Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
Virginia Police Have Been Secretively Stockpiling Private Phone Records
October 20th, 2014Via: Wired: While revelations from Edward Snowden about the National Security Agency’s massive database of phone records have sparked a national debate about its constitutionality, another secretive database has gone largely unnoticed and without scrutiny. The database, which affects unknown numbers of people, contains phone records that at least five police agencies in southeast Virginia […]
NSA Core Secrets: “Exceptionally Compartmented Information,” or ECI
October 11th, 2014Via: First Look: The National Security Agency has had agents in China, Germany, and South Korea working on programs that use “physical subversion” to infiltrate and compromise networks and devices, according to documents obtained by The Intercept. The documents, leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, also indicate that the agency has used “under cover” operatives […]
Documentary Film Claims That There Is Another NSA Leaker with Higher Rank Than Snowden
October 11th, 2014Via: The Hollywood Reporter: A second National Security Agency whistleblower exists within the ranks of government intelligence. That bombshell comes toward the end of Citizenfour, a new documentary from filmmaker Laura Poitras about NSA informant Edward Snowden that had its world premiere on Friday at the New York Film Festival. In the key scene, journalist […]
New Docs Show How Reagan-Era Executive Order Unbounded NSA
October 1st, 2014Via: Ars Technica: A set of newly declassified documents shows definitively and explicitly that the United States intelligence community relies heavily on what is effectively unchecked presidential authority to conduct surveillance operations, as manifested through the Reagan-era Executive Order (EO) 12333. And at a more basic level, the new documents illustrate that the government is […]
California Governor Vetoes Bill Limiting Drone Surveillance
September 30th, 2014Via: CBS: Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed a bill that would have placed strict limits on law enforcement agencies using unmanned aerial drones for surveillance. The governor’s office announced that the bill was one of more than a dozen pieces of legislation he vetoed Sunday. AB1327 by Republican Assemblyman Jeff Gorrell of Camarillo would have […]
Los Angeles County Planning Massive Biometric Database
September 30th, 2014Via: KPCC: Without notice to the public, Los Angeles County law enforcement officials are preparing to widen what personal information they collect from people they encounter in the field and in jail – by building a massive database of iris scans, fingerprints, mug shots, palm prints and, potentially, voice recordings. The new database of personal […]
Unmasking the Five Eyes’ Global Surveillance Practices
September 29th, 2014Via: GIS Watch: The Five Eyes alliance – comprised of the United States National Security Agency (NSA), the United Kingdom’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Canada’s Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC), the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), and New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) – is the continuation of an intelligence partnership formed in the aftermath […]
Argentina Uses Drones to Spot Wealthy Tax Cheats
September 26th, 2014Via: AP: Argentine tax evaders beware: The government is using a drone to spot you. The Buenos Aires province’s tax agency said Wednesday that it has used drones to identify some 200 mansions and about 100 swimming pools that haven’t been declared by their owners.
Bash Bug May Pose Bigger Threat Than Heartbleed
September 26th, 2014Unbelievable. Via: Reuters: A newly discovered security bug in a widely used piece of Linux software, known as “Bash,” could pose a bigger threat to computer users than the “Heartbleed” bug that surfaced in April, cyber experts warned on Wednesday. Bash is the software used to control the command prompt on many Unix computers. Hackers […]
Entire Australian Web to be Monitored and Whistleblowers to be Jailed
September 25th, 2014In terms of the surveillance side of this, I guess that they want to be able to have a legal framework for what has been going on for decades. Via: Sydney Morning Herald: Australian spies will soon have the power to monitor the entire Australian internet with just one warrant, and journalists and whistleblowers will […]
