Veteran civil rights leader: Snowden acted in tradition of civil disobedienceJohn Lewis, one of America’s most revered civil rights leaders, says the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was continuing the tradition of civil disobedience by revealing details of classified US surveillance programs. Lewis, a 73-year-old congressman and one of the last surviving lieutenants of Martin Luther King, said Snowden could claim he was appealing to “a higher law” when he disclosed top secret documents showing the extent of NSA surveillance of both Americans and foreigners.

Encrypted email Lavabit used by Snowden shuts to avoid ‘complicity in crimes against Americans’AFP Photo / John Macdougall The highly encrypted email service reportedly used by NSA leaker Edward Snowden has gone offline – and its administrator claims the company is legally barred from explaining why.

Exclusive: IRS manual detailed DEA’s use of hidden intel evidenceCredit: Reuters/John Shiffman A slide from a presentation about a secretive information-sharing program run by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Special Operations Division (SOD) is seen in this undated photo. The practice of recreating the investigative trail, highly criticized by former prosecutors and defense lawyers after Reuters reported it this week, is now under review by the Justice Department.

Bitcoin Clampdown Continues As Federal Judge Says It’s A CurrencyWikipedia calls Bitcoin a cryptocurrency (a currency that relies on cryptography), but now it’s official. A federal judge in Texas has declared that Bitcoin is a currency and should therefore be regulated just like U.S. dollars or gold. The ruling represents yet another attempt to regulate Bitcoin transactions, threatening the original purpose of the currency.

US debt six times greater than declared – studyThe United States has accumulated over $70 trillion in unreported debt, an amount nearly six times the declared figure, according to a new study by University of California-San Diego economics Professor James Hamilton.

T.S.A. Expands Duties Beyond Airport SecurityWASHINGTON – As hundreds of commuters emerged from Amtrak and commuter trains at Union Station on a recent morning, an armed squad of men and women dressed in bulletproof vests made their way through the crowds.

No shooting at protest? Police may block mobile devices via AppleApple has patented a piece of technology which would allow government and police to block transmission of information, including video and photographs, from any public gathering or venue they deem “sensitive”, and “protected from externalities.” ­In other words, these powers will have control over what can and cannot be documented on wireless devices during any public event.

Minority rules: Scientists discover tipping point for the spread of ideasScientists have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society. The scientists used computational and analytical methods to discover the tipping point where a minority belief becomes the majority opinion.

We’re living ‘1984’ today(CNN) — It appears that the police now have a device that can read license plates and check if a car is unregistered, uninsured or stolen. We already know that the National Security Agency can dip into your Facebook page and Google searches.

TorrentFreakWhen I founded the Swedish Pirate Party and decided to change the political landscape of the copyright monopoly, I frequently told reporters that the plan was to change Sweden, Europe, and the world – in that order. They usually backed away wondering whether I was serious, so I laid out the plan for them.

Members of Congress denied access to basic information about NSAMembers of Congress have been repeatedly thwarted when attempting to learn basic information about the National Security Agency ( NSA) and the secret FISA court which authorizes its activities, documents provided by two House members demonstrate. From the beginning of the NSA controversy, the agency’s defenders have insisted that Congress is aware of the disclosed programs and exercises robust supervision over them.

The Chemical Industry Divides an Environmental Coalition into DisarrayThe environmental movement has been campaigning since 2005 to modernize US chemicals policy, an uphill battle. The greens have done everything by the book – written a model law, built a national grassroots coalition and dispatched lobbyists to Capitol Hill. Now, however, the chemical industry has executed a classic “divide-and-conquer” maneuver, casting the greens into disarray.

Google Pressure Cookers and Backpacks, Get a Visit from the FedsMichele Catalano was looking for information online about pressure cookers. Her husband, in the same time frame, was Googling backpacks. Wednesday morning, six men from a joint terrorism task force showed up at their house to see if they were terrorists. Which begs the question: How’d the government know what they were Googling?

Americans offer to serve Manning’s prison term for himSupporters of Bradley Manning are willing to put their life on the line and serve part of his potential 136-year prison sentence and are urging the military judge in charge of the case to consider this option.

‘Encryption is a human right’: Wikipedia aims to lock out NSAWikipedia is taking steps to make its site ‘unsnoopable’ to the NSA following revelations that its site users were being spied on. The measures will include the use of secure encryption for its logged-in users to minimize eavesdropping.

FBI Increasingly Using Malware To Remotely Turn On Phone/Laptop MicrophonesIt’s not a secret that the FBI has used hacking methods in the past to spy on suspected criminals, including keyloggers and remotely turning on microphones in mobile phones, in order to spy on suspected criminals.

Seven telcos named as providing fiber optic cable access to UK spiesNSA leaks View all… In the latest leak from the documents acquired by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, a German newspaper has published a list of the telecommunications companies that have provided British intelligence with direct access to their undersea fiber optic cables.

FBI pressures Internet providers to install surveillance softwareCNET has learned the FBI has developed custom “port reader” software to intercept Internet metadata in real time. And, in some cases, it wants to force Internet providers to use the software. (Credit: Getty Images) The U.S. government is quietly pressuring telecommunications providers to install eavesdropping technology deep inside companies’ internal networks to facilitate surveillance efforts.