Orwellian

6 Ways the U.S. Drug War Intrudes On Your Life, Whether Or Not You Use

"Many Americans who do not use illegal 'drugs' assume exemption from drug war policies. But regardless of how much marijuana you do or don't smoke, the U.S. war on drugs affects nearly everyone. While some prohibition tactics are more obvious than others, the drug war has slyly pushed its way into many corners of American life. Be it at the post office, in the workspace, or behind the counter at Walgreens, the war on drugs has established a nagging presence in the everyday lives of Americans, even those who do not get high illegally. Whether or not you are aware that the drug war is behind these creeping invasions, our drug policy has unequivocally curtailed basic civil rights." Continue reading →

Continue Reading6 Ways the U.S. Drug War Intrudes On Your Life, Whether Or Not You Use

How has this not led to outright revolution yet?

"These days, you could put ‘safety and security’ in front of just about anything and get people to readily comply. After all, who is against ‘safety and security’? Only criminal terrorists, apparently. This is now the easiest way for governments to exact their agendas… whether it’s invading new countries, monitoring all Internet activity worldwide, or bailing out the big banks at taxpayer expense. Apparently the citizenry has become so scared that we collectively lay down and let governments walk all over us. This NSA debacle, which is only getting worse and worse, shows beyond all doubt how brazen and unabashed their tactics will be. And not a single utterance of remorse or reform." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow has this not led to outright revolution yet?

NSA encryption, Latin American fallout and US/UK attacks on press freedoms

"In Europe this week, President Obama has been making similar claims when asked about NSA spying, repeatedly assuring people that NSA surveillance is overwhelmingly devoted to stopping terrorism threats. One big problem the NSA and US government generally have had since our reporting began is that their defenses offered in response to each individual story are quickly proven to be false by the next story, which just further undermines their credibility around the world. That NSA denial I just excerpted above has already been disproven by several reports, but after Sunday, I think it will prove to be perhaps the NSA's most misleading statement yet." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA encryption, Latin American fallout and US/UK attacks on press freedoms

NSA slides: Steve Jobs Is ‘Big Brother’ And Smartphone Users Are ‘Zombies’

"A private individual referring to iPhone customers as 'zombies' is one thing. The NSA doing it is quite another. People who don't take an active effort to protect their information are being labeled as sub-human by a government agency. If these smartphones users don't care about the data they're leaking, then they really don't have an 'expectation of privacy' to be steamrolled. That's the argument. As Der Spiegel puts it, the agency is arguing that the smartphone-buying public is 'complicit in its own surveillance.' But they aren't, as one recent decision on acquiring cell phone location data without a warrant pointed out." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA slides: Steve Jobs Is ‘Big Brother’ And Smartphone Users Are ‘Zombies’

How to foil NSA sabotage: use a dead man’s switch

"It doesn't really matter if you trust the 'good' spies not to abuse their powers (though even the NSA now admits to routine abuse, you should still be wary of deliberately weakened security. It is laughable to suppose that the back doors that the NSA has secretly inserted into common technologies will only be exploited by the NSA. There are plenty of crooks, foreign powers, and creeps who devote themselves to picking away patiently at the systems that make up the world and guard its wealth and security (that is, your wealth and security) and whatever sneaky tools the NSA has stashed for itself in your operating system, hardware, applications and services, they will surely find and exploit." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow to foil NSA sabotage: use a dead man’s switch

California poised to implement first electronic license plates

"The idea is that rather than have a static piece of printed metal adorned with stickers to display proper registration, the plate would be a screen that could wirelessly (likely over a mobile data network) receive updates from a central server to display that same information. In an example shown by a South Carolina vendor, messages such as 'STOLEN,' 'EXPIRED,' or something similar could also be displayed on a license plate. A South Carolina company, Compliance Innovations, did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment. Smart Plate Mobile’s founder, Michael Jordan, declined to speak to Ars." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCalifornia poised to implement first electronic license plates

Crypto prof asked to remove NSA-related blog post

"What I've been told is that someone on the APL [Johns Hopkins' Applied Physics Laboratory—motto: 'Enhancing national security through science and technology'] side of JHU discovered my blog post and determined that it was hosting/linking to classified documents. This requires a human since I don't believe there's any automated scanner for this process. It's not clear to me whether this request originated at APL or if it came from elsewhere. All I know is that I received an e-mail this morning from the Interim Dean of the Engineering school asking me to take down the post and to desist from using the NSA logo. He also suggested I should seek counsel if I continued." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCrypto prof asked to remove NSA-related blog post

Let us count the ways: How the feds (legally, technically) get our data

"It’s worth considering the various vectors of technical and legal data-gathering that high-level adversaries in America and Britain (and likely other countries, at least in the 'Five Eyes' group of anglophone allies) are likely using in parallel to go after a given target. So far, the possibilities include: A company volunteers to help (and gets paid for it). Spies copy the traffic directly off the fiber. A company complies under legal duress. Spies infiltrate a company. Spies coerce upstream companies to weaken crypto in their products/install backdoors. Spies brute force the crypto. Spies compromise a digital certificate. Spies hack a target computer directly, stealing keys and/or data, sabotage." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLet us count the ways: How the feds (legally, technically) get our data

S&P calls US lawsuit retaliation for stripping AAA rating

"Standard & Poor's on Tuesday blasted a $5 billion fraud lawsuit by the U.S. government as retaliation for its 2011 decision to strip the country of its AAA credit rating. The McGraw Hill Financial unit was the only major credit rating agency to take away the United States' top rating and the only one sued by the Department of Justice for allegedly misleading banks and credit unions about the credibility of its ratings before the 2008 financial crisis. In a filing with the U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, Calif., S&P said the lawsuit attempts to punish it for exercising its First Amendment free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution but also seeks 'excessive fines' in violation of the Eighth Amendment." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingS&P calls US lawsuit retaliation for stripping AAA rating

9 Myths About Obama’s Drone Killings Debunked

"The Obama administration has launched more drone strikes in recent weeks than any time since 2009, according to human rights lawyers and overseas media reports. Attacks in Yemen killed more than 37 people, Reuters reported. Nearly all of their identities remain unknown. The killings are a bleak reminder that Syria is not the only war President Obama is pushing. Despite the president's recent pledges to make the drone program more transparent to the public, it remains not only secretive and unaccountable, but also at odds with U.S. and international law." Continue reading →

Continue Reading9 Myths About Obama’s Drone Killings Debunked