What It’s Like to Get a National-Security LetterIn the summer of 2011, while he was fighting an indictment for alleged computer crimes, Aaron Swartz, an information activist, read Kafka’s “The Trial” and commented on it at his Web site. Swartz committed suicide a year and a half later.
IRS Puts Open Source Projects Under Microscope, Spawns Nonprofit Black HoleFor the past few years, trying to get tax-exempt status for your open source project has been a non-starter for many. And now we know why. Since at least 2010, the Internal Revenue Service has flagged applications by open source organizations seeking tax except status, according to internal IRS documents released by Congress this week.
[Article] Authoritarianism: The Complete Socionomic StudySocionomics posits that waves of social mood motivate the rise of authoritarian governments, and that the current wave could put a new group of dictators into office. Part 1 of this study shows that over the past 300 years, the world’s most notorious authoritarians rose to power or committed their worst atrocities during or soon after bear markets.
Anti-Hacking Bill Aiding Verizon Delayed by Snowden LeaksLegislation to give Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Google Inc. (GOOG) legal protection for sharing cyber-attack information with the U.S. government has stalled after leaks about spy programs showed the companies are already turning over data.
Secrets and LiesEvery credit has its debit, every positive its negative. So for every secret there must be a lie, and every lie must be kept secret. This is the currency of power today. Fiat truth. We are not allowed to have any secrets any more.
Greenwald on ‘coming’ leak: NSA can obtain one billion cell phone calls a day, store them and listenThe NSA has a “brand new” technology that enables one billion cell phone calls to be redirected into its data hoards, according to the Guardian’s Glen Greenwald, who told a Chicago conference that a new leak of Snowden’s documents was ‘coming soon.’
Spy games: Inventor of World Wide Web accuses West of hypocrisySir Tim Berners-Lee has lashed out at Western governments, calling them hypocritical for spying on the internet while reproaching other oppressive nations for doing the same; adding that the revelations may change the way people use computers.
EU agrees on bank-failure rules to avoid bailoutsBRUSSELS (AP) – The European Union has struck a deal on rules establishing who will pay for bank bailouts in the future without taxpayers having to foot the bill. The agreement reached by the EU’s 27 finance ministers after seven hours of negotiations early Thursday is an important step toward establishing Europe’s so-called banking union with the goal of restoring financial and economic stability to the recession-hit bloc.
International confidence in US economy ‘crumbling’ after Snowden leaksRT: Surely not even you can make any kind of link between the Snowden saga and the US economy? Max Keiser: The American economy runs on the confidence, confidence that the world accepts the US dollar as world reserve currency, confidence that the US bond market will remain the standard.
Basic income versus the robotsAn economic all-stars match-up. Two weeks ago, I wrote about the idea of a citizen’s income: the state replacing the vast majority of the benefit system with one cash payment made to everyone, regardless of employment or income. The advantages of such a change are legion.
Pelosi booed for defending NSA wiretappingHouse Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was booed and interrupted by a group of liberal activists after defending the NSA’s electronic surveillance program at a conference in Silicon Valley on Saturday. Pelosi condemned National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden for exposing the agency’s controversial data-gathering practices, noting that what he did was illegal.
Glenn Greenwald DESTROYS David Gregory. With Newsmen Like You…..
The NSA’s metastasised intelligence-industrial complex is ripe for abuseLet’s be absolutely clear about the news that the NSA collects massive amounts of information on US citizens – from emails, to telephone calls, to videos, under the Prism program and other Fisa court orders: this story has nothing to do with Edward Snowden.
AP boss: Sources won’t talk anymoreAssociated Press president Gary Pruitt on Wednesday slammed the Department of Justice for acting as “judge, jury and executioner” in the seizure of the news organization’s phone records and he said some of the wire service’s longtime sources have clammed up in fear. Pruitt said the department broke its own rules with the seizure,…
Look at how many people are protesting in Brazil!
3 NSA veterans speak out on whistle-blower: We told you soThree former NSA whistle-blowers discuss the Edward Snowden case with USA TODAY reporters Susan Page and Peter Eisler. In a roundtable discussion, a trio of former National Security Agency whistle-blowers tell USA TODAY that Edward Snowden succeeded where they failed. NSA whistle-blowers, from left, Thomas Drake, J. Kirk Wiebe and William Binney.
Has U.S. started an Internet war?Editor’s note: Bruce Schneier is a security technologist and author of “Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust Society Needs to Survive.” (CNN) — Today, the United States is conducting offensive cyberwar actions around the world. More than passively eavesdropping, we’re penetrating and damaging foreign networks for both espionage and to ready them for attack.
