Police State

DOJ sends bundle of completely censored documents in response to ACLU lawsuit

"Responding to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Department of Justice (DOJ) turned over a bundle of documents that are completely blacked out. The lawsuit was filed after the DOJ ignored a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking information on how the agency interpreted a 2011 Supreme Court decision that bans law enforcement from using GPS technology to track Americans without a warrant. The Department responded to the lawsuit with 111 pages of attorney memos, but only two pages are legible. The rest are covered by large black rectangles that blot out all useful information." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDOJ sends bundle of completely censored documents in response to ACLU lawsuit

Kim Dotcom poised for return with Megaupload successor

"Internet tycoon Kim Dotcom will launch a new file-sharing site at his Auckland mansion on Sunday, exactly a year after armed police arrested him at the same venue in the world’s largest online piracy case. Dotcom’s new venture, mega.co.nz, aims to recreate the success of his Megaupload empire, which boasted 50 million daily visitors and accounted for four percent of all Internet traffic before it was shut down after the police raid. Details of the planned service are scarce, but the site promises to use state-of-the-art encryption methods that mean only users, not the site’s administrators, know what they are uploading." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKim Dotcom poised for return with Megaupload successor

U.S. attorney defends handling of Aaron Swartz case as ‘appropriate’

"A US prosecutor at the center of a controversy over the handling of a case involving an Internet activist who committed suicide has defended the government’s actions as 'appropriate.' Assistant US Attorney Carmen Ortiz expressed regret over the death of Aaron Swartz, who was accused of illegally copying and distributing millions of academic articles from a database but said prosecutors were merely doing their job." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. attorney defends handling of Aaron Swartz case as ‘appropriate’

Officer convicted of stealing guns in Prince George’s County

"A Prince George’s County police officer accused of selling and giving away guns he had seized from criminals was found guilty Tuesday of theft and misconduct in office. Authorities had charged Carter with redistributing or selling guns that he obtained while working on a Maryland State Police-run gun task force in 2008 and 2009. Prosecutors say 21 guns never made it to the Prince George’s County police property room as they should have." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOfficer convicted of stealing guns in Prince George’s County

Debate intensifies over ‘draconian’ cyber crime laws after Aaron Swartz’s death

"As funeral services were held for Internet activist Aaron Swartz, the debate intensified over what some called a 'draconian' US computer crime law used by allegedly overzealous prosecutors. An online petition calling for the removal of the prosecutors in his case garnered more than 31,000 signatures Tuesday and some of Swartz’s supporters blamed a 1986 computer crimes statute for his suicide. Swartz, who was just 14 when he co-developed the RSS feeds that are now the norm for publishing frequent updates online and went on to help launch social news website Reddit, hanged himself in his New York apartment on Friday." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDebate intensifies over ‘draconian’ cyber crime laws after Aaron Swartz’s death

Glenn Greenwald: Carmen Ortiz and Stephen Heymann: accountability for prosecutorial abuse

"Prosecutors are vested with the extraordinary power to investigate, prosecute, bankrupt, and use the power of the state to imprison people for decades. The US has become a society in which political and financial elites systematically evade accountability for their bad acts, no matter how destructive. Those who torture, illegally eavesdrop, commit systemic financial fraud, even launder money for designated terrorists and drug dealers are all protected from criminal liability, while those who are powerless - or especially, as in Swartz's case, those who challenge power - are mercilessly punished for trivial transgressions." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: Carmen Ortiz and Stephen Heymann: accountability for prosecutorial abuse

Former Chicago cop gets 19 years in Latin Kings case

"A former veteran Chicago police officer was sentenced to 19 years in prison Friday for stealing drugs, cash and guns for the Latin Kings street gang often while on-duty. Guerrero pleaded guilty in August to taking part in seven robberies or burglaries of Latin King rivals between 2004 and 2006 with Officer Antonio C. Martinez Jr. in Hammond, East Chicago and Highland. Martinez also pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFormer Chicago cop gets 19 years in Latin Kings case

Chicago committee to consider settling cop misconduct cases for nearly $33M

"The settlement in the Eilman case would avert a trial detailing the events of May 2006, when the then-21-year-old California woman was arrested at Midway Airport in the midst of a bipolar breakdown. She was held overnight and then released at sundown the next day without assistance several miles away in one of the city's highest-crime neighborhoods. Alone and bewildered by her surroundings, the former UCLA student was abducted and sexually assaulted before plummeting from a seventh-floor window. She survived but suffered a severe and permanent brain injury, a shattered pelvis, and numerous other broken bones and injuries." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChicago committee to consider settling cop misconduct cases for nearly $33M

Anthony Gregory: Newtown and the Bipartisan Police State

"The way that one mass murderer has been turned into a poster boy for the agenda of depriving millions of Americans of the right to own weapons that virtually none of them will ever use to commit a crime is disgusting, and seems to be rooted in some sort of cultural bigotry. Nothing else would easily explain the invincible resistance to logical arguments such as: rifles are rarely used in crimes, gun control empowers the police state over the weak, and such laws simply do not work against criminals, full stop. Rifles are easier to manufacture than methamphetamine, and we know how well the drug war has stopped its proliferation, and 3D printing will soon make it impossible to stop." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnthony Gregory: Newtown and the Bipartisan Police State

Private Pilot Nearly Shot Down for Violating “Secret No-Fly Zone”

"Despite the fact that he had done nothing wrong, Fleming was handcuffed, charged with 'breach of peace,' and held for more than 24 hours before being interrogated by FBI and Homeland Security officials. The charges were dismissed after he showed the investigators that the zone wasn’t marked in aviation charts – but he was required to sign a document promising that he wouldn’t file a lawsuit against the officials who had illegally detained him. He later learned that local police officials had made preparations to shoot down his glider if he hadn’t landed as quickly as he did. Fleming did nothing illegal – yet he was brutalized by people prepared to kill him." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPrivate Pilot Nearly Shot Down for Violating “Secret No-Fly Zone”