Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
UK Government Quietly Rewrites Hacking Laws to Give GCHQ Immunity
May 17th, 2015Via: ArsTechnica: The UK government has quietly passed new legislation that exempts GCHQ, police, and other intelligence officers from prosecution for hacking into computers and mobile phones. While major or controversial legislative changes usually go through normal parliamentary process (i.e. democratic debate) before being passed into law, in this case an amendment to the Computer […]
Many of the NSA’s Loudest Defenders Have Financial Ties to NSA Contractors
May 14th, 2015Via: FirstLook: The talking heads have been backstopping the NSA’s mass surveillance more or less continuously since it was revealed. They spoke out to support the agency when NSA contractor Edward Snowden released details of its programs in 2013, and they’ve kept up their advocacy ever since — on television news shows, newspaper op-ed pages, […]
“You Make It, We’ll Take It”: DEA Took a Young Man’s Life Savings Without Ever Charging Him with a Crime
May 12th, 2015Via: Washington Post: Joseph Rivers was hoping to hit it big. According to the Albuquerque Journal, the aspiring businessman from just outside of Detroit had pulled together $16,000 in seed money to fulfill a lifetime dream of starting a music video company. Last month, Rivers took the first step in that voyage, saying goodbye to […]
Your Cyberpunk Games Are Dangerous
May 10th, 2015Via: BoingBoing: How roleplaying games and fantasy fiction confounded the FBI, confronted the law, and led to a more open web.
Congress Tells Court That Congress Can’t Be Investigated for Insider Trading
May 8th, 2015Via: First Look: In a little-noticed brief filed last summer, lawyers for the House of Representatives claimed that an SEC investigation of congressional insider trading should be blocked on principle, because lawmakers and their staff are constitutionally protected from such inquiries given the nature of their work. The legal team led by Kerry W. Kircher, […]
Americans Living Abroad Set Record for Giving Up Citizenship
May 7th, 2015Via: Bloomberg: More Americans living outside the U.S. gave up their citizenship in the first quarter of 2015 than ever before, according to data released Thursday by the IRS. The 1,335 expatriations topped the previous record by 18 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Those Americans are driven to turn in their passports in […]
The Supreme Court Stole Your Right to Check the Feds Power
April 27th, 2015Via: The Truth About the Law: What do you call a situation where the law is ignored? Tyranny. What about where the law is turned on its head? Fraud. What about where the government steals the rights of the people to expand its own powers? Corruption. … And so is your “right to petition the […]
China: Social Credit System
April 27th, 2015Via: de Volkskrant: The Chinese government is currently implementing a nationwide electronic system, called the Social Credit System, attributing to each of its 1,3 billion citizens a score for his or her behavior. The system will be based on various criteria, ranging from financial credibility and criminal record to social media behavior. From 2020 onwards […]
U.S. Troops in Ukraine
April 26th, 2015Via: Reuters: As the crisis in Ukraine drags on, U.S.-Russia relations continue to deteriorate. The United States has just taken a step that risks bringing that relationship to a new low. As part of its effort to support Ukraine, the U.S. military recently sent 290 troops from the 173rd Airborne Brigade based in Vicenza, Italy, […]
And Now… “How Tor Is Building a New Dark Net with Help from the U.S. Military”
April 22nd, 2015You betcha. Via: TheDailyDot: To stay ahead in the security race, Tor is building the next-generation Dark Net in part with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the U.S. military agency charged with inventing the cutting edge of new technology. The funding, which began in 2014, comes as part of DARPA’s Memex project, […]
