Tag Archives: NSA
Facebook gives over 21,000 users data to the US government
Governments around the world requested information on about 38,000 Facebook users in the first six months of 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23852230 Facebook’s Global Government Requests Report, released on Tuesday for the first time, offered details on official requests from 74 countries. The US made by far the most requests, asking for information on between 20,000 and 21,000 […]
Julian Assange exposes Google collaboration with NSA et al
It has been revealed today, thanks to Edward Snowden, that Google and other US tech companies received millions of dollars from the NSA for their compliance with the PRISM mass surveillance system. http://cryptome.org/2013/08/assange-google-nsa.htm So just how close is Google to the US securitocracy? Back in 2011 I had a meeting with Eric Schmidt, the […]
American Civil Liberties Union lives up to their creed
In a detailed legal attack on the National Security Agency’s collection of Americans’ phone call data, the American Civil Liberties Union argued in court papers filed Monday that the sweeping data gathering violates the Constitution and should be halted. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/27/us/nsa-phone-data-collection-is-illegal-aclu-says.html?ref=us The A.C.L.U. cited the writings of George Orwell and the comprehensive East German surveillance portrayed […]
Egyptian people: US, islamists allied in Divide and Conquer
When the conversation in Egypt turns to politics, the predominant topic is the conspiracy between the United States and the Muslim Brotherhood to destroy Egypt. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/26/world/middleeast/as-egyptians-ignore-curfew-talk-of-a-us-brotherhood-conspiracy.html?ref=world The idea is widespread among supporters of the military, which ousted the Muslim Brotherhood’s elected president, Mohamed Morsi, last month. For journalists who ventured out Saturday night in violation […]
German people to jealously guard internet privacy
Continuing revelations, based on documents leaked by Edward J. Snowden, of sweeping American digital surveillance around the world are rattling the close ties between the United States and Germany. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/26/world/europe/surveillance-revelations-shake-us-german-ties.html?ref=world In a country scarred by Nazi and Communist pasts, the issue is prompting not just a debate about privacy and data protection, but also […]
US intelligence and banksters feed private spy companies
In 2012, more than $1 billion in venture financing poured into security start-ups, more than double the amount in 2010, according to the National Venture Capital Association. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/23/technology/the-pentagon-as-start-up-incubator.html?src=recg For years, the Pentagon has knocked on Silicon Valley’s door in search of programmers to work on its spying technologies. But these days, it’s the Pentagon that […]
NSA lied about scope of 4th amendment violations for years
A federal judge sharply rebuked the National Security Agency in 2011 for repeatedly misleading the court that oversees its surveillance on domestic soil, including a program that is collecting tens of thousands of domestic e-mails and other Internet communications of Americans each year, according to a secret ruling made public on Wednesday. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/us/2011-ruling-found-an-nsa-program-unconstitutional.html?hp&_r=0 The 85-page […]
UK bullies journalists: “there’s no need to write any more”
Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian newspaper, said that two months ago he was contacted by “a very senior government official claiming to present the views of the prime minister,” David Cameron. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/21/world/europe/british-news-organization-has-advantages-in-secrets-battle-with-government.html?pagewanted=1&ref=world There were two meetings in which officials “demanded the return or the destruction of the material we were working on,” and in […]
UK detains Greenwald associate on terrorism to seize NSA info
The partner of Glenn Greenwald, the journalist for The Guardian who has been publishing information leaked by the former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden, was detained for nine hours by the British authorities under a counterterrorism law while on a stop in London’s Heathrow Airport during a trip from Germany to Brazil. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/19/world/europe/britain-detains-partner-of-reporter-tied-to-leaks.html?hp&_r=0 […]
US: We can’t spy on you if your not on the internet
The Obama administration has poured billions of dollars into expanding the reach of the Internet, and nearly 98 percent of American homes now have access to some form of high-speed broadband. But tens of millions of people are still on the sidelines of the digital revolution. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/19/technology/a-push-to-connect-millions-who-live-offline-to-the-internet.html?pagewanted=1&ref=us Barack Obama took office as president in […]
Assange says libertarians only hope for US
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange praised United States Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and his father, Dr. Ron Paul, during an interview Friday in which he said the family has been among the biggest supporters his whistleblowing group has in Congress. The Paul family, added Assange, have been “the strongest supporters of the fight against the US […]
NSA admits to violating 4th amendment in leaked audit
The National Security Agency violated privacy rules protecting the communications of Americans and others on domestic soil 2,776 times over a one-year period, according to an internal audit leaked by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden and made public on Thursday night. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/us/nsa-often-broke-rules-on-privacy-audit-shows.html?hp&_r=0 The largest number of episodes — 1,904 — appeared to be […]
Facebook reduces satisfaction and fosters loneliness
Using Facebook can reduce young adults’ sense of well-being and satisfaction with life. Checking Facebook made people feel worse about both issues, and the more they browsed, the worse they felt, the University of Michigan research said. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23709009 The study adds to a growing body of research saying Facebook can have negative psychological consequences. “On […]
Hastings, Snowden warn journalists of the info war
In a recent interview NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden states, “After 9/11, many of the most important news outlets in America abdicated their role as a check to power — the journalistic responsibility to challenge the excesses of government — for fear of being seen as unpatriotic and punished in the market during a period […]
Brazil stands their ground on US data spying
Resentment has festered in Brazil since revelations of the surveillance practices emerged in July, detailing how the agency established a data collection center in Brasília and prioritized Brazil, with its vast telecommunications hubs and large population of 200 million, as among the agency’s most spied-upon countries. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/14/world/americas/in-brazil-kerry-is-told-spying-sows-distrust.html?ref=world Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota issued the unusual expression […]
US spying leviathan holds on to telephone records
The US spying programme “touches” 1.6% of internet traffic in fact reveal the vast scale of snooping, a senior security researcher has said. The figures were “utterly meaningless” since the memorandum is vague about where the data is taken from. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23669003 Caspar Bowden told the BBC that the National Security Agency (NSA) was a “surveillance […]
FBI lure another lonely muslim into a terrorist act
Law enforcement officials that have provided suspects with support and some materials needed to carry out an attack, have drawn criticism from those who believe that many of the subjects would have been unable to pull off their schemes without help from the government. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/10/nyregion/30-year-sentence-for-man-who-tried-to-bomb-federal-reserve.html?ref=us Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 22, came to the United […]
Encryption companies destroy servers after US data request
A company called Lavabit, which was reportedly used by Edward J. Snowden, announced its suspension Thursday afternoon, citing concerns about secret government court orders. By evening, Silent Circle, a Maryland-based firm that counts heads of state among its customers, said it was following Lavabit’s lead and shutting its e-mail service as a protective measure. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/08/two-providers-of-encrypted-e-mail-shut-down/?ref=world […]
Dirty Babylon 