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By Martha Nussbaum
$15.48
Richard Schickel (Director)
$26.99
$22
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Image via Shutterstock
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By Ralph Nader —
Each year hundreds of billions of dollars in federal government contracts, grants, leaseholds and licenses are awarded to corporations. Taxpayers should be able to easily access clear and concise information on how their tax dollars are being spent by the government at all levels.
Posted on Jun 9, 2013
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Flickr / Tarter Time Photography (CC-BY-SA)
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Journalism and patient advocacy organizations are fighting against a recent decision by the Obama administration to shut down public access to an online database of doctor malpractice and disciplinary records.
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Flickr / Dana Spiegel
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Days after two British men were sentenced to four years in prison for using Facebook to incite disorder that never materialized, Glenn Greenwald writes fluently and concisely about the efforts of governments to maintain power and order by controlling the flow of information and communication online.
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Former MoveOn.org Executive Director Eli Pariser (a name you may recognize from your inbox) explains how sites such as Facebook and Google are quietly creating a personalized Internet that removes content that may be challenging, uncomfortable or important.
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AP / Matt Rourke
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By Elliot D. Cohen — The recent FCC decision to “protect” the free and open Internet was long awaited by activists but it turned out to be smoke and mirrors, catering largely to service providers such as Comcast and AT&T.
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Flickr / Flair Candy
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If it is true that “how you do one thing is how you do everything,” then Americans are right on track with their consumption habits, both in terms of food and information. Among his observations, The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson points out how the info-glut on the Internet doesn’t exactly lead to a more accurately informed public.
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In a push for increased government transparency, the Obama administration has announced it will require each Cabinet-level department to post online three collections of “high-value” data—covering everything from tire safety ratings to workplaces where injuries have occurred—previously undisclosed to the public.
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In an interview with Sky News Australia, the News Corp. tycoon laid out his vision for the future of the news business, which bears little resemblance to the present state of the news business. Murdoch said he would soon begin charging for online content, block Google searches and ... (continued)
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rebelreports.com
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Many intelligence professionals have categorically disapproved of torture, claiming it both ineffective and counterproductive. Former FBI agent Ali H. Soufan writes of the mountains of good information uncovered with traditional interrogation procedures in contrast to the erroneous and unproductive intelligence gleaned from torture.
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Wikimedia Commons / Husky
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The online user-generated encyclopedia will require editors to approve changes to articles about living people, an effort to curb misinformation and the sometimes nasty food fights made possible by the site’s pioneering format. The changes are either a direct assault on Wikipedia’s soul or a sign of its growing maturity, depending on whom you ask.
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By David Sirota — Today’s technology revolutions have been rightfully celebrated for improving everything from education to medicine to commerce, but we don’t often consider the psychological and societal consequences of always being connected and available.
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Flickr / NCBrian
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Elizabeth Edwards has some insight into the media’s coverage of presidential campaigns, which she brings to a thoughtful Op-Ed in this Sunday’s New York Times. Beyond the current campaign, Edwards warns, “the future of news is not bright.”
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Freespeech.org has this entertaining take on the privatization of the Internet, a medium that was once public, open and collaborative, but has since been taken over by corporate juggernauts. It’s not something we all think about, but it wasn’t so long ago that the Internet was organized around information and education, as opposed to shopping.
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comedycentral.com
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According to the latest Pew Research survey, the most knowledgeable Americans are regular viewers of “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” and avid newspaper readers. At the other end of the spectrum are viewers of Fox News and morning shows.
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By Marie Cocco — News organizations continue to close bureaus around the world at a time when Americans seem to know less than ever about other cultures. It’s hard to know why they hate us when we’re not entirely sure who they are.
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By Ellen Goodman — Is Justice Ruth Ginsburg in poor health, or did she just lose a shoe? The answer depends on how quickly—and accurately—you get your news.
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The popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia, which draws its content from countless anonymous contributions, will institute safeguards following revelations about the identity of one of its most industrious contributors. Ryan Jordan, under the name “Essjay,” wrote thousands of articles for the site while claiming to be a theology professor but was exposed by The New Yorker as a 24-year-old college dropout.
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From the Wash Po: “Federally funded ‘pregnancy resource centers’ are incorrectly telling women that abortion results in an increased risk of breast cancer, infertility and deep psychological trauma….”
Surprise, surprise.
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According to USA Today: “The federal government will pay a Texas law school $1 million to do research aimed at rolling back the amount of sensitive data available to the press and public through freedom-of-information requests.”
Seriously, this s*#t just got ridiculous; the Bush administration is already the most secrecy-crazed in the 20th century. Now it needs more layers of secrecy?
Posted on Jul 7, 2006
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Mike Luckovich
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By Robert Scheer — The Bush administration is starting to sound like a two-bit dictatorship by insisting that the media shouldn’t have the right to report on the government’s prosecution of the so-called “war on terror.”
UPDATE: The House passed a resolution condemning the N.Y. Times for its reporting.
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President Bush said the N.Y. Times’ disclosures about the administration’s bank data-mining program did “great harm to the United States of America.” The Times’ editor, Bill Keller, said “nobody should think that we made this decision casually, with any animus toward the current administration, or without fully weighing the issues.”
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Swift: swift.org / CIA: fas.org
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Under a post 9/11 Bush administration program, CIA agents officials have gained access to financial records from a vast international database called SWIFT, examining banking transactions involving thousands of Americans without specific warrants in each case. (This program is working in parallel with the NSA’s warrantless eavesdropping system)
The N.Y. Times has the scoop
The Washington Post has government officials confirming the story
Posted on Jun 23, 2006
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In the wake of 9/11, the parent company of Western Union gave the FBI information on financial transactions and wire transfers, Ron Suskind charges in his new book, “The One Percent Doctrine.”
Posted on Jun 21, 2006
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Post 9/11, the U.S. penned a deal demanding that airlines submit 34 pieces of passenger information including names, addresses and credit card info. The EU Parliament has opposed the deal from the beginning, arguing that it does not guarantee adequate data protection, and now the European Court of Justice has annulled it. Washington has threatened big fines for noncompliance in the past. Privacy? Data protection? How un-American!
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We learn from the Wall Street Journal that banks, Internet service providers and other companies are being besieged by law enforcement authorities who want to pore over their corporate data in hunting for clues in criminal cases.
Just another example of how the government is going through personal records.
Posted on May 20, 2006
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gregpalast.com
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When the government can’t legally dig up your medical records, call histories and voter registration information, it turns to the data mining company ChoicePoint—which has sucked up over $1 billion in federal contracts.
Do. Not. Miss. this article on how the frightening industry of data mining works.
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A “senior law enforcement official” has told ABC News that the government, in trying to root out confidential sources, is tracking the phone numbers the news organization calls.
Maybe we should just start calling him George “Big Brother” Bush.
Update: An official acknowledges its “backtracking” of journalists’ phone records.
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hardnewsnow.com
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“We’re not mining or trolling though the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans,’’ Bush says, without directly addressing the NSA program reported in USA Today.
Meanwhile, GOP Sen. Arlen Specter demands that phone company executives testify before Congress about the data they provided to the NSA.
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Watch for the classic video clips of Bush claiming that he didn’t know who was leaking sensitive information.
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Zuade Kaufman
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By Sheerly Avni — Gore Vidal on fascism, terrorism and wartime propaganda. Part II of Truthdig’s interview with the award-winning novelist. (earlier: part I)
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Apparently both he and President Bush have this power, but the VP was mum on details. The disclosure, in his interview with Fox News, could lay the groundwork for a criminal defense of his former chief of staff, Scooter Libby.
Read the full text of his interview here.
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For years, we’ve been supplying the oracles of Google and Yahoo with the most intimate details our personal health, political leanings, and secret obsessions.
The government is already combing through Internet archives.
Mark Malseed, co-author of the international bestseller “The Google Story,” argues that it’s time we started asking better questions about our queries.
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C-SPAN via ThinkProgress
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Bush’s spokesman shows a remarkable knack for being able to pounce on new information when it may hurt Democrats, and for being unable to process new information when it may be damaging to the president. | video and transcript
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Vice President Cheney’s indicted former top aide, Scooter Libby, has told a grand jury that his “superiors” granted him permission to give secret information to reporters to help bolster the White House’s case for war on Iraq. | story
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Illustration by Karen Spector
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By Robert Scheer — In case someone in the Justice Department is reading this, let me hasten to explain why I just clicked on the Victoria’s Secret online catalog photo featuring a certain “Very Sexy Lace & Mesh Garter Belt.” AOL made me do it.
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Illinois becomes the first state to bring suit against companies that sell logs of private phone calls. | story
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As Daily Kos puts it, “The British government is trying to prevent the publication of memos which detail how information procured by torture in Uzbekistan is being used by the US and the UK.” The Independent has the story.
Posted on Dec 30, 2005
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Bank of America Lied to Homeowners and Rewarded Foreclosures, Ex-Employees Say
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