Clipmarks | blueridge's 'surveillance' clips

FBI Illegally Obtained Reporters Phone Records

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 04:12:56 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: by playing the "terrorism" card.

The question now is, what was going on in Indonesia (where the reporters were) that made them desperate to violate the law in order to do some surveillance? (What did they fear the reporters might be on to?) Reporters should now do some research to answer the question and they would have an important story.

Indonesia is a highly Islamic area targetted for change on the "Pentagon's New Map", and where the Tsunami took place.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

F.B.I. Says It Obtained Reporters’ Phone Records

WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Friday that it had improperly obtained the phone records of reporters for The New York Times and The Washington Post in the newspapers’ Indonesia bureaus in 2004.

Robert S. Mueller III, director of the F.B.I., disclosed the episode in a phone call to Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times, and apologized for it. He also spoke with Leonard Downie Jr., the executive editor of The Washington Post, to apologize.

F.B.I. officials said the incident came to light as part of the continuing review by the Justice Department inspector general’s office into the bureau’s improper collection of telephone records through “emergency” records demands issued to phone providers.

the records of two reporters for The Times in Indonesia, Raymond Bonner and Jane Perlez, as well as two reporters there for The Post, Ellen Nakashima and Natasha Tampubolon, officials said

Tags: fbi, phone records, spying, surveillance, reporters

The Secrecy of the Feds Cyber Security Program

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:29:43 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Homeland Security is Homeland Secrecy, for this anti-constitutional agency that is. You are not permitted any privacy about you under this new government. CNet tried to find facts about this internet security program but was thwarted.

The more secret a government is the less it is a government by and for the people.

Clip Source: news.cnet.com

DHS stays mum on new 'Cyber Security' center

The Bush administration's newly created National Cyber Security Center remains shrouded in secrecy, with officials refusing to release information about its budget, what contractors will run it, and how its mission relates to Internet surveillance.

In correspondence with the U.S. Senate posted on Thursday, the Bush administration said it would not provide that information publicly. An 18-page, partially redacted letter from DHS said that disclosure could affect "the conduct of federal programs, or other programs or operations essential to the interests of our nation."

The censored letter--a nonredacted, "For Official Use Only" version was provided to senators--came in response to queries from the top Democratic and Republican members of the Senate's Homeland Security committee.

Oddly, DHS seemed to change its mind about whether even the mere existence of the National Cyber Security Center was classified or not.

Tags: internet, cyber security, homeland security

"My First-Hand Experience with Gov't Spies"

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:21:41 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: America's new government, including the states, in action:

Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act and the ACLU, we now know that "Lucy" was only one part of a vast, insidious project. The Maryland State Police's Department of Homeland Security devoted near 300 hours and thousands of taxpayer dollars from 2005 and 2006 to harassing people whose only crime was dissenting on the question of the war in Iraq and Maryland's use of death row.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Opinion
COINTELPRO Comes to My Town: My First-Hand Experience With Government Spies

I have been a target of state police surveillance for activities -- in my case against the death penalty -- that were legal, non-violent, and, so we assumed, constitutionally protected. In classified reports compiled by the Maryland State Police and the Department of Homeland Security, I am "Dave Z." This nickname was given by an undercover agent known to us as "Lucy." She sat in our meetings of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, smiling and engaged, taking copious notes about actions deemed threatening by the Governor of Maryland, Robert Ehrlich. Our seditious crimes, as Lucy reported, involved such acts as planning to set up a table at the local farmer's market and writing up a petition. Adding a dash of farce to this outrage, she was monitoring us in the liberal enclave of Takoma Park, Maryland, a place known more for vegans than violence, more for tie-dying than terrorism.

Tags: homeland security, surveillance, terrorism, war, constitution

Homeland Security Merchandisers Go to China

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:00:43 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Note: Communist, fascist governments like the same technology being setup in America! Kaa-chiiing! Selling out liberty is highly profitable and driving the agenda more.

Note the sales pitches and methodology to establish tyranny by identifying it with patriotic labels, just more proof that there is a global conspiracy to increase strength of governments against their people invoking the (microscopic) threat of "terrorism":

The surveillance experiment is part of the heroically named Golden Shield Project (Patriot Act, anyone?) which also gave birth to another of our favorite censorship models the Great Firewall.

Clip Source: shanghaiist.com

Big Brother arrives (with a little help from the US)

With the help of U.S. defense contractors, an estimated 2 million closed circuit tv-cameras or CCTVs for short (oh the irony) will be installed over the next three years in Shenzhen. The surveillance experiment is part of the heroically named Golden Shield Project (Patriot Act, anyone?) which also gave birth to another of our favorite censorship models the Great Firewall.

Considering the U.S. of A's recent track record of "homeland security" measures, it should come as little surprise that a large part of the funding for this system of high-tech control comes from global corporations, "American giants like IBM, Honeywell and General Electric." And why not? In China, control equals stability equals return on investment. Kaaaa-ching.

Regardless of whether or not the cameras are actually being monitored (or even turned on), one thing is certain, digital surveillance suppliers are banking in the global anti-terrorism boom.

Tags: surveillance, patriot act, homeland security, china

Obama and McCain Both Changing Now

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:39:45 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: The Maverick is not and the "Change" candidate is shifting. Politicians are like Chameleons, changing color depending their context to fit in. Trustworthiness and forthrightness are not to be found, and considered detrimental to obtaining power, ironically, when most Americans want to reverse the present course without question, instead of simply tailoring and amending it.

Don't think the BBC article is correct about McCain however, he is shifting left, distancing from Bush, since republicans are left without an alternative (except for increasing third party candidates).

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

US candidates practise their U-turns

In order to pass their political driving test, successful politicians need to be masters of one tricky manoeuvre in particular - the U-turn.

The contenders in this year's US presidential election are no exceptions - both John McCain and Barack Obama have engaged in some nifty repositioning.

Here are some examples.

JOHN MCCAIN

Immigration

Christian right

Interrogation rules

Guantanamo

Oil drilling

BARACK OBAMA

Campaign finance

Surveillance programme

Gun control

Iraq

Free trade

Mr McCain's U-turns have mostly increased his appeal to the Republican Party's base, placing him on a rightward trajectory.

Barack Obama has been performing a more traditional manoeuvre: running to the left during the primaries, when party activists need to be wooed, then shifting to the centre once the nomination is clinched.

Flip-flopping politicians will always attract charges of hypocrisy and opportunism:

Tags: mccain, obama, 2008 candidates

Book Review: ID Crisis, The Abuse and Tyranny of ID

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:34:46 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Give your Congressmen, governor, and state legislators a gift to restore sanity and liberty against REAL ID and the increasing total surveillance society. Remember the security merchandisers are lobbying them all everyday, selling their products at the expense of your liberty. This, along with the Constitution, is your ammo to fight back. Educate them with hard facts that refutes the effectiveness of ID methods as a means increasing security.

Harper is the leading expert on countering ID propaganda.

Clip Source: www.amazon.com

Identity Crisis: How Identification is Overused and Misunderstood (Paperback)

The advance of identification technology biometrics, identity cards, surveillance, databases, dossiers threatens privacy, civil liberties, and related human interests. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, demands for identification in the name of security have increased. In this insightful book, Jim Harper takes readers inside identification a process everyone uses every day but few people have ever thought about.

Harper dissects identification processes and technologies, showing how identification works when it works and how it fails when it fails. Harper exposes the myth that identification can protect against future terrorist attacks. He shows that a U.S. national identification card, created by Congress in the REAL ID Act, is a poor way to secure the country or its citizens.

that transfer threatens liberty, enables identity fraud, and subjects people to unwanted surveillance.

Tags: surveillance, police state, privacy, constitution, real id

Lawsuit to Counter Spy Bill Promised

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:25:52 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: The constitution is supreme law over all legislation, period. ACLU promises a needed legal challenge. No tyranny permitted even if legislated.

A legislative act, contrary to the Constitution, is not law.--Supreme Court Justice John Marshall
Clip Source: www.aclu.org

Senate Passes Unconstitutional Spying Bill And Grants Sweeping Immunity To Phone Companies
ACLU Announces Legal Challenge To Follow President’s Signature
WASHINGTON – Today, in a blatant assault upon civil liberties and the right to privacy, the Senate passed an unconstitutional domestic spying bill that violates the Fourth Amendment and eliminates any meaningful role for judicial oversight of government surveillance. The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 was approved by a vote of 69 to 28 and is expected to be signed into law by President Bush shortly. This bill essentially legalizes the president’s unlawful warrantless wiretapping program revealed in December 2005 by the New York Times.
“Once again, Congress blinked and succumbed to the president’s fear-mongering. With today’s vote, the government has been given a green light to expand its power to spy on Americans and run roughshod over the Constitution,” said Anthony D. Romero
This fight is not over.

Tags: constitution, domestic spying, surveillance, spy bill

Senators Votes on Telecom/Spy Bill--Obama, Clinton, McCain

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:18:48 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Clinton, Nay; Obama, Yea; McCain, No Vote! See more traitors and defenders of the Constitution here.

Clip Source: senate.gov

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 110^th Congress - 2^nd Session

as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate

Vote Summary

Question: On Passage of the Bill (H.R. 6304 )
Vote Number:	168	Vote Date:	July 9, 2008, 02:47 PM
Required For Majority:	1/2	Vote Result:	Bill Passed
Measure Number:	H.R. 6304 (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 )
Measure Title:	A bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to establish a procedure for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence, and for other purposes.

Vote Counts:	YEAs	69
	NAYs	28
	Not Voting	3

Byrd (D-WV), Nay

Clinton (D-NY), Nay

Leahy (D-VT), Nay

McCain (R-AZ), Not Voting

Webb (D-VA), Yea

Obama (D-IL), Yea

Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea

Feinstein (D-CA), Yea

Kennedy (D-MA), Not Voting

Tags: domestic spying, terrorism, constitution, surveillance, congress

US Military to Patrol the Internet

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 05:46:20 GMT

clipped by: blueridge

Clip Source: www.upi.com

Analysis: U.S. military to patrol Internet

WASHINGTON, June 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. military is looking for a contractor to patrol cyberspace, watching for warning signs of forthcoming terrorist attacks or other hostile activity on the Web.

"The purpose of the services will be to identify and assess stated and implied threat, antipathy, unrest and other contextual data relating to selected Internet domains," says the solicitation.

The solicitation says the successful contractor will "analyze various Web pages, chat rooms, blogs and other Internet domains to aggregate and assess data of interest," adding, "The contractor will prioritize foreign-language domains that relate to specific areas of concern … (and) will also identify new Internet domains" that might relate to "specific local requirements" of the command.

Tags: surveillance, privacy, domestic spying

Senate Approves Telecom Immunity & Spy Bill

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:30:54 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Proof the democrats (e.g. Obama) are not safer than the neocon controlled republicans: 4th Amendment trampled, violators now immune. This is not "compromise", but capitulation.

For more indepth interview with the Telecom (AT&T) technician and whistleblower who discovered Americans were being spied on, listen to the Democracy Now interview here.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Senate Approves Telecom Immunity and New Eavesdropping Rules

Clip Source: www.capitolhillblue.com

The new FISA compromise: it's worse than you think

Telco immunity is the icing, not the cake

Specifically, the new legislation dramatically expands the government's ability to wiretap without meaningful judicial oversight, by redefining "oversight" so that the feds can drag their feet on getting authorization almost indefinitely. It also gives the feds unprecedented new latitude in selecting eavesdropping targets, latitude that could be used to collect information on non-terrorist-related activities like P2P copyright infringement and online gambling. In short, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 opens up loopholes so large that the feds could drive a truck loaded down with purloined civil liberties through it. So the telecom immunity stuff is just the smoke; let's take a look at the fire.

the legislation would grant broad, retroactive immunity to firms that participated in the president's warrantless surveillance program.

Tags: domestic spying, surveillance, constitution, privacy, war powers, bush, telecoms

Democrats Say "I Love Big Brother", Pelosi and Obama Support Spy Bill

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:08:57 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Both Pelosi and Obama support the 4th amendment trampling revised FISA bill that gives the Telecoms immunity from lawsuits, which is now before the Senate. Sen. Feingold plans to filibuster it, while as this article says Sen. Obama shows his true colors (read the last line).

Clip Source: socialistworker.org

The Democrats embrace Big Brother

Candace Cohn explains how new federal legislation on domestic surveillance gives the government sweeping new spy powers.

IT MAY be June, but Christmas came early this year for Big Brother and the telecommunications giants. Unfortunately, it is average Americans who will pay--dearly--on three separate counts.

First, precious constitutional and other legal protections against warrantless domestic surveillance have been shattered. The federal government may now secretly and legally eavesdrop on virtually any American's e-mail, cell phone and landline communications--without first getting a court-ordered warrant.

New federal legislation gives the government and phone companies sweeping new domestic surveillance powers. It allows for mass, untargeted, warrantless eavesdropping against ordinary American citizens and political activists.

Barack Obama gave fresh evidence of what can be expected of him if he wins the presidency.

Tags: obama, pelosi, congress, democrats, surveillance, fisa, spying, constitution

America Becoming Land of Surveillance

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:07:01 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Despite lack of evidence that it is effective, or evidence that proves it is not from UK studies. But the security merchandisers are making a fortune and state and local governments are impulsively spending faster than a woman with a credit card:

.P. Freeman said the domestic market for such systems last year had doubled over five years, to $9.2 billion, and estimated that it would more than double again by 2010, to more than $21 billion.

You are paying for your loss of liberty, while they profit, which is insult to injury. It's worth wondering how many government officials own stock in security companies, which would be a conflict of interest in that lawmakers also profit through authorizing this spending.

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Smile! More and more, you’re on camera

Public surveillance video mushrooms despite lack of evidence it works

Alex Johnson

Reporter

• Profile

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, local governments across the country set aside concerns over privacy and installed surveillance cameras in public streets and plazas.

Now — even after a damning report by the head of London’s extensive surveillance network and with little evidence that the systems work — police in many cities are trying to add thousands more cameras to their networks.

“‘Cameras Everywhere’ continues to be the best description of the trend in the video surveillance market,” security market analysts J.P. Freeman Co. said in a report in 2006 that estimated that a quarter of major U.S. cities were investing in the technology.

Officials in many cities are eager to take advantage of money from state and federal security agencies to install the cameras on street corners and intersections

Tags: surveillance, constitution, privacy, cctv, cameras, government spending

The UK REAL ID Program

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:08:45 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Same as the US but more blatant spying. The US REAL ID incorporates the social security number from which all financial, medical, credit and personal info can be data-mined easily. Here the UK admits open collection of a broad amount of information. The UK does not have a bill of rights and the US acts like it does not.

"Membership has its privileges" could be their slogan, without this you cannot "buy or sell".

Clip Source: news.sky.com

ID Cards 'Could Be Used To Spy On You'

UK authorities may be able to spy on people using information gathered for the planned compulsory ID card scheme, a group of MPs have warned.

Ministers say they have no plans to carry out individual surveillance using details stored on a national database.

But the Home Affairs Select Committee said it was worried about "function creep".

The multi-billion pound National Identity Scheme is due to begin this year as work gets underway on building a massive database on every person over 16 in Britain.

The committee of MPs expressed concern that the sensitive information gathered for the database could later be used for spying.

Looking at the issue of surveillance generally, the committee called on the Government to minimise the amount of information it collected and held on citizens.

Tags: uk, real id, domestic spying

Arizona Joins the Revolt, Outlaws REAL ID

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:26:55 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Next! Liberty is a threatening thing to Homeland Security. If it was really about making drivers licenses secure then the Feds would not care. But it's really about federal power and their matrix of surveillance that they want to construct that is at stake.

Clip Source: www.azcentral.com

Napolitano: Real ID a no-go in Arizona

Arizona will join roughly a dozen states that have vowed not to participate in federal plans for a uniform standard on state-issued driver's licenses and identification cards.

On Tuesday, Gov. Janet Napolitano signed a measure, House Bill 2677, barring Arizona's compliance with the Real ID program. In so doing, she called it an unfunded federal mandate that would stick states such as Arizona with a multibillion-dollar bill for the cost to develop and implement the series of new fraud-proof identification cards.

HB 2677 is a rare recent example of broad, bipartisan agreement at the state Capitol, with the Democratic governor and GOP-led Legislature finding common ground in their opposition to Real ID.

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Some of that opposition is grounded in concerns about privacy and government advancement toward a national identification card. For Napolitano, the biggest issue is related to Real ID's costs for the states.

Tags: real id, drivers license, homeland security, constitution

CCTV and Surveillance Cams Ineffective

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:09:21 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: Many UK studies have concluded same. But as with this article they always try to justify it anyway, despite the enormous cost of installing these police state grids. Let your state and local authorities know that not only do they trample the 4th amendment (treating all citizens like criminal suspects, without probable cause), but they do not deter crime or even catch many criminals.

The "security merchandisers" are busy reaping profits from the trampling of your liberties by seducing authorities with the latest toys and technology.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

CCTV boom has failed to slash crime, say police

Massive investment in CCTV cameras to prevent crime in the UK has failed to have a significant impact, despite billions of pounds spent on the new technology, a senior police officer piloting a new database has warned. Only 3% of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images, despite the fact that Britain has more security cameras than any other country in Europe.

The warning comes from the head of the Visual Images, Identifications and Detections Office (Viido) at New Scotland Yard as the force launches a series of initiatives to try to boost conviction rates using CCTV evidence.

Link to this audio
Owen Bowcott on why CCTV is catching few criminals

Use of CCTV images for court evidence has so far been very poor, according to Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville, the officer in charge of the Metropolitan police unit.

Tags: surveillance cameras, cctv, crime, terrorism, homeland security