bill of rights

Internet Giants Got Millions From Taxpayers to Cover PRISM Spying Costs

"Internet giants like Google and Yahoo received millions of dollars from the NSA to cover their surveillance under the PRISM program. These payments occurred after a federal court ruled that surveillance requests the companies handled under the PRISM program were unconstitutional. The document also shows the NSA was anxious to get certifications from the FISA Court to authorize surveillance beyond the possible expiration of the law that authorized that surveillance. The law was set to expire on December 31, 2012, but the NSA received authorizations under that law to continue its surveillance until September 23, 2013." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInternet Giants Got Millions From Taxpayers to Cover PRISM Spying Costs

Bitcoin and the New Fourth Estate: An Interview with Cop Block

"In a world where the flow of money can be so easily controlled by a government that has vested interests at odds with the good of the people, Bitcoin begins to show its true usefulness. Bitcoin was a lifeline to Wikileaks and may be a lifeline to Edward Snowden; and moving forward there is little doubt we will have to help other organizations and individuals who have transgressed the government in our name. I have recently had the pleasure of talking with Pete Eyre of Cop Block, an organization dedicated to exposing and reigning in the abuses of our state and local police forces. Cop Block accepts Bitcoin donations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBitcoin and the New Fourth Estate: An Interview with Cop Block

Only One Big Telecom CEO Refused To Cave To The NSA; Jailed For Years

"Former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio is currently serving a six-year sentence after being convicted of insider trading in April 2007 for selling $52 million of stock in the spring of 2001 as the telecommunications carrier appeared to be deteriorating. During the trial his defense team argued that Nacchio, 63, believed Qwest was about to win secret government contracts that would keep it in the black. Nacchio alleged that the government stopped offering the company lucrative contracts after Qwest refused to cooperate with a National Security Agency surveillance program in February 2001." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOnly One Big Telecom CEO Refused To Cave To The NSA; Jailed For Years

Lavabit: The Latest Dead Canary in the Privacy Coal Mine

"Private data stored with a company which is US-based and/or has servers based in the US does not have strong legal or privacy protection. The US government can force that company to turn over its customer data while also preventing it from talking about it. Are you still entrusting your private data to a US-based company or a company with servers based in the US? If you are but you value your privacy, you need to move your data elsewhere. Otherwise, that company might be compelled to violate your privacy and give up your data to the US government. And they may never be able to tell you about it." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLavabit: The Latest Dead Canary in the Privacy Coal Mine

Snapshots of Soviet America: The Rita Hutchens Story (Teaser)

"Rita Hutchens, a middle-aged quilt artist from Sandpoint, Idaho, experienced the dreaded 'midnight knock' -- the hallmark of a totalitarian police state -- as part of a Soviet-style campaign of official persecution. Her 'offense' was to seek redress for being assaulted by a police officer in what was ruled to be an illegal arrest. (This is the teaser for a full-length documentary.)" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSnapshots of Soviet America: The Rita Hutchens Story (Teaser)

Memory’s Half-Life: A Social History of Wiretaps

"American attitudes towards wiretapping significantly shifted during the 1940s, as the war and changes in the class distribution of telephones helped shift judicial acceptance of wiretaps. President Roosevelt issued a secret executive order authorizing widespread Justice Department wire-taps of 'subversives' and suspected spies. Hoover used these vague new powers to investigate not just Nazis but anyone he thought subversive. The social history of wiretaps is a history of mission creep, where FBI agents initially hunting for wartime Nazi spies soon monitored progressive activists fighting racial segregation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMemory’s Half-Life: A Social History of Wiretaps

NSA surveillance reach broader than publicly acknowledged

"The National Security Agency's surveillance network has the capacity to spy on 75 percent of all U.S. Internet traffic, The Wall Street Journal reports. The NSA programs described by the Journal differ from the programs described by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in a series of leaks earlier this summer. Snowden described a program to acquire Americans' phone records, as well as another program, known as PRISM, that made requests from Internet companies for stored data. By contrast, the Internet monitoring systems have the capability to track almost any online activity, so long as it is covered by a broad court order." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA surveillance reach broader than publicly acknowledged

Michael Hastings’ Dangerous Mind: Journalistic Star Was Loved, Feared and Haunted

"Edward Snowden's revelations about the National Security Agency's massive surveillance program became public. Hastings was convinced he was a target. [..] He came to believe his Mercedes was being tampered with. 'Nothing I could say could console him,' Thigpen says. One night in June, he came to Thigpen's apartment after midnight and urgently asked to borrow her Volvo. He said he was afraid to drive his own car. She declined. [..] 'He was scared, and he wanted to leave town,' she says. The next day, around 11:15 a.m., she got a call from her landlord, who told her Hastings had died early that morning." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMichael Hastings’ Dangerous Mind: Journalistic Star Was Loved, Feared and Haunted

NSA spied on Americans until a judge ruled it illegal in 2011

"The National Security Agency spied on electronic communications between Americans in a program that was later scrapped after a judge ruled it illegal in 2011, US officials said Wednesday. The court’s opinions are usually top secret but the move to release the documents came amid a firestorm over revelations of sweeping surveillance operations, following bombshell disclosures from a former US intelligence contractor, Edward Snowden. Officials said the court rulings had been declassified to better inform the public about how the eavesdropping programs are carried out, and that a mistake had occurred due to a technical problem." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA spied on Americans until a judge ruled it illegal in 2011

Secret Court Opinion Finding NSA Surveillance Unconstitutional Released

"In response to EFF's FOIA lawsuit, the government has released the 2011 FISA court opinion ruling some NSA surveillance unconstitutional. For over a year, EFF has been fighting the government in federal court to force the public release of an 86-page opinion of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). Issued in October 2011, the secret court's opinion found that surveillance conducted by the NSA under the FISA Amendments Act was unconstitutional and violated 'the spirit of' federal law." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSecret Court Opinion Finding NSA Surveillance Unconstitutional Released