US Indicts Chinese Hackers for Stealing Information on Trade Negotiations
DOJ just announced the indictment of 5 Chinese People's Liberation Army hackers (complete with Most Wanted posters) for breaking into a bunch of companies -- and the United Steel Workers -- in Pittsburgh.
I'll have more to say about the indictment…
History Repeats Itself: Kessler Orders Preservation of Gitmo Forced Feeding Torture Videos
With even the New York Times editorial page chiming in on Thursday (just after the Abramson firing on Wednesday, so this is clearly a big deal to them), Judge Gladys Kessler ruled on Friday that the military must stop its forced feedings of…
Jim Comey Wants to Generalize FBI's Intelligence Collection
In the 26th paragraph of a 32-paragraph article reporting on how FBI will remain terror terror terror under Jim Comey's watch (albeit, potentially, with a more particularized focus, which would be welcome), this detail appears:
Mr. Comey said…
The Civ Lib Community Gets Cold Feet
Civil liberties groups are -- according to the Hill -- getting cold feet on the USA Freedom (aka Freedumb) bill. The claim is that the Administration and "members of the House" are working to gut the bill.
“Last stage negotiations”…
The Source of the Intelligence Legitimacy Problem
Ben Wittes went to a secret meeting on "Intelligence Challenges" and came away with the realization that even as we are more reliant on intelligence, the public has grown more skeptical of the government's use of it.
And from the beginning…
TurboTax Timmeh Teaches DC about Autobiographical Fiction
TurboTax Timmeh Geithner's book has been out about a week or ten days. And it seems to have had a remarkable effect: teaching DC that the memoirs from figures of power are often as not autobiographical fiction as real historical fact.
Sure,…
Two History Lessons in the Fourth Amendment
I've known the story of James Otis' fight against Writs of Assistance and its role in the establishment of our Fourth Amendment. But I really liked this telling of the story in the BoGlo.
[T]he Fourth Amendment can be traced to a neighborhood…
The "Automated Query" at the Telecoms Will Include "Correlations"
In addition to Mike Rogers' confirmation that HPSCI does not intend HR 3361 to change any of the voluminous collection programs the intelligence community does aside from the phone dragnet, his report on the bill also drew my attention to this…
Mike Rogers: Still Working on His Technical Changes
According to the HPSCI Report on HR 3361 -- which reformers refer to as the USA Freedom Act -- Mike Rogers is still changing the fine print.
Members of the Committee will continue to work to make a number of important technical changes…
Mike Rogers: USA Freedom Act Only Changes Phone Dragnet
In my analysis of the HR 3361 -- hailed by reformers as the USA Freedom Act -- I have posited the possibility that the claim to forbid "bulk collection" across a number of authorities actually changes almost nothing. I based that on a two-part…
Keith Alexander Declares Failure in War on Terror, as He Earlier Declared Failure in Cyberdefense
The New Yorker has a weird interview with Keith Alexander. The weirdness stems from Alexander's wandering answers, which may, in turn, stem from the fact that the interview was not done by an NSA beat reporter. Such interviews seem to flummox…
On USA Freedom: Heed Jan Schakowsky's Warning
There are two reviews of whether HR 3361 constitutes real reform today, one from McClatchy and one from National Journal, both written partly in response to privacy groups' realization that Mike Rogers has been doing a circumspect victory…
Announcement
This is just a quick announcement that I have ended my affiliation with First Look/The Intercept. My departure was voluntary and amicable.
To anticipate questions some may ask, my departure from The Intercept doesn't relate to anything I…
No Protection for International Communications: Russ Feingold Told Us So
Both the ACLU's Jameel Jaffer and EFF have reviews of the government's latest claims about Section 702. In response to challenges by two defendants, Mohamed Osman Mohamud and Jamshid Muhtorov, to the use of 702-collected information, the…
NSA Collection: Show Me the $$
As part of its superb piece on NSA spying on Tuesday, Frontline included interviews with key sources. In my opinion, the most enlightening was that with former HPSCI staffer Diane Roark, so you should read that entire interview (especially her…
Massive Wildfires in SoCal Months Ahead of Season, But Al Gore is Still Fat
I remember moving to Pasadena in September of 1979. I was told that our cheap student apartment had a good view of Mount Wilson out the living room window, but smoke and smog obscured it until nightfall, when flames on the ridge brought…
Dzhokhar's Four Phones
A month ago, the government argued in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's case it had no discovery obligations under Section 215, which top government officials have said they used to achieve piece of mind.
Yesterday, Dzhokhar's college buddies challenged…
The "Other Authority" Footnote
For a variety of reasons, I want to track backward what appears to happen to a footnote in the phone dragnet that currently addresses dragnet records from other authorities, as it appears here in the July 18, 2013 Primary Order.
The Court understands…
January 8, 2010: A Remarkably Busy Day in Telecom Law
I Con the Record has just released a bunch of new documents, showing how (according to Ellen Nakashima) Sprint challenged a dragnet order, and in response got to see the FISA Court opinions authorizing the program. (Well, not really the telecom…
Wyden and Udall Accuse DOJ of Misleading SCOTUS about Upstream Even as NSA Misleads NDCA about Upstream
As Charlie Savage reported this morning, Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall continue their ceaseless efforts to get NSA and DOJ to tell the truth. They (along with Martin Heinrich) wrote a letter to DOJ in November complaining about representations…