Government surveillance

(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 […]

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

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 […]

Domestic Surveillance

Apple: We didn’t help NSA put the Dropoutjeep Backdoor in our iPhones

contributors

(By Jon Queally) Apple, the company giant behind the iconic iPhone, declared on Monday that is has never assisted the NSA in its efforts to create "back doors" to its signature mobile phone or any of its other products. The declaration by the computer giant comes in response to revelations made public by the German […]

censorship

Assange warns of Information Apartheid & Encompassing State: “This is the Last Free Generation”

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Wired notes that Wikileaks activist Julian Assange addressed the Chaos Communication Congress by Skype Sunday. Assange said, “This is the last free generation… The coming together of the systems of government and the information apartheid is such that none of us will be able to escape it in just a decade.” . […]

Domestic Surveillance

The Year in Review: JibJab on 2013

Juan Cole

JibJab’s 2013 Year in Review (To the tune of “Give my Regards to Broadway!”)

censorship

Snowden’s Christmas Message on Privacy: Does NSA threaten 9th, 14th Amendments, ‘Inviolate Personality’?

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Edward Snowden’s Christmas address, carried by the British Channel 4, concentrated on the disappearance of privacy. He said that a child born today might “never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves, an unrecorded, unanalyzed thought.” People walk around with a tracking device in their pockets, he noted, […]

Dissent

Damascus’s Other Battle: Regime Cyberwar on the Opposition

contributors

(By Dave Maass) Social Engineering and Malware in Syria: EFF and Citizen Lab’s Latest Report on the Digital Battlefield (via EFF) More than two years into the Syrian conflict, the violence continues both on the ground and in the digital realm. Just as human rights investigators and weapons inspectors search for evidence of chemical weapons, […]

Domestic Surveillance

NSA bribed Encryption Companies to Install Back Doors: Was the Law Broken? Did Obama Know?

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Reuters gets the scoop: the National Security Agency gave internet security firm RSA some $10 million to use an NSA encryption formula in its BSafe software. RSA is now a subsidiary of the EMC corporation, and they have urged customers not to use BSafe since the revelations by Edward Snowden made clear […]