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U.S. Marshals lose track of 2,000 encrypted two-way radios

"The U.S. Marshals Service has lost track of about 2,000 encrypted two-way radios worth millions of dollars, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. It said an internal technology office had warned about the issue, but the problems tracking the equipment persisted. The U.S. Marshals Service serves to protect federal courts and judges. It also administers the witness protection program and tracks down fugitives. In interviews with the paper, some Marshals said they were worried not only about the wasted money, but also about the prospect of criminals getting hold of the radios and using them to gain access to privileged law enforcement activities." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Marshals lose track of 2,000 encrypted two-way radios

Former Cop Who Claimed Disability Loses Pension After Wrestling In Reality TV Show

"Former township police officer Joseph Derrico has lost his tax-free disability pension following an examination by doctors that found him no longer permanently disabled, officials said yesterday. Derrico resigned from the force in October 2010, three months after he was indicted on a charge of receiving stolen property. He applied for and was accepted into a disability retirement worth $70,000 annually, but when video of him running after a monster truck and wrestling on a reality TV show surfaced earlier this year, the PFRS board ordered an investigation." Continue reading →

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You may already be a winner in NSA’s “three-degrees” surveillance sweepstakes!

"So far, we know that there have been about 20,000 requests for FISA warrants to surveil domestic targets since 2001, but if those warrants covered three hops from the suspects at the center of the requests—depending on how tightly or loosely the NSA defines a relationship—three hops could encompass as much as 50 percent of the Internet-using population of the world. Sure, I’m not calling terrorists, and NSA analysts are not intercepting my calls or rifling through my Gmail account. (Well—probably not.) But the chance that they are is significantly higher than the probability I would have put on that scenario two months ago, and that’s disconcerting." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingYou may already be a winner in NSA’s “three-degrees” surveillance sweepstakes!

How to Be a Rogue Superpower: A Manual for the Twenty-First Century

"Highlighted in all this has been a curious fact of our twenty-first-century world. In the Cold War years, asylum was always potentially available. If you opposed one of the two superpowers or its allies, the other was usually ready to open its arms to you, as the U.S. famously did for what were once called 'Soviet dissidents' in great numbers. The Soviets did the same for Americans, Brits, and others, often secret communists, sometimes actual spies, who opposed the leading capitalist power and its global order. Today, if you are a twenty-first-century 'dissident' and need asylum/protection from the only superpower left, there is essentially none to be had." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow to Be a Rogue Superpower: A Manual for the Twenty-First Century

NSA Spokesman Accidentally Admits that the Government Is Spying On Virtually All Americans

"The NSA has pretended that it only spies on a small number of potential terrorists. But NSA Deputy Director John C. Inglis inadvertently admitted that the NSA could spy on just about all Americans. Inglis told Congress last week that the agency conducts “three-hop” analysis. Given that there are now approximately 875,000 people in the government’s database of suspected terrorists – including many thousands of Americans – every single American living on U.S. soil could easily be caught up in the dragnet. There are tens of thousands of Americans listed as suspected terrorists … including just about anyone who protests anything that the government or big banks do." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA Spokesman Accidentally Admits that the Government Is Spying On Virtually All Americans

Jimmy Carter’s forgotten history lesson

"President Carter attempted to clean up the CIA, firing almost 20 percent of its employees, focusing on the 'clandestine operatives' whose cloak-and-dagger exploits were then fresh news. He also dispersed the agency’s paramilitary arm, put legal restrictions on the agency’s power to spy within the United States, and passed an executive order banning assassinations. But none of Carter’s reforms would last. President Reagan signed an executive order in December 1981 authorizing the CIA to collect “foreign intelligence” inside the United States — the first of many steps his administration would take to restore the power and prestige of the agency." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJimmy Carter’s forgotten history lesson

“What Is That Box?” — When The NSA Shows Up At Your Internet Company

"They came in and showed me papers. It was a court order from the FISC (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court) for the intercept, with the agent’s name… and the court’s information. I think it was three or four pages of text. They wouldn’t let met me copy them. They let me take notes in regards to technical aspects of what they wanted to do. We had to facilitate them to set up a duplicate port to tap in to monitor that customer’s traffic. It was a 2U (two-unit) PC that we ran a mirrored ethernet port to. [What we ended up with was] a little box in our systems room that was capturing all the traffic to this customer. Everything they were sending and receiving." Continue reading →

Continue Reading“What Is That Box?” — When The NSA Shows Up At Your Internet Company

Man refuses to produce his papers at a Police License Checkpoint; threatened with warrant at home

"A man stood up to a 'License Checkpoint' conducted by police in his town. He refused to produce his papers when stopped at a roadblock on public streets. Draego says it was a pretty heated debate between him and the officer. He continued to refuse and then he says an officer threatened to break his window and eventually they told him to pull over. Draego said police told him they were going to serve him a warrant at his home, but he has not received it yet." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMan refuses to produce his papers at a Police License Checkpoint; threatened with warrant at home

TSA Officials Agree to Training Program for Police on Travelers’ First and Fourth Amendment Rights

"In a victory for the U.S. Constitution, officials with the Richmond International Airport (RIC) have required that all RIC law enforcement officers take part in a two-hour training course on the First and Fourth Amendment rights of passengers, guests and/or vendors. The required training, with materials for the course on travelers’ First and Fourth Amendment rights supplied by attorneys for The Rutherford Institute, was part of the settlement of a lawsuit filed on behalf of college student Aaron Tobey, who was arrested for engaging in a peaceful protest of the TSA's use of whole-body imaging scanners and enhanced pat downs at RIC." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTSA Officials Agree to Training Program for Police on Travelers’ First and Fourth Amendment Rights

Kerry vows to put the screws to Venezuela over Snowden

"US Secretary of State John Kerry has reportedly promised his Venezuelan counterpart to close NATO airspace to the country’s flights and stop crucial oil product deliveries if Caracas grants asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden. Kerry reportedly threatened to ground any Venezuelan aircraft in America’s or any NATO country’s airspace if there is the slightest suspicion that Snowden is using the flight to get to Caracas. Kerry also reportedly promised to intensify the ongoing process of revoking US entry visas to Venezuelan officials and businessmen associated with the deceased President Hugo Chavez." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKerry vows to put the screws to Venezuela over Snowden