While it is difficult to outpace the US in its erosion of civil liberties, one contender for the crown currently held by America must be the UK. Now, its government is proposing that all social networking interaction be recorded and stored indefinitely by the government. Vernon Coaker the U.K. Home Office security minister, on Monday [...]
Posts Tagged ‘wiretapping’
Leading the way
Posted: 18th March 2009 by Brant in culture, politics, sadTags: civil liberties, police state, privacy, wiretapping
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Cybersecurity chief quits
Posted: 7th March 2009 by Brant in admin, politics, techTags: civil liberties, tech, wiretapping
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Protecting our technology infrastructure is critical. But should a spy agency, one that participated in what is surely illegal wiretapping and which is under the control of the Pentagon, have complete control over that infrastructure? The answer is surely no. The official in charge of national cybersecurity has just resigned and made clear that excess [...]
OLC releases secret Bush memos
Posted: 2nd March 2009 by Brant in politicsTags: Bush administration, civil liberties, DOJ, Gitmo, torture, wiretapping
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The Office of Legal Counsel is a department with the DOJ. Its job is to act essentially as the law firm for the federal government, offering various officials guidance as to what is legal. Today, the DOJ released a number of previously unpublished memoranda from the OLC. The main torture memorandums appear missing, however. Fascinating [...]
Stimulus includes “network management”
Posted: 11th February 2009 by Brant in politics, techTags: civil liberties, stimulus, wiretapping
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Here is some bad news. The stimulus package apparently includes explicit authorization to ISPs to impose “network management” techniques to block copyright infringement. This was added by Diane Feinstein. While there is nothing wrong with protecting IP, the side effects of making ISPs the enforcement mechanism would be substantial. This would give them cover [...]
Stimulus includes "network management"
Posted: 11th February 2009 by Brant in politicsTags: civil liberties, stimulus, wiretapping
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Here is some bad news. The stimulus package apparently includes explicit authorization to ISPs to impose “network management” techniques to block copyright infringement. This was added by Diane Feinstein. While there is nothing wrong with protecting IP, the side effects of making ISPs the enforcement mechanism would be substantial. This would give them cover [...]
FISA court rules international wiretapping legal
Posted: 15th January 2009 by Brant in politics, techTags: Bush, civil liberties, wiretapping
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I can’t wait to read this decision. The New York Times is reporting that a Federal appellate court has ruled that Bush’s wiretapping of international communications is legal under the Protect America Act adopted by Congress in 2007, purportedly allowing such wiretapping without a warrant. This is decidedly unfortunate. The opinion is not expected to [...]