Orwellian

Bush says ‘civil liberties were guaranteed’ under his NSA Internet surveillance

"Former President George W. Bush is insisting that a NSA Internet surveillance program started during his administration 'guaranteed' civil liberties, and that Edward Snowden 'damaged the country' by leaking details about it. In an interview with CNN, Bush was confident that 'the Obama administration will deal' with Snowden and the fallout from his leaks. 'I think he damaged the security of the country,' he explained. 'I put the program in place to protect the country, and one of the certainties is civil liberties were guaranteed.' The former president added that his program had found 'the proper balance' between privacy and security." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBush says ‘civil liberties were guaranteed’ under his NSA Internet surveillance

Bush says ‘civil liberties were guaranteed’ under his NSA Internet surveillance

"Former President George W. Bush is insisting that a NSA Internet surveillance program started during his administration 'guaranteed' civil liberties, and that Edward Snowden 'damaged the country' by leaking details about it. In an interview with CNN, Bush was confident that 'the Obama administration will deal' with Snowden and the fallout from his leaks. 'I think he damaged the security of the country,' he explained. 'I put the program in place to protect the country, and one of the certainties is civil liberties were guaranteed.' The former president added that his program had found 'the proper balance' between privacy and security." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBush says ‘civil liberties were guaranteed’ under his NSA Internet surveillance

NSA surveillance: don’t underestimate the extraordinary power of metadata

"Four years ago a German Green party politician, Malte Spitz, sued to have Deutsche Telekom hand over six months of his phone data that he then made available to Zeit Online. The paper then did what any decent NSA operative would do, namely combine his phone's geolocation data with information relating to his life as a politician – Twitter feeds, blog entries and websites – to create an extraordinary animated reconstruction of a day in his life. It's this revelatory power that enables metadata to expose far more than what a target is talking about. In the old days, the medium was the message. Now it's the metadata." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA surveillance: don’t underestimate the extraordinary power of metadata

NSA surveillance: don’t underestimate the extraordinary power of metadata

"Four years ago a German Green party politician, Malte Spitz, sued to have Deutsche Telekom hand over six months of his phone data that he then made available to Zeit Online. The paper then did what any decent NSA operative would do, namely combine his phone's geolocation data with information relating to his life as a politician – Twitter feeds, blog entries and websites – to create an extraordinary animated reconstruction of a day in his life. It's this revelatory power that enables metadata to expose far more than what a target is talking about. In the old days, the medium was the message. Now it's the metadata." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA surveillance: don’t underestimate the extraordinary power of metadata

The United States v. Aaron Burr

"Defenders of unconstitutional and intrusive mass surveillance of American citizens by the National Security State have deemed him a traitor, while opponents of such malignant and reprehensible police state practices have proclaimed him a hero. The crucial issues surrounding Snowden call to mind one of the most profound legal cases ever tried, that of The United States v. Aaron Burr. Burr was one of the most intriguing and mysterious persons in the early years of the Republic. Vilified and portrayed as a traitor, there are other dimensions to his character not always presented or portrayed in accounts by court historians." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe United States v. Aaron Burr

The United States v. Aaron Burr

"Defenders of unconstitutional and intrusive mass surveillance of American citizens by the National Security State have deemed him a traitor, while opponents of such malignant and reprehensible police state practices have proclaimed him a hero. The crucial issues surrounding Snowden call to mind one of the most profound legal cases ever tried, that of The United States v. Aaron Burr. Burr was one of the most intriguing and mysterious persons in the early years of the Republic. Vilified and portrayed as a traitor, there are other dimensions to his character not always presented or portrayed in accounts by court historians." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe United States v. Aaron Burr

How a 30-year-old lawyer exposed NSA mass surveillance of Americans—in 1975

"The program was codenamed SHAMROCK and known to only a few people within the government. Every day, a courier went up to New York on the train and returned to Fort Meade with large reels of magnetic tape, which were copies of the international telegrams sent from New York the preceding day using the facilities of three telegraph companies. The tapes would then be electronically processed for items of foreign intelligence interest, typically telegrams sent by foreign establishments in the United States or telegrams that appeared to be encrypted. Telegrams sent by US citizens to foreign destinations were also present in the tapes NSA received." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow a 30-year-old lawyer exposed NSA mass surveillance of Americans—in 1975

How a 30-year-old lawyer exposed NSA mass surveillance of Americans—in 1975

"The program was codenamed SHAMROCK and known to only a few people within the government. Every day, a courier went up to New York on the train and returned to Fort Meade with large reels of magnetic tape, which were copies of the international telegrams sent from New York the preceding day using the facilities of three telegraph companies. The tapes would then be electronically processed for items of foreign intelligence interest, typically telegrams sent by foreign establishments in the United States or telegrams that appeared to be encrypted. Telegrams sent by US citizens to foreign destinations were also present in the tapes NSA received." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow a 30-year-old lawyer exposed NSA mass surveillance of Americans—in 1975

Reddit co-founder: Tech companies can help fight NSA snooping

"'I think we are awakening to a new age of sort of distributed — instead of centralized — hubs for all our data,' he explained. 'So I think this is the free market, we could very likely see alternatives pop up were social networking or whatever the thing might be does not concentrate all of our private data in one particular space.' Ohanian was a vocal opponent of legislation known as the Stop Online Piracy Act. Reddit, along with other tech giants like Wikipedia, successfully killed the bill by staging an Internet 'blackout.' However, Ohanian admitted that drumming up support to fight NSA surveillance was a more difficult task than battling SOPA." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingReddit co-founder: Tech companies can help fight NSA snooping

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange: NSA leaker is a hero

"Citing his own grand jury trial in Alexandria, Virginia, Assange explained that Snowden does not feel as if he could receive a fair trial due to what is known as the 'rocket docket' — jury pools in the area are filled with CIA and Pentagon employees and have high conviction rates in cases brought to trial. Snowden should seek refuge then, Assange argued, until he feels he would be 'afforded justice' upon his return to the United States. The NSA leaker remains in Russia while he tries to find asylum in another country. That has been complicated by the U.S. revocation of his passport, an act Assange described as 'disgraceful.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWikiLeaks founder Julian Assange: NSA leaker is a hero