Government surveillance

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Former US Attorney General Eric Holder said in an interview that what NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden did was illegal but added “”We can certainly argue about the way in which Snowden did what he did, but I think that he actually performed a public service […]

Bill of Rights

The late great Fourth Amendment: Feds, Police and Intrusive Technologies

contributors

By Matthew Harwood and Jay Stanley | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – Can’t you see the writing on the touchscreen? A techno-utopia is upon us. We’ve gone from smartphones at the turn of the twenty-first century to smart fridges and smart cars. The revolutionary changes to our everyday life will no doubt keep barreling […]

Government surveillance

Mr. President: Weakening Apple’s Defenses puts us all at Risk

contributors

Electronic Frontier Foundation | – – The Apple Fight Is About All of Us A Joint Statement from Access Now, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation Apple is engaged in a high-profile battle against a court order demanding it write, sign, and deploy custom computer code to defeat the security on […]

Bill of Rights

The FBI’s outrageous assault on the 1st Amendment and Apple

contributors

By Andrew Crocker | ( Electronic Frontier Foundation ) | – – Last week, EFF filed a brief in support of Apple’s fight against the FBI, in which we argued that forcing Apple to write—and sign—a custom version of iOS would violate the First Amendment rights of Apple and its programmers. That’s because the right […]

Government surveillance

How the FBI is endangering everyone’s Security to get at one iPhone

contributors

By Joseph Bonneau | ( Electronic Frontier Foundation) | – – The legal dispute between Apple and the FBI might prove pivotal in the long-running battle to protect users’ privacy and right to use uncompromised encryption. The case has captured the public imagination. Of course, EFF supports Apple’s efforts to protect its users. The case […]

Featured

Top 5 Scalia Rulings that helped Progressives

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Justice Antonin Scalia died in Texas on Saturday. IC sends condolences to his family. Scalia is widely recognized as having been a brilliant legal thinker and a fine and passionate prose stylist. He was the first Italian-American to serve on the Supreme Court. It is worth […]

Bill of Rights

Snowden restores 4th Amendment: NSA halts mass Warrantless spying on your Telephone Records

contributors

By David Greene and Nadia Kayyali | ( Electronic Frontier Foundation) | – – The NSA’s collection en masse of the call detail records of millions of ordinary Americans ended quietly at midnight November 29. The bulk collection was phased out after a 180-day transition period provided for in the USA FREEDOM Act. The USA […]

Domestic Surveillance

Trump’s call for Spying on US Muslims recalls FBI bugging of MLK, Black Churches

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – As Donald Trump supporters beat a ‘Black Lives Matter’ protester at his rally in Birmingham, Ala., Trump himself reminded us of the dark days when a paranoid J. Edgar Hoover had the FBI monitor the Rev. Martin Luther King and black Churches of the Southern Christian […]

Featured

If Trump can track Muslims, close Mosques, what can he do to You?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump, having said earlier that he might seek to close down mosques if he were president, on Thursday went further and said he would implement a registration and tracking database for Muslim-Americans. Rabbi Jack Moline of the Interfaith Alliance pointed out that […]