Dissent

(By Juan Cole) Among the ironies of Barack Obama trying to sell us the gargantuan NSA domestic spying program is that such techniques of telephone surveillance were used against the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. in an attempt to destroy him and stop the Civil Rights movement. Had the republic’s most notorious peeping tom, J. […]

Dissent

US Intel Officials keep Talking about Killing Snowden, then say “trust us with your data”

contributors

(By Mike Masnick) The Fact That The US Intelligence Community So Readily Admits To Fantasies Of Killing Ed Snowden Shows Why They Can’t Be Trusted (via Techdirt) We’ve mentioned things in the past like former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden “jokingly” talking about how he’d like to put Ed Snowden on a “kill list” […]

Dissent

Assange on Obama Speech: “Embarrassing,” Dragged Kicking and Screaming to Reform by Snowden

Juan Cole

Julian Assange responds to Obama speech on NSA reform at CNN AFP reports: Obama surveillance pledge will change little: Assange (via AFP) WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Friday dismissed President Barack Obama’s proposals to curb the reach of the National Security Agency (NSA), saying they would change very little. In a speech intended to quell […]

censorship

3 Years after Democratic Revolution, Egypt Decides it Prefers North Korean Model

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) The title of this piece is provocative and a little tongue in cheek. Were I in Egypt as I publish it, I’m not sure, though, that the authorities would get the joke. The 2011 revolution, which was in part about dignity and personal autonomy and censorship and police torture, apparently went too […]

Dissent

NSA Bulk Surveillance has had no Impact on Fighting Terrorism

contributors

(By Jon Queally) An in-depth analysis of 227 individuals recruited by al Qaida or like-minded groups, and charged in the U.S. with an act of terrorism since 9/11, shows the contribution of NSA’s bulk surveillance programs to these cases was minimal, and that traditional investigative methods were more helpful."Overblown." "Even Misleading." That's a how a […]

Dissent

40 prominent Journalists Call for Release of Detained Colleagues

Juan Cole

Sharif Abdel Kouddous: In a strong show of solidarity, nearly 40 correspondents and editors representing 29 international media organizations are calling for the immediate release of journalists detained in Egypt. On December 29, Peter Greste, Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed from Al Jazeera English were arrested by Egyptian authorities and have been held arbitrarily […]

censorship

Top Ten Things wrong with NSA Surveillance of Americans

contributors

(By Peter Van Buren) The debate Edward Snowden envisioned when he revealed the extent of National Security Agency (NSA) spying on Americans has taken a bad turn. Instead of a careful examination of what the NSA does, the legality of its actions, what risks it takes for what gains, and how effective the agency has […]

Dissent

“It’s all Right to Make Fun of the Government”: Bassem Youssef (Egypt’s Jon Stewart)

Juan Cole

Bassem Youssef: “It’s OK to make fun of ourselves” “BBC Newsnight’s Jeremy Paxman talks to Bassem Youssef, also known as the “Egyptian Jon Stewart”, about making people laugh in Egypt today.”

Dissent

Top 5 US Government Decisions that put Troops more at Risk than Snowden Did

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) The propaganda wars in Washington continue over Edward Snowden’s revelation that the National Security Agency and other Federal government departments have in the past decade quietly abolished the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, without even telling us that is what they were doing. All Americans, once proud, free citizens of a republic […]