CLibertyC

Second British man jailed for selling fake bomb detectors to governments

"The boxes cost less than £5 ($7.85, 5.85 euros) to make, but Gary Bolton claimed they could detect explosives, narcotics, tobacco, ivory and even cash. They were sold for between £2,500 and £10,000 in bulk or up to £15,000 if bought individually. The court heard Bolton’s company, Global Technology, had a turnover of almost £3 million. In May, British businessman James McCormick was sentenced to 10 years in jail for selling fake bomb detectors to the Iraqi government and other countries. McCormick, 57, made an estimated £50 million from selling the devices, which prosecutors said were based on a novelty golf ball finder." Continue reading →

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‘Guardian’ editor: Destroying hard drives allowed us to continue NSA coverage

"Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian editor-in-chief, has said that the destruction of computer hard drives containing information provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden allowed the paper to continue reporting on the revelations instead of surrendering the material to UK courts. Rusbridger told BBC Radio 4′s The World at One on Tuesday that he agreed to the 'slightly pointless' task of destroying the devices – which was overseen by two GCHQ officials at the Guardian’s headquarters in London – because the newspaper is in possession of digital copies outside Britain." Continue reading →

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What NSA Transparency Looks Like

"That is the publicly released version of a semiannual report from the administration to Congress describing NSA violations of rules surrounding the FISA Amendments Act. The act is one of the key laws governing NSA surveillance, including now-famous programs like Prism. As an oversight measure, the law requires the attorney general to submit semiannual reports to the congressional intelligence and judiciary committees. The section with the redactions above is titled 'Statistical Data Relating to Compliance Incidents.' The document, dated May 2010, was released after the ACLU filed a freedom of information lawsuit." Continue reading →

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Schedule 7 and the detention of David Miranda

"One of the most troubling aspects of Section 7 is that the UK government is using it to seize computers and mobile phones of travellers without cause, and retain the data indefinitely. The UK justifies its actions as a natural extension of its powers to examine a traveller's paper documents. But mobile electronic devices carry so much more intimate information about us than we would have previously hauled around in our luggage. Everything from a list of contacts, to photos of loved ones, to financial and medical documents, to trade secrets might be contained on a traveller's computer." Continue reading →

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David Miranda: I was treated like a threat to the United Kingdom

"David Miranda, the partner of the Guardian journalist who broke stories of mass surveillance by the US National Security Agency, has accused Britain of a 'total abuse of power' for interrogating him for almost nine hours at Heathrow under the Terrorism Act. In his first interview since returning to his home in Rio de Janeiro early on Monday, Miranda said the authorities in the UK had pandered to the US in trying to intimidate him and force him to reveal the passwords to his computer and mobile phone. During that time, he said, he was not allowed to call his partner, who is a qualified lawyer in the US, nor was he given an interpreter." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDavid Miranda: I was treated like a threat to the United Kingdom

Judge: California can force-feed inmates on hunger strike

"U.S. District Court Judge Thelton E. Henderson, responding to a request by state authorities, ruled that California prison doctors may force-feed select inmates who are near death, even if they had signed orders asking not to be resuscitated. Some 136 inmates are currently taking part in a hunger strike that begun July 8 in prisons statewide to demand an end to a policy of housing inmates believed to be associated with gangs in near-isolation for years. Some 69 of the striking inmates have refused food continuously since the strike began." Continue reading →

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Outrageous Julian Assange Tweet By Time Reporter Michael Grunwald

"A TIME magazine reporter caused ire on Twitter Saturday night when he said that he 'can't wait to write a defense of the drone strike that takes out' Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Michael Grunwald's tweet, since deleted, was quickly met with outrage and bewilderment. Glenn Greenwald, who recently broke several revelations about NSA surveillance programs based on documents provided to him by leaker Edward Snowden, was particularly vocal in expressing his disgust with Grunwald's statement. The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOutrageous Julian Assange Tweet By Time Reporter Michael Grunwald

FATCA and the End of Bank Secrecy

"It seems that there is little understanding that it was banking secrecy that helped to resist twentieth-century dictatorships and that high tax rates — not money havens — are responsible for tax evasion, as Prince Hans-Adam of Lichtenstein has pinpointed. Clearly the amount of information collected for the purpose of future tax investigation is enormous, leaving little place for human privacy and dignity." Continue reading →

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“The Internet Police” Shines a Light on the Online Surveillance State

"When Ars Technica editor Nate Anderson sat down to write The Internet Police, Edward Snowden hadn’t yet decided to add some excitement to the National Security Agency’s summer by leaking a trove of surveillance secrets to The Guardian. As a result, Anderson’s book doesn’t mention Snowden’s escapade, which will likely become the security-and-paranoia story of the year, if not the decade. However, The Internet Police is a handy guide to the slow and unstoppable rise of the online security state, as well as the libertarian and criminal elements that have done their level best to counter that surveillance." Continue reading →

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