Orwellian

New York: Facebook Can’t Challenge Demands for User Data, Or Gag Orders

"Facebook is not allowed to tell their users that law enforcement is taking their data. And Facebook is not allowed to challenge these orders on behalf of their users. So in true kangaroo court fashion, the only people able to challenge the government are those forbidden from being told that the government is investigating them. Well isn’t that convenient for prosecutors. How are gag orders even Constitutional? You would think things like free speech and the right to know your accuser might cover that. But again, the government plays by no rules." Continue reading →

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The Real Surveillance Problem

"The real story—and scandal—of intelligence surveillance and incidental collection is the mass incidental collection and use of Americans’ communications without a warrant. Under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), countless Americans are subject to the same incidental collection that President Trump now thinks is a serious problem, and the rules for accessing and using those communications are far more lax than the Susan Rice process, and totally unrelated to foreign intelligence and national security." Continue reading →

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Ten Ways to Reduce Terrorism – Can We Admit The War On Terror Has Failed?

"In the wake of the terror attacks in England, France, Germany and elsewhere, can we finally admit that the war on terror is an utter and complete failure? So if the war on terror has failed, what should we do to stop terrorists?" Continue reading →

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New Bill Would Outlaw Warrantless Border Phone Searches Of U.S. Citizens

"Four privacy-minded lawmakers have introduced legislation requiring law enforcement officials to obtain a warrant before searching phones belonging to US citizens, and prohibiting them from barring entry to Americans who decline to share their passwords at the border. 'Americans’ Constitutional rights shouldn’t disappear at the border,' Senator Ron Wyden said in statement to BuzzFeed News." Continue reading →

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IRS Seized $17 Million From Innocent Business Owners Using Asset Forfeiture

"The full scope of the cash seizures—and the overwhelming amount of cases involving innocent people—have not been revealed until now. The inspector general found money seized and forfeited by the IRS was legally obtained in 91 percent of a sample of 278 structuring investigations it reviewed occurring between fiscal years 2012 and 2014. Altogether, those funds totalled $17.1 million and involved 231 cases." Continue reading →

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The Real March Madness Is Playing out over Mass Surveillance

"Congress as a whole has been more intent on protecting the government from insider leaks than protecting the public from government surveillance. The tension between privacy and government surveillance is one that runs central to the ongoing debate over the CIA and NSA’s data collection tactics, as well as the potential Homeland Security policy that aims to refocus efforts to target 'insider threats.'" Continue reading →

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American Citizens: U.S. Border Agents Can Search Your Cellphone

"Data provided by the Department of Homeland Security shows that searches of cellphones by border agents has exploded, growing fivefold in just one year, from fewer than 5,000 in 2015 to nearly 25,000 in 2016. According to DHS officials, 2017 will be a blockbuster year. Five-thousand devices were searched in February alone, more than in all of 2015. 'That's shocking,' said Mary Ellen Callahan, former chief privacy officer at the Department of Homeland Security. She wrote the rules and restrictions on how CBP should conduct electronic searches back in 2009. 'That [increase] was clearly a conscious strategy, that's not happenstance.'" Continue reading →

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