Why Do They Call It Panama Papers, Anyway?
Over the weekend, a bunch of media outlets let loose shock and awe in bulk leak documents, PanamaPapers, with project leaders ICIJ and Sueddeutsche Zeitung -- as well as enthusiastic partner, Guardian -- rolling out bring spreads on a massive…
Monday Morning: Welcome to BVI - Have a Tax-Free Day
Aw, shucks. Spring Break is over just as I find another warm place to visit. The British Virgin Islands expect a balmy daytime high of 84F/29C degrees today with partly cloudy skies.
And a 100% chance of tax havens galore.
Blood's in the…
Weekend Open Thread: You're Gonna' Need a Bigger Boat
We've been rather busy around the emptywheel this weekend, but it looks like we need something for conversations about two big topics.
First, the Panama Papers -- here's a short and sweet explainer at The Guardian to get you started. It's…
Friday Morning: Some Place Warm
Warm, like the Philippines, the home of the Manila sound. It's Friday once again and today's jazz genre is the precursor to Pinoy rock (like Freddie Aguilar's Anak) and Pinoy hip hop (like Andrew E's Binibirocha).
The Manila sound emerged…
Thursday Morning: Taboo You
Still on spring break around here. If I was legit on a road trip some place warm right now, you'd find me lounging in the sun, sipping fruity cocktails at all hours, listening to some cheesy exotica like this Arthur Lyman piece I've shared here.
Though…
Bob Litt Spins Sharing NSA-Collected Comms with DEA and FBI as Harmless
ODNI General Counsel Bob Litt has a pretty amusing post attempting to reassure us about the imminent change permitting the NSA to share intelligence it collects under EO 12333 more broadly. As part of it, he suggests that EO 12333 "imposes…
Wednesday Morning: Breaking Spring
In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd dove;
In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.
-- excerpt, Locksley Hall by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Welcome to spring break. And by break, I mean schedules…
The Origins of Totalitarianism Part 7: Superfluous People
The last chapter of Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism is devoted to discussion of the totalitarian regime, which comes when the totalitarian movement has taken power. Arendt says that totalitarian movements don’t offer a specific…
With Upcoming David Medine Departure, Will PCLOB Slip Back into Meaninglessness?
The Chair of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, David Medine, has announced he will resign effective July 1 to work with a development organization "advising on data privacy and consumer protection for lower-income financial…
The StuxNet Team Reunion
On Thursday, DOJ had a big dog and pony show over the indictment of 7 Iranians in connection with cyberattacks on US banks and a small dam in suburban NY.
A grand jury in the Southern District of New York indicted seven Iranian individuals…
Battening Down the Hatches -- Stand By
As a few of you have noticed, the site has been misbehaving since Friday afternoon. We are working on the problem, but for now have battened down the hatches to try to isolate the problem. As part of that we have shut down commenting.
Please…
DOJ Claims the Cybersecurity Related OLC Memo Is Also A Stellar Wind Memo
I've written a bunch of times about an OLC memo Ron Wyden keeps pointing to, suggesting it should be declassified so we all can know what outrageous claims DOJ made about common commercial service agreements. Here's my most complete summary…
FBI Claimed It Consulted a Manual Rather Than Cellebrite Directly
Yesterday, I suggested that the initial docket pertaining to efforts to search Syed Rizwan Farook's Lexus and the work phone found in it is consistent with FBI first asking Cellebrite (or some other outside party) to break into the phone before…
On the Coming Showdown over Promiscuous Sharing of EO 12333 Data
A number of outlets are reporting that Ted Lieu and Blake Farenthold have written a letter to NSA Director Mike Rogers urging him not to implement the new data sharing effort reported by Charlie Savage back in February. While I'm happy they…
Thursday Morning: Two Too Good
I would post this video every week if I could get away with it. It's a favorite in my household where three of us play string instruments. I've blown out speakers cranking these guys up as far as I can (shhh...don't tell the dude in charge of…
Did FBI Ask Cellebrite to Open Farook's Phone before Getting an AWA Order?
In this post, I note that DOJ obtained a warrant to search (among other things) an iPhone 6 using Cellebrite's assistance on the same day as it obtained an All Writs Act order to Apple to help crack Syed Rizwan Farook's iPhone 5C. That other…
On February 16, DOJ Got a Warrant to Open an iPhone 6 Using Cellebrite
As a number of outlets are reporting, the Israeli security firm Cellebrite is the source the FBI is using to attempt to break into Syed Rizwan Farook's phone.
Israel's Cellebrite, a provider of mobile forensic software, is helping the U.S.…
Wednesday Morning: Wicked Weary World
Let's have a brunch-time salute to Belgium, which produced this fine young artist Loic Nottet. Too bad there's not much well-produced content in YouTube yet by this youngster. He has incredible upper range reach with great potential because…
How to Protect against Terrorism: Eliminate the Valuable Terrorist Technology, the Nuclear Family
In addition to catching the third Brussels airport bomber,Najim Laachraoui, a known Salah Abdelslam associate, authorities in Europe have also revealed that the other two airport bombers were brothers, Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui.
Police…
The Problem of the Liberal Elites Part 4 Conclusion
Most economists supported NAFTA, and then spent years justifying their support with models and econometric studies they claimed showed that it had little effect. They continued to support trade treaties when China entered the World Trade…