Orwellian

This Man Can’t Say Why the Government Wants to Jail Him for a Century

"In the US government's campaign against journalists, Barrett Brown is one of the lesser-known victims. And now even less will be forthcoming about his story, as the Texas-based writer, satirist and Internet activist is under a federal court gag order, forbidden to talk about his case or the charges that could land him in prison for more than 100 years. Brown was arrested in Dallas a year ago, hit with a dozen charges of identity theft for pasting a link to the chat room of ProjectPM, a wiki research forum he founded in 2009. The link led to a huge cache of hacked documents posted to WikiLeaks that had been purloined from the intelligence contractor Stratfor Global Intelligence." Continue reading →

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Pirate Party Crashes Spy Drone in Front of German Chancellor Angela Merkel

"As Merkel and members of her team stood on stage, a small object could be seen in the sky. After hovering around for a while onlookers could see that the UFO was in fact a small drone. It proceeded to swoop down just a few feet in front of Merkel, apparently taking photos and recording video of the event. Seconds later with its Pirate Party operator apparently having been approached by the police, the drone crash-landed into the stage and was taken away by an official. While Merkel seemed to be amused, Germany’s defense minister in the dark suit to her left looked rather less impressed. The party later confirmed that the stunt was a protest against the EU’s use of surveillance drones." Continue reading →

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Google argues for right to continue scanning Gmail

"Attorneys suing Google say the firm violates privacy and takes personal property by electronically scanning the contents of people's Gmail accounts and then targeting ads to them. 'This company reads, on a daily basis, every email that's submitted, and when I say read, I mean looking at every word to determine meaning,' said Texas attorney Sean Rommel, who is co-counsel suing Google. But in a federal court hearing Thursday in San Jose, Google argued that the case should be dismissed, and that 'all users of email must necessarily expect that their emails will be subject to automated processing.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGoogle argues for right to continue scanning Gmail

Brazil hackers accidentally attack NASA as payback for NSA surveillance

"Hackers have hit back in retaliation for US cyber-spying on Brazil but mistook the US space agency NASA for the National Security Agency (NSA), a news website reported here Tuesday. 'Some activists decided to protest this US practice but it seems that they picked the wrong target,' a specialized blog of the Brazilian news portal Uol said. 'They hacked NASA’s web page and left the message: Stop spying on us,' it said. The hackers’ message also called on the United States not to attack Syria. A NASA spokesman confirmed that a Brazilian hacker group last week posted a political message on a number of NASA websites." Continue reading →

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What Do the Latest NSA Leaks Mean for Bitcoin?

"Could the intelligence community have a secret exploit for Bitcoin? It's rather obvious that Bitcoin presents a very strong financial incentive to break its cryptography, since such a vulnerability could allow an attacker to claim large amounts of virtual currency for themselves. But given the decentralized nature of the currency, it may also be a target for intelligence officials looking for ways to track its use. Clearly, Bitcoin is on the government's radar. Knowing how much effort the NSA, amongst others, has placed on cracking encryption, has it tackled Bitcoin too? First, we need to look at how Bitcoin works." Continue reading →

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FATCA: a Tool of the Electronic Surveillance State

"If FATCA’s sole purpose were to 'recover' tax revenues from assets squirreled away offshore by American 'fat cats,' it seems odd that it targets only individuals and specifically exempts reporting on accounts held by U.S. corporations. On the other hand, targeting individuals makes a lot of sense if FATCA’s purpose is directed towards something else: adding to U.S. government agencies’ global electronic 'map' of personal information. It should be further understood that any data transmitted by foreign financial institutions will not be confined to the IRS but will be handed over ('upon request,' of course) to other 'three-letter' agencies of the U.S. government." Continue reading →

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Kansas rejects marijuana advocacy group’s bid to adopt a highway

"State officials say that it’s not their beliefs that the state finds problematic, but the fact that what they advocate directly contravenes state law. The possession, distribution and consumption of marijuana is illegal in Kansas. 'We don’t want to advertise for that because their name is gonna be on our signs and I don’t think that’s acceptable,' said Benny Tarverdi of the Kansas Department of Transportation. The Department also told Eyewitness News 12 that this is only the second application it’s denied in the past decade. The first was from the KKK." Continue reading →

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Public school students being tracked continually

"Because of her religious beliefs, Andrea Hernandez was expelled – yes, expelled from John Jay High School in January 2013! Next week: Victory! Andrea Hernandez has been readmitted to that school and, because she would not abandon her American right to religious freedom, that school district has stopped using the RFID badges tracking program. I will delightedly show you how all this happened, setting a legal precedent that other American students wielding the Constitution may follow. In view of John Whitehead’s continuous teaching of what the Constitution actually says, I wish he were running for president in 2016." Continue reading →

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Continuity of Operations – Wikipedia

"The George W. Bush administration put the Continuity of Operations plan into effect for the first time directly following the September 11 attacks. The Bush administration did not acknowledge the implementation of the COG plan until March 1, 2002. On July 18, 2007, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), a member of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, requested the classified and more detailed version of the government's continuity of government plan in a letter signed by him and the chairperson of the House Homeland Committee, which is supposed to have access to confidential government information. The president refused to provide the information." Continue reading →

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Homeland Security to Test Face Scanning Cameras at Hockey Game

"The Department of Homeland Security is set to test new facial recognition technology at the the Tri-Cities Americans home opener at Toyota Center in Kennewick next weekend as part of its long term mission 'to identify terrorists and criminals in public areas.' The DHS will work with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to run the test during a portion of a game on September 21. PNNL staff members will participate in the test, which will attempt to match their identities with photographs as they move around the stadium. The staffers will wear ankle bracelets which will send a signal to the cameras when they are close enough to be photographed and matched with the still shots." Continue reading →

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