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Via ABA: “The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of a provision of the Stored Communications Act that allows the government to obtain court orders for telecommunications records. The law says the government must offer “specific and articulable facts” showing reason to believe the material sought is relevant and material …
Law-Enforcement Officials Expand Use of Tools Such as Spyware as People Under Investigation ‘Go Dark,’ Evading Wiretaps: “The FBI develops some hacking tools internally and purchases others from the private sector. With such technology, the bureau can remotely activate the microphones in phones running Google Inc.’s Android software to record conversations, one former U.S. official said. It can …
“The Director of National Intelligence has published the “Primary Order” from the FISA Court which describes the scope of the NSA’s data analysis activities for telephone call records. The order details the procedures the NSA is expected to follow when reviewing data, but is heavily redacted. The order does not include a legal analysis of …
International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance – Final version 10 July 2013 “As technologies that facilitate State surveillance of communications advance, States are failing to ensure that laws and regulations related to communications surveillance adhere to international human rights and adequately protect the rights to privacy and freedom of expression. …
Glenn Greenwald, TheGuardian.com: “A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The NSA boasts in training materials that the program, called XKeyscore, is its “widest-reaching” …
“The higher education system is more and more complicit as a passive agent in the systematic reproduction of white racial privilege across generations. This is the core finding in a new study by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW), Separate and Unequal: How Higher Education Reinforces the Intergenerational Reproduction of White …
Follow up to previous postings on Aaron Swartz, see this Report to the President: – “MIT and the Prosecution of Aaron Swartz: “In January 2013, MIT President L. Rafael Reif asked Professor Hal Abelson to lead a thorough analysis of MIT’s involvement in the Aaron Swartz matter, from the time that MIT first perceived unusual …
The Fall and Rise and Fall of Iraq by: Kenneth M. Pollack, July 20, 2013 “This essay traces the course of Iraq’s fortunes from the American invasion in 2003 through the civil war of 2005-2008 and the endangered effort at reconstruction that followed. Only by seeing the full course of Iraq’s narrative arc during this …
“In light of the Supreme Court decision striking down the preclearance provision of the Voting Rights Act, and the announcement by Attorney General Holder that the Department of Justice would aggressively enforce remaining provisions to include “bailing in” the entire State of Texas, it is worth examining recent use of federal civil courts to enforce …
Pew Survey -“A majority of Americans – 56% – say that federal courts fail to provide adequate limits on the telephone and internet data the government is collecting as part of its anti-terrorism efforts. An even larger percentage (70%) believes that the government uses this data for purposes other than investigating terrorism. And despite the …
National Journal – They’ve been helping the government spy on people for a very long time. The cozy relationships go back decades. By Michael Hirsh – July 25, 2013 “The saga of the private sector’s involvement in the NSA’s scheme for permanent mass surveillance is long, complex, and sometimes contentious. Often, in ways that appeared …
Annual Report of the Chief Surveillance Commissioner to the Prime Minister and to Scottish Ministers for 2012-2013 – July 2013 “The powersand duties of the Surveillance Commissioners in scrutinising and deciding whether to approve authorisations under PA97 (property interference) and under RIPA and RIP(S)A (intrusive surveillance) have been explained in earlier reports and are publicly …
