False Sense Of Security

James Bamford: Connecting the Dots on PRISM, Phone Surveillance, and the NSA’s Massive Spy Center

"Physically, the NSA has always been well protected by miles of high fences and electrified wire, thousands of cameras, and gun-toting guards. But that was to protect the agency from those on the outside trying to get in to steal secrets. Now it is confronting a new challenge: those on the inside going out and giving the secrets away. While the agency has had its share of spies, employees who have sold top-secret documents to foreign governments for cash, until the last few years it has never had to deal with whistleblowers passing top-secret information and documents to the press because their conscience demanded it." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJames Bamford: Connecting the Dots on PRISM, Phone Surveillance, and the NSA’s Massive Spy Center

California Homeowner Arrested For Shooting Burglary Suspects

"According to a local Fox News affiliate, the homeowner, James Monroe, 57, had witnessed the trio burglarize a neighbor’s home, only to return less than an hour later looking for additional loot. According to the San Diego Police Department, one had a felony warrant for auto theft and the other had a misdemeanor warrant. In addition, the vehicle they were in was also reported stolen. Monroe was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. Neighbors are applauding the actions of Monroe, saying that he stopped the thieves from stealing from their homes, but the police say he should have never taken matters into his own hands." Continue reading →

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Calling All Patriots…

"It’s possible for the NSA, the FBI, and, eventually, the IRS to access innocent George’s chat room discussions, emails, phone calls, texts… and gather them all in government computers in a massive game of police state gotcha! And does anyone really believe that these 'security' programs will be used carefully by a government in which the IRS targets and persecutes politically conservative groups, where the Department of Justice targets journalists for surveillance, where FATCA destroys offshore investment rights or where the highest officials lie about what really happened at Benghazi?" Continue reading →

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Oregon Extends Reach Of Red Light Camera Surveillance

"Red light cameras and speed cameras will be used to prosecute vehicle owners for dozens of new offenses in Oregon if Governor John Kitzhaber (D) signs a measure that cleared the state legislature on Tuesday. The state House voted 53-6 and the Senate 22-8 to repeal an existing law that prohibits the use of photo radar or red light camera photographs for the prosecution of anything other than a speeding or red light-related infraction." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOregon Extends Reach Of Red Light Camera Surveillance

David Silva Murder: Coroner Who Cleared Deputies Is…The Sheriff!

"No wonder the coroner’s report on David Sal Silva’s murder completely exonerates the sheriff’s deputies who beat him to death: Kern County’s coroner is none other than the deputies’ boss and tireless defender, Sheriff Donny Youngblood. As the Bakersfield Californian ironically puts it, 'Some have long worried that combining the sheriff’s department with the coroner’s office could lead to, at the very least, the appearance that the two entities are working hand in glove.' No, really? Tell me again why any rational person gives the murderers, thieves, and sociopaths in office even a featherweight of credibility or respect." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDavid Silva Murder: Coroner Who Cleared Deputies Is…The Sheriff!

‘Florida’s Dirtiest Cop’ Charged With Kidnapping Man Who Wanted To File Brutality Complaint

"A notorious former Opa-Locka Police sergeant dubbed 'Florida's Dirtiest Cop' has been arrested for kidnapping a man who wanted to file a police brutality complaint against him. Investigators say Bosque punched the victim in August 2011 while on duty, responding to a domestic call. When the man wanted to file a police brutality complaint at the Opa-Locka Police station, Bosque 'forcefully escorted him from the lobby, handcuffed him and placed him into a holding area.' The victim was held against his will for a short time and was never provided an opportunity to file his complaint, according to the FDLE." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Florida’s Dirtiest Cop’ Charged With Kidnapping Man Who Wanted To File Brutality Complaint

The Absurdist, Tragicomic Narratives of Domestic Surveillance

"Is there a legitimate security need to monitor the entire world's communications? What's missing is the sense that the nation's citizenry should have a say in these policy decisions. We're supposed to be satisfied that a handful of thoroughly corrupted-by-the-corporatocracy congresspeople have been spoon-fed a thin dribble of intelligence gruel and told to rubberstamp it in the name of democracy. This calls to mind the notion that authorities inoculate the public with carefully measured doses of the operative master agenda and narrative. By carefully releasing bits and pieces of the program, authorities inoculate the public against outrage or political action." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Absurdist, Tragicomic Narratives of Domestic Surveillance

All the Infrastructure a Tyrant Would Need, Courtesy of Bush and Obama

"Even if all the critics were proved wrong, even if the CIA, NSA, FBI, and every other branch of the federal government had been improbably filled, top to bottom, with incorruptible patriots constitutionally incapable of wrongdoing, this would still be so: The American people have no idea who the president will be in 2017. What we know is that the people in charge will possess the capacity to be tyrants -- to use power oppressively and unjustly -- to a degree that Americans in 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, or 2000 could've scarcely imagined. To an increasing degree, we're counting on having angels in office and making ourselves vulnerable to devils." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAll the Infrastructure a Tyrant Would Need, Courtesy of Bush and Obama

Anatomy of a hack: How crackers ransack passwords like “qeadzcwrsfxv1331”

"Nate Anderson, Ars deputy editor, downloaded a list of more than 16,000 cryptographically hashed passcodes. Within a few hours, he deciphered almost half of them. If a reporter with zero training in the ancient art of password cracking can achieve such results, imagine what more seasoned attackers can do. Imagine no more. We asked three cracking experts to attack the same list Anderson targeted and recount the results in all their color and technical detail Iron Chef style. The results, to say the least, were eye opening because they show how quickly even long passwords with letters, numbers, and symbols can be discovered." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnatomy of a hack: How crackers ransack passwords like “qeadzcwrsfxv1331”

Microsoft joins FBI in ‘major assault’ on one of world’s largest cyber crime rings

"Microsoft Corp and the FBI, aided by authorities in more than 80 countries, have launched a major assault on one of the world’s biggest cyber crime rings, believed to have stolen more than $500 million from bank accounts over the past 18 months. Microsoft said its Digital Crimes Unit on Wednesday successfully took down at least 1,000 of an estimated 1,400 malicious computer networks known as the Citadel Botnets. Citadel infected as many as 5 million PCs around the world and, according to Microsoft, was used to steal from dozens of financial institutions. The criminals remain at large and the authorities do not know the identities of any ringleaders." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMicrosoft joins FBI in ‘major assault’ on one of world’s largest cyber crime rings