Brazilian president: US surveillance a ‘breach of international law’Brazil’s president, Dilma Rousseff, has launched a blistering attack on US espionage at the UN general assembly, accusing the NSA of violating international law by its indiscriminate collection of personal information of Brazilian citizens and economic espionage targeted on the country’s strategic industries.
Destroying the Right to Be Left AloneFor at least the last six years, government agents have been exploiting an AT&T database filled with the records of billions of American phone calls from as far back as 1987. The rationale behind this dragnet intrusion, codenamed Hemisphere, is to find suspicious links between people with “burner” phones (prepaid mobile phones easy to buy, use, and quickly dispose of), which are popular with drug dealers.
Freedom of speech? College student stopped from handing out copies of the ConstitutionAFP Photo / Emmanuel Dunand A college student from California is making waves this week after being told he couldn’t pass out copies of the United States Constitution on campus.
The Ten Most Disturbing Things You Should Know About the FBI Since 9/11On September 4, 2013, James Comey became the 7th director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The first change in leadership at the bureau since the 9/11 attacks provides Congress, the president, and the attorney general the opportunity to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the FBI’s post-9/11 policies and programs.
Feds Fight To Prevent NSA Disclosures In Criminal CasesSolicitor General Donald Verrilli and Sen. Dianne Feinstein have put federal prosecutors in quite a bind after they made public comments about the use of secret NSA surveillance in terrorism investigations.
The Border Is a Back Door for U.S. Device SearchesNewly released documents reveal how the government uses border crossings to seize and examine travelers’ electronic devices instead of obtaining a search warrant to gain access to the data.
LAPD vs. PhotographersWhen photographer Shawn Nee began taking photos around Los Angeles, he never thought that his camera would get him in trouble with police. Nee has been shooting the sights of Los Angeles for years, but he has also been repeatedly detained for doing his job. He has never been charged with a crime.
Civil liberties coalition wants Congress to probe DEA spy programReuters / Andy Sullivan Concerns over the United States government’s vast surveillance apparatus aren’t subsiding, even three months after former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden first started leaking national security documents.
Gagged: Federal court says accused hacktivist Barrett Brown can’t speak to the pressBarrett Brown A federal court approved a media gag-order on Wednesday preventing imprisoned writer-turned-hacktivist Barrett Brown and his attorneys from speaking to the media about their case.
Supreme Court to rule on fate of indefinite detention for Americans under NDAAReuters / Larry Downing The United States Supreme Court is being asked to hear a federal lawsuit challenging the military’s legal ability to indefinitely detain persons under the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, or NDAA.
Tennessee to roll out “No Refusal” blood-draw DUI checkpoints for Labor DayTENNESSEE — Labor Day: another holiday, another excuse to push the limits of the police power over citizens. All across the state, Tennessee police will be performing another round of highly-publicized “no refusal” blood-draw DUI checkpoints this weekend.
Drug Agents Use Vast Phone Trove, Eclipsing N.S.A.’sFor at least six years, law enforcement officials working on a counternarcotics program have had routine access, using subpoenas, to an enormous AT&T database that contains the records of decades of Americans’ phone calls – parallel to but covering a far longer time than the National Security Agency ‘s hotly disputed collection of phone call logs.
Iran mulls suing US over 1953 coupIranian legislators have taken the first step towards suing the United States government over recent disclosures confirming that the US helped orchestrate the 1953 ousting of Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh. Parliament members in Iran voted 167-to-5 on Wednesday on a measure giving preliminary approval over a bill which will mandate that the government file suit against the US.
Senators demand answers on drug agency’s use of NSA domestic surveillanceAFP Photo / Stan Honda A group of lawmakers have asked United States Attorney General Eric Holder to explain recent allegations that federal drug busts have been carried out using non-terrorism intelligence collected by the National Security Agency and shared outside the NSA.
North Carolina police threaten to arrest church charity for feeding the homelessAFP Photo / Scott Olson A non-profit organization says North Carolina police threatened to arrest members of the charity group for distributing food to more than 70 homeless people in downtown Raleigh on Saturday morning. Love Wins Ministries, a church group that tries to care for the city’s homeless, was preparing to serve breakfast on Saturday.
NSA analysts ‘wilfully’ skirted policy to spy on Americans, agency admitsNational Security Agency intelligence analysts knowingly and purposely broke rules meant to prevent against unlawful spying on US citizens, the agency said in an admission that contradicts President Obama’s claim that violations were accidental. A report from the NSA inspector general – an internal, independent watchdog – found that analysts ignored ” minimization processes ” meant to curb any violations.