Tom Engelhardt: Too Big to Jail? Why Kidnapping, Torture, Assassination, and Perjury Are No Longer Crimes in Washington
Why national security state crimes seem to fall into a “too big to fail”-like category. Call it “too big to jail.”
Read more...Category Archives: Surveillance state
Edward Snowden Testimony at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Snowden’s big messages were familiar: the lack of effective supervision of the US surveillance state, the scope and methods of surveillance, and the ability of citizens to protect themselves if they use strong enough encryption of their data and their communications. But it was striking to see, even in such a formal setting, how seriously European officials took his remarks.
Read more...Heartbleed Bug a Catastrophic Hole in Web Security; Webusers Told to Change Passwords
I remember the days when people were worried about using the Internet for purchases because they weren’t convinced their credit card information would be transmitted securely. It now turns out that a version of Open SSL that has been in production for two years, and on which https and other services like instant messaging, e-mail, and other web applications use has a gaping security hole called the Heartbleed bug.
Read more...Wolf Richter: I Just Got PayPal’s New Absolutely-No-Privacy-Ever Policy
PayPal’s new “privacy” policies show how deeply the private surveillance apparatus digs into your life.
Read more...Invasion of the Data Snatchers, Big Data and the Internet of Things Means the Surveillance of Everything
Estimates vary, but by 2020 there could be over 30 billion devices connected to the Internet. Once dumb, they will have smartened up thanks to sensors and other technologies embedded in them and, thanks to your machines, your life will quite literally have gone online.
Read more...Your Humble Blogger is the Probable Target of Penny-Ante Cyber Predation
I was hacked yesterday.
On the scale of hacks, it was simultaneously trivial but meant to intimidate. Or else hugely inept.
Read more...Businesses Going Into “All Surveillance All the Time” Mode in Pursuit of More Productivity
The Financial Times tell us gives us another sighting in the all-too-familiar general story of “the Brave New World is here, and then some.”
Read more...Alain Damasio on the NSA: “701,000 Hours in Custody”
Yves here. Reader Mike M highly recommended what he called “one kick-ass anti-NSA/call to revolt article.” Even though my once-pretty-good French has eroded due to lack of use, from what I could read I agreed and asked for reader help with translation.
Aside from its merit as a stand-alone work, I also thought this article was noteworthy as an indicator of sentiment in France about the Snowden revelations.
Read more...Obama Lame Duck Watch: House Democrats Stymieing Trade Deal “Fast Track;” Silicon Valley Surveillance Payoff Language Published
As we discussed earlier, even though there’s abundant evidence that the Administration’s plans to push through its trade deals, the Trans Pacific Partnership and the Transstlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, are in trouble, the official messaging has been to keep pretending that the pacts are still moving forward smartly.
Read more...“When You Bareback With the Internet, You Ride With the NSA”
You must watch this talk, even if some parts are a bit technical for mere mortals. No matter how bad you think the NSA’s information surveillance and capture is, I can just about guarante that this will show you that it’s an order of magnitude worse than you imagined.
Read more...Wolf Richter: How Much Is My Private Data Worth? (Google Just Offered Me $$)
The first thing I noticed after I’d removed the glossy brochure and a letter from the 8.5 x 11 envelope was the crisp $5 bill attached to the letter.
Read more...Wolf Richter: NSA Spying Crushes US Tech Companies in Emerging Markets (“An Industry Phenomenon,” Says Cisco’s Chambers)
Cisco CEO John Chambers had a euphemism for it during the first quarter earnings call: the “challenging political dynamics in that country,” that country being China. But then there was India and others, including Russia where NSA leaker Edward Snowden is holed up, and where sales outright collapsed.
Read more...Tom Engelhardt: Mistaking Omniscience for Omnipotence
Given how similar they sound and how easy it is to imagine one leading to the other, confusing omniscience (having total knowledge) with omnipotence (having total power) is easy enough. But at the moment, Washington seems to be operating in a world in which the more you know about the secret lives of others, the less powerful you turn out to be.
Read more...Is Google Assisting the NSA in Developing Psychological Profiles of Web Users?
Google sure looks like it wants to profile you psychologically.
Read more...Wolf Richter: Nobel Peace Prize, Asylum For Snowden – Germans Turn Up Heat
Yves here. The last two Snowden revelations have kicked up the public and even official unhappiness over pervasive NSA spying a notch further. I’d love to be a fly on the wall at the NSA and hear all the consternation.
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