psybelle

In one area. 100 times a week. That'd be approximately 14 times a day, every day (20 times a day if they take weekends off)... OK, so, maybe it's not one group in one area. But that then begs the question of who "they" are, if "they" aren't "the Feds" - especially when so many agencies are disavowing participation in this particular action....


This is the original story. It's chilling in the way a first-person (well, second-hand) can be...



This is not right.

UPDATE: Techcrunch claims that it's the (former) employer that turned in the suspicious searches, rather than that the behavior was scraped from Google.

So we have husband, wife, and son (20 year old guy) all using the same "work-place computer" for these "suspicious searches"? Really???


THIS IS NOT RIGHT.

So... the big story that broke while I was having a lovely dinner last night is the revelation of FBI demands that Verizon hand over all call records to the NSA. Let me quote: The order, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, requires Verizon on an "ongoing, daily basis" to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries.

This is not calls between foreign nationals and somebody in the US, this is not calls made to another country, this is not calls made by suspicious persons. This is metadata on all calls made in the US, on an ongoing and daily basis. (And, yes, metadata is important.)


Disclaimer time: my cellphone is courtesy of Verizon. But... an anonymous insider characterized this order as a rubber-stamp renewal of an ongoing set of orders dating back to 2006; if you think the other telcos haven't received similar orders and haven't been coughing up the same sort of info for the past 6+ years, you're fooling yourself. Likewise, email and other "online communications" have less legal protection than phone calls; don't think that Google/Gmail and f*c*book are exempt.... (more at the Times and at Democracy Now)



And, of course, my Senator DiFi claims this is all to protect Americans.... I'd like a list of the liberties and freedoms she thinks she's defending.


(edit: forgot an important linkie!! Bruce Schneier nails it again in talking about what we don't actually know about the NSA's spying program data collection. And he makes the important point that, "Whistle-blowing is the moral response to immoral activity by those in power. " Revealing the truth is a moral imperative; there are ways to do so in relative safety. Supporting the people who reveal ugly truths is also a moral imperative; if you aren't comfortable speaking out, you can give money to organizations like
EFF and the Freedom of the Press Foundation.)

(AKA cleaning up the desktop):


Worth every second of 5+ minutes of your time. "How to live after the party's over" - this. Great soundbite, succinct summary, and one of the things I'm working towards...


Yup. I'm saying it again. police state, panopticon, surveillance society, orwell


On the other hand, there is this... I trust Zimmerman, believe that ex-Navy Seals want security for their brethren. But I'm going to wait for the peer review before thinking about $20 per month.

The war against surveillance can never stop.


Yeah, no. This is appalling... way worse than warrantless GPS monitoring (which was declared unconstitutional). VPN and Tor, here I come...



At this point, I think I need to do a bit of research into Lamar Smith, other bills he may have sponsored...