Monthly Archives: June 2013

Supreme Court Rules Fifth Amendment Has to Actually Be Invoked

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“In a 5-4 decision the Supreme Court ruled today that a potential defendant’s silence canbe used against him if he is being interviewed by police but is not arrested (and read his Miranda rights) and has not verbally invoked the protection of the Fifth Amendment.  The case was intended to be about whether prosecutors during a trial could cast aspersions on a defendant’s silence during questioning that took place prior to arrest — prior to the defendent being told he had the right to remain silent. Instead, the Supreme Court determined that they wouldn’t need to rule on the matter because the defendant had never invoked the Fifth Amendment’s protection.”

http://reason.com/blog/2013/06/17/supreme-court-rules-fifth-amendment-has

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How the Patriot Act debate became about library records instead of phone records

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“Civil liberties advocates said in interviews there is a simple reason for the disconnect: In the period immediately after the Patriot Act passed, few if any observers believed Section 215 could authorize any kind of ongoing, large-scale collection of phone data. They argue that only a radical and incorrect interpretation of the law allows the mass surveillance program the NSA has erected on the foundation of Section 215. The ACLU contends in a lawsuit filed last week that Section 215 does not legitimately authorize the metadata program.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/17/how-the-patriot-act-debate-became-about-library-records-instead-of-phone-records/

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Cost to Store All US Phonecalls Made in a Year in Cloud Storage so it could be Datamined

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“Because of recent news reports, I wanted to cross check the cost feasibility of the NSA’s recording all of the US phonecalls and processing them. These estimates show only $27M in capital cost, and $2M in electricity and take less than 5,000 square feet of space to store and process all US phonecalls made in a year.   The NSA seems to be spending $1.7 billion on a 100k square foot datacenter that could easily handle this and much much more.    Therefore, money and technology would not hold back such a project– it would be held back if someone did not have the opportunity or will.”

http://blog.archive.org/2013/06/15/cost-to-store-all-us-phonecalls-made-in-a-year-in-cloud-storage-so-it-could-be-datamined/

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The Massive Facial Recognition Database That’s Hiding in Plain Sight

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“The database isn’t limited to just criminals, and it’s completely searchable thanks to facial recognition tech. Generally, there’s no need for a court order or warrant to make a search, just ‘law enforcement purposes,’ which is about as vague as it gets. As for reach, 42 states are involved with the system.  The State department has its own little database, consisting of some 230 million faces belonging to visa-holding foreigners and passport-holding citizens alike.  As video-surveillance becomes more and more common, it’s easy to see how this becomes a modern-day fingerprint index of not just criminals but of anyone with an ID.”

http://gizmodo.com/the-massive-facial-recognition-database-thats-hiding-i-513765879

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China blasts U.S. surveillance program exposed by Edward Snowden

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“China’s official army newspaper branded the U.S. Internet surveillance programme exposed by former spy Edward Snowden as ‘frightening’, and accused the US of being a ‘habitual offender’ when it comes to network monitoring. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Daily hit out at the US for implying that spying on citizens from other countries was justified, and said that the PRISM monitoring programme had probably been used to collect large amounts of data unrelated to anti-terrorism operations. The remarks about the programme are among the most scathing to appear in China’s state-run press following Beijing’s refusal to make an official comment.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/16/china-blasts-u-s-surveillance-program-exposed-by-edward-snowden/

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Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Compares NSA Spying to Soviet Russia

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Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Compares NSA Spying to Soviet Russia

“‘When I was brought up my dad taught me, for example, [that when] other countries got prisoners in a war, they tortured them. But we, Americans, didn’t torture them. And now I find out it’s just the opposite. And all these things we talk about in the Constitution, that made us so good as a people, they all dissolved with the Patriot Act. I was taught that communist Russia were the ones that were going to kill us, and bomb our country. Communist Russia was so bad because they followed their people, they snooped on them, they arrested them, they put them in secret prisons, they disappeared them. Nowadays, we’re getting more and more like that.'”

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2013/06/apple-co-founder-steve-wozniak-compares.html

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Thousands Of Firms Trade Confidential Data With The US Government In Exchange For Classified Intelligence

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“In other words, what is going on behind the scenes is nothing more than one vast, very selective, extremely secretive, symbiotic and perfectly ‘legal’ giant information exchange network, which allows corporations to profit off classified government information either in kind or in cash, and which allows the government to have all the information at its disposal, collected using public and private venues, in order to protect itself, to take out those it designates as targets, or simply said – to get ever bigger. The loser in all of this? You.”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-06-14/thousands-firms-trade-confidential-data-us-government-exchange-classified-intelligen

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US Treasury denies it is trying to torpedo Bitcoin

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“Bitcoin itself is nearly impossible to regulate. And the government at least seems to understand this point. But that doesn’t mean they can’t spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt.  In this short 4-page speech, the Director twice made a connection between Bitcoin and (you guessed it) terrorism. Twice more connected Bitcoin to those who would exploit children. And four times linked digital currency to ‘criminals’ in general. And, even though they cannot control Bitcoin, FinCEN is obviously laying the foundation to regulate every business that touches Bitcoin, from exchange houses to swap websites to digital wallet providers.”

http://www.sovereignman.com/trends/us-treasury-denies-it-is-trying-to-torpedo-bitcoin-12056/

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Louisiana: Cops Used Red Light Cameras For Personal Profit

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“Police officers in New Orleans, Louisiana filled their own pockets with red light camera cash by setting up a private company to ‘review’ photo citations off the official clock. The city’s inspector general, E. R. Quatrevaux, on Friday released a report documenting how Edwin Hosli, the New Orleans Police Department’s (NOPD) 8th District commander, formed his own limited liability company called Anytime Solutions to take advantage of the lucrative business opportunity. Hosli pulled down $7420 from the arrangement for himself. Hosli and several other officers overbilled ACS by $9075. Hosli’s share of that was $2055, according to the documents.”

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/41/4128.asp

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No way out: Julian Assange marks one year inside Ecuadorian embassy in UK

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“Julian Assange is still there, holed up inside Ecuador’s embassy in central London. And on Wednesday this week it’ll be a full year since he walked into the embassy claiming political asylum.  Julian Assange knows that despite having been granted asylum by the Latin American nation in August 2012, if he steps outside the building he’ll be immediately arrested by UK police and likely extradited to Sweden to face questioning over two alleged sexual assaults in the country. The 41-year-old WikiLeaks founder denies any wrongdoing, but fears that being transferred to Sweden could ultimately result in him being handed over to the US authorities.”

http://www.digitaltrends.com/international/wikileaks-julian-assange-marks-one-year-inside-ecuadoran-embassy-in-uk/

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