Monthly Archives: June 2014

Root backdoor found in surveillance gear used by law enforcement

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“Software used by law enforcement organizations to intercept the communications of suspected criminals contains a litany of critical weaknesses, including an undocumented backdoor secured with a hardcoded password, security researchers said today.  In a scathing advisory published Wednesday, the researchers recommended people stop using the Nice Recording eXpress voice-recording package.  It is one of several software offerings provided by Ra’anana, Israel-based Nice Systems, a company that markets itself as providing ‘mission-critical lawful interception solutions to support the fight against organized crime, drug trafficking and terrorist activities.'”

http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/05/root-backdoor-found-in-surveillance-gear-used-by-law-enforcement/

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Google Now Offers End-to-End Encryption on Email

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“Google has released the source code for a new extension for Chrome. It’s called End-to-End, and it will provide users with the ability to encrypt their email the whole way from outbox to recipient.  The new system uses the open-source encryption standard OpenPGP, and should make it easy for users to read encrypted emails that arrive in their inbox. Clearly, it will require both sender and receiver use End-to-End or another encryption tool—but the idea here is to make encryption more accessible.  It’s releasing the code so that devs, engineers and other wildly enthusiastic early adopters can test and evaluate it, to make sure it’s user-friendly, bug-free and secure.”

http://gizmodo.com/google-now-offers-end-to-end-encryption-on-email-1585831839

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NSA: ‘We can’t stop our systems from deleting data wanted for lawsuit’

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“The National Security Agency recently used a novel argument for not holding onto information it collects about users online activity: it’s too complex.  The agency is facing a slew of lawsuits over its surveillance programs, many launched after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked information on the agency’s efforts last year. One suit that pre-dates the Snowden leaks, Jewel v. NSA, challenges the constitutionality of programs that the suit allege collect information about American’s telephone and Internet activities.  The government has argued that the case, which was filed in 2008, should be thrown out and that Section 702 programs do not target Americans.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/06/09/nsa-our-systems-are-so-complex-we-cant-stop-them-from-deleting-data-wanted-for-lawsuit/

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Everyone should know how much the government lied to defend the NSA

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“Just before Snowden became a household name, the ACLU argued before the supreme court that the Fisa Amendments Act – one of the two main laws used by the NSA to conduct mass surveillance – was unconstitutional.  [In its dismissal,] the court relied on two claims by the Justice Department to support their ruling: 1) that the NSA would only get the content of Americans’ communications without a warrant when they are targeting a foreigner abroad for surveillance, and 2) that the Justice Department would notify criminal defendants who have been spied on under the Fisa Amendments Act, so there exists some way to challenge the law in court. Neither of those statements were true.”

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/17/government-lies-nsa-justice-department-supreme-court

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Face recognition pioneer now worried tech enables mass surveillance

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“Dr. Joseph Atick was described as ‘one of the pioneer entrepreneurs of modern face recognition’ before the New York Times explained that Atick is now worried about face-matching biometrics enabling ‘mass surveillance’ and ‘basically robbing everyone of their anonymity.  He is reportedly not concerned about the government openly using facial recognition such as to combat identity theft or fraud. There’s no mention of the FBI’s Next Generation Identification (NGI) biometric database, which will reportedly hold 52 million face images by 2015.  Atick used the NameTag app as an example of face-matching technology being taken too far.”

http://blogs.computerworld.com/privacy/23925/face-recognition-pioneer-now-worried-tech-will-be-used-mass-surveillance

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NSA combining national ID cards, Internet intercepts, facial databases

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“The NSA is harvesting millions of facial images from the Web for use in facial recognition algorithms through a program called ‘Identity Intelligence.’  The NSA is linking these facial images with other biometrics, identity data, and ‘behavioral’ data including ‘travel, financial, behaviors, social network.’  The NSA’s goal — in which it has been moderately successful — is to match images from disparate databases, including databases of intercepted videoconferences, images captured by airports of fliers, and hacked national identity card databases from other countries. According to the article, the NSA is trying to hack the national ID card databases of ‘Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran.'”

http://boingboing.net/2014/06/01/nsa-facial-recognition-combin.html

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N.S.A. Collecting Millions of Faces From Web Images

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“The F.B.I. is developing what it calls its ‘next generation identification’ project to combine its automated fingerprint identification system with facial imagery and other biometric data.  The State Department has what several outside experts say could be the largest facial imagery database in the federal government, storing hundreds of millions of photographs of American passport holders and foreign visa applicants. And the Department of Homeland Security is funding pilot projects at police departments around the country to match suspects against faces in a crowd.  The N.S.A., though, is unique in its ability to match images with huge troves of private communications.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/us/nsa-collecting-millions-of-faces-from-web-images.html?_r=1

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FBI Director Doesn’t Think Agency Will Spy On Americans With N.G.I.

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“FBI Director James Comey insisted during a House Judiciary Committee Hearing Wednesday that his agency doesn’t — and will not — use the government’s sophisticated facial recognition technology to keep tabs on innocent civilians. But earlier this year, a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the EFF revealed that the FBI plans to database more than 52 million pictures in its Next Generation Identification facial recognition program by next year.  Pressed by Representative Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat who represents a district squarely situated in California’s Silicon Valley, Comey added that some non-criminals might be included if they apply for certain jobs or licenses.”

http://personalliberty.com/fbi-director-doesnt-think-agency-will-spy-americans-fails-mention-already/

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Report: Iraq, Afghanistan Wars Will Cost U.S. $4-6 Trillion Dollars [2013]

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“Costs to U.S. taxpayers of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will run between four and six trillion dollars, making them the most expensive conflicts in U.S. history, according to a new report by a prominent Harvard University researcher.  ‘The single largest accrued liability of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is the cost of providing medical care and disability benefits to war veterans,’ she wrote.  Additional costs include the replacement and repair of equipment and the accumulation of interest on money borrowed by the Treasury to finance the wars since the nearly two trillion dollars in war costs were not subject to the normal budgetary process.”

http://truth-out.org/news/item/15422-report-iraq-afghanistan-wars-will-cost-us-4-6-trillion-dollars

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Iraq in Chaos. A Total Defeat for Bush’s Policies.

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“Trillions of dollars in Americans’ taxes and debts later, Iraq is in a civil war. What do American taxpayers have to show for Bush’s ‘I’m Macho!’ grandstanding? War debts and war dead. Plus this photo.  Stories about Iraq were buried even before Obama pulled out the visible troops. Iraq went down the memory hole.  Mercenaries have stayed behind. In addition, the U.S. government still operates military bases. The U.S. military has insisted that this will not change.  Did the neocons ever say, ‘We were wrong?’ Of course not.  Did they say we should pull out of Afghanistan? Of course not.  Are we going to pull out of Afghanistan? Yes. Every military invader of Afghanistan always has.”

http://teapartyeconomist.com/2014/06/12/iraq-chaos-total-defeat-bushs-policies-course/

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