Domestic Surveillance

This report by Channel 4 News in the UK, covering Edward Snowden’s application for asylum in the Russian Federation and his revelations of collaboration between Microsoft and the National Security Agency struck me as everything that US “news” coverage is not. The reporters don’t just parrot the Washington line. They point out that the transit […]

In Chilling Ruling, Chevron is Granted Access to Amazon Activists’ Private Emails

Juan Cole

"Sweeping" subpoena violates rights of those who spoke out against oil giant's devastating actions in Ecuador – Lauren McCauley writes at Commondreams “Following their guilty sentence for the dumping of 18.5bn gallons of toxic waste in the Ecuadorian Amazon, Chevron is amassing the personal information of the environmentalists and attorneys who fought against them in […]

Domestic Surveillance

Snowden: I acted because Domestic Spying actually worsened under Obama

Juan Cole

The Guardian has released part two of the Hong Kong interview with Edward Snowden, in which he clarifies his reasons for going public. He talks about how the warrantless demand for Verizon phone records was the misuse of a USA Patriot Act provision intended to allow monitoring of an individual, but which was applied to […]

Domestic Surveillance

How Unreasonable Searches of Private Documents Caused the American Revolution

Juan Cole

Just FYI, the Restore the Fourth movement in defense of the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution is holding protests all over the US today. On the Fourth of July, Americans should be celebrating the freedoms enshrined in the US constitution, especially the Bill of Rights. At one time, Americans minded when the government usurped their […]

Domestic Surveillance

How Internet Censorship Really Works

Juan Cole

The Berkman Center points out that the internet is not a public space. It is a private space that tolerates some public speech; but not all public speech. Often there is no transparency in what content is removed and why and by whom. This video explains how the internet is censored by governments and corporations […]

Domestic Surveillance

Glenn Greenwald: Good journalism is measured by how angry you make the people you’re covering (Video)

Juan Cole

Greenwald’s video appearance at the Socialism conference in Chicago (via We are Many:

Domestic Surveillance

Everything you wanted to Know About NSA Surveillance *but were afraid to ask (Stray)

Juan Cole

Jonathan Stray writes at ProPublica: There have been a lot of news stories about NSA surveillance programs following the leaks of secret documents by Edward Snowden. But it seems the more we read, the less clear things are. We’ve put together a detailed snapshot of what’s known and what’s been reported where. What information does […]

Domestic Surveillance

Top Ten Ways the Beltway Press will treat Gen. Cartwright differently from Snowden

Juan Cole

NBC reports that Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright is under investigation as the source for David Sanger’s 2012 New York Times article revealing that the United States is behind the Stuxnet computer virus, which was used to infect computers at Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment facilities and at the Bushehr nuclear energy plants and delay their going […]

Domestic Surveillance

The Other Face of Gov’t Surveillance: Informers, Saboteurs and Entrapment Artists (Gitlin)

Juan Cole

Todd Gitlin writes at Tomdispatch.com Only Martians, by now, are unaware of the phone and online data scooped up by the National Security Agency (though if it turns out that they are aware, the NSA has surely picked up their signals and crunched their metadata). American high-tech surveillance is not, however, the only kind around. […]