Mainstream News

Obama doesn’t believe secret NSA surveillance violated privacy rights: chief of staff

"While he defended the surveillance, McDonough said 'the existence of these programs obviously have unnerved many people.' He said Obama 'welcomes a public debate on this question because he does say and he will say in the days ahead that we have to find the right balance, and we will not keep ourselves on a perpetual war footing.' Revelations of the NSA’s broad monitoring of phone and Internet data has drawn criticism that the Obama administration has extended, or even expanded, the security apparatus the George W. Bush administration built after the September 11, 2001, attacks." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama doesn’t believe secret NSA surveillance violated privacy rights: chief of staff

Effort to block NDAA indefinite detention fails in U.S. House

"Indefinite detention remains in effect, but this week an effort was made to fix the problem with the Smith-Gibson amendment to the 2014 NDAA act. This bi-partisan amendment, sponsored by Republican Chris Gibson of New York and Democrat Adam Smith of Washington, would have guaranteed any detainee a trial and prohibited the transfer of anyone arrested in the United States to military custody. As happened with the substantially similar Smith-Amash amendment last year, this effort failed by a close 226 to 200 vote on the floor of the House." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEffort to block NDAA indefinite detention fails in U.S. House

Iran to send 4,000 troops to aid President Assad forces in Syria

"America has plunged into the great Sunni-Shia conflict of the Islamic Middle East, entering a struggle that now dwarfs the Arab revolutions which overthrew dictatorships across the region. For the first time, all of America’s ‘friends’ in the region are Sunni Muslims and all of its enemies are Shiites. Breaking all President Barack Obama’s rules of disengagement, the US is now fully engaged on the side of armed groups which include the most extreme Sunni Islamist movements in the Middle East. A military decision has been taken in Iran to send a first contingent of 4,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad’s forces." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIran to send 4,000 troops to aid President Assad forces in Syria

CIA preparing to deliver Syrian rebels weapons through Turkey and Jordan

"The CIA is preparing to deliver arms to rebel groups in Syria through clandestine bases in Turkey and Jordan that were expanded over the past year in an effort to establish reliable supply routes into the country for nonlethal material, U.S. officials said. The bases are expected to begin conveying limited shipments of weapons and ammunition within weeks, officials said, serving as critical nodes for an escalation of U.S. involvement in a civil war. Syria experts cautioned that the opposition to Assad remains a chaotic mix of secular and Islamist elements, highlighting the risk that some American-provided munitions may be diverted from their intended recipients." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCIA preparing to deliver Syrian rebels weapons through Turkey and Jordan

Secret Court Ruling Put Tech Companies in Data Bind

"In a secret court in Washington, Yahoo’s top lawyers made their case. The government had sought help in spying on certain foreign users, without a warrant, and Yahoo had refused, saying the broad requests were unconstitutional. The judges disagreed. That left Yahoo two choices: Hand over the data or break the law. So Yahoo became part of the National Security Agency’s secret Internet surveillance program, Prism, according to leaked N.S.A. documents, as did seven other Internet companies. Like almost all the actions of the secret court, the details of its disagreement with Yahoo were never made public beyond a heavily redacted court order." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSecret Court Ruling Put Tech Companies in Data Bind

Tech Companies Concede to NSA Surveillance Program

"When government officials came to Silicon Valley to demand easier ways for the world’s largest Internet companies to turn over user data as part of a secret surveillance program, the companies bristled. In the end, though, many cooperated at least a bit. The negotiations shed a light on how Internet companies, increasingly at the center of people’s personal lives, interact with the spy agencies that look to their vast trove of information — e-mails, videos, online chats, photos and search queries — for intelligence. They illustrate how intricately the government and tech companies work together, and the depth of their behind-the-scenes transactions." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTech Companies Concede to NSA Surveillance Program

Japan to adopt ‘bail-ins,’ force bank losses on investors if needed, Nikkei says

"Japan's Financial Services Agency will enact new rules that will forced failed bank losses on investors, if needed, via a mechanism known as a 'bail-in,' according to The Nikkei. Mitsubishi UFJ (MTU), Mizuho Financial (MFG) and Sumitomo Mitsui (SMFG) are among those proposing amendments to allow them to issue the types of preferred shares or subordinated bonds that would be used in such cases, the report noted." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJapan to adopt ‘bail-ins,’ force bank losses on investors if needed, Nikkei says

Law enforcement demands smartphone ‘kill switch’

"A coalition of law enforcement officials, political leaders and consumer groups, called the Secure Our Smartphones (S.O.S) Initiative, wants a 'kill switch' installed on all new smartphones that would make them useless anywhere in the world if they are reported stolen. They want all smartphones equipped with a kill switch by early next year and they don’t want customers to foot the bill for this security technology. The S.O.S. Initiative is spearheaded by Gascon and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The two prosecutors hosted a 'Smartphone Summit' in New York City on Thursday with the major mobile device manufacturers." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLaw enforcement demands smartphone ‘kill switch’

Welcome to Utah, the NSA’s desert home for eavesdropping on America

"The $1.7bn facility, two years in the making, will soon host supercomputers to store gargantuan quantities of data from emails, phone calls, Google searches and other sources. It was designed to be largely anonymous. Instead, after Guardian disclosures of data-mining programs involving millions of Americans, the Utah Data Center provokes an urgent question: what exactly will it do? 'Revelations about surveillance did not prove abuse of power,' said Bluffdale’s mayor, Derk Timothy. 'I don’t think they crossed the line. They’ve been good partners to us, especially when it comes to water. They’ve been building that facility as if they’re going to stay forever.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWelcome to Utah, the NSA’s desert home for eavesdropping on America

Facebook releases government surveillance data

"Several Internet companies have struck an agreement with the U.S. government to release limited information about the number of surveillance requests they receive, two sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters. Facebook became the first to release aggregate numbers of requests, saying in a blog post that it received between 9,000 and 10,000 requests for user data in the second half of 2012, covering 18,000 to 19,000 of its users’ accounts. Other Internet companies are expected to release numbers of government requests without breaking out how many originate from the National Security Agency, the sources said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFacebook releases government surveillance data