“The EU said Tuesday it will seek a strong commitment from the United States to respect the rights of European citizens, following revelations that Washington is running a worldwide Internet surveillance programme. Viviane Reding, the EU’s Justice Commissioner, ‘will raise … Continue reading →
"Just weeks after US prosecutors shut down digital currency operator Liberty Reserve for allegedly running one of the biggest money laundering schemes ever uncovered, prosecutors are scrutinising the use of virtual currencies - which can be traded anonymously - to evade tax. In future, taxpayers could be forced to disclose to the IRS whether they are using PayPal accounts for the virtual transfer of money. The latest move follows a landmark decision by Switzerland last month, which accepted a settlement over alleged bank complicity in evasion by Americans. Switzerland had long considered bank secrecy laws untouchable." Continue reading →
"Appearing on CNN with host Piers Morgan on Monday, former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) said that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has embarked on 'a heroic effort' in telling the world about the U.S. government’s spying capabilities, and warned that defending this type of unilateral, unchecked power means embracing 'dictatorship' moving forward. 'For somebody to tell the American people the truth is a heroic effort, and he knows that it’s very risky,' he continued. 'He knows he’s committing civil disobedience, and he knows that he could get punished.' Paul went on to say he believes there should be talk of penalties for officials who 'destroy the Constitution.'" Continue reading →
"A large majority of Americans say the federal government should focus on investigating possible terrorist threats even if personal privacy is compromised, and most support the blanket tracking of telephone records in an effort to uncover terrorist activity, according to a new Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll. Fully 45 percent of all Americans say the government should be able to go further than it is, saying that it should be able to monitor everyone’s online activity if doing so would prevent terrorist attacks. A slender majority, 52 percent, say no such broad-based monitoring should occur." Continue reading →
"In unbroadcast elements of a transcript issued by NBC, the director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, said he had responded in the 'least untruthful manner' possible when denying that the NSA collected data on millions of Americans during congressional hearings. Clapper also confirmed that senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the intelligence committee, had asked for a review to 'refine these NSA processes and limit the exposure to Americans' private communications' and report back 'in about a month'." Continue reading →
http://www.mrctv.org/videos/leno-%E2%80%98we-wanted-president-listens-all-americans-now-we-have-one%E2%80%99
"The conservative host described the NSA’s surveillance programs as a 'massive intrusion.' O’Reilly warned that 'corrupt government officials' could leak sensitive data to hurt their political opponents. He said that keeping actual content of private conversations on file was 'flat out unconstitutional.' O’Reilly’s tune was far different under the Bush administration. At the time, he voiced strong support for the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program, which collected the telephone records of millions of Americans. In 2006, after a judge ruled the program was unconstitutional, O’Reilly speculated that she didn’t care if Americans were killed by terrorists." Continue reading →
"Edward Snowden is a 'hero' who has exposed 'one of the most serious events of the decade – the creeping formulation of a mass surveillance state', Julian Assange said on Monday. The WikiLeaks founder said the question of surveillance abuses by states and tech companies was 'something that I and many other journalists and civil libertarians have been campaigning about for a long time. It is very pleasing to see such clear and concrete proof presented to the public.' Assange told Sky News that Snowden was 'in a very, very serious position, because we can see the kind of rhetoric that occurred against me and Bradley Manning back in 2010, 2011, applied to Snowden'." Continue reading →
"Over the weekend I related the story of Gabriel Silverstein, a businessman and pilot who for no apparent reason was subjected to a two-hour detention and invasive search by Homeland Security officials as he traveled across the country in his small plane. The picture above is not from that episode; it's an official DHS photo of its emergency-response agents being trained. Below and after the jump are two additional stories of the same sort. The first is a long account from Larry Gaines, a small-plane pilot from California who had a similar episode last year. The story is long and detailed, and will be riveting for those in the aviation world." Continue reading →
"Eager to quell a domestic furor over U.S. spying, the nation's top intelligence official stressed Saturday that a previously undisclosed program for tapping into Internet usage is authorized by Congress, falls under strict supervision of a secret court and cannot intentionally target a U.S. citizen. He decried the revelation of that and another intelligence-gathering program as reckless. For the second time in three days, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper took the rare step of declassifying some details of an intelligence program to respond to media reports about counterterrorism techniques employed by the government." Continue reading →