Archive for the 'Dictatorship' Category
Hundreds Dead in Apparent Chemical Weapons Attack in Syria
August 21st, 2013Via: BBC: Chemical weapons attacks have killed hundreds on the outskirts of Damascus, Syrian opposition activists say. Rockets with toxic agents were launched at the suburbs of the Ghouta region early on Wednesday as part of a major bombardment on rebel forces, they say. State-run news agency Sana said the claims were “baseless” and an […]
Government Issued Credentials For Use Online
August 21st, 2013Via: Forbes: The Federal Cloud Credential Exchange (FCXX) is designed to enable individuals to securely access online services —such as health benefits, student loan information, and retirement benefit information—at multiple federal agencies without the need to use a different password or other digital identification for each service. The first federal agency to use it will […]
The NSA: ‘The Abyss from Which There Is No Return’
August 21st, 2013Via: Rutherford Institute: “The National Security Agency’s capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter. There would be no place to hide. If a dictator ever took over, the N.S.A. […]
What NSA Transparency Looks Like: Redacted
August 21st, 2013Via: ProPublica: Last week, the Washington Post published an internal audit finding the NSA had violated privacy rules thousands of times in recent years. In response, the spy agency held a rare conference call for the press maintaining that the violations are “not willful” and “not malicious.” It’s difficult to fully evaluate the NSA’s track […]
The Department of Homeland Security Testing Crowd-Scanning Project Called the Biometric Optical Surveillance System
August 21st, 2013Via: New York Times: The federal government is making progress on developing a surveillance system that would pair computers with video cameras to scan crowds and automatically identify people by their faces, according to newly disclosed documents and interviews with researchers working on the project. The Department of Homeland Security tested a crowd-scanning project called […]
Groklaw Legal Site Shuts Over Fears of NSA Email Snooping
August 20th, 2013Via: Guardian: The award-winning legal analysis site Groklaw is shutting because its founder says that “there is no way” to continue to run it without using secure email – and that the threat of NSA spying means that could be compromised. “There is now no shield from forced exposure,” writes the site’s founder, Pamela Jones, […]
Obama Administration Asks Supreme Court to Allow Warrantless Cellphone Searches
August 20th, 2013Via: Washington Post: If the police arrest you, do they need a warrant to rifle through your cellphone? Courts have been split on the question. Last week the Obama administration asked the Supreme Court to resolve the issue and rule that the Fourth Amendment allows warrantless cellphone searches.
CIA Admits It Was Behind Iran’s Coup
August 19th, 2013If there’s a bigger snoozer posted on Cryptogon, I don’t know what it is. What the casual reader may not know about, however, and what the piece below doesn’t mention, is SAVAK: SAVAK (Persian: ?????, short for ?????? ??????? ? ????? ???? S?zem?n-e Ettel?’?t va Amniyat-e Keshvar, Organization of Intelligence and National Security) was the […]
Militants Execute at Least 25 Policemen in Northern Sinai
August 19th, 2013Via: Independent: Bloody violence has continued today as Egyptian security officials say suspected militants have ambushed two police minibuses in northern Sinai, firing rocket-propelled grenades at the vehicles. The attack is believed to have been carried out as the two vehicles were driving through a village near the border town of Rafah in the volatile […]
Egyptian Government Admits Killing Islamists in Custody
August 19th, 2013Via: Globe and Mail: The Egyptian government acknowledged that its security forces killed 36 Islamists in its custody Sunday, as the military leaders and the country’s Islamists vowed to keep up their fight over Egypt’s future. The news of the deaths came on a day in which there appeared to be a pause in the […]
