government surveillance

See the following -

The Border Patrol Wants To Arm Drones

Philip Bump | The Atlantic Wire | July 2, 2013

Documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation from the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Patrol indicate that the agency is close to finalizing payload standards for its drone aircraft. Among the things the CBP might want to use in its unmanned aircraft: "non-lethal weapons designed to immobilize" targets. Read More »

The Brave New World Of Unmanned Vehicles

Vivian Wagner | TechNewsWorld | July 27, 2013

While the FAA, other legal and regulatory agencies, and privacy advocates catch up in terms of the legality and ethics o,f such uses of unmanned vehicles, manufacturers are envisioning a future in which UAVs will be a prevalent part of everyday life. "It's going to spark a lot of creativity," said UAV manufacturer Zenon Dragan. Read More »

The Day We Fought Back

Rainey Reitman | Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) | February 11, 2014

[...] The groups that organized this action have long been pushing hard for real surveillance reform. But we knew that the time was ripe—that the Snowden leaks, unrelenting media pressure, grassroots activism, and even pressure from within Congress—were creating a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give the public—worldwide—the chance to voice its opposition to mass spying. [...] Read More »

The Digital Panopticon

Josh Sager | The Progressive Cynic | June 25, 2013

If the American people sit back and let a digital panopticon be constructed by our government, we will have a nearly impossible time destroying it. The fear which can be created through the threats of constant surveillance and draconian persecution by a government (ex. using the Espionage Act to put leakers away for life) is a powerful mechanism of control that can paralyze an entire population. Read More »

The Economics Of Surveillance

Jennifer Valentino-DeVries | The Wall Street Journal | September 28, 2012

You are being watched. Surveillance of your activities – and those of most Americans – is now just a fact of everyday life. People are monitored when they browse the Web, when they use their cellphones, when they drive and when they use their credit cards, among other things. Read More »

The Google File System Makes NSA’s Hack Blatantly Illegal And They Know It

Robert X. Cringely | I, Cringely | November 2, 2013

The latest Edward Snowden bombshell that the National Security Agency has been hacking foreign Google and Yahoo data centers is particularly disturbing. Plenty has been written about it so I normally wouldn’t comment except that the general press has, I think, too shallow an understanding of the technology involved. The hack is even more insidious than they know. Read More »

The History Of Surveillance And The Black Community

Nadia Kayyali | Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) | February 13, 2014

February is Black History Month and that history is intimately linked with surveillance by the federal government in the name of "national security."  Indeed, the history of surveillance in the African-American community plays an important role in the debate around spying today and in the calls for a congressional investigation into that surveillance. [...] Read More »

The Internet's Anti-NSA Revolt Starts Tuesday

Dustin Volz | Nextgov | February 6, 2014

Thousands of civil-liberty and online-freedom groups and websites will take to the digital streets next week to wage a coordinated war against the National Security Agency's spying powers, a battle strike reminiscent of a virtual protest that two years ago killed an online piracy bill. Read More »

The NSA Can Get You Offline, Too -- With Radio Waves

Sara Morrison | Nextgov | January 15, 2014

Remember how we thought/hoped that keeping our computer offline would protect us from NSA snooping? Well, it won't! According to the New York Times' latest report from the Snowden files, the NSA has developed technology (under the Quantum code name, also used for those malware attacks) that can access computers through radio waves. Read More »

The NSA Is Commandeering The Internet

Bruce Schneier | The Atlantic | August 12, 2013

Technology companies have to fight for their users, or they'll eventually lose them. Read More »

The NSA's New Spy Facilities Are 7 Times Bigger Than The Pentagon

Aliya Sternstein | Defense One | July 25, 2013

He works at one of the three-letter intelligence agencies and oversees construction of a $1.2 billion surveillance data center in Utah that is 15 times the size of MetLife Stadium, home to the New York Giants and Jets. Long Island native Harvey Davis, a top National Security Agency official, needs that commanding presence. Read More »

The NSA-Reform Paradox: Stop Domestic Spying, Get More Security

Bruce Schneier | The Atlantic | September 11, 2013

The nation can survive the occasional terrorist attack, but our freedoms can't survive an invulnerable leader like Keith Alexander operating within inadequate constraints. Read More »

The Public Intelligence Project: Creating A Culture Of Democracy

Michael J. Oghia | Ushahidi | October 15, 2013

Freedom of expression is a fundamental civil liberty imperative to democracy. However, in societies throughout the world, it is at risk, and George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty Four is increasingly becoming more of a prediction of the future instead of far–fetched, fictional hyperbole... Read More »

The Secret Sharer

Jane Mayer | The New Yorker | May 23, 2013

On June 13th, a fifty-four-year-old former government employee named Thomas Drake is scheduled to appear in a courtroom in Baltimore, where he will face some of the gravest charges that can be brought against an American citizen. A former senior executive at the National Security Agency, the government’s electronic-espionage service, he is accused, in essence, of being an enemy of the state... Read More »

The Staggering Power Of NSA Systems Administrators

Conor Friedersdorf | The Atlantic | August 27, 2013

Reflections on the Ex-PFC Wintergreens of the national-security state Read More »