The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials.
President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans' mail without a judge's warrant, the Daily News has learned.
The President asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law on Dec. 20. Bush then issued a "signing statement" that declared his right to open people's mail under emergency conditions.
That claim is contrary to existing law and contradicted the bill he had just signed, say experts who have reviewed it. ... Critics point out the administration could quickly get a warrant from a criminal court or a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge to search targeted mail, and the Postal Service could block delivery in the meantime. ... Martin said that Bush is "using the same legal reasoning to justify warrantless opening of domestic mail" as he did with warrantless eavesdropping.
A documentary says French special forces had Osama bin Laden in their sights twice about three years ago but their U.S. superiors never ordered them to fire.
The French military, however, said that the incidents never happened and the report was "erroneous information." ... "In 2003 and 2004 we had bin Laden in our sights. The sniper said 'I have bin Laden'," an anonymous French soldier is quoted as saying.
Forget no-fly lists. If Uncle Sam gets its way, beginning on Jan. 14, 2007, we'll all be on no-fly lists, unless the government gives us permission to leave-or re-enter-the United States.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (HSA) has proposed that all airlines, cruise lines-even fishing boats-be required to obtain clearance for each passenger they propose taking into or out of the United States.
I've been ranting about electronic voting off and on for a while now and I thought I was fairly well versed in the issues at hand. As it turns out, I didn't know the half of it.
Here's a Lou Dobbs interview on the subject as well. Watch it.
None of the alleged terrorists had made a bomb. None had bought a plane ticket. Many did not even have passports, which given the efficiency of the UK Passport Agency would mean they couldn't be a plane bomber for quite some time.
In the absence of bombs and airline tickets, and in many cases passports, it could be pretty difficult to convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt that individuals intended to go through with suicide bombings, whatever rash stuff they may have bragged in internet chat rooms.
What is more, many of those arrested had been under surveillance for over a year - like thousands of other British Muslims. And not just Muslims. Like me. Nothing from that surveillance had indicated the need for early arrests.
Then an interrogation in Pakistan revealed the details of this amazing plot to blow up multiple planes - which, rather extraordinarily, had not turned up in a year of surveillance. Of course, the interrogators of the Pakistani dictator have their ways of making people sing like canaries. As I witnessed in Uzbekistan, you can get the most extraordinary information this way. Trouble is it always tends to give the interrogators all they might want, and more, in a desperate effort to stop or avert torture. What it doesn't give is the truth ...
We then have the extraordinary question of Bush and Blair discussing the possible arrests over the weekend. Why?
C|NET is reporting today that the FBI is crafting legislation that would extend the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CAELA) act beyond it's already staggeringly egregious invasions of privacy. In addition to warrantless access to any and all public, private and commercial data about every citizen, they now expect hardware and software manufacturers to build inherent flaws into their security models in order to provide law enforcement (and others) easier access for surveillance purposes (also without warrant, naturally).
Furthermore they are petitioning to have search engine providers and ISPs retain two years worth of logs of your internet activity (web browsing, email, XBox Live, and VoIP telephone calls to name a few). This is in addition to data handed over by the telephone companies of your personal calling records. (i.e. who you call, when you call, how often you call, how long you talk, etc.)
This new and separate legislation, if passed, would extend these powers to include hardware in your own home. Consider that little blue linksys router you have to make your wireless network go. Now consider if it reported back to the government in real time anything and everything you do on the internet. That's what it seems to me we're talking about here.
Aside from the apparently un-obvious wholesale invasion of privacy, can someone explain to me why the FBI is crafting legislation? Is the congressional branch of the federal government really that much of a lap dog to the executive?
UPDATE: It is also true that for the purpose of finidng terrorists, the NSA program is provably useless. It is quite effective however, "for monitoring political opposition and stymieing the activities of those who do not believe the government's propaganda."
"New Scientist has discovered that [the] Pentagon's National Security Agency, which specialises in eavesdropping and code-breaking, is funding research into the mass harvesting of the information that people post about themselves on social networks."
A last-minute deal Tuesday with Vice President Cheney averted a possible confrontation between the Senate Judiciary Committee and U.S. telephone companies about the National Security Agency's database of customer calling records.
The deal was announced by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the committee chairman, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. They said Cheney, who plays a key role supervising NSA counterterrorism efforts, promised that the Bush administration would consider legislation proposed by Specter that would place a domestic surveillance program under scrutiny of a special federal court.
In return, Specter agreed to postpone indefinitely asking executives from the nation's telecommunication companies to testify about another program in which the NSA collects records of domestic calls.
Well, I suppose we can all rest easy now. Dick Cheney is going to "consider" whether or not to keep spying on us without any oversight.
The Department of Justice has invoked the Military and State Secrets Privilege in an attempt to dismiss an EFF lawsuit against AT&T alleging illegal disclosure of customer information to the U.S. Government. The full text of the DOJ motion can be found here.
This is the kicker:
"...the assertion of the state secrets privilege, as a general matter, does not mean that any particular allegation is true but is a reflection of the subject matter at issue."
Yeah - it's a matter of state secrecy that we're spying on American citizens, but that's not saying we're spying on American citizens.
Rest assured that any lawsuit resulting from the latest revelations about NSA spying on domestic calls will also be dismissed. It is my belief that this issue can only be resolved in the political arena.
Some of the biggest names in documentary filmmaking have denounced a recent agreement between the Smithsonian Institution and Showtime Networks Inc. that they say restricts makers of films and television shows using Smithsonian materials from offering their work to public television or other non-Showtime broadcast outlets.
Unlike credit cards, debit cards offer an additional level of security: the password-like Personal Identification Number, or PIN.
"That's the irony, the PIN was supposed to make debit cards secure," Litan said. "Up until this breach, everyone thought ATMS and PINs could never be compromised."
...The problem [] is that retailers improperly store PIN numbers after they've been entered, rather than erase them at the PIN-entering pad. Worse, the keys to decrypt the PIN blocks are often stored on the same network as the PINs themselves, making a single successful hack a potential goldmine for criminals: they get the PIN data and the key to read it.
..."Security is tight at the ATM, but point-of-sale is a whole other story," said Litan. "Look at your [debit card] account on a regular basis, and don't use a PIN-based debit card at point-of-sale," she recommended. "I never do."
The government today announced that it is changing its emblem from an Eagle to a CONDOM because it more accurately reflects the government's political stance. A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while you are actually being screwed.
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