Land Of The Flea

What telephone metadata can tell the authorities about you

"The phone number of every caller and recipient; the unique serial number of the phones involved; the time and duration of each phone call; and potentially the location of each of the participants when the call happened. All of this information is being collected on millions of calls every day – every conversation taking place within the US, or between the US and a foreign country. The government has long argued that this information isn’t private or personal. It is, they say, the equivalent of looking at the envelope of a letter. Because it’s not personal information, but rather 'transactional' or 'business' data, there’s no need to show probable cause to collect it." Continue reading →

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NSA is collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers under secret court order

"The U.S. National Security Agency is collecting telephone records of millions of Verizon Communications customers, according to a secret court order obtained and published by the Guardian newspaper’s website. The order marked 'Top Secret' and issued by the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court directs Verizon’s Business Network Services Inc and Verizon Business Services units to hand over electronic data including all calling records on an 'ongoing, daily basis' until the order expires. Signed at the request of the FBI, the order covers each phone number dialed by all customers and location and routing data, along with the duration and frequency of the calls." Continue reading →

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So far, D.C. feeling little pain from sequester’s bite

"In the months since the automatic federal spending cuts known as the sequester took effect, the Washington area has added 40,000 jobs. Income-tax receipts have surged in Virginia, beating expectations. Few government contractors have laid off workers. It’s too early to be certain, but initial indications are that the damage from the sequester has been modest and slow to develop. The pace of job growth from January to April was only slightly slower this year than last year. Large government contractors are reporting relatively modest revenue hits and few layoffs due to reduced contracts." Continue reading →

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Google ordered to obey FBI’s warrantless data requests

"A federal judge has rejected Google’s request to not have to comply with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) warrantless requests for users’ data records, the Associated Press reported on Friday. In a May 28 ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston decided that the 'national security letters' issued by the bureau were not unconstitutional, as the tech company had argued, but delayed her ruling pending a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Illston ruled that after receiving sworn statements from two high-ranking FBI officials, she determined that the bureau followed proper procedure in issuing 17 of 19 letters to Google." Continue reading →

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Cowboy-style cap gun gets 5-year-old ousted from school in Calvert County

"A kindergartner who brought a cowboy-style cap gun onto his Calvert County school bus was suspended for 10 days after showing a friend the orange-tipped toy, which he had tucked inside his backpack on his way to school, according to his family and a lawyer. The child was questioned for more than two hours before his mother was called, she said, adding that he uncharacteristically wet his pants during the episode. If the punishment stands, it would become part of the boy’s permanent school record and keep him out of classes the rest of the school year, the family said. He would miss his end-of-year kindergarten program at Dowell Elementary School in Lusby." Continue reading →

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California man jailed for painting crosswalk

"A Northern California man is facing vandalism charges after authorities say he painted a crosswalk on a street, allegedly telling officials it was needed. Fifty-two-year-old Anthony Cardenas was arrested Thursday morning in Vallejo and booked into Solano County Jail on suspicion of felony vandalism. Solano County Sheriff's Lt. Brad DeWall says workers spotted Cardenas committing the vandalism at a city intersection. State transportation workers painted over Cardenas' alleged crosswalk later in the day. A police cadet had been posted at the intersection until then to keep pedestrians from using it." Continue reading →

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New Zealand police ordered to return Dotcom material

"A New Zealand judge on Friday ordered police to return any digital material seized in an armed raid on Internet mogul Kim Dotcom’s mansion last year not directly related to the prosecution against him. The decision by High Court chief judge Helen Winkelmann follows a ruling last year that the January 2012 raid on Dotcom’s Auckland mansion was illegal because the search warrants used were too broad to be considered reasonable. Digital material such as computer hard drives were taken in the dawn swoop as part of a US probe into allegations of massive online piracy by Dotcom’s now-defunct Megaupload empire." Continue reading →

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Your Tax Dollars at Work: Medicare Financing Plastic Surgery

"Aging Americans worried about their droopy upper eyelids often rely on the plastic surgeon’s scalpel to turn back the hands of time. Increasingly, Medicare is footing the bill. Yes, Medicare. The public health insurance program for people over 65 typically does not cover cosmetic surgery… In recent years, though, a rapid rise in the number of so-called functional eyelid lifts, or blepharoplasty, has led some to question whether Medicare is letting procedures that are really cosmetic slip through the cracks — at a cost of millions of dollars. In 2001, physicians billed taxpayers a total of $20 million for the procedure. By 2011, the price tag had quadrupled to $80 million." Continue reading →

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The Real Reason Governments Are Killing Financial Privacy

"With the deficit in 2012 for the US federal government at $1.1 trillion, the expected $900 million from FATCA is not even a drop in the bucket. Even in the unlikely event that the US will moderately reduce its deficit in the future, the revenue from FATCA will remain a pittance in comparison. Why would the US government go through all the enormous trouble of implementing FATCA if it's going to bring in such a meager amount of money? If it's not money, it appears the primary motivation here is control. The new 'global standard' is a path that will put governments around the world one step closer to being able to track and control every penny you earn and every penny you spend." Continue reading →

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