Neoliberal Markets Deliver for the Rich
This is a cross-post with some modifications from Naked Capitalism.
It is a truth universally acknowledged by all good citizens that markets are the only way to organize a society. The implication is that the role of government is to support…
Is Stingray Unique or Does All National Security Information Sharing Involve Such Silencing?
In the last few days, there have been two developments on Stingray transparency. First, the Erie County Sheriff's office complied with a NYCLU FOIA for Stingray documents. So they released documents showing somewhat modest (though still troubling,…
PCLOB's New Work: Examining "Activities" Taking Place in the Loopholes of EO 12333
On Wednesday, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board met to approve its next project. They are just about completing a general overview of the Intelligence Community's use of EO 12333 (as part of which they've been nagging agencies,…
Given Call for War, Pakistan's Parliament Chose Peace. Will US Congress Ignore Call for Peace, Choose War?
As Congress here in the US creeps ever closer to amassing a veto-proof margin for war with Iran by keeping sanctions in place even after a final P5+1 agreement would end them, it comes as especially refreshing that Pakistan's Parliament has…
A Guide to the 5+ Known Intelligence Community Telecommunications Metadata Dragnets
I've been laying this explanation out since USA Today provided new details on DEA's International Dragnet, but it's clear it needs to be done in more systematic fashion, because really smart people continue to mistakenly treat the Section 215…
CISA Hack of the Day: White House Can Already Share Intelligence with the State Department
In about 10 days, Congress will take up cyber information sharing bills. And unlike past attempts, these bills are likely to pass.
That, in spite of the fact that no one has yet explained how they'll make a significant difference in preventing…
Government's Assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki Used "Significantly Different" EO 12333 Analysis
Jameel Jaffer has a post on the government's latest crazy-talk in the ongoing ACLU and NYT effort to liberate more drone memos. He describes how -- in the government's response to their appeal of the latest decisions on the Anwar al-Awlaki FOIA…
Dick Cheney Gets Judy Miller to Serve as His Cut-Out, Again
When Judy Miller wrote a piece for the WSJ pitching her new autobiographical novel, she was very specific about what she had said and not said with Dick Cheney and when.
I have never met George W. Bush. I never discussed the war with Dick Cheney…
"Information Is No Longer Being Collected in Bulk [Pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 876]"
Given the details in yesterday's USAT story on DEA's dragnet, I wanted to re-examine the DEA declaration revealing details of the phone dragnet in the Shantia Hassanshahi case which I wrote about here. As I noted then, there's a footnote modifying…
DEA Likely Has More than One Dragnet
As yesterday's USAT story on the DEA dragnet reported, DOJ's Inspector General is investigating DEA's dragnet. I first reported that in April 2014.
As I also reported in February, FBI is obstructing that investigation -- so much so, that…
Everything in the War on Terror Came from the War on Drugs
bmaz has long insisted, correctly, that all the tricks they have used in the war on terror came first from the war on drugs.
The USA Today's Brad Heath demonstrates how true that is with a blockbuster story on a DEA dragnet, called the USTO,…
FBI's Cell Phone Investigative Kiosk Would Allow Fourth Amendment Violations
Jim Comey wants to sacrifice individual security to ensure the FBI can access cell phones easily.
But in an audit of a forensic lab in Philadelphia, DOJ's Inspector General found that the FBI is not keeping adequate control of the kiosks…
Yes, Section 215 Might Be Used to Get Dick Pics -- or Porn Searches and Dick Uploads
John Oliver did an interview with Edward Snowden that aired on his show last night. After showing Snowden that most random people stopped in Times Square didn't know or care what Snowden had done (starting at 22:30), Oliver then showed…
Homo Economicus and the Absurd Human
The neoliberal project offers a vision of two classes, the rich, and homo economicus, the consuming human. Homo economicus is a new creature in the world, one of a long string of visions offered to the great mass of humans by the elites. It…
CIA's Girlie PsyOp: Call MoDo
Apparently, after years of fostering a "Sister's Club" image of CIA women that celebrates their badassery, the CIA has realized the image is unfair to the majority of women who work at the Agency. So, on the occasion of Showtime announcing…
Section 215's Multiple Programs and Where They Might Hide after June 1
In an column explicitly limited to the phone dragnet, Conor Friedersdorf pointed to a post I wrote about Section 215 generally and suggested I thought the phone dragnet was about to get hidden under a new authority.
Marcy Wheeler is suspicious…
Dzhokhar's Phones
According to an exhibit introduced in the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev trial, the government subpoenaed T-Mobile on April 19, 2013 for the subscriber information from the two pre-paid phones used by the brothers during the attack. T-Mobile (unsurprisingly)…
The Precedent for Using Presidential National Emergency Proclamations to Expand Surveillance
On September 14, 2001 -- 3 days before signing an expansive Memorandum of Notification that would authorize a suite of covert operations against al Qaeda, and 4 days before signing an AUMF that would give those operations the appearance of…
Iran, P5+1 "Succeeded in Making History"
It has been a very long road since the announcement in November of 2013 that a preliminary agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of nations had been made on Iran's nuclear technology. There have been extensions along the way and times when…
President Obama Declares the Threat to Crappy Sony Movies a National Emergency
President Obama just issued an Executive Order that directs Department of Treasury to impose sanctions on people who engage in "significant malicious cyber-enabled activities." The move has been reported as a means to use the same kind of sanctions…