Protesting Internet Censorship by Stephen Lendman January 19, 2012 On May 12, 2011, Senator Patrick Leahy (D. VT) introduced “S. 968: Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011 (PROTECT IP).” Referred to the Judiciary Committee, May 26 hearings were held. Debate’s scheduled for next week. On [...]
TSA Admits Wrongdoing in Cases of Two Elderly Woman Who Claim They Were Strip-Searched January 19th, 2012 Via: New York Daily News: In an about-face, the feds have admitted wrongdoing in the cases of two elderly women who say they were strip-searched at Kennedy Airport by overzealous screeners. Federal officials had initially insisted that [...]
Obama czar proposed government should ‘infiltrate’ social network sites, chat rooms, message boards. January 13, 2012 Print Version By Arron Klein Just prior to his appointment as President Obama’s so-called regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein wrote a lengthy academic paper suggesting the government should “infiltrate” social network websites, chat rooms and message boards. Such “cognitive [...]
Homeland Security Watches Twitter, Social Media, Blogs January 12th, 2012 Cryptogon readers yawn even more deeply than usual… Via: Reuters: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s command center routinely monitors dozens of popular websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, WikiLeaks and news and gossip sites including the Huffington Post and Drudge Report, according to a [...]
U.S. Court Upholds Telecom Immunity for Surveillance of Americans December 30th, 2011 Searching for Mark Klein on Cryptogon will bring up several references to the NSA’s mass surveillance operations. Via: Reuters: A U.S. appeals panel on Thursday upheld the constitutionality of a federal law that grants immunity to telecommunications companies that assist the U.S. [...]
FBI Holding Carrier IQ Data for ‘Law Enforcement Purposes’ December 13th, 2011 There’s a shocker. Via: The Verge: When we spoke to Carrier IQ at length about the company’s controversial cellular tracking service, there was one question we didn’t include in the transcript. “Would you say no if the government asked Carrier IQ for [...]
Government to receive archive of every tweet ever sent… December 6, 2011 Print Version Source: Federal News Radio Tweets, emails and other electronic communications can be considered “government documents” and must be preserved. The National Archives handles official government materials, while the Library of Congress’ mandate is to deal with anything that may have [...]
Via: Ars Technica: Apple is circulating a new statement to media outlets that seems to put to rest any fears about software tracking in the iPhone and iPad. “We stopped supporting Carrier IQ [a piece of software that tracks user activity] with iOS 5 in most of our products, and we’re going to remove it [...]
85-Year-Old Woman May Sue TSA After Being Strip Searched at JFK Airport December 4th, 2011 Via: New York Daily News: An 85-year-old Long Island grandmother says she plans to sue the TSA after a humiliating strip search on Tuesday by agents at JFK Airport. Lenore Zimmerman, who lives in Long Beach, says she was [...]
November 27th, 2011 Via: CNN: After the EU’s announcement that it will ban “backscatter” x-ray body scanners, airports may have to look harder at alternative security measures. From Bluetooth tracking to thermal lie-detector cameras, we take a glimpse into the weird and wonderful future of airport security. The check-point of the future Earlier this [...]
Apple iTunes “Flaw” Allowed Government Spying for 3 Years November 25th, 2011 Via: Telegraph: An unpatched security flaw in Apple’s iTunes software allowed intelligence agencies and police to hack into users’ computers for more than three years, it’s claimed. A British company called Gamma International marketed hacking software to governments that exploited the vulnerability via [...]
Many Android Phones Ship with Rootkit/Surveillance System Called ‘CarrierIQ’ November 17th, 2011 Via: Android Security Test: Carrier IQ is able to query any metric from a device. A metric can be a dropped call because of lack of service. The scope of the word metric is very broad though, including device type, such as manufacturer [...]
Anti-Hacking Law Criminalizes Most Computer Users, Former Prosecutor Says November 15, 2011 Print Version Source: Wired The nation’s premier anti-hacking law poses a threat to the civil liberties of millions of Americans who use computers and the internet and could lead to the arrest and prosecution of many users who violate the law on [...]
FOIA lawsuit reveals FBI collecting biometric information for massive interagency database November 11, 2011 Print Version By Madison Ruppert Big Brother is on the march in the United States and as I have previously shown, once one delves into the depths of this system it is nothing short of astounding to the point where [...]
Spying is US: Obama Administration Spends $80 Billion to Continue and Expand Bush Spy Programs by Kenneth J. Theisen October 30, 2011 On October 28, 2010 the U.S. government announced that it expended $80.1 billion on national intelligence activities during the fiscal year which ended on September 30, 2011. Sixteen spy agencies such as the [...]
