FBI on “Micro-Terrorism”

Labeling vandalism and theft as “terrorism” is quite a stretch, even for this administration. So the FBI PR shop has come up with a new spin: “micro-terrorism.”

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Head of Pro-Vivisection Group Opposes Green-Baiting Laws

The head of a prominent pro-vivisection group in England published an op-ed opposing bans on animal rights activism in the name of combating “extremism.”

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DHS Helps Corporations Fight Terrorism Like… “Flyer Distribution”?

The Department of Homeland Security distributed a bulletin on Thursday to help corporations fight “eco-terrorism” like “flyer distribution,” “graffiti,” and “tying up company phone lines.” Go ahead and laugh, but it gets worse.

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AT&T Gives Feds Access to Network

AT&T let the National Security Agency set up secret rooms in company offices to monitor public calls and sift through massive amounts of data, according to evidence filed in a lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. A whistle-blower who worked for the company for 22 years said a device was installed with the “ability to […]

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“Vegetarians: our counter-terror stealth force”

I tore this headline straight from Democracy Arsenal because, well, how could I not? Lorelei Kelly, “a carnivore with constant remorse,” had a great post linking bio-terrorism concerns to animal welfare. About 75 percent of emerging diseases come from animals, Kelly reports, and dangerous microbes have become “generalists” that bounce around between animals and humans. […]

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Cooking the Terrorism Books

National security wonks — on the liberal side at least — are starting to note that labeling political vandalism and other non-violent crime as “terrorism” waters down the meaning of the term. The Center for Defense Information says that too much use of the T-word is skewing numbers from the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center. In […]

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Who Are the Real “Eco-Terrorists”?

Today’s news search pulled up a great spin on the “eco-terror” buzz. The Philippine Daily Inquirer published a glowing piece about a former armed forces chief of staff turned secretary of the environment, Angelo Reyes. He created the country’s Environmental Protection Commission to go after eco-terrorists like “poachers, illegal loggers and other violators of the […]

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Know Your Rights

Singing along to “London Calling” by The Clash got a passenger yanked from an airplane in northern England and interrogated by anti-terrorism detectives today. A cabbie called the police because Harraj Mann, 24, was singing along to “Now war is declared — and battle come down.” Suspicious lyrics? Maybe. But Mann had plugged his MP3 […]

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Posting Personal Info to Web Not Harassment, State Supreme Court Says

Posting names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers and photographs on a personal website doesn’t violate an anti-harassment court order, the Supreme Court of the State of Washington decided last week. The case doesn’t involve animal rights, but it’s worth noting because the SHAC 7 were recently convicted on “animal enterprise terrorism” charges for running […]

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Domestic Spying: an opportunity for animal activists

I just posted a column I wrote for the next issue of No Compromise about President Bush admitting that he authorized spying on ordinary Americans, with no judicial review. An excerpt: For activists in the trenches, this may not seem like cause for celebration. The true breadth and depth of government surveillance and harassment hasn’t […]

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