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unhappycamper
unhappycamper's Journal
unhappycamper's Journal
December 9, 2013
Activists say U.S. is trying to railroad secret talks at Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) meeting
By Agence France-Presse
Sunday, December 8, 2013 10:07 EST
Activists accused the United States on Sunday of trying to railroad a new Pacific trade pact with 11 partners as their trade ministers entered a second day of secretive talks.
The meetings, due to end Tuesday, are a last-gasp attempt to meet a year-end US deadline to forge a deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would cover 40 percent of the world’s economy even though it currently excludes China.
International activists opposed to the TPP — and corporate lobbyists including those supporting the pact — have also descended on Singapore to try to push their cases.
“The TPP, which is being negotiated behind closed doors by trade bureaucrats and nearly 600 corporate lobbyists, has provoked political uproar because its text has been kept secret from lawmakers in the countries it covers,” global advocacy group Avaaz said in a statement.
Activists say U.S. is trying to railroad secret talks at Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) meeting
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/08/activists-say-u-s-is-trying-to-railroad-secret-talks-at-trans-pacific-partnership-tpp-meeting/Activists say U.S. is trying to railroad secret talks at Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) meeting
By Agence France-Presse
Sunday, December 8, 2013 10:07 EST
Activists accused the United States on Sunday of trying to railroad a new Pacific trade pact with 11 partners as their trade ministers entered a second day of secretive talks.
The meetings, due to end Tuesday, are a last-gasp attempt to meet a year-end US deadline to forge a deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would cover 40 percent of the world’s economy even though it currently excludes China.
International activists opposed to the TPP — and corporate lobbyists including those supporting the pact — have also descended on Singapore to try to push their cases.
“The TPP, which is being negotiated behind closed doors by trade bureaucrats and nearly 600 corporate lobbyists, has provoked political uproar because its text has been kept secret from lawmakers in the countries it covers,” global advocacy group Avaaz said in a statement.
December 9, 2013
London medical school makes library of ancient bones digitally available for study
By Maev Kennedy, The Guardian
Sunday, December 8, 2013 16:31 EST
The bones of a young woman who died of syphilis more than 500 years ago, the reassembled jaw of a man whose corpse was sold to surgeons at the London hospital in the 19th century and the contorted bone of an 18th-century man who lived for many years after he was shot through the leg, are among the remains of hundreds of individuals which can now be studied in forensic detail on a new website.
The Digitised Diseases website, to be launched on Monday at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, brings together 1,600 specimens, many from people with excruciating conditions including leprosy and rickets, from stores scattered across various university and medical collections. The original crumbling bones of some specimens now available in 3D scans are too fragile to be handled. The database is intended for professionals, but is also available free to members of the public who may be fascinated by the macabre specimens.
“We believe this will be a unique resource both for archaeologists and medical historians to identify diseases in ancient specimens, but also for clinicians who can see extreme forms of chronic diseases which they would never see nowadays in their consulting rooms, left to progress unchecked before any medical treatment was available. These bones show conditions only available before either by travelling to see them, or in grainy black and white photographs in old textbooks,” said Andrew Wilson, senior lecturer in forensic and archaeological sciences at the University of Bradford and the lead researcher on the project He added: “I do think members of the public will also find them gripping – they do have what one observer called ‘a grotesque beauty’.”
Some of the conditions were thought to have been almost eliminated but are now on the increase, including diseases of poverty such as tuberculosis and rickets.
unhappycamper comment: As of this posting, the Digitised Diseases website is not yet up --> http://barc.sls.brad.ac.uk/digitiseddiseases/index.php
London medical school makes library of ancient bones digitally available for study
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/08/london-medical-school-makes-library-of-ancient-bones-digitally-available-for-study/London medical school makes library of ancient bones digitally available for study
By Maev Kennedy, The Guardian
Sunday, December 8, 2013 16:31 EST
The bones of a young woman who died of syphilis more than 500 years ago, the reassembled jaw of a man whose corpse was sold to surgeons at the London hospital in the 19th century and the contorted bone of an 18th-century man who lived for many years after he was shot through the leg, are among the remains of hundreds of individuals which can now be studied in forensic detail on a new website.
The Digitised Diseases website, to be launched on Monday at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, brings together 1,600 specimens, many from people with excruciating conditions including leprosy and rickets, from stores scattered across various university and medical collections. The original crumbling bones of some specimens now available in 3D scans are too fragile to be handled. The database is intended for professionals, but is also available free to members of the public who may be fascinated by the macabre specimens.
“We believe this will be a unique resource both for archaeologists and medical historians to identify diseases in ancient specimens, but also for clinicians who can see extreme forms of chronic diseases which they would never see nowadays in their consulting rooms, left to progress unchecked before any medical treatment was available. These bones show conditions only available before either by travelling to see them, or in grainy black and white photographs in old textbooks,” said Andrew Wilson, senior lecturer in forensic and archaeological sciences at the University of Bradford and the lead researcher on the project He added: “I do think members of the public will also find them gripping – they do have what one observer called ‘a grotesque beauty’.”
Some of the conditions were thought to have been almost eliminated but are now on the increase, including diseases of poverty such as tuberculosis and rickets.
unhappycamper comment: As of this posting, the Digitised Diseases website is not yet up --> http://barc.sls.brad.ac.uk/digitiseddiseases/index.php
December 9, 2013
The Everywhere Store: Civil libertarians welcome Amazon’s drone army
By Yasha Levine
On December 7, 2013
Some raised alarm over safety issues and compiled photo slideshows of gnarly hobby drone accidents, with flesh and fingers and noses sliced and mangled by drone props. Others worried about the threat to privacy posed by swarms of flying Amazon delivery drones. And plenty of commentators called into question the viability of the drone technology altogether, with most agreeing that Amazon’s drone announcement was little more than a cynical PR stunt designed to draw Black Friday attention away from criticism of Amazon’s working conditions.
But for all the cynicism, there were plenty of people cheering the coming Amazon drone army, too. And the funny thing about these boosters: many of them were the same people who’ve been the loudest critics of domestic drone use by the government. People for whom government drones represented the final step on the slippery slope to 1984… but private sector drones? Hell, open the gates and let them swarm! What could go wrong? Just make sure to keep pesky government regulators out of the way!
Eli Dourado, a research fellow at the Mercatus Center, which is part of the same sprawling advocacy complex that pushed and backed Senator Rand Paul’s anti-drone filibuster in March, got all mystical as he talked about “the promise” of Amazon’s drone scheme . He also sounded a warning about government intervention, warning that “preemptive rulemaking” would snuff out “private sector innovation.”
Buzz Brockway, a liberty minded Republican State Representative from Georgia who’s at the forefront of the fight to outlaw government drone use in his home state, gave Amazon drones a five star review and warned about regulating drone use. He pointed out that at a recent meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council, the rightwing legislation mill that’s responsible for churning out “Stand Your Ground” vigilante laws that resulted in Trayvon Martin’s murder, both the Koch-funded Cato Institute and American Civil Liberties Union agreed: government drones are the problem; private sector drones are the solution.
The Everywhere Store: Civil libertarians welcome Amazon’s drone army
http://pando.com/2013/12/07/the-everywhere-store-civil-libertarians-welcome-amazons-drone-army/The Everywhere Store: Civil libertarians welcome Amazon’s drone army
By Yasha Levine
On December 7, 2013
Some raised alarm over safety issues and compiled photo slideshows of gnarly hobby drone accidents, with flesh and fingers and noses sliced and mangled by drone props. Others worried about the threat to privacy posed by swarms of flying Amazon delivery drones. And plenty of commentators called into question the viability of the drone technology altogether, with most agreeing that Amazon’s drone announcement was little more than a cynical PR stunt designed to draw Black Friday attention away from criticism of Amazon’s working conditions.
But for all the cynicism, there were plenty of people cheering the coming Amazon drone army, too. And the funny thing about these boosters: many of them were the same people who’ve been the loudest critics of domestic drone use by the government. People for whom government drones represented the final step on the slippery slope to 1984… but private sector drones? Hell, open the gates and let them swarm! What could go wrong? Just make sure to keep pesky government regulators out of the way!
Eli Dourado, a research fellow at the Mercatus Center, which is part of the same sprawling advocacy complex that pushed and backed Senator Rand Paul’s anti-drone filibuster in March, got all mystical as he talked about “the promise” of Amazon’s drone scheme . He also sounded a warning about government intervention, warning that “preemptive rulemaking” would snuff out “private sector innovation.”
Buzz Brockway, a liberty minded Republican State Representative from Georgia who’s at the forefront of the fight to outlaw government drone use in his home state, gave Amazon drones a five star review and warned about regulating drone use. He pointed out that at a recent meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council, the rightwing legislation mill that’s responsible for churning out “Stand Your Ground” vigilante laws that resulted in Trayvon Martin’s murder, both the Koch-funded Cato Institute and American Civil Liberties Union agreed: government drones are the problem; private sector drones are the solution.
December 9, 2013
US Court Secretly Lets Government Share Megaupload Evidence With Copyright Industry
from the government-copyright-industrial-complex dept
by Mike Masnick
Fri, Dec 6th 2013 7:39pm
In the latest in a long list of travesties carried out by the US government in the Megaupload case, apparently it went to the US court handling the case, and without letting Megaupload know, got an ex parte order allowing the government to share evidence from the case with various copyright holders and then to issue press releases about the case. As Megaupload's lawyers point out, the whole thing is a clear due process violation.
The defendants have been indicted, their assets have been frozen, their business has been destroyed, and their liberty has been restrained. Given these constraints, it is unclear what evils the Government fears defendants will inflict if provided notice of the Government’s submission, beyond having Defendants’ counsel come into court to make opposing arguments.
Basically, Megaupload's lawyers are asking to be a part of this process, since it appears that the government wanted (and the court allowed) to cut them out. As Megaupload's lawyers note, allowing the government to sort through and cherry-pick evidence to share, without any context or potential additional exonerating information, is a clear due process violation.
“The Government’s request also substantially prejudices the defendants in the case. Permitting the Government to widely disseminate a one-sided, cherry-picked set of facts threatens to improperly infect the jury pool before defendants are afforded any opportunity to present their side of the story.”
US Court Secretly Lets Government Share Megaupload Evidence With Copyright Industry
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131206/02524925481/us-court-secretly-lets-government-share-megaupload-evidence-with-copyright-industry.shtmlUS Court Secretly Lets Government Share Megaupload Evidence With Copyright Industry
from the government-copyright-industrial-complex dept
by Mike Masnick
Fri, Dec 6th 2013 7:39pm
In the latest in a long list of travesties carried out by the US government in the Megaupload case, apparently it went to the US court handling the case, and without letting Megaupload know, got an ex parte order allowing the government to share evidence from the case with various copyright holders and then to issue press releases about the case. As Megaupload's lawyers point out, the whole thing is a clear due process violation.
The defendants have been indicted, their assets have been frozen, their business has been destroyed, and their liberty has been restrained. Given these constraints, it is unclear what evils the Government fears defendants will inflict if provided notice of the Government’s submission, beyond having Defendants’ counsel come into court to make opposing arguments.
Basically, Megaupload's lawyers are asking to be a part of this process, since it appears that the government wanted (and the court allowed) to cut them out. As Megaupload's lawyers note, allowing the government to sort through and cherry-pick evidence to share, without any context or potential additional exonerating information, is a clear due process violation.
“The Government’s request also substantially prejudices the defendants in the case. Permitting the Government to widely disseminate a one-sided, cherry-picked set of facts threatens to improperly infect the jury pool before defendants are afforded any opportunity to present their side of the story.”
December 9, 2013
Volcker Rule limiting bank risk-taking goes to agency vote Tuesday
By George Chidi
Sunday, December 8, 2013 21:52 EST
A major cornerstone of financial services reform — limits on the proprietary trading done by regulated banks — faces a ratifying vote by government agencies Tuesday after years of internal wrangling over the terms and scope of the new rules.
Known as the Volcker Rule, the regulation would require banks to refrain from speculative trading in the market for their own gain. Banks would also be prohibited from investing in hedge funds and outside entities that engage in similarly-speculative investments. The rule, named for former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, is a key part of the Dodd-Frank reforms passed in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008.
The underlying rationale for the rule is that banks should not be adding certain kinds of risk to their portfolios when the public might be expected to shoulder losses in the name of protecting the financial system from systemically-important “too big to fail” entities.
Congress required five regulatory bodies — The Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission — to draft policies to implement the Volcker Rule. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew gave the agencies until the end of the year to come to terms on implementation.
Volcker Rule limiting bank risk-taking goes to agency vote Tuesday
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/08/volcker-rule-draft-limiting-bank-risk-taking-goes-to-agency-vote-tuesday/Volcker Rule limiting bank risk-taking goes to agency vote Tuesday
By George Chidi
Sunday, December 8, 2013 21:52 EST
A major cornerstone of financial services reform — limits on the proprietary trading done by regulated banks — faces a ratifying vote by government agencies Tuesday after years of internal wrangling over the terms and scope of the new rules.
Known as the Volcker Rule, the regulation would require banks to refrain from speculative trading in the market for their own gain. Banks would also be prohibited from investing in hedge funds and outside entities that engage in similarly-speculative investments. The rule, named for former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, is a key part of the Dodd-Frank reforms passed in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008.
The underlying rationale for the rule is that banks should not be adding certain kinds of risk to their portfolios when the public might be expected to shoulder losses in the name of protecting the financial system from systemically-important “too big to fail” entities.
Congress required five regulatory bodies — The Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission — to draft policies to implement the Volcker Rule. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew gave the agencies until the end of the year to come to terms on implementation.
December 9, 2013
Artists rendition: Seven 27-foot mirrors will power the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), designed to peer farther than ever before into the universe from a mountaintop in Chile.
Mirrors for giant space telescope take shape
By Pete Spotts, Staff writer / December 7, 2013
In a lab beneath the University of Arizona's football stadium, researchers have reached a new milestone in their effort to build the world's largest ground-based telescope – the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), destined for a mountaintop in Chile's Atacama Desert.
On Friday, technicians at the Stewart Observatory Mirror Laboratory opened the lid of a large rotating furnace to reveal the third of seven mirrors, each 27 feet wide, that will operate as one mirror 80 feet across to gather light from the dawn of the universe.
The $880-million GMT is one of two projects currently underway to build a new generation of giant ground-based telescopes to explore the early universe, help identify potentially habitable planets in the sun's neighborhood, and help reveal the nature of dark energy, a mysterious force that is propelling the expansion of the universe at an ever increasing rate.
It's an ambitious agenda that has an additional component often overlooked, notes Wendy Freedman, an astronomer and chair of the Giant Magellan Telescope Organization's board of directors. New capabilities can lead to unimagined discoveries that can profoundly change humanity's view of the universe.
Mirrors for giant space telescope take shape
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/1207/Mirrors-for-giant-space-telescope-take-shapeArtists rendition: Seven 27-foot mirrors will power the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), designed to peer farther than ever before into the universe from a mountaintop in Chile.
Mirrors for giant space telescope take shape
By Pete Spotts, Staff writer / December 7, 2013
In a lab beneath the University of Arizona's football stadium, researchers have reached a new milestone in their effort to build the world's largest ground-based telescope – the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), destined for a mountaintop in Chile's Atacama Desert.
On Friday, technicians at the Stewart Observatory Mirror Laboratory opened the lid of a large rotating furnace to reveal the third of seven mirrors, each 27 feet wide, that will operate as one mirror 80 feet across to gather light from the dawn of the universe.
The $880-million GMT is one of two projects currently underway to build a new generation of giant ground-based telescopes to explore the early universe, help identify potentially habitable planets in the sun's neighborhood, and help reveal the nature of dark energy, a mysterious force that is propelling the expansion of the universe at an ever increasing rate.
It's an ambitious agenda that has an additional component often overlooked, notes Wendy Freedman, an astronomer and chair of the Giant Magellan Telescope Organization's board of directors. New capabilities can lead to unimagined discoveries that can profoundly change humanity's view of the universe.
December 9, 2013
Amnesty International suspects British intelligence surveillance, will take legal action against UK government
By Matthew Taylor, The Guardian
Monday, December 9, 2013 1:57 EST
The human rights group Amnesty International has announces that it is taking legal action against the UK government over concerns its communications have been illegally accessed by UK intelligence services.
In the latest of a series of legal challenges sparked by the revelations based on documents released by the whistleblower Edward Snowden, Amnesty said it was “highly likely” its emails and phone calls have been intercepted.
Michael Bochenek, director of law and policy for the human rights group, said: “As a global organisation working on many sensitive issues that would be of particular interest to security services in the US and UK, we are deeply troubled by the prospect that the communications of our staff may have been intercepted.”
The latest challenge follows revelations that GCHQ and its US counterpart, the National Security Agency (NSA), have developed capabilities to undertake industrial-scale surveillance of the web and mobile phone networks by trawling the servers of internet companies and collecting raw data from the undersea cables that carry web traffic. Two of the programmes, Prism and Tempora, can sweep up vast amounts of private data, which is shared between the two countries.
Amnesty International suspects British intelligence surveillance, will take legal action against UK
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/09/amnesty-international-suspects-british-intelligence-surveillance-will-take-legal-action-against-uk-government/Amnesty International suspects British intelligence surveillance, will take legal action against UK government
By Matthew Taylor, The Guardian
Monday, December 9, 2013 1:57 EST
The human rights group Amnesty International has announces that it is taking legal action against the UK government over concerns its communications have been illegally accessed by UK intelligence services.
In the latest of a series of legal challenges sparked by the revelations based on documents released by the whistleblower Edward Snowden, Amnesty said it was “highly likely” its emails and phone calls have been intercepted.
Michael Bochenek, director of law and policy for the human rights group, said: “As a global organisation working on many sensitive issues that would be of particular interest to security services in the US and UK, we are deeply troubled by the prospect that the communications of our staff may have been intercepted.”
The latest challenge follows revelations that GCHQ and its US counterpart, the National Security Agency (NSA), have developed capabilities to undertake industrial-scale surveillance of the web and mobile phone networks by trawling the servers of internet companies and collecting raw data from the undersea cables that carry web traffic. Two of the programmes, Prism and Tempora, can sweep up vast amounts of private data, which is shared between the two countries.
December 8, 2013
So the Air Force is going to spend $81 billion dollars on 100 bombers.
St. Ronnie's B-2 was last new bomber we built.
$2.2 billion dollars of a trashed B-2.
We should be calling our congresscritters to stop MIC welfare.
We should be calling our congresscritters to have some spine.
We should be changing our congresscritters if they do not listen.
Here We Go Again
http://www.stripes.com/news/air-force/new-air-force-bomber-costs-seen-reaching-81-billion-47-percent-more-than-planned-1.256469So the Air Force is going to spend $81 billion dollars on 100 bombers.
St. Ronnie's B-2 was last new bomber we built.
$2.2 billion dollars of a trashed B-2.
We should be calling our congresscritters to stop MIC welfare.
We should be calling our congresscritters to have some spine.
We should be changing our congresscritters if they do not listen.
December 8, 2013
Urgent Fast Track Trade Deal Alert
by Dave Johnson | December 7, 2013 - 10:08am
~snip~
1) Fast Track is about bypassing democracy and Constitutional government so the giant multinationals can do a huge PR effort to push this TPP agreement through. Fast Track means Congress can’t make changes to the agreement and has to pass it in a rush — so democracy and our representatives can’t meddle with what the Serious People have laid out for us.
2) The agreement itself is also about getting democracy and government power out of the way of the big corporations. It actually sets (certain) corporate (“investor”) interests above the law of any country. For example, word has leaked that TPP negotiators are arguing over whether to prevent countries from running anti-smoking campaigns, because this interferes with tobacco-company profits. One side says this is going too far and they should “carve out” tobacco from the agreement, the other side says carving out tobacco sets a precedent of allowing governments to protect their citizens from other things corporations might want to profit from. This should tell you all you need to know about why Fast Track must not pass, enabling them to push TPP through with no changes.
3) Fast Track is about continuing a rigged process designed to come to certain conclusions to benefit a few people. TPP was negotiated between corporations by people in government who can leave government to receive lucrative paychecks from the corporations. An agreement negotiated without other stakeholders at the table means those stakeholders are ON the table. Labor, human rights, consumer groups, environmental groups were not at the table, only LARGE and already-dominant corporate interests. (This also means that smaller companies, potential innovators and competitors, etc. are at a disadvantage.) This is really about the elites and billionaires who own things now locking in their dominance.
4) A trade agreement doesn’t have to be bad. A real “trade’ agreement could lift the world’s economy, instead of making exploitation of labor and the environment into a competitive advantage. (“Shut up our we’ll move your job out of the country, too.”) But with all of the stakeholders at the table, we could work out a way around the low wages and lack of environmental protections in some countries. (Make it a trade violation to say “Shut up our we’ll move your job out of the country, too.” Make it a trade violation to lower costs by allowing pollution. Make it a trade violation to block union organizing or deny unemployment benefits or do other things that push wages down. Make it a trade violation to have a continuing trade surplus.)
Urgent Fast Track Trade Deal Alert
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/dave-johnson/53047/urgent-fast-track-trade-deal-alertUrgent Fast Track Trade Deal Alert
by Dave Johnson | December 7, 2013 - 10:08am
~snip~
1) Fast Track is about bypassing democracy and Constitutional government so the giant multinationals can do a huge PR effort to push this TPP agreement through. Fast Track means Congress can’t make changes to the agreement and has to pass it in a rush — so democracy and our representatives can’t meddle with what the Serious People have laid out for us.
2) The agreement itself is also about getting democracy and government power out of the way of the big corporations. It actually sets (certain) corporate (“investor”) interests above the law of any country. For example, word has leaked that TPP negotiators are arguing over whether to prevent countries from running anti-smoking campaigns, because this interferes with tobacco-company profits. One side says this is going too far and they should “carve out” tobacco from the agreement, the other side says carving out tobacco sets a precedent of allowing governments to protect their citizens from other things corporations might want to profit from. This should tell you all you need to know about why Fast Track must not pass, enabling them to push TPP through with no changes.
3) Fast Track is about continuing a rigged process designed to come to certain conclusions to benefit a few people. TPP was negotiated between corporations by people in government who can leave government to receive lucrative paychecks from the corporations. An agreement negotiated without other stakeholders at the table means those stakeholders are ON the table. Labor, human rights, consumer groups, environmental groups were not at the table, only LARGE and already-dominant corporate interests. (This also means that smaller companies, potential innovators and competitors, etc. are at a disadvantage.) This is really about the elites and billionaires who own things now locking in their dominance.
4) A trade agreement doesn’t have to be bad. A real “trade’ agreement could lift the world’s economy, instead of making exploitation of labor and the environment into a competitive advantage. (“Shut up our we’ll move your job out of the country, too.”) But with all of the stakeholders at the table, we could work out a way around the low wages and lack of environmental protections in some countries. (Make it a trade violation to say “Shut up our we’ll move your job out of the country, too.” Make it a trade violation to lower costs by allowing pollution. Make it a trade violation to block union organizing or deny unemployment benefits or do other things that push wages down. Make it a trade violation to have a continuing trade surplus.)
December 8, 2013
Telecom giant refuses to submit to increased transparency despite revolt from privacy advocates and its own shareholders
AT&T Rebuffs Call to Reveal Customer Data Given to NSA
- Jon Queally, staff writer
Published on Saturday, December 7, 2013 by Common Dreams
Telecommunications giants AT&T, which has long been among the companies at the center of programs linking government surveillance and the private sector, is refusing tell customers and shareholders the amount of private data it has been sharing with the NSA or other U.S. spy agencies.
Implicated during the Bush years for helping the NSA conduct its warrantless wiring tap program out of a switch room in one of its west coast offices, the company has again come under fire from investors and the general public in the wake of startling revelations about teleph one and digital surveillance programs made possible by leaked NSA documents released to the press by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Though other companies are expanding transparency by releasing periodic reports on the number and nature of requests received by the NSA, AT&T sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday explaining why it has decided to buck a request by a coalition of civil liberties group and shareholders to do the same.
~snip~
In November, the New York TImes revealed that AT&T was receiving vast payments from the CIA in exchange for access to its trove of customer "metadata" all across the globe.
AT&T Rebuffs Call to Reveal Customer Data Given to NSA
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/12/07-1Telecom giant refuses to submit to increased transparency despite revolt from privacy advocates and its own shareholders
AT&T Rebuffs Call to Reveal Customer Data Given to NSA
- Jon Queally, staff writer
Published on Saturday, December 7, 2013 by Common Dreams
Telecommunications giants AT&T, which has long been among the companies at the center of programs linking government surveillance and the private sector, is refusing tell customers and shareholders the amount of private data it has been sharing with the NSA or other U.S. spy agencies.
Implicated during the Bush years for helping the NSA conduct its warrantless wiring tap program out of a switch room in one of its west coast offices, the company has again come under fire from investors and the general public in the wake of startling revelations about teleph one and digital surveillance programs made possible by leaked NSA documents released to the press by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Though other companies are expanding transparency by releasing periodic reports on the number and nature of requests received by the NSA, AT&T sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday explaining why it has decided to buck a request by a coalition of civil liberties group and shareholders to do the same.
~snip~
In November, the New York TImes revealed that AT&T was receiving vast payments from the CIA in exchange for access to its trove of customer "metadata" all across the globe.
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Member since: Wed Mar 16, 2005, 11:12 AMNumber of posts: 60,364