Alternative News

FBI director admits domestic use of drones for surveillance

"The FBI uses drones for domestic surveillance purposes, the head of the agency told Congress. Robert Mueller confirmed to lawmakers that the FBI owns several unmanned aerial vehicles, but has not adopted any strict policies or guidelines yet to govern the use of the controversial aircraft. Mueller said the FBI has and will continue to weigh the possibility of publishing more information about its spy habits, but warned that doing such would be to the advantage of America’s enemies. 'There is a price to be paid for that transparency,' Mueller said. 'I certainly think it would be educating our adversaries as to what our capabilities are.'" Continue reading →

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How Dozens of Companies Know You’re Reading About Those NSA Leaks

"As news websites around the globe are publishing story after story about dragnet surveillance, these news sites all have one thing in common: when you visit these websites, your personal information is broadcast to dozens of companies, many of which have the ability to track your surfing habits, and many of which are subject to government data requests. It takes very little information about your web browser to build a unique fingerprint of it. See EFF's Panopticlick website to see how unique and trackable your web browser is even without the use of tracking cookies. You can read more in our Primer on Information Theory and Privacy." Continue reading →

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Body scanner ruling could squelch NSA domestic spying

"A high-profile group of technologists and privacy advocates is attempting to halt domestic surveillance of Americans through a clever twist: using federal bureaucratic rules against federal bureaucrats. In a request today to National Security Agency director Keith Alexander and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, the group argues that the NSA's recently revealed domestic surveillance program is '' because the agency neglected to request public comments first. A federal appeals court previously ruled that was necessary in a lawsuit involving airport body scanners." Continue reading →

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Rotting, Decaying And Bankrupt – If You Want To See The Future Of America Just Look At Detroit

"Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr has submitted a proposal that would pay unsecured creditors about 10 cents on the dollar. Similar haircuts would be made to underfunded pension and health benefits for retirees. Orr concedes that there is still a '50-50 chance' that the city of Detroit will be forced to formally file for bankruptcy. But what Detroit is facing is not really that unique. In fact, Detroit is a perfect example of what the future of America is going to look like. We live in a nation that is rotting, decaying, drowning in debt and racing toward insolvency. So don't look down on Detroit. They just got there before the rest of us." Continue reading →

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The Real Story of the Cyprus Debt Crisis

"The country is increasingly reverting to a cash-economy with a consequent dive in tax revenues. The three Lufthansa consultants in charge of the Cyprus Airways restructuring are set to receive €1.3m. The remaining staff will suffer a 25% salary cut. In an act that beggars belief, the Cypriot Parliament has levied a 30% tax on the interest earned from bank deposits. In another measure which defies logic, a property tax was insisted on by the Troika of international lenders. The government aims to extract maximum tax revenue by inflating property prices by the annual rate of consumer price inflation since 1980. Currently, property prices are at an all-time low." Continue reading →

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No Way to Stop 3D Printed Guns, Says Homeland Security.

"This is the tip of the iceberg. This 3D technology is only barely getting started. As prices fall, the number of homes that own them will increase. This means that demand for blueprints of items to create will increase. So, the designs will improve. This technology cannot be stopped. All over the world, people will be able to buy these printers. This means that gun control is doomed. The government cannot enforce the law, except after the fact. When someone uses a weapon, the police in gun control states and nations can arrest the gun’s owner. But they will not be able to police their manufacture." Continue reading →

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Supreme Court Rules Fifth Amendment Has to Actually Be Invoked

"In a 5-4 decision the Supreme Court ruled today that a potential defendant’s silence canbe used against him if he is being interviewed by police but is not arrested (and read his Miranda rights) and has not verbally invoked the protection of the Fifth Amendment. The case was intended to be about whether prosecutors during a trial could cast aspersions on a defendant’s silence during questioning that took place prior to arrest — prior to the defendent being told he had the right to remain silent. Instead, the Supreme Court determined that they wouldn’t need to rule on the matter because the defendant had never invoked the Fifth Amendment’s protection." Continue reading →

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How the Patriot Act debate became about library records instead of phone records

"Civil liberties advocates said in interviews there is a simple reason for the disconnect: In the period immediately after the Patriot Act passed, few if any observers believed Section 215 could authorize any kind of ongoing, large-scale collection of phone data. They argue that only a radical and incorrect interpretation of the law allows the mass surveillance program the NSA has erected on the foundation of Section 215. The ACLU contends in a lawsuit filed last week that Section 215 does not legitimately authorize the metadata program." Continue reading →

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The Massive Facial Recognition Database That’s Hiding in Plain Sight

"The database isn't limited to just criminals, and it's completely searchable thanks to facial recognition tech. Generally, there's no need for a court order or warrant to make a search, just 'law enforcement purposes,' which is about as vague as it gets. As for reach, 42 states are involved with the system. The State department has its own little database, consisting of some 230 million faces belonging to visa-holding foreigners and passport-holding citizens alike. As video-surveillance becomes more and more common, it's easy to see how this becomes a modern-day fingerprint index of not just criminals but of anyone with an ID." Continue reading →

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Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Compares NSA Spying to Soviet Russia

"'When I was brought up my dad taught me, for example, [that when] other countries got prisoners in a war, they tortured them. But we, Americans, didn’t torture them. And now I find out it’s just the opposite. And all these things we talk about in the Constitution, that made us so good as a people, they all dissolved with the Patriot Act. I was taught that communist Russia were the ones that were going to kill us, and bomb our country. Communist Russia was so bad because they followed their people, they snooped on them, they arrested them, they put them in secret prisons, they disappeared them. Nowadays, we’re getting more and more like that.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingApple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Compares NSA Spying to Soviet Russia