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.
Judge Orders NSA To Release Dragnet Surveillance Records For Armed Robbery Case | FDL News DeskIn what could become a precedent-setting legal battle, a Florida judge has ordered that the NSA provide the court with phone records of a man accused of armed robbery. What does this case have to do with national security? Absolutely nothing, but the records exist and could exonerate the man.
Bank of America whistle-blower’s bombshell: “We were told to lie”Bombshell: Bank of America whistle-blowers detail horrid schemes to fleece borrowers, reward foreclosures (UPDATED) Topics: Bank of America, Foreclosure, Mortgage Crisis, Mortgage Fraud, mortgage, HAMP, Whistleblowers, Editor’s Picks, Loans, JP Morgan Chase, Wall Street, Business News, Politics News Bank of America’s mortgage servicing unit systematically lied to homeowners, fraudulently denied
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.
In Silicon Valley, Meditation Is No Fad. It Could Make Your CareerRepeated studies have demonstrated that meditation can rewire how the brain responds to stress. Boston University researchers showed that after as little as three and a half hours of meditation training, subjects tend to react less to emotionally charged images. Other research suggests that meditation improves working memory and executive function.
America’s private prison system is a national disgraceThe privatization of traditional government functions – and big government payments to private contractors – isn’t limited to international intelligence operations like the National Security Agency. It’s happening with little oversight in dozens of areas once the province of government, from schools to airports to the military.
How Shell is trying to send a chill through activist groups across the countryOne of our most important rights as Americans is the freedom to express ourselves. This takes the form of voting, it takes the form of activism, and it takes the form of our First Amendment right to free speech.
Google challenges U.S. gag order, citing First AmendmentRevelations about the program, called PRISM, have opened fissures between U.S. officials and the involved companies, which have scrambled to reassure their users without violating strict rules against disclosing information that the government has classified as top secret.
Woz: This is not my AmericaStopped by Latin American tech journalists at an airport, the Apple co-founder says that after the NSA revelations, he questions his own government and wonders whether it’s behaving like a king. (Credit: FayerWayer/YouTube Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET) As the passions and justifications swirl around the revelations concerning the NSA, the rest of the world sits and wonders.
Why The FISA Court Is Not What It Used To BeThe furor over recently exposed government surveillance programs has posed an abundance of political challenges for both President Obama and Congress. Relatively unmentioned in all of this, however, is the role of the courts – specifically, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, known as the FISA court, and how its role has changed since the terrorist attacks of Sept.
The Lockbox Lie: The NSA Searches Phone Records Without a WarrantYou can also listen to William Saletan read this piece. For the past week and a half, U.S. officials have told us that the National Security Agency’s vast collection of phone “metadata”-which numbers have called which other numbers and when-is kept in a “lockbox.” They’ve implied that the data can’t…
Bank of America Paid Bonuses to Foreclose: LawsuitBank of America routinely denied qualified borrowers a chance to modify their loans to more affordable terms and paid cash bonuses to bank staffers for pushing homeowners into foreclosure, according to affidavits filed last week in a Massachusetts lawsuit. “We were told to lie to customers,” said Simone Gordon, who worked in the bank’s loss mitigation department until February 2012.
Exclusive: Whistleblower Says State Department Trying to Bully Her Into SilenceThe State Department investigator who accused colleagues last week of using drugs, soliciting prostitutes, and having sex with minors says that Foggy Bottom is now engaged in an “intimidation” campaign to stop her. Last week’s leaks by Aurelia Fedenisn, a former State Department inspector general investigator, shined a light on alleged wrongdoing by U.S.
Body scanner ruling could squelch NSA domestic spyingElectronic Privacy Information Center organizes request by leading technologists to halt National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance. They’re trying a novel argument from a 2011 lawsuit. (Credit: Getty Images) A high-profile group of technologists and privacy advocates is attempting to halt domestic surveillance of Americans through a clever twist: using federal bureaucratic rules against federal bureaucrats.
MIDNIGHT IN THE AMERICAN EMPIREA Moscow-based, American political commentator for the TV news channel Russia Today looks with alarm and dismay at what he sees as the corporate domination of his native land. In this passionate debut laced with sardonic humor, Pittsburgh native Bridge writes that American citizens, formerly rugged individualists, have been reduced to mere consumers under the heel of profit-driven, power-hungry transnational corporate elites.
From Ike to “The Matrix”: Welcome to the American dystopiaPart Orwellian security state, part Huxley wonderland and part “Matrix,” America is three dystopias in one! Topics: Movies, Politics, Surveillance, technology, surveillance state, surveillance society, 1984, Barack Obama, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Science Fiction and Fantasy, the matrix, Editor’s Picks, Entertainment News, Politics News American society has been sliding toward the realm of dystopian science fiction – toward a nightmarish mishmash of George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and Philip K.
Former Bank of America workers allege it lied to home ownersSix former Bank of America Corp. employees have alleged that the bank deliberately denied eligible home owners loan modifications and lied to them about the status of their mortgage payments and documents. The bank allegedly used these tactics to shepherd homeowners into foreclosure, as well as in-house loan modifications.
NSA spying flap extends to contents of U.S. phone callsNational Security Agency discloses in secret Capitol Hill briefing that thousands of analysts can listen to domestic phone calls. That authorization appears to extend to e-mail and text messages too. (Credit: Getty Images) The National Security Agency has acknowledged in a new classified briefing that it does not need court authorization to listen to domestic phone calls, a participant in the briefing said.
Lawsuit: BofA gave bonuses, gift cards for meeting foreclosure quotasNEW YORK Bank of America Corp. rewarded staff with cash bonuses and gift cards for meeting quotas tied to sending distressed homeowners into foreclosure, former employees said in court documents. Mortgage workers falsified records and were told to delay U.S.