August 24, 2013

The post office has its own unconstitutional dragnet program

It was ruled unconstitutional in 1979 yet it's back as reported a couple of weeks ago. They collect images of every mail sent.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/us/monitoring-of-snail-mail.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://privacysos.org/node/1106

August 23, 2013

NYT just stole classified information by sharing Snowden's leaked docs

I expect the same people who called Glenn Greenwald's partner a thief for walking around with "stolen documents" to publicly call New York Times' journalists (especially Scott Shane, who is said to have been appointed as main writer in future articles) thieves who deserved to be locked up.

And since this is approved by the NYT ownership, please discuss how many years the NYT chiefs and journalists and whoever utilizes and disseminates this information should be sentenced to.

Failure to call NYT staff "thieves" will result in suspicion that defense of the NSA is aimed exclusively at trashing Glenn Greenwald and anyone related to him.

Announcement of NYT/Guardian partnership: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/23/guardian-news-york-times-partnership

August 23, 2013

NSA Analysts Intentionally Abused Spying Powers Multiple Times

Source: Bloomberg.com

August 23, 2013

Some National Security Agency analysts deliberately ignored restrictions on their authority to spy on Americans multiple times in the past decade, contradicting Obama administration officials’ and lawmakers’ statements that no willful violations occurred.

“Over the past decade, very rare instances of willful violations of NSA’s authorities have been found,” the NSA said in a statement to Bloomberg News. “NSA takes very seriously allegations of misconduct, and cooperates fully with any investigations -- responding as appropriate. NSA has zero tolerance for willful violations of the agency’s authorities.”

The incidents, chronicled in a new report by the NSA’s inspector general, provide more evidence that U.S. agencies sometimes have violated legal and administrative restrictions on domestic spying, and may add to the pressure to bolster laws that govern intelligence activities.

The inspector general documented an average of one case per year over 10 years of intentionally inappropriate actions by people with access to the NSA’s vast electronic surveillance systems, according to an official familiar with the findings. The incidents were minor, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss classified intelligence.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-23/nsa-analysts-intentionally-abused-spying-powers-multiple-times.html

August 22, 2013

Review of US surveillance programs to be led by panel of intelligence insiders

Source: The Guardian

The review of US surveillance programs which Barack Obama promised would be conducted by an "independent" and "outside" panel of experts looks set to consist of four Washington insiders with close ties to the security establishment.

The president announced the creation of the group of experts two weeks ago, in an attempt to stem the rising tide of anger over Nactional Security Agency surveillance techniques disclosed by the whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Obama trumpeted what he said would be a "high-level group of outside experts" tasked with assessing all of the government's "intelligence and communication technologies".

However a report by ABC News, which has not been denied by the administration, said the panel would consist of Michael Morell, a recent acting head of the CIA, and three former White House advisers.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/22/nsa-surveillance-review-panel-insiders

August 22, 2013

Advocate of Secret Infiltration, Cass Sunstein, on Obama’s “Committee To Make Us Trust the Dragnet”

ABC reports that, along with former CIA Deputy Director Mike Morrell, former Homeland Security Czar Richard Clarke, and former Obama special assistant for economic policy Peter Swire, the White House (or James Clapper — who knows at this point) has picked Cass Sunstein for its Review Committee on NSA programs.

Frankly, a lot of people are investing misplaced confidence that Richard Clarke will make this committee useful.

While he’s good on a lot of issues, he’s as hawkish on cybersecurity as anyone else in this country. And as I keep pointing out, these programs are really about cybersecurity. Richard Clarke is not going to do a damned thing to rein in a program that increasingly serves to surveil US Internet data to protect against cyberthreats.But Sunstein? Really?

As Glenn Greenwald (yeah — that Glenn; did they really think no one would raise this point?) reported back in 2010, Sunstein wrote a paper in 2008 advocating very creepy stealth measures against “conspiracy theories.”- See more at: http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/08/22/advocate-of-secret-infiltration-cass-sunstein-on-obamas-committee-to-make-us-trust-the-dragnet/#sthash.UHxcj2ck.dpuf

ABC: White House Picks Panel to Review NSA Programs

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/08/white-house-picks-panel-to-review-nsa-programs/

August 22, 2013

Russia accuses Syrian rebels of staging chemical attack on civilians to blame government

Do you guys believe Russia? http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/world/middleeast/syria.html?_r=0&gwh=E6D963BFB99B831984A1A5E4771DA8FF

August 21, 2013

EFF Victory Results in Release of Secret Court Opinion Finding NSA Surveillance Unconstitutional

Source: EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation)

August 21, 2013

For almost two years, EFF has been fighting the government in federal court to force the public release of an 86-page opinion of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). Issued in October 2011, the secret court’s opinion found that surveillance conducted by the NSA under the FISA Amendments Act was unconstitutional and violated “the spirit of” federal law.

Today, EFF can declare victory: a federal court ordered the government to release records in our litigation, the government has indicated it intends to release the opinion today, and ODNI has called a 3:00 ET press conference to discuss "issues" with FISA Amendments Act surveillance, which we assume will include a discussion of the opinion.

It remains to be seen how much of the opinion the government will actually make available to the public. President Obama has repeatedly said he welcomes a debate on the NSA’s surveillance: disclosing this opinion—and releasing enough of it so that citizens and advocates can intelligently debate the constitutional violation that occurred—is a critical step in ensuring that an informed debate takes place.

Here are examples of documents previously released by the administration in response to our Freedom of Information Act request. Anything even resembling those “releases” would be utterly unacceptable today. But we’ve come a long way since then—it took filing a lawsuit; litigating (and winning) in the FISC itself; the unprecedented public release of information about NSA surveillance activities; and our continuing efforts to push the government in the district court for release of the opinion.

Read more: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/08/eff-victory-results-expected-release-secret-court-opinion-finding-nsa-surveillance

August 20, 2013

US Department of Interior criticises State over Keystone XL impact report

Source: The Guardian

The US Department of the Interior has criticised as "inaccurate" the State Department's draft conclusions that the impact of the Keystone XL pipeline on wildlife would be temporary, and has warned instead that it could have long-term, adversarial effects.

It is the second major government body to publicly criticise State's draft environmental impact statement (DEIS), a much contested document which examines the pipeline's potential impact on the natural environment, endangered species, communities and the economy. The DEIS, published in March, concluded that the project would only have a temporary and indirect impact on wildlife.

A 12-page letter, dated 29 April by the Interior Department's Office of Environmental Protection and Compliance and posted on the department's website on 15 August, warned that some effects of the pipeline on wildlife may be permanent.

In the letter, the Department of the Interior repeatedly takes issue with the conclusions of its fellow agency that any impact on wildlife would be short-lived and occur only during construction. The Keystone pipeline, which will transport oil-sands bitumen from Canada across thousands of miles to Nebraska, requires a presidential permit from the State Department, because it crosses the US border.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/aug/20/interior-state-keystone-xl-pipeline-impact

August 20, 2013

When Whistleblowers Disrupt Transparency (by Tom Tomorrow)

http://www.thenation.com/blog/175826/when-whistleblowers-disrupt-transparency#

August 20, 2013

NSA apologits: Please trash the ACLU for defending the theft of government documents

I know how NSA apologists hate to attack the ACLU, a great, legendary organization that is virtually synonym with liberalism in this nation.

Here's what they said, about Snowden and the documents he walked away with:

“As we have said before, we believe that the information Mr. Snowden has disclosed about the nature, scope, and putative legal authorization of the NSA’s surveillance operations has generated a remarkable and long-overdue public debate about the legality and propriety of the government’s surveillance activities,” the ACLU statement read. “The ACLU has long held the view that leaks to the press in the public interest should not be prosecutable under the nation’s espionage laws.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/15/edward-snowden-media-misled_n_3764560.html?1376612797

This is an opportunity for you to show that you are not simply obsessed with Glenn Greenwald.

Hit the ACLU hard in this thread, please. Remember, they defend the theft of Government documents, which you believe is outrageous and a crime. Don't be shy.