Saturday, November 23, 2013
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Busy month of July
So everyone knows about Snowden and the annoucnement of NSA spying on everything. The big news today is that the nsa is also scanning physical mail at the post office as well. I knew their rates where to good to be true! You may be asking how much info can they really gather from my phone records so check out scary site.
http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention/
Read more: http://www.storyleak.com/graphic-what-the-nsa-knows-about-you-phone-usage/#ixzz2YJ9BGgbb
http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention/
The National Security Agency’s collection of data regarding telephone conversations is a far greater threat to privacy than many of us believe. A lawsuit filed by a German politician proves just how much you can learn about a person’s life by monitoring and tracking their phone usage.
Malte Spitz, a member of Germany’s Green Party, sued his cellphone company, T-Mobile, in 2010 in an attempt to determine how much the carrier knew about him. Malte won the suit and received a CD that showed how easy it is to track a person via their phone.
35,890 RECORDS ABOUT HIS MOVEMENT
When he won his lawsuit, Spitz received a CD containing 35,830 records, each documenting his movements. Spitz learned that T-Mobile could pinpoint exactly where he was at a given time. By combining GPS with the data, Spitz could track his own movements around Germany.
T-Mobile knew exactly how many telephone calls Spitz received in a day, how many calls he made, how many Twitter messages he sent out, and how many he received. By examining the data, T-Mobile could figure out that Spitz was attending a political demonstration on Sept. 5, 2009. Spitz shared the data with the German magazine ZEIT, which had an easy time creating a simple interative graphic that tracked Spitz’s movements based on the metadata. The graphic, of which you can see a still of below, highlights what the NSA and mobile phone companies can find out about you from phone records alone (click here for the interactive version):
Those with access to such data could determine what church you go to, what people you visit, and where you shop. It could be used to make criminal cases or to orchestrate surveillance of a person.
Anthony Gucciardi: ‘How to Avoid Being Spied On By The NSA‘
Spitz’s lawsuit proves that telecom providers gather a vast amount of metadata about their customers. This is the kind of data that Edward Snowden revealed the NSA collects about Americans and shares with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
TELECOM GESTAPO
In a New York Times op-ed piece, Spitz compared such data collection efforts to the work of the Nazi secret police or Gestapo and the Communist East German police or Stasi. He noted that Wolfgang Schauble, a former German Interior Minister (the nation’s chief law enforcement official), who lobbied for a data retention law to enable government to collect such data, was nicknamed Stasi 2.0 by German civil rights activists.
It appears that everybody who uses a mobile device is being constantly tracked by large companies like T-Mobile and Google. Spitz has shown us that these companies now possess tracking capabilities that the Gestapo and Stasi only dreamed of. Those capabilities are now being shared with agencies like the NSA and FBI.
We need to rein in such companies and such agencies now before privacy becomes a thing of the past. Malte Spitz is to be congratulated for exposing this metadata tracking; our media is to be condemned for ignoring Spitz’s revelations until Snowden’s revelations.
Read more: http://www.storyleak.com/graphic-what-the-nsa-knows-about-you-phone-usage/#ixzz2YJ9BGgbb
US Postal Service photographing 160 billion letters annually
Published time: July 05, 2013 14:32
As Washington officials continue to grapple with the fallout from the NSA scandal, it has been revealed that the US Postal Service photographs the outside of every piece of mail it processes each year - around 160 billion pieces annually.
At the request of law enforcement agencies, postal workers take pictures of the letters and packages before they are delivered, the New York Times reported.
The information is then stored for an indefinite period of time in the event a law enforcement official requests it. Each year, tens of thousands of pieces of mail are subjected to further scrutiny.
Reading the contents of a letter requires a court-ordered warrant, but in the case of ‘mail cover’ requests, law enforcement agencies submit a letter to the Postal Service, which “rarely denies a request.”
Although the ‘mail covers’ program has been around for nearly a century, its updated successor, the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking (MICT) program, was created in the aftermath of the anthrax attacks in late 2001 that killed five people, including two postal workers.
MICT requests are separated into two categories: those related to possible criminal activity and those that are meant to protect national security. Requests based on suspected criminal activity average 15,000 to 20,000 per year, unnamed law enforcement officials told the Times.
The number of requests for mail covers related to the fight against terrorism has not been made public.
Although law enforcement officials must have warrants to open private correspondence, former President George W. Bush signed off on a document in 2007 that gave the federal government the authority to open mail without warrants in “emergencies or in foreign intelligence cases.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigations revealed the existence of MICT last month in the course of an investigation over ricin-laced letters mailed to President Barack Obama and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.
News of the US Postal Service’s surveillance program comes as Washington is facing heated criticism over a formerly covert surveillance program that gave the National Security Agency (NSA), in cooperation with nine of the world’s largest internet companies, sweeping powers to collect data on telephone calls and internet habits of billions of people both at home and abroad.
The information was made public after former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, blew the whistle on the activities.
Officials in the Obama administration, meanwhile, are attempting to justify the NSA’s surveillance programs, saying the electronic monitoring amounts to the same thing as examining the outside of a letter. At the very least, the program shows that traditional mail is held up to the same kind of scrutiny that the NSA has given to phone calls, e-mail and internet services.
“It’s a treasure trove of information,” James J. Wedick, a former FBI agent told The New York Times.“Looking at just the outside of letters and other mail, I can see who you bank with, who you communicate with — all kinds of useful information that gives investigators leads that they can then follow up on with a subpoena.”
But, he added: “It can be easily abused because it’s so easy to use and you don’t have to go through a judge to get the information. You just fill out a form.”
Bruce Schneier, a computer security expert and an author, called the program an invasion of privacy.
“Basically they are doing the same thing as the other programs, collecting the information on the outside of your mail, the metadata, if you will, of names, addresses, return addresses and postmark locations, which gives the government a pretty good map of your contacts, even if they aren’t reading the contents,” he told the US newspaper.
The surveillance requests on mail covers are granted for about 30 days, and can be extended for up to 120 days.
Reading the contents of a letter requires a court-ordered warrant, but in the case of ‘mail cover’ requests, law enforcement agencies submit a letter to the Postal Service, which “rarely denies a request.”
Although the ‘mail covers’ program has been around for nearly a century, its updated successor, the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking (MICT) program, was created in the aftermath of the anthrax attacks in late 2001 that killed five people, including two postal workers.
MICT requests are separated into two categories: those related to possible criminal activity and those that are meant to protect national security. Requests based on suspected criminal activity average 15,000 to 20,000 per year, unnamed law enforcement officials told the Times.
The number of requests for mail covers related to the fight against terrorism has not been made public.
Although law enforcement officials must have warrants to open private correspondence, former President George W. Bush signed off on a document in 2007 that gave the federal government the authority to open mail without warrants in “emergencies or in foreign intelligence cases.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigations revealed the existence of MICT last month in the course of an investigation over ricin-laced letters mailed to President Barack Obama and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.
News of the US Postal Service’s surveillance program comes as Washington is facing heated criticism over a formerly covert surveillance program that gave the National Security Agency (NSA), in cooperation with nine of the world’s largest internet companies, sweeping powers to collect data on telephone calls and internet habits of billions of people both at home and abroad.
The information was made public after former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, blew the whistle on the activities.
Officials in the Obama administration, meanwhile, are attempting to justify the NSA’s surveillance programs, saying the electronic monitoring amounts to the same thing as examining the outside of a letter. At the very least, the program shows that traditional mail is held up to the same kind of scrutiny that the NSA has given to phone calls, e-mail and internet services.
“It’s a treasure trove of information,” James J. Wedick, a former FBI agent told The New York Times.“Looking at just the outside of letters and other mail, I can see who you bank with, who you communicate with — all kinds of useful information that gives investigators leads that they can then follow up on with a subpoena.”
But, he added: “It can be easily abused because it’s so easy to use and you don’t have to go through a judge to get the information. You just fill out a form.”
Bruce Schneier, a computer security expert and an author, called the program an invasion of privacy.
“Basically they are doing the same thing as the other programs, collecting the information on the outside of your mail, the metadata, if you will, of names, addresses, return addresses and postmark locations, which gives the government a pretty good map of your contacts, even if they aren’t reading the contents,” he told the US newspaper.
The surveillance requests on mail covers are granted for about 30 days, and can be extended for up to 120 days.
Friday, July 5, 2013
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Friday, June 7, 2013
Monday, June 3, 2013
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
This is a new video from storm clouds gathering. I have shared their stuff in the past and really like it. There is a lot going on right now. one thing he failed to discuss is that John Mccain just went to Syria to visit with the rebels that are fighting against the government. How is that acceptable. Its my understanding the the Bengazi was the location where guns where being run to the rebels. America is involved and i don't like it
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
IRS Scandal
You can skip this one if you are sensitive to language. I have watched Jon Stewart over the years and i can tell he is genuinely getting wore our and tired.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
CISPA Passed
CISPA passed! Below are the best ways to ensure your privacy.
Don't ask for your government for your Privacy, take it back:
- Browser Privacy: HTTPS Everywhere, AdBlock Plus + EasyList, Ghostery, NoScript (FireFox), NotScript(Chrome)
- VPNs: BTGuard (Canada), ItsHidden (Africa), Ipredator (Sweden), Faceless.me (Cyprus / Netherlands)
- Internet Anonymization: Tor, Tor Browser Bundle, I2P
- Disk Encryption: TrueCrypt (Windows / Linux), File Vault (Mac).
- File/Email Encryption: GPGTools + GPGMail (Mac), Enigmail (Windows / Linux)
- IM Encryption: Pidgin + Pidgin OTR
- IM/Voice Encryption: Mumble, Jitsi
- SMS/Voice Encryption: WhisperSystems, Silent Circle ($$$)
- Digital P2P Currency: BitCoin
- Live Anonymous/Secure Linux: TAILS Linux
If you have any problems installing or using the above software, please contact the projects. They would love to get feedback and help you use their software.
Have no clue what Cryptography is or why you should care? Checkout the Crypto Party Handbook or the EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense Project.
Just want some simple tips? Checkout EFF's Top 12 Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy.
If you liked this comment, feel free to copy/paste it.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
The Europen Union is taking 10% of the funds from cypriots bank acounts if they have over $100,000, and 7% from everyone else. Can you believe this! Its hard to find any coverage of the event in main stream news but after the bank holidays on mon tues and wed. I think there will be much more coverage. This is robbery plain and simple. Better get your funds in bitcoins! You have been warned.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
I have not developed a complete opinion on this subject, but there are some strange things going on about the Sandy Hook shooting. The car being registered to this other fellow and the doctor seem to me as the most worrisome. Some of the issues are just bad reporting and miss communication, but the more i look at this the more i think something is going on. Some say it is being used as a catalyst to take away the second amendment. Which is "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Anyway here is the video tell me what you think about it.
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