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+13 +2
The NSA had considered ceasing mass surveillance before Snowden
NSA considered dropping its local mass surveillance practices before Edward Snowden made his revelations, but decided that perhaps this was not the best idea. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Us spectators can see why it might have a been a good idea for the NSA to cancel that controversial programme back then, and perhaps the NSA can too. It would still have been controversial, but it might have been far less controversial and the NSA might not quite be as damned as it is today.
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+14 +2
TSA Checklist Exposed: "Suspicious Signs" Include Throat Clearing, Whistling & "Exaggerated Yawning"
Next time you are at an airport, you may not want to gaze down at your feet. But also be careful not to stare at anyone with your eyes wide open. Both of these behaviors are listed on a "suspicious signs" checklist used by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. The Intercept obtained the confidential document from a source concerned about the quality of the program. The document shows how the TSA identifies potential terrorists based on behaviors that it thinks...
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+12 +4
Did Authorizing Torture Make the National Security Council an Agency Subject to FOIA?
Almost 3 years ago, I discovered that the judge in the ACLU torture FOIA, Alvin Hellerstein (who recently ordered the Administration to release images from torture), was trying to force the Administration to declassify a phrase making it clear torture had been authorized by the September 17, 2001 “Gloves Come Off” Memorandum...
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+10 +2
Many FBI Agents Find Racial Profiling Useless, But Those Up Top Feel It's Just A Failure To Get Everyone On Board
The recently-released 9/11 Commission's review of FBI tactics in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks seems to suggest the agency should perform even more racial profiling than it already does. As Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake points out...
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+13 +3
Federal judge denies FOIA request for secret CIA document
The classified document was at the center of the CIA's snooping on Senate files.
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+10 +3
Why ‘The Nation’ Is Suing the Federal Government
The NSA is monitoring almost all of our international communications. This is a fundamental violation of First and Fourth Amendment rights....
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+9 +3
How a Case of Stolen Corn Seeds Shows the Problem with the FISA Court
As collateral challenges to the mass surveillance programs disclosed by Edward Snowden like US v. Moalin, US v. Muhtorov, and US v. Mohamud are winding their way through the courts, a lower-profile case — U.S. v. Hailong — is raising the issue of whether a Chinese company’s plot to steal corn seed warrants the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
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+8 +3
A year after firestorm, DHS wants access to license-plate tracking system
Officials say they have sought to address concerns raised by civil liberties advocates and lawmakers. By Ellen Nakashima
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+18 +3
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Government Surveillance (HBO)
There are very few government checks on what America’s sweeping surveillance programs are capable of doing. John Oliver sits down with Edward Snowden to discuss the NSA, the balance between privacy and security, and dick-pics.
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+15 +4
Snowden Explains How The Government Can Get Your 'Dick Pic'
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden sat down for an interview with comedian John Oliver nearly two years after he leaked classified documents about U.S. government surveillance programs and fled to Russia to escape prosecution.
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+8 +1
CanTheySeeMyDick.com is a surprisingly informative website about the NSA
Yes, John Oliver sat down with Edward Snowden in Russia to talk about dick pics (among other topics), but even if that moment seemed farcical, it's actually very educational in that it guides people through the functions of various surveillance programs within the (presumably) relatable context of sending photos of your genitals over the internet.
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+16 +5
Why security pros don't like Obama's proposal for antihacking law
The tech community has long called for reforming the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for its overly broad language. But now many worry a White House plan to toughen the law will have a chilling effect on work to expose software weaknesses.
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+12 +5
‘This is the wrong guy’: Former spy reveals CIA debate over arrest, torture of Maher Arar
Ex-CIA agent John Kiriakou expressed disgust with his country’s role in sending Canadian to be tortured in Syria
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+17 +3
U.S. secretly tracked billions of calls for decades
A Justice Department operation started keeping logs of Americans' international phone calls in 1992 and became a template for far broader phone surveillance after the Sept. 11 attacks.
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+14 +4
NY Cops Used 'Stingray' Spy Tool 46 Times Without Warrant
In the single case in which police sought permission from a court, they asked for a court order rather than a warrant, which carries a lower burden of proof.
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+12 +3
NSA Has a Special Room to Find Terrorist Memos Hidden in Porn
If you’re working for the National Security Agency, watching hours of hardcore porno can be just another day at work. So much so, there’s even a special porn room in which to protect national security, where agents look past boobs for clues in the glut of smut. NSA agents analyze the pornography that terrorists and suspected radicals watch, since embedding hidden, encrypted messages in porn clips is a known tactic.
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+14 +4
Government Keeps Its Eyes on the Road with Invasive License Plate Reader Program
On April 2, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) that describes how the DHS Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – including ICE’s primary investigative offices, Enforcement and Removal Operations and Homeland Security Investigations – will find the present and past location of drivers by accessing a massive private database of vehicle location information.
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+15 +3
U.S. Government Tracked Billions of American Phone Calls "Before 9/11"
The U.S. government started keeping secret records of Americans’ international telephone calls nearly a decade before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, harvesting billions of calls in a program that provided a blueprint for the far broader National Security Agency surveillance that followed. For more than two decades, the Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration amassed logs of virtually all telephone calls from the USA to as many as 116 countries...
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+13 +1
Congress must end mass NSA surveillance with next Patriot Act vote
In less than 60 days, Congress - whether they like it or not - will be forced to decide if the NSA’s most notorious mass surveillance program lives or dies. And today, over 30 civil liberties organizations launched a nationwide call-in campaign urging them to kill it. Despite doing almost everything in their power to avoid voting for substantive NSA reform, Congress now has no choice...
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+15 +4
The US Gov Can Download the Entire Contents of Your Computer at Border Crossings
Hundreds of thousands of travelers cross US borders every day. And none of them—save the precious few with diplomatic immunity—have any right to privacy, according to Department of Homeland Security documents recently obtained by MuckRock. The US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Privacy Impact Assessment for the Border Searches of Electronic Devices outlines the finer points of border officials’ authority to search the electronic devices of...
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