Orwellian

The Manning Show Trial: These Teachable Moments

"I’m shocked — shocked! — that Colonel Denise Lind, the military judge who ruled in February that Bradley Manning could be tried on various charges even after being held prior to arraignment for more than five times the absolute longest time specified in the US Armed Forces’ 'speedy trial' rules, has now also ruled that Manning can be convicted of aiding an enemy that does not exist. Yes, you read that right: There’s only an 'enemy' to aid, in any legal sense, if the United States is at war, a state created by a congressional declaration. There’s been no such declaration since World War II. Lind had only one legal duty as judge in this case: To dismiss all charges." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Manning Show Trial: These Teachable Moments

The Chilling Effects of License-Plate Location Tracking

"Location tracking has far-reaching implications for the way we live, even if we don't think we've done anything wrong. Our recent report, 'You Are Being Tracked,' shows that automatic license plate readers allow law enforcement to track every car on the road, not just those relevant to an investigation. This type of widespread tracking endangers our rights of protest and association and has the potential to reach deep into our lives and alter our daily decision making. Once your location information is collected and stored by a third party, you have lost control over it, and there is no way to know whose hands it will end up in." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Chilling Effects of License-Plate Location Tracking

British company turns human ashes into vinyl records

"A company called 'And Vinyly' — rhymes with 'And Finally' — will now process your cremated remains into a 12-inch vinyl record that includes 24 minutes of the music of your choice. For a fee of about $4,600, decedents can will for their ashes to be included in the pressing of 30 vinyl records to be distributed to friends and loved ones. A person’s ashes are delivered to a pressing plant in London and added to raw vinyl. Then the vinyl is pressed into a 24-minute record, 12 minutes per side. Leach said that most people struggle not with the price — which is actually less than a traditional burial — but with what music or sounds they want to choose." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBritish company turns human ashes into vinyl records

EU planning to ‘own and operate’ spy drones and an air force

"The European Union is planning to 'own and operate' spy drones, surveillance satellites and aircraft as part of a new intelligence and security agency under the control of Baroness Ashton. The controversial proposals are a major move towards creating an independent EU military body with its own equipment and operations, and will be strongly opposed by Britain. The use of the new spy drones and satellites for 'internal and external security policies', which will include police intelligence, the internet, protection of external borders and maritime surveillance, will raise concerns that the EU is creating its own version of the US National Security Agency." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEU planning to ‘own and operate’ spy drones and an air force

Jay Leno’s at the Top of his Game, so Why Is NBC Replacing Him?

"The irony is that Leno has never been more dominant: the Nielsen ratings for the second week in July have him beating CBS’s David Letterman by a 43 percent margin in the all-important 'viewers 18 to 49' category (on which advertising rates are set) and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel by 75 percent. So why sack him now? 'I don’t get it,' says Ohlmeyer, who as president of NBC’s West Coast operations in the mid-1990s helped guide Leno to victory over Letterman. 'It’s like nobody understands history. Here they take him off the air four years ago, and naturally he loses his impetus, and now he’s come back, and he’s kicking ass again—so let’s take him off.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJay Leno’s at the Top of his Game, so Why Is NBC Replacing Him?

UK Porn Filter: Censorship Extends Beyond Pornography, But One ISP Is Fighting Back

"One U.K. ISP, TalkTalk, already has 'The HomeSafe System,' which was singled out for praise by David Cameron when announcing the new policy. It gives another good idea of the kind of Internet censorship the British government is looking to implement. HomeSafe is actually operated by Huawei, a Chinese company that both the U.K. and the U.S. accused of having close ties with the Chinese government. The U.S. has branded Huawei a threat to national security. ISPs will be able to use whatever filter system they like, so many may not choose to be associated with Huawei. Others are refusing to take place in the filters at all." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUK Porn Filter: Censorship Extends Beyond Pornography, But One ISP Is Fighting Back

Obama Change.gov Promises Disappear from Web

"It may be that Obama's description of the importance of whistleblowers went from being an artifact of his campaign to a political liability. It wouldn't be the first time administration positions disappear from the internet when they become inconvenient descriptions of their assurances. Obama's vision for lobbying transparency has similarly been discarded along the way, but the timing here suggests that the heat on Obama's whistleblower prosecutions has led the administration to unceremoniously remove their previous positions." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama Change.gov Promises Disappear from Web

Pentagon to deploy huge blimps over Washington, DC for 360-degree surveillance

"A pair of high-tech Army blimps is coming to the greater Washington, DC area, and soon they will be able to provide the military with surveillance powers that spans hundreds of millions of acres from North Carolina to Niagara Falls, Canada. The airships are part of Raytheon’s Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, or JLENS, and when all is said and done they’ll offer the United States military what the defense contractor calls 'an affordable elevated, persistent over-the-horizon sensor system' that relies on 'a powerful integrated radar system to detect, track and target a variety of threats.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPentagon to deploy huge blimps over Washington, DC for 360-degree surveillance

Snowden Gets Whistleblower Award in Germany

"Fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has become the winner of this year’s Whistleblower Award established by German human rights organizations, the German branch of Transparency International said in a statement. The award, established in 1999, is sponsored by the Association of German Scientists (VDW) and the German branch of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA). A VDW spokesperson told RIA Novosti on Monday that the award money, amounting to 3,000 euros, would be passed to Snowden through his representatives – either a lawyer or a 'friendly' organization." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSnowden Gets Whistleblower Award in Germany

Senator Wyden Warns Against the Surveillance State

"There are only two limitations to the growth of the surveillance state: practical and economic. From a practical standpoint, just who is going to sort through the nearly immeasurably large amount of data being collected? At present, as smart as computers are, and as sophisticated as the software that drives them is, it ultimately is going to take a human being to find the dangerous needle in thousands of haystacks. The manpower required to do that is incomprehensibly large and infinitely costly. The second limitation is economic: at some point deficits will become so large that funding them through debt will no longer be an option." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSenator Wyden Warns Against the Surveillance State