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May 19, 2013

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Tag: Spying


GOP Leaders Call IRS Scandal ‘Criminal,’ O’Reilly Defends Obama, and More

A look at the day’s political happenings, including a rosy economic forecast is released and the IRS scandal leads to at least one resignation.

Posted on May 15, 2013 READ MORE



Obama Weighs In On IRS Scandal, Bachmann Pushes 9/11 Pray Day, and More

A look at the day’s political happenings, including the Justice Department is caught spying on The Associated Press and a new poll shows Sarah Palin’s U.S. Senate prospects.

Posted on May 13, 2013 READ MORE



Michal Osmenda (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Microsoft Gives Your Information to the Government

The company’s first transparency report shows the U.S. and Turkish governments were nearly tied in 2012 for making the most requests for customer data, such as IP addresses, emails and photographs.

Posted on Mar 22, 2013 READ MORE



Flickr/CSIS: Center for Strategic & International Studies

‘Generalissima Clinton’ Expands the Empire

Behind the public relations sheen, the photo opportunities with groups of poor people in the developing world, an increasingly militarized State Department operated under Hillary Clinton’s leadership.

Posted on Feb 8, 2013 READ MORE



Official U.S. Navy Imagery (CC BY 2.0)

U.S. Prepares to Sell Spy Drones to South Korea

Seoul is seeking four “advanced” surveillance drones priced at a total of $1.2 billion to gather intelligence on North Korea’s activities after the U.S. turns over wartime command of Korean troops—a legacy of the 1950s Korean War—later this decade.

Posted on Dec 26, 2012 READ MORE


Big Brother in Your Car

Your chipper TV friend Flo, otherwise known as Progressive Insurance’s ubiquitous shill, wants you to be excited—very excited.

Posted on Sep 6, 2012 READ MORE



Kate B. Harding (CC BY 2.0)

NYPD’s Muslim Spying Program Is Halted in N.J.

New Jersey’s attorney general has assured a group of Muslim leaders that a New York City police unit that had surveilled Muslims in the Garden State is no longer operating there.

Posted on Sep 6, 2012 READ MORE



Public Domain Photos (CC BY 2.0)

Government Surveillance: Cheaper and Deeper

Technical advancements and plunging costs for digital storage mean that government surveillance programs no longer have to be selective about the data they store. And with the average person leaving a trail of Web browsing, emails, text messages and more, there’s plenty of information that can be filed away on individuals.

Posted on Aug 24, 2012 READ MORE



MITNewsOffice/YouTube

Robo-Worm Might Give You the Creeps

Scientists funded by the Pentagon have created a robot for the purpose of looking into hard-to-reach places, from spaces trapped beneath earthquake rubble to the private quarters of state enemies.

Posted on Aug 11, 2012 READ MORE



eflon (CC BY 2.0)

911 Call Reveals NYPD Spying Safe House (Video)

The NYPD this week turned over an audio recording of a call between a confused New Jersey building superintendent and a 911 dispatcher, in which the caller reports discovering an apartment empty except for surveillance equipment. The room turned out to be a safe house for New York police officers spying on New Jersey’s Muslims.

Posted on Jul 25, 2012 READ MORE



Democracy Now!

Truthdiggers of the Week: 7 FDA Whistle-Blowers

Doctors and scientists working for the Food and Drug Administration became targets of surveillance and some lost their jobs after blowing the whistle on the agency’s approval of medical devices that they believed were not safe for public use.

Posted on Jul 21, 2012 READ MORE



The Penguin Press

A Former CIA Operative Against Excessive Secrecy

Human rights lawyer Scott Horton, on the Harper’s Magazine website, asks career CIA counterterrorism agent Henry Crumpton what America can do to balance the need for secrecy with the people’s right to know what their government is doing. Crumpton is author of the new book “The Art of Intelligence.”

Posted on Jul 5, 2012 READ MORE



YouTube

Truthdiggers of the Week: Anonymous

Our picks for this week’s Truthdiggers are a little unusual in that we don’t really know who they are—at least not specifically. But we do know them by their collective, if faceless, alias: Anonymous.

Posted on Mar 2, 2012 READ MORE  |  15 COMMENTS



AP / IRIB TV

Iran Condemns American to Death in Spying Case

Another story has emerged to further make the headline-ready case that tensions are ratcheting up between Tehran and Washington, this time from the espionage department. On Monday, news hit the wires that an Iranian court had sentenced 28-year-old Amir Mirzaei Hekmati to death for allegedly spying for the CIA.

Posted on Jan 9, 2012 READ MORE  |  33 COMMENTS



Flickr / FreeTheHikers

Ahmadinejad Says 2 U.S. Hikers Will Be Freed (Updated)

Update: The Iranian Justice Ministry has contradicted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and said the release of the two hikers who were sentenced to eight years in prison could be delayed.

Posted on Sep 14, 2011 READ MORE  |  3 COMMENTS



Enrique Dans (CC-BY)

Anonymous Is Going to Try to Kill Facebook (Video)

Remember, remember the fifth of November 2011. That’s the day hactivist collective Anonymous plans to “kill” the second-busiest website on the Internet “for the sake of your own privacy.” In a video message, Anonymous warns that “you are not safe from them [Facebook] nor from any government” to which the social networking website feeds information. (more)

Posted on Aug 9, 2011 READ MORE  |  33 COMMENTS



Flickr / espenmoe

Assange: Facebook ‘Most Appalling Spying Machine Ever’ (Update: Video)

In a recent interview with Russia Today, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had harsh words for Facebook, denouncing the company for enabling the U.S. government to keep close tabs on the behavior, relationships and personal details of its citizens.

Posted on May 2, 2011 READ MORE  |  6 COMMENTS



Flickr / FreeTheHikers

Iran Trial Begins for Hikers

Trial has begun in Tehran for two of three American hikers accused of espionage after blundering across the border into Iran. The third hiker, Sarah Shourd, was freed on bail last September and is back in the United States.

Posted on Feb 6, 2011 READ MORE  |  5 COMMENTS



Flickr / GuenterHH (CC-BY-ND)

Justice Dept. Hand-Slaps FBI for Spying on Greenpeace and Friends

The supervising bureaucrats at the Justice Department acknowledged that the FBI should not have been spying on activists, although they decided that the bureau was not targeting anti-war and environmental groups for political reasons.

Posted on Sep 20, 2010 READ MORE  |  3 COMMENTS


China to Stop Spying on Its People, Will Use Facebook Instead

According to the head of the domestic spying operation, China decided to scrap its elaborate array of spy satellites, eavesdropping devices and closed-circuit surveillance cameras after recognizing that Facebook put them all to shame.

Posted on May 23, 2010 READ MORE  |  3 COMMENTS


Nozette
presstv.ir

American Scientist Charged With Espionage

American scientist Stewart David Nozette, who has worked for NASA, the Pentagon and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and even did a stint at the White House, could spend the rest of his life in jail after being charged with passing secrets to an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer.

Posted on Oct 20, 2009 READ MORE  |  14 COMMENTS


Surveillance
infowars.net

Surveillance Case Gets Canned

A judge has rejected a challenge to FISA brought by activists abroad who fear that their communications may be tapped by the U.S. government. The judge said fear is not enough to warrant a change in the law, and that challenges need to make explicit claims of unlawful surveillance. The question remains: How does one know he is being surveilled?

Posted on Aug 21, 2009 READ MORE  |  1 COMMENT


Dudes
forward.com

Justice Dept. Drops AIPAC Spy Case

President Obama’s Justice Department has moved to drop all espionage charges against two former AIPAC lobbyists after they were accused of disseminating sensitive information to journalists and diplomats gleaned from conversations with senior Bush administration officials.

Posted on May 1, 2009 READ MORE  |  133 COMMENTS


Saberi
a.abcnews.com

American Journalist Gets 8-Year Jail Sentence in Iran

In a move that strains the already delicate ties between Tehran and Washington, Iran has sentenced Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi to eight years in jail for allegedly spying for the U.S. government.

Posted on Apr 18, 2009 READ MORE  |  11 COMMENTS


Redacted memo
aclu.org

Nine Secret Bush-Era Documents Released

The Justice Department has released nine secret memos and opinions written by the Office of Legal Counsel that authorized some of the Bush administration’s unlawful national security policies.

Posted on Mar 4, 2009 READ MORE  |  13 COMMENTS


Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Jail

Millions have served time in U.S. prisons for crimes that fall far short of those attributed to the Bush administration. Some criminals, it seems, are like banks judged too big to fail: too big to jail, too powerful to prosecute.

Posted on Jan 27, 2009 READ MORE  |  31 COMMENTS


Obama on Gaza, Investigating Bush Abuses and More

George Stephanopoulos picked the president-elect’s brain Sunday in a wide-ranging interview. On Gaza, Obama defended his silence but he said to expect Mideast action on Day 1. On prosecuting Bushies for abuses such as torture or domestic spying, don’t hold your breath. On the economy, “Everybody’s going to have to give.”

Posted on Jan 12, 2009 READ MORE  |  22 COMMENTS



gizmodo.com

Here We COINTELPRO Again: FBI Changes the Rules

With everybody’s eyeballs and earlobes focused on the economy and the election, the Justice Department pushed through rule changes that allow the FBI to go back to the bad old days of spying more aggressively on Americans. Civil libertarians and even some lawmakers are in an uproar. The Center for Investigative Reporting has a must-read report that explains why.

Posted on Oct 7, 2008 READ MORE  |  7 COMMENTS


book cover

John Holmes on ‘The Lost Spy’

Former Time correspondent Andrew Meier presents a riveting exhumation of the previously unknown story of Cy Oggins, an early American-Jewish communist who spied for the Soviets and was killed by them in 1947.

Posted on Oct 3, 2008 READ MORE  |  1 COMMENT



antiwar.com

Daniel Ellsberg’s Guide to FISA

What’s the big deal about the new FISA “compromise”? Simply put, it legitimizes warrantless spying on Americans while papering over one of George W. Bush’s worst abuses. Daniel Ellsberg would like your help in stopping it, provided you can set aside 60 seconds of your Monday.

Posted on Jul 7, 2008 READ MORE  |  2 COMMENTS


Homeland Insecurity

The president and other fear mongers love to harangue Americans with the specter of terrorism when their pet projects (and our freedoms) are on the line, but when it comes to the basic programs that protect us from disaster, money talks louder than threats.

Posted on Feb 14, 2008 READ MORE  |  25 COMMENTS


Feingold

Feingold’s Quick and Easy Guide to FISA

Lawmakers who take a principled stand on the tough and often complex issues that face our nation typically struggle to condense the relevant intricacies into a comprehensible sound bite. Here, Sen. Russ Feingold bucks the trend as he explains the administration’s plan for spying on Americans.

Posted on Jan 29, 2008 READ MORE  |  8 COMMENTS


Ranking Republican: CIA Wanted Torture Tapes Preserved

Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., responding to closed testimony from the CIA’s acting general counsel, John Rizzo, said it appeared that the officer who destroyed evidence of “enhanced” interrogations was acting against orders. Jose Rodriguez, the official in question, is asking for immunity before he tells his side of the story to Congress.

Posted on Jan 16, 2008 READ MORE  |  3 COMMENTS


twin towers on fire
masternewmedia.org

America’s Dysfunctional Intelligence Agencies

“Spying Blind” author Amy Zegart gives Truthdig a status report on America’s intelligence agencies and explains why our intelligence system is so broken and why our democracy may be to blame.

Posted on Nov 29, 2007 READ MORE  |  71 COMMENTS


Cyborg Parents From Hell

Pretty soon, we’re going have to amend the favorite mom and dad moniker of the moment. Those much vaunted helicopter parents are turning into black-helicopter parents. The image of parents hovering over their kids is morphing into the darker image of parents spying on their kids.

Posted on Nov 1, 2007 READ MORE  |  12 COMMENTS


Verizon Admits Domestic Spying Role

Under pressure from Congress, Verizon has provided some insight into the government’s domestic surveillance program. The telecommunications giant defended the legality of its actions, but admitted complying “as expeditiously as possible” when federal officials, without a subpoena, asked for telephone and Internet records.

Posted on Oct 16, 2007 READ MORE  |  9 COMMENTS


twin towers on fire
masternewmedia.org

America’s Dysfunctional Intelligence Agencies

“Spying Blind” author Amy Zegart gives Truthdig a status report on America’s intelligence agencies and explains why our intelligence system is so broken and why our democracy may be to blame.

Posted on Oct 16, 2007 READ MORE  |  8 COMMENTS


Imagine Peace—A Ray of Light in Dark Times

John Lennon would have turned 67 years old last week had he not been murdered in 1980 by a mentally disturbed fan. On his birthday, Oct. 9, his widow, peace activist and artist Yoko Ono, realized a dream they shared.

Posted on Oct 16, 2007 READ MORE  |  25 COMMENTS


Trust

Share
Posted on Oct 11, 2007 READ MORE  |  6 COMMENTS        


Orwell
guardian.co.uk

For Orwell, Life Imitated Art

It turns out that George Orwell, famed author of “1984” and originator of the term “Big Brother,” was spied on by his government for more than 10 years. Members of Britain’s MI5 suspected the writer of being a communist, until they bothered to read him, and were apparently baffled by his “bohemian” clothes.

Posted on Sep 4, 2007 READ MORE  |  5 COMMENTS


Domestic Surveillance Begins at Home

The satirist writes that just-resigned Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ motivation is that he wants to spend more time eavesdropping on his family.

Posted on Sep 2, 2007 READ MORE  |  9 COMMENTS


Big Brother Update With National Intel Director

J. Michael McConnell, the director of national intelligence, has in part explained Congress’ hurry to revise domestic surveillance law. It seems that the FISA court, established three decades ago to keep the government from abusively spying on American citizens, decided that the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program was illegal—and that just wouldn’t do.

Posted on Aug 23, 2007 READ MORE  |  8 COMMENTS


NSA HQ

Inside the Data Mine

The Bush administration’s domestic spying program has depended on the willing participation of America’s telecommunications giants, and all but one, Qwest, were willing to comply. Truthdig contributor Onnesha Roychoudhuri investigates the complex world of national security and regulation to find out whether Qwest’s extraordinary bad luck in recent years has been more than a coincidence—and what it means for what’s left of your privacy.

Posted on Aug 9, 2007 READ MORE  |  152 COMMENTS


An Ode to Privacy

It wasn’t so long ago that thinking the government was reading your mail, listening to your phone calls, tracking your movements and snapping photos along the way meant you were just paranoid. Ah, the good old days.

Posted on Aug 7, 2007 READ MORE  |  43 COMMENTS



gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/

The CIA’s ‘Family Jewels’

The National Security Archive at George Washington University has posted documents on its website that expose ugly activities by the CIA before reforms were made in the 1970s. The secrecy watchdog says the agency violated its charter for 25 years by spying on journalists and political dissidents, in addition to engaging in other nefarious activities.

Posted on Jun 22, 2007 READ MORE  |  24 COMMENTS


Comey

Bush’s Showdown With the Justice Department

Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey reveals the circumstances surrounding the reauthorization of the domestic spying program, including then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales’ late-night visit to an ailing John Ashcroft in order to “take advantage of a very sick man who did not have the powers of the attorney general” at the time.

Posted on May 16, 2007 READ MORE  |  16 COMMENTS


FBI Abuses Patriot Act Powers

An internal Justice Department investigation has documented multiple abuses by the FBI in obtaining the private records of U.S. residents. Even with the broad powers of the Patriot Act in place, the bureau is still required to certify that the phone, e-mail and financial documents it seeks are at least related to investigations of terrorism or intelligence activities.

Posted on Mar 9, 2007 READ MORE  |  13 COMMENTS


Sad Bush
softvote.com

Bush to Seek Warrants for Wiretaps

President Bush has finally agreed to allow a secret court to oversee the NSA’s wiretapping program, which had been operating without warrants for years. The administration’s capitulation after 13 months of stubborn resistance might have something to do with pending congressional investigations and legal battles.

Posted on Jan 18, 2007 READ MORE  |  10 COMMENTS


Glenn Fine
washingtonpost.com

Overdue Review of Spy Program Lacks Muscle

The Justice Department will, at long last, examine the NSA’s domestic spying program, through which agents have eavesdropped on countless phone calls and e-mails.  Unfortunately, the review will not explore the legality of the program and was described by one Democrat as an attempt at appeasement.

Posted on Nov 28, 2006 READ MORE  |  2 COMMENTS


Left, Right and Center

Left, Right and Center

Join Truthdig’s Robert Scheer, along with Arianna Huffington, Tony Blankley and Matt Miller, for a lively discussion on the week in politics, policy and culture.  This week: the Bush-Republican detainee-interrogation deal, U.N. rants, midterm elections, corporate spying, upheaval at the Los Angeles Times and the furor surrounding the pope’s recent comments on Islam.

Posted on Sep 22, 2006 READ MORE  |  4 COMMENTS


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