The Obama administration’s position that the government can force mobile carriers to hand over cellphone tower location information on their customers without a warrant is wrong, two legal scholars say.
"Because CSLI acquisition is hidden, indiscriminate and intrusive, and because it reveals information over a period of time, it should be subject to the highest level of Fourth Amendment oversight (the same procedures used for wiretapping and video surveillance)," the scholars wrote late Friday.
The scholars are Susan Freiwald, of the USF School of Law, and Peter Swire, of Ohio State University.
Their words, published by the American Constitution Society, came a month after the Justice Department made its claim in a little-noticed case that the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures did not apply.
Most Americans have or will carry a mobile phone in their lifespan, so the outcome could have wide-ranging privacy ramifications. Smartphones, like the iPhone, use cell-tower information to power geo-location applications like Google Maps.
In a case pending before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the government maintains it can require federal judges to order mobile phone companies to release historical cell-tower information of a phone number without probable cause — the standard required for a search warrant.
While judges have differed on the issue, the resulting evidence can be used in a criminal prosecution. The case on appeal concerns a Pennsylvania judge who rejected the government’s position in a drug prosecution that the new administration inherited.
Mobile-phone providers keep cell-site information for up to 18 months. Historical cell-site location information includes the tower connected at the beginning of a call and at the end of the call. The government does not claim a warrantless right to cell-site information for future calls, only for calls already dialed.
"Cellular providers could, if they wanted, keep track of your cell phone’s location every seven seconds," the scholars wrote, "because your phone ‘registers’ that often with the nearest tower."The Obama administration’s position that the government can force mobile carriers to... more
In high-profile court cases, the NSA has refused to confirm or deny the existence of the documents detailing the surveillance of lawyers who represent prisoners of the so-called "war on terror," on the grounds that knowledge of the existence or nonexistence of the documents is itself a classified piece of information.
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Ok, there's a lesson here. Republicans brought us war abroad and totalitarianism at home. Democrats bring us war abroad and totalitarianism at home. But - get this - there are OTHER OPTIONS. Obama voters, get ready to make up for your mistake in 2010 and 2012!In high-profile court cases, the NSA has refused to confirm or deny the existence of... more
.
Former FBI Language Specialist Sibel Edmonds finally gets to testify under oath, after being hit with a gag order.
Bombshells Under Oath: INCLUDE: CONGRESS MEMBERS NAMED IN ESPIONAGE, BRIBERY, SEXUAL BLACKMAIL SCHEMES; NEW BREWSTER JENNINGS / VALERIE PLAME DISCLOSURE...
Long gagged under the "state secrets" privilege by the Bush Administration, the Obama Administration's DoJ chose not to re-invoke privilege, paving the way for this information to finally make its way on to the unclassified public record.
All this and not a WORD for the last 20 years from Al Gore. Not a Word.
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At any given moment, the sun is bombarding our planet with 170 billion megawatts of ultraviolet, x-ray, and other radiation. Those waves collide with atoms of air—nitrogen, oxygen, and so on—stripping away electrons like spring rain eroding a snowbank. The result: positively charged ions drifting free. At high altitudes, those ions are far enough apart that it can take hours for them to bind with a free electron. Called the ionosphere, these undulating bands of charged particles stretch from 50 to 500 miles above the earth—too high for weather balloons and, in large part, too low for satellites. Researchers who study it jokingly call it the ignorosphere.All this and not a WORD for the last 20 years from Al Gore. Not a Word.... more
What did you do for AT&T? How long did you work there?
I worked at AT&T for 22 and a half years. My job was basically to keep the systems going. They were computer systems, network communication systems, Internet equipment, Voice over Internet [Protocol (VoIP)] equipment. I tested circuits long distance across the country. That was my job: to keep the network up. ...
So you handled the hottest high-tech stuff that AT&T had.
That's right. Our job was to keep everything up and running smoothly.
What goes on inside the building on Folsom Street [in San Francisco]?
While I was there we worked on three floors which belonged to AT&T. The sixth floor was the traditional phone switch, ... which handled the public's telephone calls and was the workhorse of the phone system. The seventh floor was where the Internet room was, and that's where I spent a lot of my time. That's where there are a lot of Cisco routers, a lot of fiber-optic lines coming in and going out. The eighth floor is more diversified, more routers and other kinds of equipment, what's called multiplex equipment and various kinds of telecommunications equipment.
So this is an operations center. Are we talking about serving San Francisco? Are we talking about serving the state of California? Are we talking about America and Asia? What's the traffic that's going through there?
Well, this is an important hub for the Bay Area in terms of if you're talking about Internet. There's lots of Internet traffic, as you can imagine, that goes in and out of this office, probably hundreds of fiber-optic lines that go out, carrying billions -- that's billions with a "B" -- billions of bits of data going in and out every second every day. So all the Web surfing you're doing, whatever you're doing on the Internet -- the pictures, the video, the Voice over Internet -- all that stuff's going in and out of there.
And then of course there's also the traditional phone switch, which is doing what it's been doing since before the Internet.
Handling millions of calls. ...
Handling millions and millions of phone calls, right. That's its job.
So this is a big hub.
It's a big hub, yes.
Take me back to the summer of 2002. What happens? ...
... In 2002 I was sitting at my workstation one day, and some e-mail came in. I opened it up, and it was just a notice saying that somebody from the National Security Agency, NSA, was going to come visit for some business. They didn't say what, of course, just letting us know. I was also told the same thing by the manager of the office.
Don Henry?
Don Henry, who mentioned that there was going to be a visit from this person from the National Security Agency. ... That struck me as a little odd to begin with, because I remember from back in the '70s, the NSA is not supposed to be doing domestic spying, so what were they doing in an AT&T company office? It struck me as odd, but I didn't know anything more about it, so I just let it lie and waited for the guy to come.
Sometime later, maybe a few weeks -- I don't remember exactly -- he did show up. This NSA representative showed up at the door. I happened to be the one who opened the door. I let him in. I directed him to the appropriate people. He was very closemouthed and unsmiling, and he did his business. ... I didn't hear anything about it for a while, and I thought, well, that was over and I'll probably never hear anything about it again. So I never kept the e-mail. I thought it was just routine e-mail, and I'd never hear about it again. That whole incident probably took place in, I think it was the summer of 2002.
[more at link]What did you do for AT&T? How long did you work there?
I worked at AT&T for 22 and... more
Hello everyone, I have been reading a lot of comments recently regarding the way Current's system sends you those "So and So has commented on something you posted." Apparently several people, including myself, have not received all the notices of comments. Certain comments don't make it through in the email in box.
ON one particular thread, there were over 137 comments and yet I received only 10 of those comments as messages. Something is very wrong here. Two people on that thread also stated that they noticed something similar.
It just so happens that the story and thread in question was dealing with how a special elite group within the government's security apparatus has the power to control the media and intercept any data anywhere.
So I ask for an official explanation. Why do I get all the messages relating to some "light" topic, and yet on topics that are "hot" or "heavy" I am kept in the dark. If I don't login and go back to that topic, I won't get to read all the comments.
What do you think? Has our dear Current experiencing a system malfunction or is there some deliberate interference at work? Have you noticed messages not getting through about comments posted on a thread?Hello everyone, I have been reading a lot of comments recently regarding the way... more
"The NY Times has a piece about work being done by Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ) and others to curb NSA efforts to read email and Internet traffic. Here's an excerpt: 'Since April, when it was disclosed that the intercepts of some private communications of Americans went beyond legal limits in late 2008 and early 2009, several Congressional committees have been investigating. Those inquiries have led to concerns in Congress about the agency's ability to collect and read domestic e-mail messages of Americans on a widespread basis, officials said. Supporting that conclusion is the account of a former NSA analyst who, in a series of interviews, described being trained in 2005 for a program in which the agency routinely examined large volumes of Americans' e-mail messages without court warrants. Two intelligence officials confirmed that the program was still in operation.'""The NY Times has a piece about work being done by Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ) and... more
Open ID is now being used by Facebook, Yahoo, Flickr, Paypal, Google, Microsoft, AOL, MySpace, IBM, LiveJournal and VeriSign, among many others.
OpenID is a distributed single sign on solution that allows people to sign into different services with the same login credentials.
Simply put, one cracked OpenID site (by hackers, the government, parents, etc) could result in total profile information access and/or one's identity being abused over several other OpenID sites.
Whoa, now wait a cockeyed minute here… A French & Russian expression in one headline !!!??? Have I just lost 95% of the perennial red blooded American’s attention ? (as if all un-Americans are what …green blooded & part of the reptilian invasion of 2012 ; ) !!!???
You’re not stupid, they just talk to you that way ;)
Puns & wise cracks aside, a “fait accompli” is…
[fe tA-kawN-plee] .French. An accomplished fact; a thing already done: The enemy's defeat was a fait accompli long before the formal surrender.’
…and a “leitmotiv ”…
leit·mo·tiv / Etymology: German Leitmotiv, from leiten to lead + Motiv motive
1 : an associated melodic phrase or figure that accompanies the reappearance of an idea, person, or situation especially in a Wagnerian music drama
2 : a dominant recurring theme
So now that close to 100% of readers went elsewhere for their hard earned entertainment buck, let me get straight to the point about… The Politics of « Fait Accompli » : An American Leitmotif ;)
Why define a “reality” based justification when one can just “make it so” and explain later with whatever comes to mind. One can always fabricate “facts” that fits the action already taken later on.
Torture induced rationalization anyone ?
Make it so ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pU1Z98xIXo&feature=channel_page
Let’s say…oh, the invasion of Irak, shall we ?
Once the boots are on the ground, it’s fuckin’ too late to be all pissy & apologetic about it all, isn’t it ? It is our duty to support our troops… deleted uranium poisoning & all ! It is our duty, to “shut up” & put up, we are told ! Stand by our man, what ever child chewing monster he is ! Just follow orders like a good German ! Blast the lessons of WW2, the Nuremberg trial & centuries of soaked blood human history. We have a war to win ! Take no prisoner, unless you want to torture them ! Gun-ho diplomacy, mercenaries, false fag operations & a good old mediated carrot & stick routine will do wonder on those pesky public opinion polls. We do what has to be done, now deal with it mofo !
In other words… Do the deed and wonder & negotiate about the fallout later. A by-partisan whitewash will do fine. Only bleeding heart leftists will have time to notice anyway while the rabble has their collective nose to the grinder of economic survival. The masses are rendered poor, demoralized & frightened and therefore, they’ll think that perhaps the safest thing to do is to take orders & hope for the best ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JLc5dqZCOU&feature=channel_page
We are being “terrorized” into inaction after being “terrorized” into their self-fulfilling appropriated grander “American century” plan ! http://www.newamericancentury.org/
The same goes for torture, spying on US citizens, fraudulent bailouts, 9-11, racist penal system, CIA’s coverts operations, Mossad spies, private armies, franken-food… you name it, its always the same device, the “leitmotiv” of American politics.
Bush stated on Oct 7 2002 that Iraq was a great threat to U.S. Telling all Americans the opposite of what CIA had stated.Bush stated on Oct 7 2002 that Iraq was a great threat to U.S. Telling all Americans... more
Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington.
Harman was recorded saying she would “waddle into” the AIPAC case “if you think it’ll make a difference,” according to two former senior national security officials familiar with the NSA transcript.
In exchange for Harman’s help, the sources said, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections, which the Democrats were heavily favored to win.
Seemingly wary of what she had just agreed to, according to an official who read the NSA transcript, Harman hung up after saying, “This conversation doesn’t exist.”
Follow link to full story By Jeff Stein, CQ SpyTalk ColumnistRep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence... more
In a Newsweek exclusive three week ago, former Justice Department official Thomas Tamm revealed his role in helping the New York Times make public President Bush's program of illegal domestic surveillance. Now Salon's Glenn Greenwald has details on the DOJ's efforts to punish the whistleblower. And as it turns out (and as I suggested back in 2007), the Bush administration's ultimate target may be the New York Times itself.
As Greenwald spells out today, the Justice Department investigation is not pursuing the White House cabal behind the violation of FISA's prohibitions on warrantless eavesdropping of American citizens, but instead those who revealed it. Tamm, whose life has been turned upside-down since the FBI raided his home in August 2007, will likely be subpoenaed to testify what he knows about James Risen and Eric Lichtblau, the Times reporters who broke the story in December 2005.In a Newsweek exclusive three week ago, former Justice Department official Thomas Tamm... more
WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews.
Several intelligence officials, as well as lawyers briefed about the matter, said the N.S.A. had been engaged in “overcollection” of domestic communications of Americans. They described the practice as significant and systemic, although one official said it was believed to have been unintentional.(yeah, right!)
The legal and operational problems surrounding the N.S.A.’s surveillance activities have come under scrutiny from the Obama administration, Congressional intelligence committees and a secret national security court, said the intelligence officials, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because N.S.A. activities are classified. Classified government briefings have been held in recent weeks in response to a brewing controversy that some officials worry could damage the credibility of legitimate intelligence-gathering efforts.WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and... more
"I think right now, the Bush people are bringing out their mission-accomplished sign, because they've not only gotten Obama to protect Bush and Cheney and others from any criminal investigation on torture, but he's now gone even further than they did in the protection of unlawful surveillance. This is the ultimate victory for the Bush officials. They have Barack Obama adopting the same extremist arguments, and in fact exceeding the extremist arguments made by President Bush...
"You cannot any longer suggest that President Obama is advancing the civil liberties and the privacy interests that he promised to advance. This is a terrible roll-back. It's a terrible decision. - GWU Law Professor Jonathan Turley,
Keith Olbermann on Obama and Wiretapping
Deeplink by Tim Jones
Last night, Countdown With Keith Olbermann on MSNBC had excellent coverage of and commentary on the Obama DOJ's radical new arguments in Jewel v. NSA, the EFF's lawsuit against the NSA for illegal surveillance. Here are the videos: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/keith-olbermann-obama-and-wiretapping
"A society whose citizens refuse to see and investigate the facts, who refuse to believe that their government and their media will routinely lie to them and fabricate a reality contrary to verifiable facts, is a society that chooses and deserves the Police State Dictatorship it's going to get." - Ian Williams Goddard"I think right now, the Bush people are bringing out their mission-accomplished sign,... more
President Barack Obama invoked "state secrets" to prevent a court from reviewing the legality of the National Security Agency's warantless wiretapping program, moving late Friday to have a lawsuit that challenged the program dismissed.
The move -- which holds that information surrounding the massive eavesdropping program should be kept from the public because of its sensitivity -- follows an earlier decision in March to block handover of documents relating to the Bush Administration's decision to spy on a charity. The arguments also mirror the Bush Administration's efforts to dismiss an earlier suit against AT&T.
The decision Friday involves a lawsuit filed by the civil liberties group Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is suing the NSA for the wiretapping program. The agency monitored the telephone calls and emails of thousands of people within the United States without a court's approval in an effort to thwart terrorist attacks.
In attempting to block a San Fransisco court from reviewing documents relating to the NSA program, the Obama Administration is also protecting other individuals named as defendants in the suit: Vice President Dick Cheney, former Cheney chief of staff David Addington and former Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.President Barack Obama invoked "state secrets" to prevent a court from reviewing the... more
Even more chilling for these Americans is that their current leader President Obama has inherited from his predecessor all of the powers needed to radically alter their society into a virtual police stateEven more chilling for these Americans is that their current leader President Obama... more
Robin de Ruiter, 58, is perhaps the most prominent European conspiracy writer after David Icke but his ten books have been available only in Spanish, Italian, French, Czech, Serb, German and Dutch.Robin de Ruiter, 58, is perhaps the most prominent European conspiracy writer after... more
The spy shop that brought you the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program wants to expand its power under President Barack Obama, the nation's top intelligence chief told Congress in a little-noticed intelligence grab.The spy shop that brought you the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping... more
It literally baffles the mind: Billions of dollars are spent on physical and information security every year, and it can be trumped by one bonehead maneuver, by one little lapse in judgment. That is a tremendous amount of resources and effort committed to security just to have it undermined by the whim of one non-malicious individual, and it underscores the precariousness of even the most secure of systems. The final bill for this breach may be hard to figure, as this could influence a decision by the Obama administration to continue funding for a Bush initiative to replace the current presidential helicopter fleet.It literally baffles the mind: Billions of dollars are spent on physical and... more
A Pittsburgh-area company that monitors peer-to-peer networks accessed with file-sharing software like LimeWire and Napster says it has identified a potentially serious security breach involving Marine One and an IP address in Tehran, Iran. The company found a file detailing the helicopter’s blueprints and avionics package, which it then traced to its original source, Tiversa CEO Bob Boback told NBC affiliate WPXI, which reported the story Saturday.A Pittsburgh-area company that monitors peer-to-peer networks accessed with... more
