Monthly Archives: September 2013

We interviewed the guy who prank-called the NSA about his lost e-mail

"The NSA is in dire need of customer service training — at least in the case of Bahram Sadeghi, a Dutch-Iranian filmmaker who decided to call the surveillance agency for “help” after one of his e-mails was accidentally deleted. In a three-minute exchange with NSA spokespeople, Sadeghi manages to confound one with his request (you can almost hear the relief in her voice when Sadeghi asks to speak to someone else) and gets a curt reply from another. How did Sadeghi pull off his trick? In an interview Sunday, the prankster revealed how his plan came together and where it went off the rails. The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWe interviewed the guy who prank-called the NSA about his lost e-mail

Roger Waters backs Bulgarian protesters during performance of ‘The Wall’

"Red captions 'No f*cking way' and 'Ostavka' in Cyrillic — which means resignation in Bulgarian — flashed upon Waters’ famous Wall during the performance of the song 'Mother'. The slogans appeared right after Rogers sang the line 'Mother, should I trust the government' and were met with rounds of applause and shouts of 'Ostavka' by the crowd of over 40,000 people in Sofia’s national stadium. Thousands of Bulgarians have taken to the streets of the capital every evening since June 14 to protest against the three-month-old Socialists-backed cabinet of technocrats, which they see as corrupt and too easily swayed by shady business interests behind the scenes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRoger Waters backs Bulgarian protesters during performance of ‘The Wall’

50 unmarked graves found on segregated reform school campus in Florida

"A century-old Florida state school for troubled boys is now the site of a forensic investigation after more than 50 bodies were discovered, some in unmarked graves, next to a garbage dump on the side of campus where the African-American students were housed. Students like Richard Huntley, who was sent to the school in the late fifties, told Al Jazeera that he and his fellow inmate-students were forced to do farm work under dangerous conditions under threats of worse. 'This, to me, is a form of slavery,' he said, 'because they, damn it, beat you to what they wanted you to be.' Boys who didn’t comply with orders were sent to 'The White House,' which Huntley likened to a 'torture chamber.'" Continue reading →

Continue Reading50 unmarked graves found on segregated reform school campus in Florida

School & Experts Put Genius Boy In Special Ed, Now On Track For Nobel Prize

"Numbers were his passion and he was getting bored of early grades of elementary school as they did not come close to challenging him. Finally, his parents made the decision to take him out of public school and special ed programs regardless of the fact doctors had diagnosed him with ASD. Jacob’s incredible memory and mind allowed him to attend university classes after he taught himself all of high school math in just two weeks. He is currently on track to graduate from college by the age of 14 and it is believed his research into math and physics may begin to challenge some of the established theories in physics." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSchool & Experts Put Genius Boy In Special Ed, Now On Track For Nobel Prize

Germany’s Hitler-Era Homeschool Laws Still In (Brute) Force

"The Wunderlichs simply felt that they could teach their children better. They opposed the idea of being forced to send them to the government-monopoly schools whose power is based on a law imposed during the WWII era. The Wunderlichs are Christian, and preferred that their children receive an education incorporating Christian themes, and devoid of some elements force-fed to German kids in the public schools. That doesn’t sit well with the German regime, however, which is, by its own admittance, in the business of preventing 'dissent,' including the emergence of 'separate philosophical convictions.' In other words, the ban on homeschooling is about control." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGermany’s Hitler-Era Homeschool Laws Still In (Brute) Force

The Tipping Point

"Jesus said that when a garment gets so old, attempting to patch it with new cloth will just tear it up worse. The authoritarian state seems to be reaching that point, beyond which any attempt to patch it up or prolong its life just hastens its demise. The interesting thing about the federal prosecutions of Aaron Swartz and Chelsea Manning is that the vindictive approach to piling up charges and seeking maximum sentences were calculated attempts to send a message to anyone else contemplating sabotage against the information control regime. But those attempts have done more to inspire sympathy among the uncommitted and galvanize the information freedom movement than to terrify would-be leakers." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Tipping Point

When Your Car Is Spying on You

"Traffic cameras in Britain as well in Los Angeles and other jurisdictions overwhelmingly ring up drivers for offenses that wouldn't trouble a cop. New Jersey is just the latest state scandalized by discovery that yellow lights are set below the state minimum in order to yield more red-light camera tickets. London uses its cameras to levy special fees on those who drive SUVs in the city's financial distract. In some future discrimination or hate-crime lawsuit, will vehicle records be called up to show you locked your doors in a minority neighborhood but not in a white neighborhood? Will the state decide to raise your ObamaCare copays because a face-recognition camera also recognized a cigarette?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhen Your Car Is Spying on You

Britain fights EU’s ‘Big Brother’ bid to fit every car with speed limiter

"Drivers face having their cars fitted with devices that slam on the brakes if they go over the speed limit, under draconian new road safety measures being drawn up by officials in Brussels. All new cars would have to include camera systems that ‘read’ the limits displayed on road signs and automatically apply the brakes. And vehicles already on the road could even be sent back to garages to be fitted with the ‘Big Brother’ technology, meaning that no car in the UK would be allowed to travel faster than 70mph – the speed limit on motorways. The EC’s Mobility and Transport Department aims to slash the death toll from traffic accidents by a third by 2020." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBritain fights EU’s ‘Big Brother’ bid to fit every car with speed limiter

AT&T paid for access to 4 billion call records a day for federal, local drug investigations

"US law enforcement officers working on anti-drugs operations have had access to a vast database of call records dating back to 1987, supplied by the phone company AT&T. The project, known as Hemisphere, gives federal and local officers working on drug cases access to a database of phone metadata populated by more than four billion new call records each day. Unlike the controversial call record accesses obtained by the NSA, the data is stored by AT&T, not the government, but officials can access individual’s phone records within an hour of an administrative subpoena. AT&T receives payment from the government in order to sit its employees alongside drug units to aid with access to the data." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAT&T paid for access to 4 billion call records a day for federal, local drug investigations

Labor Day ‘Mackinac Bridge Walk’ will feature warrantless bag searches

"An annual tradition since 1958, the Labor Day walk/run across the Mackinac Bridge creates the kind of family memories that last a lifetime. New for this year, families and friends will have the demeaning experience of police performing warrantless bag searches to add to their priceless memories and timeless photographs. For the 56th annual event, the Michigan State Police (MSP) will conduct searches of bags, purses, and backpacks for all attendees wanting to make the walk across the bridge — all without probable cause of a crime." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLabor Day ‘Mackinac Bridge Walk’ will feature warrantless bag searches