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11380. robertjayb - 12/28/2013 1:45:32 AM So now onward toward the Supremes?
NEW YORK (AP) - The heated debate over the National Security Agency's bulk collection of millions of Americans' telephone records fell squarely into the courts Friday, when a federal judge in Manhattan upheld the legality of the program and cited its need in the fight against terrorism just days after another federal judge concluded it was likely not constitutional. The ruling by U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III and an opposing view earlier this month by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington D.C. sets the stage for federal appeals courts to confront the delicate balance developed when the need to protect national security clashes with civil rights established in the Constitution. 11381. robertjayb - 12/28/2013 3:10:40 AM (U.S. District Judge William H. III) Pauley has subscribed to the NSA's Greater Manure Pile theory of crimefighting ("If the pile of manure is big enough, there must be a pony underneath it somewhere!"). The fact that the evidence in support of the Greater Manure Pile is secret means that its advocates can simply wink and lay their fingers alongside their noses and say "If you only knew what I knew..." and then ask for another billion dollars for their own surveillance empires.
(Boing Boing)?
Why didn't I know about Boing Boing? Nobody tells me anything. Sheesh.
11382. robertjayb - 12/28/2013 4:03:43 AM Pretty good company...
Ben Franklin, whistleblowing leaker of government secrets — Benjamin Franklin was a leaker of government secrets, who circulated intercepted letters from the colonial lieutenant governor of Massachusetts Bay to the British government. The letters detailed a scheme to take away colonists' legally guaranteed freedoms "by degrees" and called for more troops to keep order during the process. After the letters were published, Franklin admitted to leaking them, but refused to give up his source. The crown called it "thievery and dishonor" and he was fired from his postmaster general gig (thankfully, there was no Espionage Act on the books at the time). (via Techdirt) — Cory • 12
(Boing Boing) i luvit 11383. arkymalarky - 12/28/2013 5:21:14 AM And on the subject of surveillance and privacy, use duckduckgo for searching online instead of Google. I don't but Stan does. 11384. Wombat - 12/28/2013 6:00:23 PM RJB,
Pretty good company indeed: The secretary to Benjamin Franklin's mission in Paris was a British spy. 11385. Trillium - 12/28/2013 9:02:06 PM NSA Intercepts Letters to Santa! ("If the children have been good, they have nothing to worry about")
Operation MILKCOOKIES
"Speaking on condition of anonymity, a former senior administration official defended the program: ”We’re only looking for any unusual presents, like children who ask Santa for pressure cookers, large amounts of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, hyzadrine rocket fuel, things like that. I mean a six-year old with a hammer is bad enough; just try to imagine that same six-year old with a truck bomb.”
From "Duffelblog: The Military's Most Trusted News Source"
Read more: http://www.duffelblog.com/2013/12/nsa-letters-to-santa/#ixzz2onVyxOJf
11386. Wombat - 12/29/2013 1:11:47 AM Trillium,
I think you've been spoofed. 11387. Trillium - 12/29/2013 2:20:29 AM Wombat, how hard did you have to think? Lord 11388. Wombat - 12/29/2013 3:59:10 AM Sometimes my irony meter doesn't work so well... 11389. Trillium - 12/29/2013 4:27:18 AM Hope you enjoyed it. There was some pretty funny stuff at that site (along with some that seemed lame, but maybe you have to be in the military to appreciate the nuances) 11390. Trillium - 12/29/2013 4:28:20 AM (and I don't understand most of the military jargon, but a lot of the commenters react with LOLs) 11391. Trillium - 12/29/2013 4:40:06 AM Unlike "Duffelblog", the following link is NOT satire.
It's also "old", from last summer 2013.
The article and comments lead me to suspect that thousands of people, with lower standards and less loyalty than Snowden, could have easily sold anything and everything (to the Russian mafia or any other entity) without difficulty. Meanwhile the "supervisors" would be clueless.
http://www.techdirt.com: Too brilliant to work for the NSA
11392. robertjayb - 12/30/2013 3:54:37 AM Is Merkel still pissed off?
LONDON (AP) — A German magazine lifted the lid on the operations of the National Security Agency's hacking unit Sunday, reporting that American spies intercept computer deliveries, exploit hardware vulnerabilities, and even hijack Microsoft's internal reporting system to spy on their targets.
Der Spiegel's revelations relate to a division of the NSA known as Tailored Access Operations, or TAO, which is painted as an elite team of hackers specializing in stealing data from the toughest of targets. 11393. robertjayb - 1/2/2014 8:16:27 PM Yesss! And a Medal of Freedom!
LONDON (AP) — The New York Times and Guardian newspapers have called for clemency for Edward Snowden, saying that the espionage worker-turned-privacy advocate should be praised rather than punished for his disclosures.
Snowden's revelations about the United States' world-spanning espionage activities have ignited a global debate over civil liberties and surveillance. But his mass disclosure of top-secret data has earned him spying charges in the U.S., and he has settled in Russia following an abortive attempt to flee to Latin America.
(AP) 11394. robertjayb - 1/2/2014 9:11:55 PM http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/02/opinion/edward-snowden-whistle-blower.html?ref=opinion&_r=1& 11395. robertjayb - 1/2/2014 9:17:37 PM http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/01/snowden-affair-case-for-pardon-editorial 11396. alistairconnor - 1/8/2014 11:03:03 AM I'm sure Robt will love this story... I'm not so sure about Judith or Wombat.
Burglars Who Took On F.B.I. Abandon Shadows - NYTimes.com PHILADELPHIA — The perfect crime is far easier to pull off when nobody is watching. Mark Makela for The New York Times John and Bonnie Raines, two of the burglars, at home in Philadelphia with their grandchildren. So on a night nearly 43 years ago, while Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier bludgeoned each other over 15 rounds in a televised title bout viewed by millions around the world, burglars took a lock pick and a crowbar and broke into a Federal Bureau of Investigation office in a suburb of Philadelphia, making off with nearly every document inside. They were never caught, and the stolen documents that they mailed anonymously to newspaper reporters were the first trickle of what would become a flood of revelations about extensive spying and dirty-tricks operations by the F.B.I. against dissident groups. The burglary in Media, Pa., on March 8, 1971, is a historical echo today, as disclosures by the former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden have cast another unflattering light on government spying and opened a national debate about the proper limits of government surveillance. The burglars had, until now, maintained a vow of silence about their roles in the operation. They were content in knowing that their actions had dealt the first significant blow to an institution that had amassed enormous power and prestige during J. Edgar Hoover’s lengthy tenure as director.
11397. judithathome - 1/8/2014 8:42:59 PM They are guilty of B&E and should be charged with that....that's known as breaking and entering and they are also thieves. I'm sure the statute of limitations has run out, however.
How would you feel if someone broke into the computer systems at the Centers for Disease Control or your local equivalent and sent off files with the names of every person with AIDS to the newspapers? Because that would be for the greater good of society since people would know not to have unprotected sex with those on the list. So whomever exposed that private info would be doing the country a great service....
On another note, how about posting the names of women scheduled for abortions? So people could come on the day they are scheduled and shame them...oh wait...too late. Most of the abortion clinics are closed. Scratch that example. 11398. alistairconnor - 1/9/2014 12:34:04 PM Whistleblowing is not, in itself, a virtue, nor is it a sin. It is a tactic, and should be judged (by moral people) in function of the intention AND of the effect. The examples you posit may be interesting in themselves, but have no bearing on the FBI break-in I linked.
Here's a classic example : the FBI Hoover created was completely unaccountable and out of control. This burglary, and the subsequent leaks, helped clean it up. Whether the whistleblowers' acts were good or bad is a question of moral judgement.
But if your position is that these people broke the law, therefore they should have been punished, then you are abstaining from moral judgement : it's a purely authoritarian position, of obeissance to the constituted authority, however iniquitous its actions. 11399. wabbit - 1/12/2014 4:34:22 PM RIP Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon, a monumental figure in Israel’s modern history who epitomized the country’s warrior past even as he sought to become the architect of a peaceful future, died Jan. 11 of organ failure eight years after a massive stroke left him in a vegetative state at the height of his political power.
His death, at 85, was confirmed by a senior official in the Israeli prime minister’s office and Dr. Shlomo Noy of the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer near Tel Aviv, where Mr. Sharon had spent his last years.
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