Posted in Legal Issues, Surveillance on Sep 6th, 2007
Happy Thursday.
From Dan Eggen at The Washington Post:
A federal judge today struck down portions of the USA Patriot Act as unconstitutional, ordering the FBI to stop issuing “national security letters” that secretly demand customer information from Internet service providers and other businesses.
U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in New York ruled that the landmark anti-terrorism law [...]
Posted in GNR, Surveillance on Feb 22nd, 2007
Americans for Medical Progress is an industry group behind a lot of the scare-mongering and labeling activists as “terrorists.” How flattering to be listed in their newsletter. I’m looking forward to the Yale Law School event this weekend:
ACTIVISTS’ CALENDAR
AMP is continuously monitoring activists’ planning. We are in touch with
targeted institutions as warranted. If [...]
Posted in Surveillance on Jan 24th, 2007
Who knew Andy Griffith was such a civil libertarian? Check out this clip from the “Andy Griffith Show.”
My favorite line, when he scolds Opie for trying to help him by spying:
“Opie, the law can’t use this kind of help.”
Posted in Legal Issues on Jan 3rd, 2007
From Project Censored’s “Top 25 Censored Stories” for last year:
Halliburton’s subsidiary KBR (formerly Kellogg, Brown and Root) announced on January 24, 2006 that it had been awarded a $385 million contingency contract by the Department of Homeland Security to build detention camps in the United States.
According to a press release posted on the Halliburton website, [...]
Posted in Surveillance on Jul 10th, 2006
Federal agents must have it pretty rough these days. It seems they don’t have time for pesky warrants, so the Bush administration has approved the illegal spying program of the National Security Agency.
Now over-burdened FBI agents want to force Internet service providers to create backdoors for easier government surveillance.
The FBI has drafted overly broad legislation [...]
Posted in Surveillance on Jun 10th, 2006
The Portland Press Herald reported yesterday that state police approached about a dozen environmental activists in Maine for DNA samples, as part of an “ongoing investigation.”
Jim Freeman, a member of Earth First!, said a forensic specialist asked him for DNA samples because cops were investigating vandalism around Plum Creek. Environmentalists have opposed development around Moosehead [...]
Posted in Opposition, Police Harassment & Abuse, Surveillance on Jun 9th, 2006
From the Associated Press today:
LOS ANGELES – A high-ranking California law enforcement official said in a personnel complaint that he was demoted after questioning the legality of federal and state intelligence-gathering methods, but authorities dispute the claims.
Edward Manavian was chief of criminal intelligence for the California Department of Justice, and chairman of the executive board [...]
Posted in Police Harassment & Abuse on Apr 14th, 2006
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. There are two things in this bulletin that are dead serious:
1. DHS admits it has “no specific, credible information [...]
Posted in Surveillance on Apr 14th, 2006
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 [...]
Posted in Police Harassment & Abuse, Terrorism Watch Lists on Apr 5th, 2006
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 player [...]
The War on Terrorism has come home. Corporations and politicians are labeling activists "eco-terrorists" and national security threats. Think red-baiting, with a green twist. Here you'll find original reporting and analysis of the Green Scare, and history repeating itself.