Category: Government

Government Politics

FAA committee concludes that flyers should be allowed to use smartphones, tablets during takeoff and landing

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As reported on Engadget. By Mat Smith Recall that silent rage you get when you’re told to switch of your Kindle, iPod or laptop for take-off and landing, even when there’s nothing wireless going on. Well, the FAA could be approaching a change in the rules. A 28-member committee, created by the Federal Aviation Administration itself, has offered up its recommendation that flyers should be able to use “most” devices during takeoff and landing. Data-based activities and voice calls would still…

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Government Politics

Cutting the cord: Brazil’s bold plan to combat the NSA

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As reported on The Verge. By Amar Toor President Dilma Rousseff wants to route internet traffic away from the US, but experts say it will do little to deter American espionage Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (left) meets with President Barack Obama at the White House in 2012. Revelations about the American government’s ongoing electronic surveillance have sent shockwaves across the globe, but few countries have reacted as boldly as Brazil, where lawmakers are currently considering a plan…

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Government Security

Iran’s secret New York City skyscraper seized by US government

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As reported on The Verge. By Tom Warren  The Iranian government has secretly owned and controlled an office building in the middle of New York City for years. Set on Fifth Avenue and close to the Rockefeller Center, the 36-story skyscraper houses a number of businesses across its floors. The US government has won a judgement to seize the building, and plans to use the money to compensate “victims of Iranian-sponsored terrorism.” The skyscraper, 650 Fifth Avenue, was originally…

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Government Security

NSA Allegedly Spies On International Credit Card Transactions

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As reported on TechCrunch. by MIKE BUTCHER Germany’s Der Spiegel newspaper – increasingly joining the NSA revelations train –reports today that the intelligence agency is interested in international credit card transactions and may have found a way to monitor payments processed by companies including Visa. Spiegel alleges it has even set up its own financial database to track money flows. The paper says that in 2011, the NSA possessed 180 million records via its “Follow the Money”…

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Government Security

Court: NSA Violated Privacy Because No One Understood The Rules

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As reported on TechCrunch. by GREGORY FERENSTEIN The National Security Agency improperly identified over 15,000 telephone numbers as “suspicious” because there was no one at the agency who understood the rules, according to a scathing court order declassified by the Director of National Intelligence (on Tumblr!). “The court finds that the government’s failure to ensure that responsible officials adequately understood the NSA’s alert list process, and to accurately report its implementation to the court, has prevented…

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Government Security

American and British spy agencies can thwart internet security and encryption

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As reported on Engadget. By Terrence O’Brien As reporters at the New York Times, the Guardian and ProPublica dig deeper into the documents leaked by Edward Snowden, new and disturbing revelations continue to be made. Two programs, dubbed Bullrun (NSA) and Edgehill (GCHQ), have just come to light, that focus on circumventing or breaking the security and encryption tools used across the internet. The effort dwarfs the $20 million Prism program that simply gobbled up data. Under the auspices of “Sigint (signals intelligence) enabling”…

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Government Internet Security

New Revelations Detail How The NSA Scans 75% Of The Internet Through Telco Partnerships

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As reported on TechCrunch. by ALEX WILHELM Today the Wall Street Journal reported the existence of several NSA programs that were either previously unknown, or little was known about. Meet Blarney, Fairview, Oakstar, Lithium and Stormbrew. The programs allow for far greater surveillance than the government has admitted to, and, importantly, detail how the government forces Internet service providers (ISPs) to hand over raw data. The programs have the ability to “reach roughly 75% of all U.S. Internet traffic,”…

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Government Legal Microsoft

Microsoft Asks Attorney General To Release Gag Order On NSA Spying

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As reported on TechCrunch. by GREGORY FERENSTEIN Microsoft is tired of getting pummeled in the press over reports that it hands over emails and Skype conversations to the National Security Agency. Unfortunately, the federal gag order related to the NSA is so strict that companies can’t even talk about the existence of the program. Today, Microsoft begged issued a strongly worded letter to Attorney General Eric Holder to release the gag order so that that they can dispel rumors. “I’m…

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Government Military

All the president’s hitmen: tracking Washington’s secret army

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As reported on The Verge. By Joseph L. Flatley Jeremy Scahill and Richard Rowley reveal the new face of war Additional reporting by Jesse Hicks and Joshua Kopstein In the 1960s there was a saying: “Suppose they gave a war, and nobody came?” We’ll probably never know the answer to that particular American koan, but a recent book and documentary film sets out to answer a more important question: “What if they gave a war, but didn’t…

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Government Politics

US officials say less than 300 phone numbers were investigated in 2012, data thwarted terrorist plots

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As reported on Engadget. By Sean Buckley With all the coverage of PRSIM and the NSA’s data collection have been getting recently, it’s no surprise that the US government is eager to rationalize its actions. The crux of the latest defense seems to be that the government isn’t using its treasure trove of data very often: according to recently declassified documents, the NSA used the database to investigate less than 300 phone numbers last year. These efforts reportedly prevented terrorist…

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