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Privacy News, Surveillance News, Spying News, Eavesdropping News |
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  Identity
Theft
Iowa
pregnancy privacy challenge.
Operation
TIPS
TIA:
Total Information Awareness
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Privacy News:
 Secret
- Surveillance
-  Cellphone
-  Tracking
-  Technology
-  Internet
-  Financial
- Data
-  Electronic
-  Intelligence
-  Counterterrorism
-  Investigation
-  Law
-  Politics
"Secret Spy Court Repeatedly Questions FBI Wiretap Network." ... "Does the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] track cellphone users' physical movements without a warrant? Does the Bureau store recordings of innocent Americans caught up in wiretaps in a searchable database? Does the FBI's wiretap equipment store information like voicemail passwords and bank account numbers without legal authorization to do so?" ... "That's what the nation's Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court [FISC] wanted to know, in a series of secret inquiries in 2005 and 2006 into the bureau's counterterrorism electronic surveillance efforts, revealed for the first time in newly declassified documents." ... "The inquires are the first publicly known questioning of the FBI's post-9/11 surveillance activities by the secret court, which has historically approved nearly every wiretap application submitted to it. The court handles surveillance requests in counterterrorism and foreign espionage investigations. The inquiries add to questions surrounding how the FBI has used the broad powers handed to it by Congress in the 2001 USA Patriot Act, including the FBI's admitted abuse of so-called National Security Letters to get stored telephone and financial records." ... "Among other things, the declassified documents reveal that lawyers in the FBI's Office of General Counsel and the Justice Department's Office of Intelligence Policy Review queried FBI technology officials in late July 2006 about cellphone tracking. The attorneys asked whether the FBI was obtaining and storing real-time cellphone-location data from carriers under a "pen register" court order that's normally limited to records of who a person called or was called by." ... "Separately, the secret court questioned if the FBI was using pen register orders to collect digits dialed after a call is made, potentially including voicemail passwords and account numbers entered into bank-by-phone applications." ... "EFF's Bankston says it's clear that FBI offices had configured their digit-recording software, [Digital Collection System] DCS 3000, to collect more than the law allows." ... "For more on the FBI's sophisticated wiretapping technology and how it links in with the nation's phone and internet infrastructure, see Point, Click, Eavesdrop." -By Ryan Singel -27B/6 -Wired
 John
McCain - Surveillance
- Amnesty
- Politics
- Corporate
-  Military
-  Government
- Phone
-  E-Mail
- Intelligence
-  History
-  Arizona
-  American
-  International
- 2008
Election
"Adviser Says McCain Backs Bush Wiretaps." ... "A top adviser to [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona] Senator John McCain says Mr. McCain believes that [Republican] President Bush’s program of wiretapping without warrants was lawful, a position that appears to bring him into closer alignment with the sweeping theories of executive authority pushed by the Bush administration legal team." ... "In a letter posted online by National Review this week, the adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said Mr. McCain believed that the Constitution gave Mr. Bush the power to authorize the National Security Agency to monitor Americans’ international phone calls and e-mail without warrants, despite a 1978 federal statute that required court oversight of surveillance." ... "Although a spokesman for Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, denied that the senator’s views on surveillance and executive power had shifted, legal specialists said the letter contrasted with statements Mr. McCain previously made about the limits of presidential power." ... "In an interview about his views on the limits of executive power with The Boston Globe six months ago, Mr. McCain strongly suggested that if he became the next commander in chief, he would consider himself obligated to obey a statute restricting what he did in national security matters." ... "Mr. McCain was asked whether he believed that the president had constitutional power to conduct surveillance on American soil for national security purposes without a warrant, regardless of federal statutes." ... "He replied: “There are some areas where the statutes don’t apply, such as in the surveillance of overseas communications. Where they do apply, however, I think that presidents have the obligation to obey and enforce laws that are passed by Congress and signed into law by the president, no matter what the situation is.”" ... "Following up, the interviewer asked whether Mr. McCain was saying a statute trumped a president’s powers as commander in chief when it came to a surveillance law. “I don’t think the president has the right to disobey any law,” Mr. McCain replied." ... "David Golove, a New York University law professor who specializes in executive power issues, said that while the language used by Mr. McCain in his answers six months ago was imprecise, the recent statement by Mr. Holtz-Eakin “seems to contradict precisely what he said earlier.”" ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama campaign adviser Greg Craig:] “American voters deserve to know which side of this flip-flop [McCain is] he’s on today, and what he would do as president,” Mr. Craig said in a phone interview." ... "And Glenn Greenwald, a Salon columnist and critic of the Bush administration's legal claims, wrote that the statement was a "complete reversal" by McCain, accusing the candidate of seeking "to shore up the support of right-wing extremists."" (1, 2) -By Charlie Savage -NYTimes
John
McCain - Corporate
- Military
- Government
- Telecommunications
- Surveillance
- Amnesty
- Politics
- Intelligence
-  John
Yoo - Torture
- Detainee
- Human
Rights - Enforcement
-  Florida
- 2008
Election
"McCain tangled in flip-flop flap over wiretapping immunity." ... "A series of statements about immunizing telecommunications companies that violated federal wiretapping laws have become something of an embarrassment, and perhaps even a problem, for [2008 Election Republican] John McCain's presidential campaign." ... "The statements revolve around whether McCain, like [Republican] President Bush, supports legislation that could be voted on this month extending retroactive immunity to those companies and perhaps many more." ... "In 2005, at least, McCain was in favor of letting the courts decide whether AT&T and other telecos violated the law." ... "... [Late December 2007] McCain told the Boston Globe this: "I think that presidents have the obligation to obey and enforce laws that are passed by Congress and signed into law by the president, no matter what the situation is."" ... "But after McCain became the all-but-official nominee, his political principles appear to have become more malleable. He voted in February for retroactive immunity -- even though there were no explicit statements telling AT&T and other telecommunications companies that this is not a "blessing." There were no deals providing for "oversight hearings." And there certainly were no "provisions" to ensure this won't happen again." ... "Our story may have ended there. Except that campaign representative Chuck Fish (not an actual campaign lawyer, as has been incorrectly reported, but a surrogate) subsequently suggested that his candidate still wanted "hearings," which The Washington Post picked up on last week. McCain's campaign fired off a nastygram to the Post saying that their candidate's "position on immunity has not changed."" ... "Meanwhile, McCain was questioned about his position at a town hall meeting the next day -- he replied that Congress needs to "have hearings" -- which The Wall Street Journal dutifully reported. The fuss became enough to prompt the conservative National Review to begin questioning McCain's the-executive-can-wiretap-as-it-pleases credentials. Salon entered the fray too." ... "[Florida Democratic Representative] Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida, who is a member of the House Judiciary committee, sent us this statement on Wednesday:" "I am appalled by Senator John McCain's reaffirmation of support for the use of warrantless wiretapping on American citizens. Senator McCain has once again chosen to align himself with President George Bush, whose reprehensible spying program on Americans is a grave threat to our Constitutions guarantees of privacy and limited executive power. It is clear that Senator McCain, President Bush, and their Republican allies in Congress will continue to use scare tactics and fear mongering to claim that a president can simply chose to ignore America's laws... Senator McCain opposes a bipartisan House compromise bill that preserves appropriate court review of all surveillance of US citizens and gives judges the discretion to review all the necessary documents related to telecom lawsuits without offering blanket immunity.""Yet there's a more important issue here, which is why the neo-cons are pressing McCain to adhere to the Bush administration's line. And that's the administration's theory of the so-called unitary executive, which says that the president's use of military force cannot be reviewed by courts." ... "McCain's earlier statements -- especially where he says presidents must "obey and enforce laws that are passed by Congress" -- seem to question the administration's interpretation. Beyond wiretapping, that touches on topics such as John Yoo's so-called torture memos, the applicability of the Geneva Convention to detainees, Bush's signing statements, and military commissions. Questioning the justifications for Bush's warrantless wiretapping means questioning the rest; no wonder McCain seems a little worried about where this may lead." -By Declan McCullagh -CNET [note: The conservative/Republican opinion magazine National Review supports lawless surveillance.]
John
McCain - Criminal
- Spying
- Secretly
- Military
- Government
- Intelligence
- Corporate
- Telecom
- Amnesty
- Terrorism
- Politics
- 2008
Election - Arizona
- Civil
Liberties - "McCain:
I'd Spy on Americans Secretly, Too." ... "If elected
president, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona]
Senator John McCain would reserve the right to run his own warrantless
wiretapping program against Americans, based on the theory that the president's
wartime powers trump federal criminal statutes and court oversight, according
to a statement released by his campaign Monday." ... "McCain's new tack
towards the [Republican President] Bush administration's theory of executive
power comes some 10 days after a McCain surrogate stated, incorrectly it
seems, that the senator wanted hearings
into telecom companies' cooperation with [Republican] President Bush's
warrantless wiretapping program, before he'd support giving those companies
retroactive legal immunity." ... "As first reported by Threat
Level, Chuck Fish, a full-time lawyer for the McCain campaign, also
said McCain wanted stricter rules on how the nation's telecoms work with
U.S. [United States] spy agencies, and expected those companies to apologize
for any lawbreaking before winning amnesty." ... "But Monday, McCain adviser
Doug Holtz-Eakin, speaking for the campaign, disavowed those statements,
and for the first time cast McCain's views on warrantless wiretapping as
identical to Bush's."
"[N]either the Administration nor the telecoms need apologize for actions that most people, except for the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] and the trial lawyers, understand were Constitutional and appropriate in the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001. [...]""The Article II citation is key, since it refers to [Republican] President Bush's longstanding arguments that the president has nearly unlimited powers during a time of war. The administration's analysis went so far as to say the Fourth Amendment did not apply inside the United States in the fight against terrorism, in one legal opinion from 2001." -By Ryan Singel -Wired
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Corporate
- Government
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- Amnesty
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- Customers
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- Politics
- "House
Steers Its Own Path on Wiretaps." ... "In continued
defiance of the [Republican President Bush] White House, House Democratic
leaders are readying a proposal that would reject giving legal protection
to the phone companies that helped in the National Security Agency’s program
of wiretapping without warrants after the Sept. 11 attacks, Congressional
officials said Monday." ... "Instead of blanket immunity, the tentative
proposal would give the federal courts special authorization to hear classified
evidence and decide whether the phone companies should be held liable."
... "President Bush has been insisting for months that Congress give retroactive
immunity to the phone companies, calling it a vital matter of national
security." ... "Democrats have accused Mr. Bush of fear-mongering." ...
"The flash point in the debate has been the question of whether to protect
AT&T and other major phone companies from some 40 lawsuits pending
in federal courts, which charge that the companies’ participation in the
eavesdropping program violated federal privacy laws and their responsibilities
to their customers." ... "With some conservative Democrats in the House
favoring immunity for the phone companies, Democratic leaders conceded
that the proposal would face opposition even within their own party. And
they said that even if it were approved by the House, it was certain to
face strong opposition from the White House and probable defeat in the
Senate." -By Eric
Lichtblau -NYTimes
Secretive
- Government
- Domestic
Spying - American
- 
Peoples
- Communications
- Travel
- Finances
- Electronic
- EMails
- Internet
- 
Searches
- Databases
- Civil-Liberties
- Law
- Terrorism
- Politics
- Investigation
- International
- Military
- Intelligence
- TIA
- "NSA's
Domestic Spying Grows As Agency Sweeps Up Data."
... "Five years ago, Congress killed an experimental Pentagon antiterrorism
program meant to vacuum up electronic data about people in the U.S. to
search for suspicious patterns [the TIA program: the Total Information
Awareness program]. Opponents called it too broad an intrusion on Americans'
privacy, even after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." ... "But the data-sifting
effort didn't disappear. The National Security Agency, once confined to
foreign surveillance, has been building essentially the same system." ...
"The central role the NSA has come to occupy in domestic intelligence gathering
has never been publicly disclosed. But an inquiry reveals that its efforts
have evolved to reach more broadly into data about people's communications,
travel and finances in the U.S. than the domestic surveillance programs
brought to light since the 2001 terrorist attacks." ... "Congress now is
hotly debating domestic spying powers under the main law governing U.S.
surveillance aimed at foreign threats. An expansion of those powers expired
last month and awaits renewal, which could be voted on in the House of
Representatives this week. The biggest point of contention over the law,
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, is whether telecommunications
and other companies should be made immune from liability for assisting
government surveillance." ... "Largely missing from the public discussion
is the role of the highly secretive NSA in analyzing that data, collected
through little-known arrangements that can blur the lines between domestic
and foreign intelligence gathering." ... "According to current and former
intelligence officials, the spy agency now monitors huge volumes of records
of domestic emails and Internet searches as well as bank transfers, credit-card
transactions, travel and telephone records. The NSA receives this so-called
"transactional" data from other agencies or private companies, and its
sophisticated software programs analyze the various transactions for suspicious
patterns. Then they spit out leads to be explored by counterterrorism programs
across the U.S. government, such as the NSA's own Terrorist Surveillance
Program, formed to intercept phone calls and emails between the U.S. and
overseas without a judge's approval when a link to al Qaeda is suspected."
... "The NSA's enterprise involves a cluster of powerful intelligence-gathering
programs, all of which sparked civil-liberties complaints when they came
to light. They include a Federal Bureau of Investigation program to track
telecommunications data once known as Carnivore, now called the Digital
Collection System, and a U.S. arrangement with the world's main international
banking clearinghouse to track money movements." ... "The effort also ties
into data from an ad-hoc collection of so-called "black programs" whose
existence is undisclosed, the current and former officials say." ... "Two
current officials also said the NSA's current combination of programs now
largely mirrors the former TIA [Total Information Awareness] project. But
the NSA offers less privacy protection." -By Siobhan
Gorman -
