False Sense Of Security

‘Rookie mistake’ in Cryptocat chat app makes cracking a snap

"Developers of the Cryptocat application for encrypting communications of activists and journalists have apologized for a critical programming flaw that made it trivial for third parties to decipher group chats. The precise amount of time the vulnerability was active is in dispute, with Cryptocat developers putting it at seven months and a security researcher saying it was closer to 19 months. As a result, activists, journalists, or others who relied on Cryptocat to protect their group chats from government or industry snoops got little more protection than is typically available in standard chat programs." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Rookie mistake’ in Cryptocat chat app makes cracking a snap

Ex-Senator: FBI hindered 9/11 inquiry, withheld reports about Sarasota Saudis

"Former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham has accused the FBI in court papers of having impeded Congress’s Joint Inquiry into 9/11 by withholding information about a Florida connection to the al-Qaeda attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. Graham said the FBI kept the 9/11 Commission in the dark, too. He said co-chairmen Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton and executive director Philip Zelikow all told him they were unaware of the FBI’s Sarasota investigation. Moreover, Graham stated that Deputy FBI Director Sean Joyce, the Bureau’s second in command, personally intervened to block him from speaking with the special agent-in-charge of the Sarasota investigation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEx-Senator: FBI hindered 9/11 inquiry, withheld reports about Sarasota Saudis

Two white Texas officers fired for beating black woman over $150 traffic ticket

"Two police officers in Texas have been fired after they were caught on video beating a woman who was being arrested for an unpaid traffic ticket. Video obtained from the Jasper Police Department shows Grissom pushing Diggles up against a wall before Officer Ryan Cunningham comes from behind and slams her head against a counter top. Diggles is then forced to the ground and dragged by her ankle into a nearby cell. 'The amount of force used was abominable,' attorney Cade Bernsen, who is representing Diggles, told Yahoo News. 'She got her hair pulled out, broke a tooth, braces got knocked off… it was brutal.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTwo white Texas officers fired for beating black woman over $150 traffic ticket

Government Spying Has Always Focused On Crushing Dissent … Not On Keeping Us Safe

"High-level American government officials have warned for 40 years that mass surveillance would lead to tyranny. They’ve warned that the government is using information gained through mass surveillance in order to go after anyone they take a dislike to. And a lieutenant colonel for the Stasi East German’s – based upon his experience – agrees. You don’t have to obsess on the NSA’s high-tech spying to figure out what the government is doing. Instead of focusing on catching actual terrorists, police spy on Americans who criticize the government, or the big banks or the other power players." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGovernment Spying Has Always Focused On Crushing Dissent … Not On Keeping Us Safe

Obama: No warrantless wiretaps if you elect me [2008]

"For one thing, under an Obama presidency, Americans will be able to leave behind the era of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and 'wiretaps without warrants,' he said. (He was referring to the lingering legal fallout over reports that the National Security Agency scooped up Americans' phone and Internet activities without court orders, ostensibly to monitor terrorist plots, in the years after the September 11 attacks.) In our own Technology Voters' Guide, when asked whether he supports shielding telecommunications and Internet companies from lawsuits accusing them of illegal spying, Obama gave us a one-word response: 'No.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama: No warrantless wiretaps if you elect me [2008]

Yippee! More Bank Runs in Our Future

"The recent financial crisis was not initiated by bank depositors scrambling to withdraw their funds. Rather it was precipitated by a 'run' among short-term lenders who had purchased banks’ commercial paper or lent money to banks through 'repos' (repurchase agreements). When these lenders suddenly tried to liquidate these assets by selling them or not renewing the loans, their actions deprived banks of the short-term funds that the banks had been using to finance their long-term lending and investments. In other words, federal deposit insurance no longer works to discourage or mitigate bank runs, because it does not cover short-term lenders." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingYippee! More Bank Runs in Our Future

It’s official – Renouncing US citizenship saved our home

"I wasn’t sure if I was making the best decision. Some people advised against renouncing US citizenship while others recommended it. Yet, after unsuccessfully warning American politicians, I elected mission safety and handed in the blue passport. Now, it is official. I could hardly believe it when I read it, but it is true. Renouncing US citizenship saved the mortgage for our primary residence. To the left is a picture of my buddies and myself on the right, loading a ship to bring us to Somalia. To the right is a picture of my grandfather who fought for America during WWII." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIt’s official – Renouncing US citizenship saved our home

“Justice” in Amerika: Two Years for Rape, Ten Years for Hacking

"Last March, following a national outcry, two high school football stars from Steubenville, Ohio were convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl. A few weeks later, an FBI SWAT team raided the Steubenville home of 26-year-old corporate cybersecurity consultant Deric Lostutter, who obtained data in which members of the football team had joked about the rape and mocked the victim. Lostutter faces up to ten years in prison – as compared to the one and two-year sentences handed out to the Steubenville rapists. The Regime threatening to send this hacker to prison is currently conducting wholesale warrantless surveillance of telephone and internet communications." Continue reading →

Continue Reading“Justice” in Amerika: Two Years for Rape, Ten Years for Hacking

Man faces charges after impersonating a cop with help from sheriff’s deputies

"Last fall, Brian Sean Jones got into uniform, strapped on his gun and a badge and got in an unmarked Maricopa County Sheriffs Office truck. He made four stops that evening: one for a teen caught speeding, one of a suspected prostitute and her customer, one for a car driving without its headlights on, and one woman suspected of DUI. There was just one problem: Brian Sean Jones was not a sheriff’s deputy. Jones utilized his position at a local car dealership to ingratiate himself with now-fired Chief Deputy David Hendershott to gain access to uniforms, other police equipment, cars, ride-alongs and even the badge he was carrying on the night he got caught by a Phoenix police officer." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMan faces charges after impersonating a cop with help from sheriff’s deputies

Fake 911 caller: ‘I don’t feel guilty about anything’ after cops shoot and kill innocent kid

"A California man will spend three months in jail and could be deported after pleading guilty to lying to a 911 dispatcher, leading police into a fatal encounter with a 19-year-old man. Carrillo has also been named in a lawsuit filed by the family of Kendrec McDade, who was shot and killed by local police in March 2012. Officers mistakenly believed McDade, suspected of stealing Carrillo’s backpack at the time, to be armed after Carrillo told 911 dispatchers he was robbed at gunpoint. Carrillo later admitted to lying about the gun in order to generate a faster police response. The two officers who shot McDade were cleared of any wrongdoing in December 2012." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFake 911 caller: ‘I don’t feel guilty about anything’ after cops shoot and kill innocent kid