tagged w/ Government Eavesdropping
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The government and corporations are aggressively collecting information about your personal life and your habits. They want to track your purchases, your medical records, and even your relationships. The Bush Administration's policies, coupled with invasive new technologies, could eliminate your right to privacy completely. Please help us protect our privacy rights and prevent the Total Surveillance Society.
Don't get a real or national ID. Do not let the government do this. Better safe than sorry. Take Charge!
Do you want this to happen?The government and corporations are aggressively collecting information about your... more
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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.
The creator of OpenID currently works at Google.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenID#Security_and_phishingOpen ID is now being used by Facebook, Yahoo, Flickr, Paypal, Google, Microsoft, AOL,... more
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WASHINGTON — The departments of Defense, State, and Health and Human Services have not met legal requirements meant to protect Americans' civil liberties, and a board that's supposed to enforce the mandates has been dormant since 2007, according to federal records.
All three departments have failed to comply with a 2007 law directing them to appoint civil liberties protection officers and report regularly to Congress on the safeguards they use to make sure their programs don't undermine the public's rights and privacy, a USA TODAY review of congressional filings shows.WASHINGTON — The departments of Defense, State, and Health and Human Services have... more
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James Bamsford's new book on the NSA.
The Bush administration’s wiretapping program has come under new scrutiny this week. Two influential congressional committees have opened probes into allegations US intelligence spied on the phone calls of American military personnel, journalists and aid workers in Iraq. We speak to James Bamford about the NSA’s spying on Americans, the agency’s failings pre-9/11 and the ties between NSA and the nation’s telecommunications companies.James Bamsford's new book on the NSA.
The Bush administration’s wiretapping... more
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The National Security Agency said on Thursday it was investigating allegations that intelligence officials listened to personal phone calls from military officers, journalists and other Americans living outside the United States.
The comments followed media reports that U.S. agents intercepted calls from U.S. citizens using satellite phones to call friends and relatives back home even though they were clearly not terrorism suspects.
"Some of these allegations have been investigated and found to be unsubstantiated. Others are in the investigation process," the agency said in a statement.
The allegations, reported by ABC News earlier on Thursday, were made by two former military linguists who said calls from Americans, including aid workers, were monitored as part of the Bush administration's controversial surveillance program.
Intelligence operators routinely shared details with each other from the intercepted calls, especially those including intimate conversations, one linguist told ABC.
Administration officials have said the program is used narrowly to protect the country against possible attack, but human rights groups and others say it threatens citizens' privacy.
Congress allowed the program to continue earlier this year, giving authorities the power to eavesdrop on people outside the United States without a court order, while including rules aimed at minimizing such surveillance.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller said his panel would examine the allegations and requested related information from the White House.
"There are strict procedures in place governing intelligence surveillance when it involves U.S. persons. The Committee will take whatever action is necessary to ensure those rules are followed and any violations are addressed," the West Virginia Democrat said.
Opponents of the program said the allegations showed the rules were inadequate.
"Today's report is an indictment not only of the Bush administration, but of all of those political leaders, Democratic and Republican, who have been saying that the executive branch can be trusted with surveillance powers that are essentially unchecked," said Jameel Jaffer, head of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Security Project.The National Security Agency said on Thursday it was investigating allegations that... more
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Published on Thursday, October 9, 2008 by ABC News
Inside Account of US Eavesdropping on Americans
U.S. Officers' "Phone Sex" Intercepted, Recorded, Shared Across NSA Listening Post
by Brian Ross, Vic Walter, and Anna Schecter
"Despite pledges by President George W. Bush and American intelligence officials to the contrary, hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as they called friends and family back home, according to two former military intercept operators who worked at the giant National Security Agency (NSA) center in Fort Gordon, Georgia.
"These were just really everyday, average, ordinary Americans who happened to be in the Middle East, in our area of intercept and happened to be making these phone calls on satellite phones," said Adrienne Kinne, a 31-year old US Army Reserves Arab linguist assigned to a special military program at the NSA's Back Hall at Fort Gordon from November 2001 to 2003.
Kinne described the contents of the calls as "personal, private things with Americans who are not in any way, shape or form associated with anything to do with terrorism."
She said US military officers, American journalists and American aid workers were routinely intercepted and "collected on" as they called their offices or homes in the United States.
Another intercept operator, former Navy Arab linguist, David Murfee Faulk, 39, said he and his fellow intercept operators listened into hundreds of Americans picked up using phones in Baghdad's Green Zone from late 2003 to November 2007.
"Calling home to the United States, talking to their spouses, sometimes their girlfriends, sometimes one phone call following another," said Faulk.
The accounts of the two former intercept operators, who have never met and did not know of the other's allegations, provide the first inside look at the day to day operations of the huge and controversial US terrorist surveillance program.
"There is a constant check to make sure that our civil liberties of our citizens are treated with respect," said President Bush at a news conference this past February.
But the accounts of the two whistleblowers, which could not be independently corroborated, raise serious questions about how much respect is accorded those Americans whose conversations are intercepted in the name of fighting terrorism.
US Soldier's 'Phone Sex' Intercepted, Shared
Faulk says he and others in his section of the NSA facility at Fort Gordon routinely shared salacious or tantalizing phone calls that had been intercepted, alerting office mates to certain time codes of "cuts" that were available on each operator's computer.
"Hey, check this out," Faulk says he would be told, "there's good phone sex or there's some pillow talk, pull up this call, it's really funny, go check it out. It would be some colonel making pillow talk and we would say, 'Wow, this was crazy'," Faulk told ABC News.
"This story is to surveillance law what Abu Ghraib was to prison law," Turley said.
Continued at link above
In light of this subject, "The Lives of Others" is a deeply provocative, beautifully crafted feature film addressing this subject. Highly recommend watching it if you haven't seen it. http://www.sonyclassics.com/thelivesofothers/swf/index.htmlPublished on Thursday, October 9, 2008 by ABC News
Inside Account of US Eavesdropping... more
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In addition to its current wiretap lawsuit against AT&T (which the government is trying to dismiss), the EFF has filed suit against Cheney, Gonzales, and a host of others.
By suing the government directly, the EFF is attempting to undermine the government's plan to use a new power handed to it by Congress in July. The so-called telecom immunity provision nearly automatically forces a judge to dismiss lawsuits against companies accused of helping the government spy -- without court approval -- on the phone and internet communications of Americans.
Last week, the government told a federal court judge overseeing some 38 cases against the telecoms that it would file those papers on AT&T's behalf by Friday.
Thursday's potential class action suit against the government -- filed in federal district court in Northern California -- seeks a halt to the program, an accounting of who was spied on and damages for the five named plaintiffs.
It also names high government officials -– in their official and personal capacities -- putting them at risk of fines they would be personally liable for.
Among those listed – former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former Attorney General and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Cheney's chief of staff David Addington, along with current and former heads of intelligence agencies involved in the spying.
"In addition to suing AT&T, we've now opened a second front in the battle to stop the NSA's illegal surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans and hold personally responsible those who authorized or participated in the spying program," said senior staff attorney Kevin Bankston.
The suit argues the spying violated federal wiretap law, the First Amendment's guarantee of anonymous speech and the Fourth Amendment's guarantee against unreasonable searches.
Others have challenged the government program directly, but no one has succeeded so far. The EFF hopes the whistle-blower evidence it has used to keep the AT&T case alive will also work to prove it has a right to sue the feds as well.
The EFF plans to contest the legality of the so-called telecom immunity powers -- but wants to have another avenue to pursue its goal of having the program declared illegal.
Though the full extent of the secret spying is not known, media reports indicate the government collected phone calls and emails – with the help of American telecoms -- where one party was inside the U.S. and one was outside the country.
Until recently, wiretapping law required court orders to collect that information inside the U.S.
The FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which largely legalized did not immunize the government or government officials.In addition to its current wiretap lawsuit against AT&T (which the government is... more
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Some cite the argument that government eavesdropping is "no big deal" if they have "nothing to hide." But, the problem with a government that assumes control like this is that they could, ultimately, have control over what they consider problematic. Who knows how the rules will change with more and more government control?Some cite the argument that government eavesdropping is "no big deal" if they have... more
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MeAbby
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1 year ago
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UC TV had an interview with Coleen Rowley of the FBI, she wrote the memo that eventually came out proving that the FBI, CIA and the Bush Administration had information that may have been able to prevent 9/11. What about now? She sees only modest changes. What about all the 9/11 Report recommendations? When are they ever going to be acted on. When we remember the 3000 Americans we lost on 9/11, we must also remember the more than 3000 American Heroes who have given their lives since in the wars, and the many thousands more heroes coming home severely injured. Let this 9/11 be different, this time. For Democracy to work, it must be OF THE PEOPLE. Let's wake up and run our country. I have every confidence in the American People, to do the right things, when they know what's really going on. UC TV had an interview with Coleen Rowley of the FBI, she wrote the memo that... more
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Produced by a former member of the U.S. Naval intelligence community, this video is a frank look at an international incident involving the United States, North Korea, Yemen, and Spain. The Bush administration intercepted a secret shipment of WMD capable missiles making their way from North Korea to Yemen. This happened shortly after the U.S. invaded Iraq under the banner of eliminating WMD in the region. After holding onto the ship and her crew and cargo for a number of days, Bush chose to return the missiles to Yemen, despite the fact that Yemen is signatory to the NPT. Also fresh in the minds of the Americans at the time was the bombing of the USS Cole, which took place in Yemeni waters.Produced by a former member of the U.S. Naval intelligence community, this video is a... more
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If you chose to suck at the teat of unrestrited government power, then all that comes with it, ie., loss of your rights to privacy and to feel secure in your home-is what you will be feeding on.
The law enforcement system is out of control. It has become its own entity and is backed by the supreme court. I work for a law enforcement agency, I see it every day.
Do yourselves a favor and don't just put control of your lives in the hands of government.
THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU!!! THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT FULFILLING THEIR QUOTAS AND KEEPING THE STATISTICS UP SO THEY GET MORE OF OUR MONEY!!!
Read the constitution and Bill of Rights, people. Then do something to defend it-for ourselves and our prodigy.If you chose to suck at the teat of unrestrited government power, then all that comes... more
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A federal judge in New York has ordered Google to turn over to Viacom a database linking users of YouTube, the Web’s largest video site by far, with every clip they have watched there.
The order raised concerns among users and privacy advocates that the online video viewing habits of tens of millions of people could be exposed. But Google and Viacom said they were hoping to come up with a way to protect the anonymity of YouTube viewers.
A federal judge in New York has ordered Google to turn over to Viacom a database... more
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ACLU and The Underground present spoken word artists Steve Connell and Sekou (tha misfit) as they defend their need for privacy and protection against new technology and surveillance. For more of Steve & Sekou check out past pods by The Underground or go to http://www.aclu.org/unabridgedACLU and The Underground present spoken word artists Steve Connell and Sekou (tha... more
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My government makes me feel safe.
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dbocaz
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1 year ago
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The Government Accountability Office at the NSA remains unused since no one in Congress has asked GAO to perform any oversight of the Agency, the head of GAO disclosed last week.The Government Accountability Office at the NSA remains unused since no one in... more
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...at least by sector. think about it. It's true. ...if you continue voting the current two-party "corporatocrisy," you better know your candidates OWE a lot of nasty corporate prix with a lot of special interest they PAY for. the figures listed are probably just the ones they feel won't get easily questioned.
worth taking a look at which sectors as well, back in 2000, just could not afford to let Gore rightfully be the popular-vote President... I think you're President goes to the highest bidder.
http://www.opensecrets.org/2000elect/select/AllCands.htm
phuk allat..Vote for Nader or someone who isn't in the profitable business of selling YOUR dam vote out.
...at least by sector. think about it. It's true. ...if you continue voting the... more
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echoz
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1 year ago
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look people this answer is so simple if you have nothing to hide dont worry
i dont think the goverment is gonna worry about you sleeping with your
girlfriends sister not at all it might be funny but they dont care at all
they wont care if your checking out your the girl across the street come on
its good and its bad but if it stops crime then yes i agree to a certain point thats all look people this answer is so simple if you have nothing to hide dont worry
i dont... more
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The government IS very likely politicizing terror to a despicable advantage. Keith Olbermann is the man! In Countdown he questions what's prudence and what is literal fear-mongering. The clip "Nexus of Politics and Terror" examines the top 10 “coincidences” and juxtapositions of supposed terrorist events and warnings intersecting with times of political turmoil. "You be the judge." i.e "Educate yourself dammit!" =P Wake up, your government lies BIG so you'll believe it.
If you look with OPEN eyes, you'll find many of these "warnings" are just intended to influence and manipulate the public... You'll find most if not all of these "threats" are/have not been supported or even necessitated by evidence but instead are merely REQUESTED by the US government...whether the people in charge of raising the color "Alert Levels" agree with them or not...many times they flatly disagree and apparently are forced to do it anyway...
forced to do it anyway... forced to do it anyway... flatly disagree but forced to do it anyway... better get used to that if you keep apathetically laying down and giving away your rights (AND MINE!) for largely empty fear of "terrorism"
don't believe the BS people... Wake up. Tell the gov't to phuk off and quit spying on us!!!! They're a more dangerous fear to manage than any actual terrorists!!! The government IS very likely politicizing terror to a despicable advantage. Keith... more
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echoz
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1 year ago
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The well-informed pundits grapple with the nuances of the wiretapping debate
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echoz
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1 year ago
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