Clipmarks | Domestic spying Clips

EFF Files Lawsuit Against NSA, Bush, Cheney to Halt Dragnet Surveillance

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:01:28 GMT

clipped by: deadcowkid

On Sept. 18th, the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a lawsuit in federal court against the NSA on behalf of five AT&T customers to stop the ongoing surveillance of their telephone and internet communications. The plaintiffs are also suing the President, Vice President and other officials who ordered or participated in the warrantless wiretapping.

Evidence in the case includes documents provided by former AT&T technician Mark Klein showing AT&T routed copies of internet traffic to a secret room in San Francisco controlled by the NSA.

This latest lawsuit filed by civil liberties groups fighting the domestic spying program established shortly after Sept. 11th, 2001, follows on the heels of Congress' attempt to provide "retroactive immunity" to the telecommunications companies participating in the program through the FISA Amendments Act of 2008.

Press release | Complaint | Case info | Previous coverage: FISA Amendments Act Signed into Law

Tags: police state

EFF to Sue Bush & NSA

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:42:15 GMT

clipped by: yotofuji

Clip Source: www.networkworld.com

EFF to sue Bush, Cheney, NSA and others over telecom spying

Submitted by Paul McNamara on Thu, 09/18/2008 - 5:23am.

The government has decreed that they can't sue the phone companies over illegal spying on Americans, so instead they're about sue the government.

From an Electronic Frontier Foundation press alert just received here:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will file a lawsuit against the National Security Agency (NSA) and other government agencies today on behalf of AT&T customers to stop the illegal, unconstitutional, and ongoing dragnet surveillance of their communications and communications records.

The five individual plaintiffs are also suing President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Cheney's chief of staff David Addington, former Attorney General and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and other individuals who ordered or participated in the warrantless domestic surveillance.

Conflict Over Spying Led White House to Brink

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 02:30:15 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: Cont....

Joel Brenner and Vito Potenza, the two men wilting under Addington's wrath, had driven 26 miles from Fort Meade, the NSA's eavesdropping headquarters in Maryland. They were conducting a review of their agency's two-year-old special surveillance operation. They already knew the really secret stuff [3]: The NSA and other services had been unleashed to turn their machinery inward, collecting signals intelligence inside the United States. What the two men didn't know was why the Bush administration believed the program was legal.

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

David Addington, the vice president's lawyer, kept in his office controlling documents that gave strategic direction to the nation's largest spy agency. (By Melina Mara -- The Washington Post)

A burst of ferocity stunned the room into silence. No other word for it: The vice president's attorney was shouting.

"The president doesn't want this! [1] You are not going to see the opinions. You are out . . . of . . . your . . . lane!"

Five government lawyers had gathered around a small conference table in the Justice Department command center. Four were expected. David S. Addington, counsel to Vice President Cheney, got wind of the meeting and invited himself.

If Addington smelled revolt, he was not far wrong. Unwelcome questions about warrantless domestic surveillance had begun to find their voice.

On this second Monday in December 2003, Addington's targets were a pair of would-be auditors from the National Security Agency. He had displeasure to spare for their Justice Department hosts.

Tags: constitution, cheney, addington, law, breakers, in, toilet, no mas

Please wait, your request is processed... No Questions: Palin Won't Talk To Press

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 08:19:53 GMT

clipped by: lap322
clipper's remarks: Reminds me of another secretive VP... Dick Cheney.

I don't know about you all, but I'm tired of all the secretiveness from the Bush Administration for the past eight years (while spying on American citizens) . It''s looking like McCain/Palin are going keep the tradition alive. No surprise.

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

A John McCain campaign aide tells Jay Carney that she sees no reason why Sarah Palin should have to answer reporters' queries:

According to Nicole Wallace of the McCain campaign, the American people don't care whether Sarah Palin can answer specific questions about foreign and domestic policy.

It will be up to the press and public to raise enough of a stink about this, that Palin is forced to submit to real interviews with real questions that show whether her real-life experience is any preparation for assuming high office. In that sense, the Palin nomination is as much of a test of us as it is of her.

John McCain Comedy Club

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:44:59 GMT

clipped by: spirithiker
clipper's remarks: One commenters response: "Your snarky sarcasm proves that McCain's ads are definitely arousing fear in those who do not wish McCain to win."

We are in fear of a McBush win because America's downward spiral of world opinion towards us, our economy, or ethical and moral values, our morale as a nation under siege by neocon intelligence gathering goons at the NSA and Homeland security needs to stop and McBush has vowed to continue Bush's attack on all of us through his shredding of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Clip Source: blogs.guardian.co.uk

Here's proof, if proof were needed, that the McCain campaign's advertising strategy is in fact being run by a crack team of six-year-olds, out of their minds on Sunny Delight.

Yesterday they released a new ad, Fan Club, which continued to mock Barack Obama as a celebrity, this time on account of his "dreamy eyes".

It included a brief clip of Mike Myers and Dana Carvey in Wayne's World ("We're not worthy!") -- but Myers objected, claiming copyright violation, and the ad was reissued without the clip.

But wait for it: in this killer response, headlined Celebrities Fight Back, a McCain spokesman explains why Myers's objection just proves the point they were making all along:

"Obama's celebrity friends are bringing their considerable resources to bear in this election... threatening this campaign with legal action over our latest ad, Fan Club... Apparently, we are not, in fact, worthy."

Tags: politics, domestic spying, ethics, morale

4 scary toys in big brothers's toolbox

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:48:53 GMT

clipped by: spirithiker
clipper's remarks: Taken individually they seem innocuous enough, but taken together paints a very scary picture of how the government could be watching us all a little too closely.

Clip Source: www.mentalfloss.com

BY MEGHAN HOLOHAN. It seems like government agencies are ready to party like it’s 1984. In its zeal to prevent another terrorism attack, the U.S. has relaxed laws that protect our privacy, making it easier for the government to keep an eye on you. The following four products could help Big Brother keep watch.

Wristy Business: Monitors for Airline Passengers

Cell Phone Tracking (aka That thing Morgan Freeman Refused to Do)

Electronic Leashes for Dogs (and why they’re coming to humans)

Online tracking: making the Internet a giant mouse trap

Tags: surveillance, paranoia, big brother, domestic spying

Domestic Spying, Inc.

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:36:33 GMT

clipped by: katsteevns

Clip Source: www.warprofiteers.com

Domestic Spying, Inc.

by Tim Shorrock , Special to CorpWatch
November 27th, 2007

A new intelligence institution to be inaugurated soon by the Bush administration will allow government spying agencies to conduct broad surveillance and reconnaissance inside the United States for the first time. Under a proposal being reviewed by Congress, a National Applications Office (NAO) will be established to coordinate how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and domestic law enforcement and rescue agencies use imagery and communications intelligence picked up by U.S. spy satellites. If the plan goes forward, the NAO will create the legal mechanism for an unprecedented degree of domestic intelligence gathering that would make the U.S. one of the world's most closely monitored nations. Until now, domestic use of electronic intelligence from spy satellites was limited to scientific agencies with no responsibility for national security or law enforcement.

Goverment Spying: The Target is You

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:23:22 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: "They say the measures preserve civil liberties and are subject to internal oversight."

Oh yes, I find oxymoron so comforting.

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

The Justice Department has proposed a new domestic spying measure that would make it easier for state and local police to collect intelligence about Americans, share the sensitive data with federal agencies and retain it for at least 10 years.

The proposed changes would revise the federal government's rules for police intelligence-gathering for the first time since 1993 and would apply to any of the nation's 18,000 state and local police agencies that receive roughly $1.6 billion each year in federal grants.

Taken together, critics in Congress and elsewhere say, the moves are intended to lock in policies for Bush's successor and to enshrine controversial post-Sept. 11 approaches that some say have fed the greatest expansion of executive authority since the Watergate era.

They say the measures preserve civil liberties and are subject to internal oversight.

Tags: spy, intelligence, civil liberties, law, injustice, constitution, imperial, presidency

U.S. Increases local police spying abilities

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:32:17 GMT

clipped by: spirithiker
clipper's remarks: Bushites have not done enough damage yet, they want to make sure their effects are felt for a very long time.

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Quietly unveiled late last month, the proposal is part of a flurry of domestic intelligence changes issued and planned by the Bush administration in its waning months.

Tags: police, domestic spying, surveillance

The Pentagon's "Get Smart" Plan

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:42:34 GMT

clipped by: dgreplay
clipper's remarks: This has got to be a joke. The Pentagon "disestablished" the "CIFA" office yet "those responsibilities will now be carried out by a new organization called the Defense Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence Center". WHAT? They shut down one unit only to have another office do the same thing under a different name???? Why not use "The Cone of Silence" and save everyone the trouble of moving boxes from one office to the other?

Note to the Pentagon: I think Control and KAOS are easier acronyms to remember

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Monday said it was closing a controversial intelligence office that had raised concerns about domestic spying by the military after the September 11 attacks.

The Defense Department said it had "disestablished" the Counterintelligence Field Activity office, or CIFA, created in February 2002 by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

Those responsibilities will now be carried out by a new organization called the Defense Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence Center

Tags: pentagon, intelligence, lunacy

"Fusion centers": another step on the road to the "total surveillance society"

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:35:59 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: A "fusion center" is a domestic intelligence-gathering facility which involves police, federal agencies, the military, and in some cases also private contractors in gathering as much data as possible about people suspected of undefined "illicit activity." No chance of abuse there, of course. None.

Clip Source: www.progressive.org

ACLU Highlights Risk of “Fusion Centers”

On the heels of the Maryland State Police spying scandal, the ACLU is ringing the alarms over “fusion centers.”

The fusion centers represent an attempt to create a “total surveillance society,” the update says.

It notes that the LAPD fed into its fusion center an array of ““suspicious activity reports” that included such innocuous activities as “taking notes” or “drawing diagrams” or “using binoculars.” (Since one out of six Americans is a birdwatcher, this last item could really swell the files.)

Frighteningly, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has called the LAPD program “a national model.”

The ACLU notes that “other illicit intention” is not defined, and that fusion centers are fed intelligence before “reasonable suspicion” is established.

For those living in Virginia, it’s already too late: The Virginia General Assembly passed a law in April 2008 exempting the state’s fusion center from the Freedom of Information Act.

Tags: domestic_spying, civil_rights, law, politics, gwot, bad_news, commentary

The Family Jewels

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:13:49 GMT

clipped by: sahara

Clip Source: cominganarchy.com

The US Central Intelligence Agency is to declassify hundreds of documents detailing some of the agency’s worst illegal abuses from the 1950s to 1970s. The papers, to be released next week, will detail assassination plots, domestic spying and wiretapping, kidnapping and human experiments.

The documents — aka The Family Jewels — consist of a 693 page file that CIA chief General Michael Hayden called “unflattering” but part of agency history.

Someone please explain the logic behind this. Is it simply an attempt at “transparency” in light of all the secret prison press recently? Or is it a political move driven by a sense of relativism intended to use history as a justification for some freedom to act in the present?

Maybe a distraction from the VP’s secession from the Executive Branch.

Tags: government, secret, cia

Where has all the money gone, long time passing?

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:05:54 GMT

clipped by: suzikoh
clipper's remarks: Here in Italy, we too have our problems mind you?
Out sourcing is even in the schools and social services.... and in all public institutions.....
Berlusconi, an international buddy of Bush's is back...... This is an eerie era.....

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

"In 2006 the cost of America's spying and surveillance activities outsourced to contractors reached $42 billion, or about 70 percent of the estimated $60 billion the government spends each year on foreign and domestic intelligence [The] number of contract employees now exceeds [the CIA's] full-time workforce of 17,500 Contractors make up more than half the workforce of the CIA's National Clandestine Service (formerly the Directorate of Operations), which conducts covert operations and recruits spies abroad

The Vast and Dangerous Transfer of American Spying to Mercenary Companies

Johnson considers just how incompetent and unscrupulous a thoroughly privatized intelligence 'community' has turned out to be.

"To feed the NSA's insatiable demand for data and information technology, the industrial base of contractors seeking to do business with the agency grew from 144 companies in 2001 to more than 5,400 in 2006

Tags: privatization, public spending, fattening calves.

impeachment

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:06:07 GMT

clipped by: susanaii
clipper's remarks: This should go ahead. We cannot have one country's leader being impeached by the International Court and another [US] getting away with high crimes and misdemeanors.

Clip Source: www.truthout.org

Kucinich, a former contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, pointed to "high crimes and misdemeanors" committed by the Bush administration, including misrepresenting intelligence in the lead-up to the war, violating domestic and international laws against torture, illegally spying on American citizens, obstructing justice and governmental oversight, and dozens of other violations.

The resolution comes days after a sharply written letter by 56 Congress members requesting that Attorney General Michael Mukasey investigate potential crimes committed by the Bush administration during the course of its interrogation program. The letter, signed by House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Barney Frank, Jan Schakowsky, Dennis Kucinich and other House Democrats, urged that the seriousness of the evidence on the program warrants a thorough investigation by a special counsel.

Tags: justiceforall

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