Office by Alex Penny
Politics • Snark • EcoFriendly • Veggie • Photos I Like • Doctor Who
When the world says, Give Up, Hope whispers, Try it One More Time.
http://bit.ly/tt-blog; http://bit.ly/tt-pins; psychedelictara.etsy.com
[NOTES* from Leftish - are always in brackets]
They could be ripped from the plot of a sci-fi movie.
Since the erosion of Americans’ civil liberties depends on high levels of public apathy, some of the most dangerous privacy breaches take place incrementally and under the radar; if it invites comparisons to Blade Runner or Orwell, then someone in the PR department didn’t do their job. Meanwhile, some of the biggest threats to privacy, like insecure online data or iPhone GPS tracking, are physically unobtrusive and therefore easily ignored. And it’ll be at least a year or two until the sky is overrun by spy drones.
So when a method of surveillance literally resembles a prop or plot point in a sci-fi movie, it helps to reveal just how widespread and sophisticated commercial and government monitoring has become. Here are five recent developments that seem almost unreal in their dystopian creepiness.
1. Buses and street cars that can hear what you say .
This question is at the center of debates this week at the World Conference on International Telecommunications.
The 12-day wonkfest has brought together representatives from more than 150 U.N. member states to craft global rules for the Internet. And that’s where the trouble begins.
For many at the conference, the working assumption is that governments should control the digital network. They’ve reached this conclusion without asking any of the billions of Internet users who might think otherwise. Nor have they sought the advice of the many civil society groups that are helping to building a grassroots Internet freedom movement with global reach.
This idea of control is reflected in a Russian proposal , leaked by conference delegates late last week, which would give governments the power to reprogram Internet addresses and block dissident websites. Thus far, Russia has gathered the support of China, Saudi Arabia and other repressive regimes but has yet to submit it for consideration by all conference attendees.
Like all others at around 9 A.M. I checked my Facebook account for the second time that morning and instead of weekend party photos, I was seeing a lengthy message being copied and pasted by every alternate guy and popping on my feed. I found some influential guys doing it and that is when I seriously thought I should not be missing out if it is an important news or development in the social or digital world.
But it took me 2 minutes to understand that this is spam and people are doing just Ctrl C & Ctrl V without even reading it. The message appears like the one pasted in the screen grab and I am sure by now you have either pasted it on your profile or have read someone blasting on his wall that please don’t post this rubbish on my news feed.
Read more at http://www.business2community.com/facebook/stop-pasting-the-new-facebook-guidelines-it-is-a-hoax-0341000#8quowAFp7Ht3Gup1.99
VIDEO: ID Chips used to Track Students
A Texas school district just started implanting tracking devices on school IDs to track student movement and attendance. But is this taking things too far? (4:58)
[NOTE* from Leftish: THIS IS HUGE NEWS FOR PRIVACY ADVOCATES!! We really need to support, thank and praise Twitter for this action. Does anybody know how to send Feedback to Twitter, or maybe we could start a petition of support?]
“They’re his tweets — and you can’t have them.
That’s Twitter’s message to prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which charged Twitter user Malcolm Harris with disorderly conduct during an Occupy Wall Street protest and secured a court order requiring the social networking site to hand over information about Harris.
In a move applauded by the American Civil Liberties Union as a “big deal,” Twitter has filed a motion to block the prosecutors’ subpoena on the grounds that Harris, not Twitter, owns the content he shared with the social media service and that accessing it without a search warrant would violate federal law.
Twitter’s lawyers also argued that under the Uniform Act, the prosecutors must secure a subpoena in California before requesting documents from a California company.
The subpoena, issued in January, called on Twitter to provide “[a]ny and all user information” related to Harris’ Twitter account @destructuremal, including his email address and “any and all tweets” posted during a 10-week period at the end of last year.
Harris tried to quash the subpoena, but prosecutors ruled that he lacked the legal standing to do so because he had no proprietary claim to his tweets, which the district attorney’s office likened to bank records.
In the motion filed Monday, Twitter takes issue with prosecutors’ claims that Harris does not own his tweets, noting that this ‘contradicts Twitter’s Terms of Service.’”
FROM the DAILY PAUL:
Now that CISPA has passed the House, it is coming up to the Senate soon.
Here is a letter I sent both my Senators - Boxer and Feinstein, and this is a fast template you can use to write your Senators as well!
All you have do is replace your relevant information in whatever is in the brackets “[[ ]]”. So put your name in where you see
[[Your Name]]. Pretty easy!
Here’s a list of Senators, sort-able by State, Party etc. Just find your state, click on your Senator’s link and it’ll take you to their Contact page.
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_c…
We need to get the word out and show our Senate that we
DO CARE ABOUT OUR LIBERTIES AND PRIVACY and end this bill!
Dear Senator [[Your Senator]],
My name is [[Your Name]]. I have been a long time [[Your State]] Resident and like you, I am very passionate about the state of our Country.
The House of Representatives has recently passed H.R. 3523, the CISPA or Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. Despite the House tweaking the bill with 11 different amendments, the Bill still infringes on our citizens basic rights of Privacy, and Freedom.
There is a want, and a need for protection of our “cyber” assets. I understand that. However, security must not cost us our Liberties and Freedoms. As a [[Your State]] Senator, I am sure that you align with these principles.
When the Bill comes to vote before the Senate, it is my humble and sincerest wish that you vote NO on it. This Bill is draconian in the powers it grants private corporations and the data they will have at their disposal without any oversight or accountability. If you haven’t already, please take the time to review the bill and see for yourself how dangerous legislation like this can be to our civil liberties and our personal freedoms which has made our Country so great.
Again, I sincerely hope you vote NO on this Bill when it comes to a vote before you on the Senate Floor. Many of my fellow citizens are very concerned, and we will be watching who votes yes, and who votes no.
Thank you for your time, and I sincerely hope you make the right decision and vote NO on H.R. 3523 (CISPA). God Bless.
Sincerely,
[[Your Name]]
via PHDINWEED
In a move that should surprise virtually no one, our lying, cheating, scheming den of whores and thieves (aka the US House of Representatives) passed CISPA on 4/26/2012 by a vote of 248-168.
If you don’t know what CISPA is, please take a few moments to acquaint yourself with it, either by googling it or clicking on any of the links at the bottom of the article. In essence, it gives the government carte blanche access to the online activity of anyone using the internet in the USA.
I am running out of ways to say it: TYRANNY IS AT OUR DOORSTEP. You can choose to act or bury your head in the sand. I, for one, intend to go down fighting.
The absolute LEAST you can do would be the following:
1. Go to Twitter and retweet this (or any) CISPA article using hashtags #cispa #stopcispa and #policestate. Get these topics trending.
2. Find out how your US Representative voted on CISPA. Then contact them in any way possible (Twitter, email, phone) and either thank them for voting no or disparage them for voting yes. If using Twitter, please use the hashtags as mentioned above.
3. Contact your US Senator and urge them to vote NO on CISPA.
4. Encourage all your friends, coworkers, and family to do the same!
Although the White House has threatened a veto of this bill, one cannot automatically assume that it will. (we all know how it went down with the NDAA.)
Killing CISPA in the Senate is our best shot to stop it. Get involved! Links below.
About CISPA
CISPA Passes House: Senate Next Stop for Internet Spying Bill
Cispa approved by House but critics urge Senate to block ‘horrible’ bill
EFF Condemns CISPA, Vows to Take Fight to the Senate
Insanity: CISPA Just Got Way Worse, And Then Passed On Rushed Vote
Get Involved
To find your US Representative, you may need to find your ZIP+4. You can do that here.
To find your US Representative, click here.
To see how your Representative voted, click here.
To find/contact your US Senator, click here.
PLEASE! CALL YOUR SENATORS!
If you are in California, here are local CA Office Numbers for our Senators (they are not usually as busy as their DC Offices):
BOXER: (Fresno office): 559-497-5109
FEINSTEIN: (San Diego office): 619-231-9712
Please call and let your Senators know you do NOT SUPPORT CISPA…
FROM RON PAUL’S WEB SITE:
April 26, 2012
Dear Colleagues:
Please join me in opposing the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (HR 3523), which will create a monstrous coalition of big business and big government to rob Americans of their protections under the 4th Amendment of the Constitution.
CISPA permits both the federal government and private companies to view your private online communications with no judicial oversight, provided they merely do so in the name of “cybersecurity.” But America is a constitutional republic, not a surveillance state– and the wildly overhyped need for security does not trump the Constitution we all swore to uphold.
“Cybersecurity” is the responsibility of companies that operate and make money in cyberspace, not taxpayers. Those companies should develop market-based private solutions to secure their networks, servers, cloud data centers, and user/customer information. The role of the US intelligence community is to protect the United States from military threats, not to provide corporate welfare to the private sector. Much like TSA at the airport, CISPA would socialize security costs and remove market incentives for private firms to protect their own investments.
Imagine security-cleared agents embedded at private companies to serve as conduits for intelligence information about their customers back to the US intelligence community– while enjoying immunity from any existing civil or criminal laws. Imagine Google or Facebook reporting directly to the National Security Agency about the online activity of US citizens. Imagine US government resources being wasted on a grand scale to “assist” private companies in the global market. All of this this would become reality under CISPA.
Therefore I urge you to support internet freedom, support the 4th Amendment, and oppose corporatism by voting NO on CISPA!
Sincerely,
Ron Paul, M.D.
Member of Congress
This post first appeared on Ron Paul’s House page.
Friends,
This is HUGE: President Obama just threatened to veto CISPA if it makes its way through Congress.
CISPA is up for a vote this week. It would obliterate any semblance of online privacy in the United States, giving the government — including the military — broad new powers to spy on Internet users.
The White House’s letter expresses precisely the concerns that we’ve been highlighting over recent weeks — and is a result of the public pressure against CISPA:
And the letter goes on to assert that:
The American people expect their Government to enhance security without undermining their privacy and civil liberties.
Without clear legal protections and independent oversight, information sharing legislation will undermine the public’s trust in the Government as well as in the Internet by undermining fundamental privacy, confidentiality, civil liberties, and consumer protections.
This is an amazing development. Let’s make the most of it:
Just click here to urge Obama to stand strong and to tell your lawmakers to oppose CISPA.
Thanks.
-Demand Progress
PS- We only have a few days left to kill CISPA. Please tell your friends to get involved by forwarding this email or using these links:
You can read the full letter from the White House here.
If you’re already on Facebook, click here to share with your friends.
If you’re already on Twitter, click here to tweet about the campaign: Tweet
From:
World Privacy Forum
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and
Australian Privacy Foundation
Conclusion:
We request the following of Google:
1. First, Google must suspend its implementation of scanning the full text of emails for determining ad placement.
2. Second, Google must clarify its information retention and data correlation policy amongst its business units, partners, and affiliates. This means that Google must set clear data retention and deletion dates and establish detailed written policies about data sharing and correlation amongst its business units and partners.
Respectfully submitted and signed,
Pam Dixon, Executive Director, World Privacy Forum
[—the above point was copied from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6740075.stm—]
If you’re concerned about Google retaining your personal data, then you must be doing something you shouldn’t be doing. At least that’s the word from Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
“If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place,” Schmidt tells CNBC.
…But the bigger news may be that Schmidt has actually admitted there are cases where the search giant is forced to release your personal data:
“If you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines - including Google - do retain this information for some time and it’s important, for example, that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act and it is possible that all that information could be made available to the authorities.”
[—the above point was copied from http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/07/schmidt_on_privacy/—]
via AaronABrowne
via - AllFacebook
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act has a few things in common with the defeated Secure Online Information Privacy Act the Protect Internet Property Act besides rhyming acronyms, except that Facebook likes CISPA, despite very publicly hating SOPA and PIPA.
Unfortunately, CISPA won’t enable Netflix to stream videos to U.S. customers on Facebook, which a precursor to SOPA and PIPA might have done if only the Senate hadn’t attempted to widen the scope of dropped a friendlier law passed by the House of Representatives last year.
Instead, CISPA, or H.R. 3523, tackles hacking, in the bad-guy sense of the term, not the white-hat wearing type that Facebook’s own corporate culture has made fashionable in all-night coding marathons.
The bill amends the National Security Act of 1947 to grant access to any data regarding a so-called cyber-threat to not just the government but also private security agencies.
This proposed law has the backing of both Democrats and Republicans alike, along with more than 100 companies support this bill, including Facebook. The social network wants the law to not require the disclosure of any information beyond what the company already shares — for instance, in the case of responding to subpoenas from from law enforcement.
The social network’s own Vice President of U.S. Public Policy, Joel Kapla, explained Facebook’s stance in a post about CISPA today:
MARK ZUCKERBERG: WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?
WE DEMAND YOU WITHDRAW FACEBOOK’S SUPPORT OF CISPA…THE BILL THAT THREATENS OUR INTERNET PRIVACY and puts every American Citizen at risk…
