thenatureofmind

Encouraging Words of Regret From Dean Baquet and Weasel Words From James Clapper

One should not expect any change to come from the U.S. government itself (which includes Congress), whose strategy in such cases is to enact the pretext of “reform” so as to placate public anger, protect the system from any serious weakening, and allow President Obama to go before the country and the world and give a pretty speech about how the U.S. heard their anger and re-calibrated the balance between privacy and security. Any new law that comes from the radically corrupted political class in DC will either be largely empty, or worse. The purpose will be to shield the NSA from real reform.

Encouraging Words of Regret From Dean Baquet and Weasel Words From James Clapper - The Intercept.

FBI, CIA Use Backdoor Searches To Warrentlessly Spy On Americans' Communications

This morning, James Clapper finally responded to a request from Senator Ron Wyden concerning the number of such backdoor searches using US identifiers that were done by various government agencies. And, surprisingly, it's redaction free. The big reveal is... that it's not just the NSA doing these searches, but the CIA and FBI as well. This is especially concerning with regards to the FBI. This means that the FBI, who does surveillance on Americans, is spying on Americans communications that were collected by the NSA and that they're doing so without anything resembling a warrant. Oh, and let's make this even worse: the FBI isn't even tracking how often it does this. It's just doing it willy nilly:

FBI, CIA Use Backdoor Searches To Warrentlessly Spy On Americans' Communications | Techdirt.

Facebook Search Warrant Disclosure Reveals Scope of Government Requests

Facebook announced Thursday it’s been pushing back against a bulk set of search warrants requesting private data from its user accounts since last summer.

In a blog post, the social media network announced a court in New York requested personal data for 381 users, including photos and private messages. The company argued the request was unconstitutional, but the courts prevailed and the information was turned over.

This information is just coming to light now as Facebook filed an appellate brief Friday in an attempt to force the government to return the data it had seized and retained. Facebook says the government responded by moving to unseal the warrants and all court proceedings, allowing the company to notify the users their information had been taken.

Facebook Search Warrant Disclosure Reveals Scope of Government Requests | TechCrunch.

Naming NSA Victims? Greenwald Says Game-Changer “Imminent”

Investigative reporter Glenn Greenwald (shown) has promised to name victims of NSA warrantless surveillance, calling such an expose “imminent” in an interview with Fox News. Such an exposé may prove to be a game-changer in congressional and public debate on granting the NSA unconstitutional warrantless surveillance powers. 

Greenwald has been the primary recipient of information about the once-secret NSA programs revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Greenwald toldShepard Smith of Fox News that his next revelations will involve naming names about how NSA surveillance has strayed from merely going after terrorists to engaging in politics:

Naming NSA Victims? Greenwald Says Game-Changer “Imminent”.

Fight for the Future: Edward Snowden, Internet’s largest websites join Reset the Net

Fight for the Future and its partners launched Reset the Net today, a national backlash campaign comprised of internet users and tech companies who commit taking back their right to privacy and protecting the Internet by using NSA-resistant privacy tools on their devices, and to take their privacy back — one user, one cat video, one device at a time. Reset the Net demands that web services take concrete steps to protect their users from government snooping, while encouraging the spread of free and open source privacy tools.

"It’s been one year since Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the U.S. government’s abusive spying programs. In that time Congress and the Obama Administration have failed to protect our rights," said Tiffiniy Cheng, spokesperson for Fight for the Future. "Now, they’ve got a rebellion on their hands as tech companies and internet users work together to directly intervene in mass surveillance and block the NSA and its kind from the web." 

Fight for the Future: Edward Snowden, Internet’s largest websites join Reset the Net

Microsoft Calls On US Gov. To End Bulk NSA Data Collection

Marking the one year anniversary of the NSA leaks saga, Microsoft today called for broad change in how the United States Government and its intelligence agencies operate, and what they collect.

Microsoft is not alone among technology companies in calling for reform. Its blog post today, however, is interesting given its breadth and specificity.

The company wants the government to end bulk collection of phone records in the United States, and states the USA FREEDOM Act should be “strengthened to prohibit” the “bulk collection of Internet data.” Also, the FISA Court needs to be reformed, in its view, to increase transparency and also to “introduce the adversarial process that is the hallmark of a fair judicial system.”

Microsoft Calls On US Gov. To End Bulk NSA Data Collection | TechCrunch.

The Top 5 Claims That Defenders of the NSA Have to Stop Making to Remain Credible

Over the past year, as the Snowden revelations have rolled out, the government and its apologists have developed a set of talking points about mass spying that the public has now heard over and over again. From the President, to Hilary Clinton to Rep. Mike Rogers, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and many others, the arguments are often eerily similar.

But as we approach the one year anniversary, it’s time to call out the key claims that have been thoroughly debunked and insist that the NSA apologists retire them. 

So if you hear any one of these in the future, you can tell yourself straight up: “this person isn’t credible,” and look elsewhere for current information about the NSA spying. And if these are still in your talking points (you know who you are) it’s time to retire them if you want to remain credible. And next time, the talking points should stand the test of time.

The Top 5 Claims That Defenders of the NSA Have to Stop Making to Remain Credible | Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Court Documents Confirm NSA Surveillance of Americans Solely on Bush's Orders

Benjamin Franklin warned that he who sacrifices freedom to get security deserves neither.

We’re seeing the wisdom in his words in post 9-11 America with laws that have weakened or simply ignored constitutionally protected freedoms.  In the name of national security, Congress passed the Patriot Act, and several other laws to weaken many of our rights under the Constitution.  Also during that period, the Bush Administration authorized the NSA to collect data on millions of Americans.  This was done solely on George W. Bush’s orders and for some time before a FISA court judge allowed the data collection in 2004.  Of course, we didn’t find out about that ruling until it was made public in November 2013.

Court Documents Confirm NSA Surveillance of Americans Solely on Bush's Orders.

Edward Snowden Censored 9/11 Segment - " Had All Info Needed To Detect Plot "

NSA is collecting millions of photographs daily for facial recognition program

Time to drive a stake thru the heart of this beast!!!

The NSA isn't limiting itself to telephone metadata and email communications. The agency is building a massive database of photos as part of a facial recognition projection to track and identify targets, reports The New York Times. Millions of images are collected per day, according to documents obtained by Edward Snowden, with some 55,000 of "facial recognition quality."

One presentation explaining the program says "It’s not just the traditional communications we’re after: It’s taking a full-arsenal approach that digitally exploits the clues a target leaves behind in their regular activities on the net to compile biographic and biometric information" to "implement precision targeting." Images are likely harvested from social media sites such as Facebook as well as from private communications captured by the NSA. But the latter would require court approval if domestic communications were targeted. 

NSA is collecting millions of photographs daily for facial recognition program | The Verge.