to work together, but when people take them up on the offer and agree to meet... they seem to chicken out. Another big part of the problem is ... (more)
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New Rules To Block 'Distracted Driving' Will Likely Make Things Worse, Not BetterUS Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has been on this campaign to somehow "wipe out" distracted driving for a while. A couple of years ago, we wrote about his desire to figure out ways to disable mobile phones from working while the car is in motion. After there was a lot of controversy around that, LaHood tried to ... (more)
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Man drowned in shallow lake after firefighters 'not allowed' to rescue himA man who fell into a lake drowned after firefighters called to the scene said they could not enter the water if it was higher than ankle deep for health and safety reasons, an inquest has been told.
Simon Burgess, a 41-year-old charity shop worker died at Walpole Park, in Gosport, Hampshire, on 10 March. He is believed to have had an epileptic seizure either before or after falling into the water while feeding swans.
Witnesses raised the alarm, but the hearing was ... (more) Good example of the quality of the "service" you get from the state when you actually need it. - Chris |
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NSA: 'Anonymous Might One Day Hack Power Grids!' Anonymous: 'Huh?!?'The fight to ramp up the fear mongering over cybersecurity has reached new and even more ridiculous levels -- in which an "anonymous" government source claims (without quotations) that the head of the NSA, Gen. Keith Alexander, recently briefed the White House claiming that the non-group Anonymous might be able to mount a cyberattack to take down par... (more)
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Pirate Bay’s Peter Sunde on the Copyright MafiaTwo days ago I read the news that The Pirate Bay will probably be blocked in the UK. It was decided by the High Court, which funnily enough is not the first place where one would expect a court case to first appear. It seems to have been put on a fast track, which in itself raises questions and concerns.
As many of you know, I used to be the spokesperson for The Pirate Bay.
I left the site a few years ago to continue working on Flattr and other projects, but I&rsquo... (more)
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