Government surveillance

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 […]

After Paris, it’s good detective work that will keep us safe, not mass surveillance

contributors

By Pete Fussey | (The Conversation) | – – Before the dust has even settled from the attacks on Paris, familiar calls for greater surveillance powers are surfacing. The desire for greater security is understandable, but that doesn’t mean we should suspend our judgement on the measures proposed to bring it about. In the aftermath […]

Entertainment

In ‘Spectre,’ James Bond becomes Edward Snowden

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The latest entry in the Daniel Craig reboot of the James Bond film franchise, Spectre , turns Bond into more muscular version of Edward Snowden, as he takes down a vast 9-nation attempt at electronic surveillance and information-sharing that would also benefit a criminal cartel. Tooling […]

Drone Warfare

2016 Campaign and Forever War: Electorate gone to Disney World

contributors

By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – You may not know it, but you’re living in a futuristic science fiction novel. And that’s a fact. If you were to read about our American world in such a novel, you would be amazed by its strangeness. Since you exist right smack in the […]

Domestic Surveillance

3rd Circuit to NYC: Being Muslim is not Reasonable Suspicion for Surveillance

contributors

By Nadia Kayyali | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) | – – Being Muslim can’t be the basis for law enforcement surveillance. That was the message from the Third Circuit last Tuesday when it told the plaintiffs in Hassan v. The City of New York that their lawsuit could go forward. The plaintiffs are suing over the […]

Corporate Surveillance

Citing NSA Spying, Euro Court of Justice Forbids Auto-Sharing of Personal Info

contributors

Danny O’Brien | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) | – – The spread of knowledge about the NSA’s surveillance programs has shaken the trust of customers in U.S. Internet companies like Facebook, Google, and Apple: especially non-U.S. customers who have discovered how weak the legal protections over their data is under U.S. law. It should come as […]

Displaced and Refugees

Ghoul’s Glossary: “Migrants” or “Refugees” or “Anchor Babies”?

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Migrants: Those who voluntarily go to another country to live and work, seeking a better life. Refugees: Those who are forced out of their homes, because of political persecution or natural disaster or a chronically bad economy. and have no choice but to try to make […]

Domestic Surveillance

Appeals Court Falls for Government’s Shell Game in NSA Spying Case

contributors

By Cindy Cohn | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) | – – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s opinion today in Klayman v. Obama is highly disappointing and, worse, based on a mistaken concern about the underlying facts. The court said that since the plaintiffs’ phone service was provided by one subsidiary of Verizon—Verizon […]

Bill of Rights

New Proof: AT&T and NSA’s Long Surveillance Partnership shredded 4th Amendment

contributors

By Mark Rumold | ( Electronic Frontier Foundation) | – – Reports today in the New York Times and ProPublica confirm what EFF’s Jewel v. NSA lawsuit has claimed since 2008—that the NSA and AT&T have collaborated to build a domestic surveillance infrastructure, resulting in unconstitutional seizure and search of of millions, if not hundreds […]