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Peruvian Lily. Photo by: joanneleon. May, 2013.
Peruvian Lily. Photo by: joanneleon. May, 2013.
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Big Brother - David Bowie
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Facebook and Google insist they did not know of Prism surveillance program
Larry Page and Mark Zuckerberg sharply deny knowledge of Prism until Thursday even as Obama confirms program's existence
America's tech giants continued to deny any knowledge of a giant government surveillance programme called Prism, even as president Barack Obama confirmed the scheme's existence Friday.
With their credibility about privacy issues in sharp focus, all the technology companies said to be involved in the program issued remarkably similar statements.
All said they did not allow the government "direct access" to their systems, all said they had never heard of the Prism program, and all called for greater transparency.
Who’s helping the NSA? A Look at Palantir
In the wake of the amazing stories from The Guardian and the Washington Post on the expansion of NSA surveillance, I’ve been tweeting links to stories and websites on the contractors who help the world’s largest spying agency analyze all the data (and megadata) it obtains from phone and Internet companies.
The companies do admit to "specific data in response to individual court orders". Well, the one FISA court order that we
have seen orders Verizon to basically give them everything. I don't know if the same is true of FISA orders presented to the 9 tech companies who have been cooperating, according to whistleblower reports. I think it is clear that they are not telling the truth. One commenter in a Google+ discussion that I've excerpted below says this: "But I also happen to know that under the laws drafted for these sorts of programs, participants are permitted to lie under oath and required to deny the existence of them...So a denial from +Larry Page (whom I admire greatly by the way) is not particularly helpful."
Tech Companies Concede to Surveillance Program
The negotiations shed a light on how Internet companies, increasingly at the center of people’s personal lives, interact with the spy agencies that look to their vast trove of information — e-mails, videos, online chats, photos and search queries — for intelligence. They illustrate how intricately the government and tech companies work together, and the depth of their behind-the-scenes transactions.
[...] People briefed on the discussions spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are prohibited by law from discussing the content of FISA requests or even acknowledging their existence.
In at least two cases, at Google and Facebook, one of the plans discussed was to build separate, secure portals, like a digital version of the secure physical rooms that have long existed for classified information, in some instances on company servers. Through these online rooms, the government would request data, companies would deposit it and the government would retrieve it, people briefed on the discussions said.
[...]
Each of the nine companies said it had no knowledge of a government program providing officials with access to its servers, and drew a bright line between giving the government wholesale access to its servers to collect user data and giving them specific data in response to individual court orders. Each said it did not provide the government with full, indiscriminate access to its servers.
This is a post on Google_ by Google's chief architect. There are some interesting questions and answers. When someone brings up the NYT article above, Yunger says this: "The NYT article touches on a number of things which I can't comment about, but I'll say that in every such matter that I'm familiar with, ethical standards were upheld which I would not feel embarrassed about in the least if the entire details were to be made public."
Yonatan Zunger
I have a tremendous number of thoughts about the various revelations about the NSA's domestic espionage programs revealed this week. But first and foremost, I wanted to share this message from +Larry Page and our Chief Legal Officer +David Drummond. Google had no involvement in the PRISM program and the first we heard of it was when Greenwald's article hit the press.
I'm not sure what the details of this PRISM program are, but I can tell you that the only way in which Google reveals information about users are when we receive lawful, specific orders about individuals -- things like search warrants. And we continue to stand firm against any attempts to do so broadly or without genuine, individualized suspicion, and publicize the results as much as possible in our Transparency Report. Having seen much of the internals of how we do this, I can tell you that it is a point of pride, both for the company and for many of us, personally, that we stand up to governments that demand people's information.
Charles Blow in the NYT.
Of Slippery Slopes
For instance, in January 2002 Gallup found that the percentage of people who said that “the government should take steps to prevent additional acts of terrorism but not if those steps would violate your basic civil liberties” (49 percent) [...] By 2011, only 25 percent of those polled were willing to have their civil liberties violated while 71 percent were not.
More recently, following the Boston bombings, there was bit of a relapse; a CNN/Time/ORC International survey found that 40 percent of respondents were willing to give up civil liberties to fight terrorism.
Still, people were more sensitive about the monitoring of cellphone activity and e-mails.
CNN’s polling director, Keating Holland, said this week that after 9/11, “54 percent of Americans favored expanded government monitoring of cellphones and e-mail. Now, the message is ‘hands off.’ ” He continued, “Only 38 percent said they favor expanding government monitoring of those forms of communication.”
And yet, that appears to be exactly what the government is doing.
'Reprehensible, Reckless, Illegal': Washington Officials Slam Heroic NSA Surveillance Leaker
Calls to punish the whistleblower follow exposure of sweeping surveillance program
"Reprehensible." "Reckless." "Illegal."
These are the adjectives some officials in Washington are using to describe not the sweeping surveillance of Americans by the NSA revealed this week, but letting Americans know that such surveillance exists.
He does welcome the debate but he doesn't welcome leaks? There would be no debate if there had not been a leak. Well there might have been a platitudes level debate and a whole lot of lies. Amazing that he used the word "welcome" about both the debate following the leaks, and in the negative about the leaks themselves. Make up your mind, dude. Maybe the two statements were directed at two different target audience and he was telling each one what they he thought they wanted to hear. Or since it wasn't a prepared speech, maybe he was off message. Or maybe he lies so much that he can't keep things straight.
Obama Defends NSA Programs, Says Congress Knew About Surveillance
He also argued that some have overstated the impact of the programs. "Some of the hype we've been hearing over the past day or so -- nobody has listened to the content of people's phone calls," he said.
"I welcome this debate and I think it's healthy for our democracy," he continued. "I think it's a sign of maturity, because probably five years ago, six years ago, we might not have been having this debate."
Obama portrayed the programs as a trade-off between security and civil liberties. "I think it's important to recognize that you can't have 100 percent security, and also then have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience. We're going to have to make some choices as a society," he said.
He also expressed his displeasure that the domestic spying programs' existence was leaked to the press. "I don't welcome leaks," he said. "There's a reason these programs are classified."
Glenn.
On Whistleblowers and Government Threats of Investigation
No healthy democracy can endure when the most consequential acts of those in power remain secret and unaccountable
[...] I'm Looking Forward to future revelations that are coming (and coming shortly), not Looking Backward to ones that have already come.
But I do want to make two points. One is about whistleblowers, and the other is about threats of investigations emanating from Washington:
1) Ever since the Nixon administration broke into the office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychoanalyst's office, the tactic of the US government has been to attack and demonize whistleblowers as a means of distracting attention from their own exposed wrongdoing and destroying the credibility of the messenger so that everyone tunes out the message. That attempt will undoubtedly be made here.
[...] please just spend a moment considering the options available to someone with access to numerous Top Secret documents.
They could easily enrich themselves by selling those documents for huge sums of money to foreign intelligence services. They could seek to harm the US government by acting at the direction of a foreign adversary and covertly pass those secrets to them. They could gratuitously expose the identity of covert agents.
None of the whistleblowers persecuted by the Obama administration as part of its unprecedented attack on whistleblowers has done any of that: not one of them. Nor have those who are responsible for these current disclosures.
The whistleblower, referred to as "he" when talking about him, expects to be exposed and prosecuted. So basically, he is expecting that he'll give up his life for this, which is also what Bradley Manning knew might happen. I think it's very telling right now, who considers them to be patriots and who considers them to be reprehensible traitors. I think that a big bright line is being drawn. I'm not sure what to think of those who remain silent, those who say "meh this has been going on for years, what's the big deal" or try to distract. Maybe they will come around, maybe not. There is a video interview here at this WaPo link. Josh Marshall is publishing the same video.
NSA leak: Source believes exposure, consequences inevitable
The U.S. goverment is accessing top Internet companies’ servers to track foreign targets. Reporter Barton Gellman talks about the source who revealed this top-secret information and how he believes his whistleblowing was worth whatever consequences are ahead.
An oldie but goodie. Remember this? It's been interesting to read comment sections of various articles. When Glenn's name is mentioned, sometimes there is a grudging respect shown, but more often, from what I have observed, the commenter takes a shot at Glenn if they mention him at all. These are sprinkled all through the comments on various sites. I guess most of it is organic, but I can't help but remember the leaked power point presentation by govt. contractors, in concert with a DC law firm and the Chamber of Commerce, with a plan to target and discredit him.
HBGary CEO Also Suggested Tracking, Intimidating WikiLeaks' Donors
The emails also show that it was Barr who suggested pressuring Salon.com journalist Glenn Greenwald, though Palantir, another firm working with HBGary Federal, quickly accepted that suggestion and added it to the PowerPoint presentation that the group was assembling.
HBGary Federal, Palantir, and a third security firm, Berico Technologies, were recruited by the law firm Hunton & Williams to prepare a proposal for Bank of America, which is rumored to be the subject of an upcoming megaleak of sensitive documents from WikiLeaks. The firms also did work on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to research its critics that would help to “discredit” and “shame” them.
Palantir and Berico have both said in statements that they’ve cut ties with HBGary Federal and wouldn’t participate in the strong-arm tactics represented in the leaked emails. The hacked firm itself has argued on its website that the posted documents were “falsified.” The company didn’t respond to a request for comment Monday.
The drumbeat continues. No mention of the atrocities caused by religious extremist militias (majority not Syrian) fighting a proxy war for other powers who intend to remake the Middle East. Joan of Arc Samantha Power will make good use of Pillay's report to advocate for bombing Syria and overthrowing their government, no doubt.
Navi Pillay: UN has proof Assad is directly orchestrating murder and atrocities
The United Nations has evidence that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria is directly orchestrating atrocities against his opponents, according to a senior official.
Navi Pillay, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told The Daily Telegraph that Mr Assad was deeply implicated in the growing toll of atrocities in Syria as she warned he must not be permitted to “trade justice for peace” in any future negotiations.
Investigators working for the UN teams, including a specialist commission of inquiry to track fighting in Syria, had no doubt that Mr Assad was personally involved in orders issued to the army, and controlled its vicious sectarian allies, the Shabiha militias, she said.
[...]
Reports on Mr Assad’s role have been drawn from inside the regime, from survivors’ accounts and from intelligence handed to the UN from outside the country.
Keystone XL isn’t even built yet and already it’s faulty
Property owners who watched with disgust and fear as TransCanada contractors ripped up their land to lay the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline are being treated to a repeat performance.
The pipeline isn’t even in service yet, but already TransCanada is digging up stretches of faulty piping and replacing them, raising fresh safety fears. The pipeline is intended to link up with the Keystone XL northern leg — which is still waiting for approval from the Obama administration — and then carry tar-sands oil down to refineries in Texas.
Action
Crowd-Fund a Court Stenographer for Bradley Manning's Trial
The trial of Bradley Manning will have an enormous impact on press freedom and the rights of future whistleblowers. Help us crowd-fund enough donations so we can hire a court stenographer to take transcripts of the trial. The government refuses to make its transcripts available to the public.
Your donation to this project will be tax-deductible. You can also donate by check.
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