CLibertyC

Mandatory Sentences Face Growing Skepticism

"Three decades of stricter drug laws, reduced parole and rigid sentencing rules have lengthened prison terms and more than tripled the percentage of Americans behind bars. The United States has the highest reported rate of incarceration of any country: about one in 100 adults, a total of nearly 2.3 million people in prison or jail. State spending on corrections, after adjusting for inflation, has more than tripled in the past three decades, making it the fastest-growing budgetary cost except Medicaid. Even though the prison population has leveled off in the past several years, the costs remain so high that states are being forced to reduce spending in other areas." Continue reading →

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Prison Labor Booms As Unemployment Remains High; Companies Reap Benefits

"The American government has been critical of China's forced-labor policies, but the United States has a burgeoning prison labor pool of its own. Hundreds of companies nationwide now benefit from the low, and sometimes no-wage labor of America's prisoners. Nearly a million prisoners are now making office furniture, working in call centers, fabricating body armor, taking hotel reservations, working in slaughterhouses, or manufacturing textiles, shoes, and clothing, while getting paid somewhere between 93 cents and $4.73 per day. Companies that pay workers can get up to 40 percent of the money back in taxpayer-funded reimbursements." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPrison Labor Booms As Unemployment Remains High; Companies Reap Benefits

The Woes of an American Drone Operator

"A soldier sets out to graduate at the top of his class. He succeeds, and he becomes a drone pilot working with a special unit of the United States Air Force in New Mexico. He kills dozens of people. But then, one day, he realizes that he can't do it anymore. For more than five years, Brandon Bryant worked in an oblong, windowless container about the size of a trailer, where the air-conditioning was kept at 63 degrees Fahrenheit and, for security reasons, the door couldn't be opened. Bryant and his coworkers sat in front of 14 computer monitors and four keyboards. When Bryant pressed a button in New Mexico, someone died on the other side of the world." Continue reading →

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Slowing down the surveillance state: a guide to warrantless government spying

"If the growing use of governmental tip-toeing to wiretap phone lines and emails doesn’t seem serious, think again. So heightened lately are concerns over surveillance that two major organizations have published a primer on federal spy programs. Both ProPublica and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have released thorough guides this week that explore what the US government can and can’t do in terms of tracking US citizens using an array of weirdly-worded wiretap laws currently on the books." Continue reading →

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Public buses being outfitted with sophisticated audio surveillance across U.S.

"In cities across the United States, government officials are installing sophisticated audio surveillance equipment on public buses. Documents obtained by The Daily indicated that at least seven cities throughout the United States were installing surveillance systems capable of capturing riders’ conversations in addition to the video already being captured by existing systems. While transit agencies say that the system is intended to enhance saftey and resolve passenger complaints, experts have warned that the technology could easily be misused." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPublic buses being outfitted with sophisticated audio surveillance across U.S.

Security Hole in Samsung Smart TVs Could Allow Remote Spying

"The company that made headlines in October for publicizing zero day holes in SCADA products now says it has uncovered a remotely exploitable security hole in Samsung Smart TVs. If left unpatched, the vulnerability could allow hackers to make off with owners’ social media credentials and even to spy on those watching the TV using compatible video cameras and microphones." Continue reading →

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Drug-sniffing Dogs and their Handlers

"Please remember this video the next time someone says, 'Well if you have not done anything wrong, you don’t have anything to worry about.' The officer admits putting illegal narcotics on cars randomly around town–enough to have a dog 'alert' to anyone’s car, whether they have ever used drugs or not. This isn’t an officer 'caught on tape.' The officer readily admits that this is what he does." Continue reading →

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They Can Do That?! 10 Outrageous Tactics Cops Get Away With

"The cops can do almost anything they want, and often the most maddening tactics are actually completely legal. There are many reasons for this, but three historical developments stand out: the war on drugs provided the template for social control based on race; 9/11 gave federal and local officials the opportunity to ensnare Muslims (and activists) in the ever-increasing surveillance and incarceration state; and a lack of concern from the public at large means these tactics can be applied, often controversy-free, to anyone who resists them." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThey Can Do That?! 10 Outrageous Tactics Cops Get Away With

A Plan to Stop the Feds From Reading Your Emails

"The reform proposals are all pretty simple: Don't spy on Americans (which the government claims it's not doing anyway), tell Americans how much the government has spied on them in the past, and explain to the American people exactly how much authority the government believes it has to spy on its own citizens without a warrant. For a Congress bubbling over with Republican anti-big-government crusaders and Democrats who slammed Bush for shredding the Constitution, that ought to be an easy sell, right?" Continue reading →

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Americans Are The Most Spied On People In World History

"In a radio interview, Wall Street Journal reporter Julia Angwin (who’s been one of the best at covering the surveillance state in the US) made a simple observation that puts much of this into context: the US surveillance regime has more data on the average American than the Stasi ever did on East Germans. The American government is collecting and storing virtually every phone call, purchases, email, text message, internet searches, social media communications, health information, employment history, travel and student records, and virtually all other information of every American." Continue reading →

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