FBI Wiretapped Michael Cohen, Recorded “at Least One” Call With the White House

(ZHE) — Tell us again, James Comey, how the Deep State doesn’t exist. In the latest bombshell about the FBI’s investigation into President Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen, NBC News reported Thursday afternoon that the FBI had been wiretapping phone lines used by Cohen during the weeks before the raid on his home, office and hotel room, as well as for […]

Fingerprints, Eye Scans Now Required To Buy Food In India, As Banks Cut Off Cryptocurrencies

As banks in India cut off access to cryptocurrencies, the government is rolling out a big brother financial grid complete with their own digital currency.

The post Fingerprints, Eye Scans Now Required To Buy Food In India, As Banks Cut Off Cryptocurrencies appeared first on The Free Thought Project.

Facebook Helped the Obama Campaign Harvest and Exploit Your Personal Data

(ZHE) — The recent controversy and escalating scandal over Facebook’s decision to ban Trump-linked political data firm Cambridge Analytica over the use of data harvested through a personality app under the guise of academic research has opened a veritable Pandora’s box of scandal for the Silicon Valley social media giant. Carol Davidsen, who served as Obama’s director of integration and […]

Senate Renews NSA Warrantless Surveillance Bill

(ANTIWAR.COM) — FISA’s Section 702, which the NSA has been using for warrantless surveillance of Americans’ Internet communication, has been renewed, with a 65-34 vote in the Senate Thursday following up a similar passage in the House last week, and moving it to the White House for President Trump to sign, likely Friday.

The controversial surveillance scheme was passed almost entirely as it was previously written, with no serious reforms making it into the final bill. One minor provision requiring warrants related to ongoing crimes was added, though for Americans not involved in crime, warrantless surveillance will remain the norm.

Technically speaking, the NSA isn’t considered to be eavesdropping directly on Americans, but rather eavesdropping on the entire planet, and then, having incidentally captured the communication of Americans, is allowed to rummage through them without a warrant.

Congressional leadership largely shrugged off calls for reform on the grounds of national security, and complaints about the system being built to abuse were largely forgotten in efforts to renew it before the previous version expired.

By Jason Ditz / Republished with permission / ANTIWAR.COM / Report a typo

This article was chosen for republication based on the interest of our readers. Anti-Media republishes stories from a number of other independent news sources. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect Anti-Media editorial policy.

Paying For The Surveillance State: Detroit Businesses Are Being FORCED To Pay To Allow Police To SPY On Their Customers

In yet another shocking example of the ever increasing American police state, the Mayor of Detroit is planning to mandate that all businesses that stay open later than 10pm be equipped with surveillance equipment that said businesses would then be forced to pay for.

The mandate would increase the amount of businesses taking part in Project Green Light from 230 to upwards of 4,000. Over 200 businesses have already voluntarily signed up for what is essentially a video surveillance system that is directly monitored at a main police hub in the city.

Local news outlet Crain reported:

Mayor Mike Duggan’s administration is moving forward with a plan to eventually mandate every retail business in Detroit with late-night hours have surveillance cameras tied into Project Green Light, the Detroit Police Department’s real-time crime monitoring system credited with a decrease in carjackings and overall crime around participating businesses.

In an interview Wednesday with Crain’s, Duggan said he will ask City Council later this year to mandate Project Green Light high-definition video systems for all retail businesses open after 10 p.m.

Duggan said the city will start with requiring the camera systems for bars, restaurants, gas stations and other businesses open between midnight and 4 a.m. during the “highest risk” time for crimes to occur. Then the city will move to businesses open after 10 p.m., he said.

The report goes on to then reveal that businesses themselves actually pay for the surveillance which means that if Project Green Light becomes mandatory, American companies will literally be forced by the law to pay to spy on their own customers whether they want too or not.

Businesses in the Green Light project get extra patrols from Detroit Police Department officers who stop in to sign a log book, documenting the visit. Startup costs for getting the surveillance cameras installed ranges between $1,000 and $6,000, with monthly costs for cloud storage of the video starting at around $140.

Officers can access the live video feeds inside DPD’s Real-Time Crime Center in the Detroit Public Safety Headquarters on Third Avenue.

Additionally, the mayor seems absolutely hellbent on forcing every single business in his city to install the surveillance and has even gone as far as to slander business owners who don’t want the equipment by ludicrously claiming that they work with drug dealers themselves!

There has been some grumbling among business owners in Detroit about pressure they have felt to join Project Green Light, for which the city claimed a trademark in 2016.

Duggan said the pressure is being driven by neighbors of retail businesses who had boycotted some establishments for their refusal to install the cameras and green lights.

“There’s no doubt there’s businesses in this city that are in partnership with the drug dealers out in their parking lots, who don’t want the green light,” the mayor said. “I’m letting the neighbors deal with that.”

In other words, if you do not install our Orwellian spy equipment then we will conduct a propaganda campaign to convince your neighbors that you do not want the surveillance gear because you work with drug dealers.

Absolutely unbelievable.

The US Government Plans to Genetically Engineer Plants to Spy on People

(ANTIMEDIA) — The government’s newest surveillance program will use plants as instruments of data collection, according to a new report from the military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The program is specifically intended to assist operatives on the battlefield. The project, named Advanced Plant Technologies (APT), seeks to turn plants into next-generation surveillance technology.

In a statement, the agency said:

“The program will pursue technologies to engineer robust, plant-based sensors that are self-sustaining in their environment and can be remotely monitored using existing hardware…detect[ing] the presence of certain chemicals, pathogens, radiation, and even electromagnetic signals.”

DARPA will use gene-editing techniques to reconfigure plants to make them capable of reacting to certain types of stimuli in the environment. These plant-based sensors are self-sustaining and will be remotely monitored by the government agency. While the program will affect the plants’ genomes, it will not alter their ability to thrive in their natural environments.

“Plants are highly attuned to their environments and naturally manifest physiological responses to basic stimuli such as light and temperature, but also in some cases to touch, chemicals, pests, and pathogens,” said APT program manager Blake Bextine in the agency’s press release.

“Emerging molecular and modeling techniques may make it possible to reprogram these detection and reporting capabilities for a wide range of stimuli, which would not only open up new intelligence streams, but also reduce the personnel risks and costs associated with traditional sensors.”

DARPA, sometimes called the Pentagon’s Brain, has long been known for developing innovative but arguably dangerous technologies, including weaponized Agent Orange, covert data mining, anti-protesting weapons, and specially trained war mercenaries. With regard specifically to surveillance and data collection, DARPA has collaborated with the NSA to monitor video game players, developed biosurveillance tools, produced the notorious Total Information Awareness system. That system was responsible for the NSA’s PRISM program, which violated the civil liberties of millions of Americans.

These programs all started under the auspices of benevolent innovation. Once again, we see the complex dynamic between facilitating national security and preserving civil liberties, as one can easily question whether these plant censors could be used for domestic data collection or if they could be modified for other means.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which has acted as a sort of de facto technological watchdog over government and corporate programs, has previously issued critical statements regarding DARPA and other government agencies like the NSA. In one instance, they listed several questions for researchers exploring new and potentially dangerous technologies, including considerations about their security and whether or not they can be exploited. They concluded:

“To be clear, we’re not saying that researchers should stop innovating in cases where the answers to those questions are more pessimistic. Rather, we’re saying that they may want to take precautions proportional to the risk.”

They have urged experts in the field “to fully think through the ramifications of new research as it’s conducted.”

When it comes to developing new forms of surveillance, if we can be certain of anything, it’s that the government will not voluntarily relinquish its self-appointed power to monitor its citizens — so vigilance on everyone’s behalf is necessary.

(RELATED: If You Don’t Know What DARPA Is, You Should Probably Read This)

Creative Commons / Anti-Media / Report a typo

Authorities Now Installing Cameras in School Bathrooms — A Predator’s Dream Come True

What could possibly go wrong? While some parents are speaking up, others are blindly accepting the horrifying reality of cameras in school bathrooms.

6 Dangerous Electronics & Apps Secretly Spying On You In Your Home

(Amando Flavio) While today’s electronics and applications make our lives easier and simpler, we often forget the cost to privacy in our connected lives. Let’s take a look at a few of the common electronics and applications that are spying on you and collecting your personal, and sensitive information…

#1. Roomba (Electric Vacuum Cleaner)

This cleaning device not only collects dust, it also collects your personal information. According to experts, the vacuum cleaner is embedded with advanced mapping technology. This allows it to learn and collect data on the floor plans of consumers’ homes, which is then sold or shared with companies such as Apple, Google, and Amazon.

#2. Smart TVs

Advertisment

While smart TVs allow you to connect to the Internet directly, they can also be used to collect your data. For example, a new technology called TVision Insights allows companies to monitor TV watchers’ viewing habits. This means that they can literally watch you as you watch TV. They even record data on where your eyes are looking, when you’re distracted, and what emotions you’re conveying.

In early 2015, Samsung warned its customers: “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party.”

Vizio TVs was fined $2.2 million for collecting and selling footage from millions of its TVs users without their knowledge. When Vizion was fined, it had already had sold 11 million smart TVs.

#3. Google

When it comes to spying, the least said about Google, the better. The Internet search engine is secretly recording everything you do; it records your voice, texts and videos you send. You could literally read all of the texts you sent years ago, and even listen to the conversations you’ve had. The company also tracks every move you make on a daily basis.

READ MORE:  In the "Land of the Free," You Can Face 20 Years in Prison for Clearing Your Web Browser History

#4. Snapchat

The image messaging and multimedia mobile application has location settings that allow you to share your location with friends at all times. Your “Snap Map”, if enabled at all times, allows all of your Snapchat friends to see where exactly you are located, even if that means your precise home address. The application is advanced that it can even tell when you’re driving in a car or in an airplane.

#5. Pokémon Go

This smartphone game specifically tells users that they are sharing their locations, storage, photos, and cameras with the company and that they reserve the right to collect and share that data with third parties, including potential buyers and the government.

If iOS users log in through their Google account, they automatically share their information with the creators of Pokémon Go, essentially handing over pretty much all information related to their Google account, including their Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, and more.

#6. Playstation

The gaming console records and monitors all of your activity while using it. Playstation 4 uses voice commands, which means the device is listening to you even when you’re not using your headset to speak to other players. Further, it can collect data and generate information on your personal preferences.

A Journalist Just Discovered the True Cost of the ‘Free’ Tinder Dating App — and It’s Terrifying

(ANTIMEDIA)  — In a piece that speaks directly to life in the modern age, French journalist Judith Duportail just detailed for The Guardian what happened after she requested from dating app Tinder that she be sent all her personal data.

With the help of a privacy activist and a human rights attorney, Tinder granted her request. But she says the sheer volume of information she received was “way more than [she] bargained for.” From her article, published Tuesday:

“Some 800 pages came back containing information such as my Facebook ‘likes’, my photos from Instagram (even after I deleted the associated account), my education, the age-rank of men I was interested in, how many times I connected, when and where every online conversation with every single one of my matches happened…the list goes on.”

The journalist recounts that as she looked through the data, she was “amazed by how much information [she] was voluntarily disclosing: from locations, interests and jobs, to pictures, music tastes and what [she] liked to eat.”

As to why the dating app would want to store so much of users’ personal data, Duportail notes that Tinder makes no effort to hide the fact that all account information — even private chats — is fair game when it comes to what to sell to advertisers.

“Personal data is the fuel of the economy,” Allesandro Acquesti, professor of information technology at Carnegie Mellon University, told Duportail. “Consumers’ data is being traded and transacted for the purpose of advertising.”

Paul-Olivier Dehaye, the activist who helped Duportail in her encounter with Tinder, says the journalist’s findings reflect a society shifting into one where an individual’s personal information — the advertising industry aside — can increasingly be used to affect his or her future:

“We are leaning towards a more and more opaque society, towards an even more intangible world where data collected about you will decide even larger facets of your life. Eventually, your whole existence will be affected.”

Creative Commons / Anti-Media / Report a typo

Creepy New “Smart Toys” Allow Pedophiles to Track & Talk Directly to Kids

A particularly ominous warning was put out by the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center this week alerting people to the potential dangers internet-connected toys pose to adults and children alike. Not only do these ‘spy toys’ have the potential to record kids’ conversations, track their movements, reveal their location — they even allow perverts to TALK to children directly.

The alert, titled: CONSUMER NOTICE: INTERNET-CONNECTED TOYS COULD PRESENT PRIVACY AND CONTACT CONCERNS FOR CHILDREN, warns users of the security risks and vulnerabilities posed by this new line of smart toys that connect via wifi or Bluetooth to your home network.

The toys, according to the warning, typically contain sensors, microphones, cameras, data storage components, and other multimedia capabilities – including speech recognition and GPS options.

According to the FBI, “microphones could record and collect conversations within earshot of the device. Information such as the child’s name, school, likes and dislikes, and activities may be disclosed through normal conversation with the toy or in the surrounding environment. The collection of a child’s personal information combined with a toy’s ability to connect to the Internet or other devices raises concerns for privacy and physical safety.”

Given how easily children give out their information — especially considering they think they are engaging with a harmless toy — the implications for abuse from criminal and government actors are damning.

Advertisment

The deliberate or accidental vulnerabilities inside these toys present a unique opportunity for sickos who want to spy on or otherwise engage in conversation with unsuspecting children.

According to the FBI, these “devices could pose a risk for unauthorized access to the toy and allow communications with a child user.”

READ MORE:  Ohio Police Chief, "I Want Them To Be Worried We’re Watching, To Never Know When We’re Overhead."

In other words, pedophiles could access these toys and talk to children, potentially luring them out of the home and into the arms of their attacker. Given the fact that many of these spy toys use GPS, the predators would easily be able to locate their victim.

However, it’s not just children that are unprotected, these toys are vulnerable to exploits which could allow hackers access to the microphone and cameras — essentially allowing for unauthorized surveillance of their unwitting victims. These exploits would then pave the way for identity theft, bank fraud, or even violent crimes against adults and children alike.

The FBI notes that “Security safeguards for these toys can be overlooked in the rush to market them and to make them easy to use.

“Consumers should perform online research of these products for any known issues that have been identified by security researchers or in consumer reports,” the FBI recommended.

Even if you do all your research and pick out the safest spy toys on the market, however, the data collected, and security measures are all out of your hands and in the hands of the manufacturer or server operations.

As the tech site Slash Gear points out, unfortunately, server security is on the manufacturer or their third-party partner responsible for storing the data, and it certainly seems that in a lot of cases, security of these servers is put on the back burner until a breach actually occurs.

As with any internet connected devices, allowing children unsupervised access from the start is a terrible idea. And, if you must have them, it is your responsibility to supervise your children, secure your internet access, and make sure that these toys aren’t wholeheartedly spying on you and your kids.

READ MORE:  DUI Checkpoints Now Include Mouth Swabs that Can Tell If You Smoked Pot Days Ago

Ironically enough, these toys sound like the FBI’s wet dream.

As TFTP reported last year, a formal complaint filed with the FTC by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, the Center for Digital Democracy, and the Consumers Union notes that the “toys subject young children to ongoing surveillance,” in violation of privacy and consumer protection laws — and, worse, the nature of the company Genesis Toys employs for that purpose.

“Nuance Communications,” the aforementioned groups state in a complaint to the FTC, “represents itself as a leader in voice technology, including speech recognition software and voice biometric solutions that allow a search of the company’s 60 million enrolled voiceprints for a voice match from recorded conversations to be performed within minutes. Nuance markets its technology to private and public entities and delivers its voice biometric technology to military, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies.”

“Both Genesis Toys and Nuance Communications unfairly and deceptively collect, use, and disclose audio files of children’s voices without providing adequate notice or obtaining verified parental consent,” the complaint stated.

While the FBI lists a myriad of different ways consumers can limit their risks of exploitation from these toys, conveniently absent from their list is the simple option of not buying them.

Comey Bombshell: FBI Director’s Leaked Trump Memos Contained Classified Information

(ZHE) Amid the constant media outrage over everything Trump, Trump, Trump, some might have forgotten that in the political rollercoaster over the past 12 months, there were numerous other high-profile individuals involved, including not only former DOJ head Loretta Lynch, whose every interaction with the Clinton campaign is about to be probed under a Congressional microscope, but the man who some say started it all: former FBI Director James Comey.

First loved by the Democrats when he personally absolved Hillary Clinton of any sins regarding her (ab)use of her personal email server, then furiously loathed when he reopened the FBI probe into Hillary Clinton one week before the election, then finally getting into a feud with President Trump which cost his him job, Comey ultimately admitted to leaking at least one memo which contained personal recollections of his conversations with the president, in hopes of launching a special probe into the president’s alleged Russian collusion.

There was just one problem: according to a blockbuster report from The Hill, in addition to the leaked memos, Comey also leaked classified information in gross and direct violation of FBI rules and regulations. And just like that Comey finds himself in trouble. Only not just any trouble, but the virtually same trouble that Hillary Clinton was in in the summer of 2016… and which James Comey was tasked to investigate.

We’ll repeat the above because it bears repeating: in the purest definition of irony, James Comey is about to be investigated for the exact same thing which he absolved Hillary Clinton of doing last summer. Almost as if neither Comey nor Clinton were aware of – or willing to abide by – the security protocol of the agency they were in charge of.

Aside from once again confirming that Trump may have been right all along in his accusation of the ex-FBI chief’s motives, this shocking revelation raises the possibility that Comey broke his own agency’s rules – by putting his own interests above those of his country – but far more grotesquely, ignored the same security protocol that he publicly criticized Hillary Clinton for in the waning days of the 2016 presidential election, in order to settle his vendetta with President Trump.

Amusingly, Comey’s alleged flagrant disregard for FBI regulations would explain why he also found Clinton’s email server transgressions to not be a material concern, contrary to what most Republicans claimed at the time. After all, if it was good – or rather not bad enough for Clinton, maybe it was the same with Comey’s own abuse of confidential data? The only problem is that while Comey was generous enough to let Hillary go, now that the ex-FBI chief is facing the president of the US as his adversary, he may not be quite so lucky.

Upon hearing of Comey’s alleged transgressions, the now former Chair of the House Oversight Committee said simply that “IF true, this is bombshell news.”

Incidentally, the first to warn of Comey’s imminent headaches, was Breitbart News, which on Friday reported that a new Senate report said recent leaks by former FBI Director James Comey’s leaking of memos could “potentially harm national security.” The report, released by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday, found that there were 125 separate leaks in President Trump’s first 126 days that were potentially damaging to national security. The report said it included Comey’s leaking of his memos after he was fired by Trump in May.

* * *

Comey’s troubles started when he testified under oath last month that he considered the memos he prepared to be personal documents and that he shared at least one of them with a Columbia University lawyer friend. As Comey later disclosed, he asked that lawyer to leak information from one memo to the news media in hopes of increasing pressure to get a special prosecutor named in the Russia case after Comey was fired as FBI director.

The Hill recounts that particular exchange with Senator Roy Blunt:

“So you didn’t consider your memo or your sense of that conversation to be a government document?,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) asked Comey on June 8.  “You considered it to be, somehow, your own personal document that you could share to the media as you wanted through a friend?”

“Correct,” Comey answered. “I understood this to be my recollection recorded of my conversation with the president. As a private citizen, I thought it important to get it out.”

Comey insisted in his testimony he believed his personal memos were unclassified, though he hinted one or two documents he created might have been contained classified information. “I immediately prepared an unclassified memo of the conversation about Flynn and discussed the matter with FBI senior leadership,” he testified about the one memo he later leaked about former national security adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. Additionally, he added, “My view was that the content of those unclassified, memorialization of those conversations was my recollection recorded.”

That’s when the problems escalated, because according to The Hill – which for the first time disclosed that the total number of memos linked to Comey’s nine conversations with Trump – when the seven memos Comey wrote regarding his nine conversations with Trump about Russia earlier this year were shown to Congress in recent days, the FBI claimed all were, in fact, deemed to be government documents.

Oops.  As The Hill reveals, four, or more than half, of the seven memos had markings making clear they contained information classified at the “secret” or “confidential” level, according to officials directly familiar with the matter.

This is a major problem for Comey because FBI policy forbids any agent from releasing classified information or any information from ongoing investigations or sensitive operations without prior written permission, and mandates that all records created during official duties are considered to be government property.

“Unauthorized disclosure, misuse, or negligent handling of information contained in the files, electronic or paper, of the FBI or which I may acquire as an employee of the FBI could impair national security, place human life in jeopardy, result in the denial of due process, prevent the FBI from effectively discharging its responsibilities, or violate federal law,” states the agreement all FBI agents sign.

FBI policy further adds that “all information acquired by me in connection with my official duties with the FBI and all official material to which I have access remain the property of the United States of America” and that an agent “will not reveal, by any means, any information or material from or related to FBI files or any other information acquired by virtue of my official employment to any unauthorized recipient without prior official written authorization by the FBI.”

Comey indicated in his testimony the memos were in his possession when he left the bureau, leaving him in a position to leak one of them through his lawyer friend to the media. But he testified that he has since turned them over to Robert Mueller, a former FBI chief and now spearheading the investigation about possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.  It is not clear whether Comey as director signed the same agreement as his agents, but the contract is considered the official policy of the bureau. It was also unclear when the documents were shown to Congress whether the information deemed “secret” or “confidential” was classified at the time Comey wrote the memos or determined so afterwards, the sources said.

Meanwhile, Congressional investigators have already begun examining whether Comey’s creation, storage and sharing of the memos violated FBI rules, but the revelation that four of the seven memos included some sort of classified information opens a new door of inquiry into whether classified information was mishandled, improperly stored or improperly shared.

Where things get especially ironic, is that this was the same issue the FBI – under Comey – investigated in 2015-16 about Clinton’s private email server, at the time the most sensitive and controversial issue of the Clinton campaign, where as secretary of State she and top aides moved classified information through insecure channels.

Ultimately, Comey concluded in July 2016 that Clinton’s email practices were reckless, but that he could not recommend prosecution because FBI agents had failed to find enough evidence that she intended to violate felony statutes prohibiting the transmission of classified information through insecure practices. While the news initially was loved by Democrats as it let Hillary get off scott-free from any potential criminal probe, Comey’s subsequent decision to restart the FBI probe into Clinton’s email server one week before the election is what eventually prompted both Hillary and John Podesta to claim that James Comey was one of the two factors that cost Clinton the presidency… along with the “Russian hacking” of course.

The only problem is that while there is yet no evidence of Russian hacking, suddenly with the factual emergence of Comey’s transgression, questions may emerge not only into the ex-FBI chief’s actions and motives, but whether the FBI’s clearance of Clinton’s use of an email server under Comey was proper after all…

* * *

So what happens next? According to The Hill, congressional investigators are likely to turn their attention to the same issues to determine if Comey mishandled any classified information in his personal memos.

In order to make an assessment, congressional investigators will have to tackle key questions, such as:

• Where and how were the memos were created, such as whether they were written on an insecure computer or notepad.


• Where and how the memos were stored, such as inside his home, his briefcase or an insecure laptop.


• Were any memos shown to private individuals without a security clearance and did those memos contain any classified information


• When was it determined by the government that the memos contained classified information, before Comey took them and shared one or after.

One avenue for answering those questions is for a panel like Senate Intelligence, House Intelligence or Senate Judiciary to refer the matter to the Justice Department’s internal watchdog, the inspector general, or to the Director of National Intelligence and its inspector general. One thing is certain: the near-future will see many more of Comey’s sworn Congressional testimonies, and the vendetta between Trump and Comey is about to not only be rekindled but escalate to previously unseen levels. For an appetizer of what’s to come, look closely at Trump’s twitter feed once the president learns the news of Comey’s alleged transgressions.

By Tyler Durden / Republished with permission / ZeroHedge.com / Report a typo

Trump Flip-Flops, Now Backs the Permanent Spying Powers of Big Brother

(RPI) — Despite his opposition to surveillance during the campaign, Trump has flip-flopped once again and now supports the surveillance state.

His Homeland Security advisor, Tom Bossert, who worked with the Bush administration, penned an editorial for The New York Times this week calling for a reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Section 702 allows for vacuuming up emails, instant messages, Facebook messages, web browsing history, and more in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment.

“Cabinet officials and security professionals from different agencies will testify on this matter on Wednesday,” writes Bossert. “President Trump stands with them 100 percent on the need for permanent reauthorization of Section 702. Officials from the past two administrations also agree that we cannot have a blind spot in our defenses simply because a foreign terrorist on foreign land chooses an American email provider.”

Former NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander and Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers have repeatedly claimed NSA snooping has thwarted 54 terrorist attacks. This claim has been completely debunked. Like the baseless and politically motivated claim Russia hacked the election, the 54 terrorists claim is little more than fiction. It’s propaganda to justify a surveillance state.

Jenna McLaughlin writes “the reason there haven’t been any large-scale terror attacks by ISIS in the US is not because they were averted by the intelligence community, but because — with the possible exception of one that was foiled by local police — none were actually planned.”

The NSA and the government insist they only conduct surveillance overseas but this was dispelled after a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union showed the NSA intentionally violated the law and spied on American citizens.

The surveillance state was created not to protect Americans from terrorists. It was created to spy on political targets in the United States. Evidence of this arose in 2014.

“Inside NSA there are a set of people who are — and we got this from another NSA whistleblower who witnessed some of this — they’re inside there, they are targeting and looking at all the members of the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Congress, both House and Senate, as well as the White House,” NSA whistleblower William Binney said in March.

Binney said nothing will change “until we put people in jail, because they have violated laws and the Constitution, as well as the Constitution and laws in Europe and around the world. Until we start putting people in jail to make sure they don’t do this again, and start cleaning up what is going on, I don’t see this changing.”

Trump and his advisers will make sure nothing changes and the surveillance state continues to grow until it becomes the sort of totalitarian leviathan portrayed in George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen-Eighty Four.

Finally, is the move to make Section 702 permanent supported by Trump loyalists and the alt-right? Thus far, they have supported everything Trump has done, including killing people in Syria and Iraq. Trump’s pathological lies made during the election do not seem to bother them in the least.

Besides, the alt-right is too busy attacking the left and vice versa in a never-ending ideological running battle that serves as a huge distraction.

That’s why I call Trump Republicans and the alt-right neo-neocons. They are continuing the forever war and police and surveillance state agenda of the Bush neocons.

By Kurt Nimmo / Republished with permission / Another Day in the Empire / Report a typo

Apple Doesn’t Think You’re Mature Enough to Know Truth About U.S. Drone Strikes

(ANTIMEDIA) “At its core was a question: do we want to be as connected to our foreign policy as we are to our smartphones? My hypothesis was no. Americans don’t care about the drone war because it is largely hidden from view.”

That’s how Josh Begley, writing for The Intercept on Tuesday, described the concept behind an app he created five years ago. The app, he says, was a simple one. It merely sent users an alert every time a U.S. drone strike was reported in the news.

Apple rejected the app three times on the grounds that it was “excessively objectionable or crude content,” but Begley didn’t give up on the project.

We"re revolutionizing the news industry, but we need your help! Click here to get started.

“Over the years, I would occasionally resubmit the app, changing its name from Drones+ to Metadata+,” he wrote. “I was curious to see if Apple might change its mind. The app didn’t include graphic images or video of any kind — it simply aggregated news about covert war.”

He went on to tell how, after five rejections, Apple finally accepted the app in 2014. It remained in the App Store for a year and was downloaded by over 50,000 people. But then, the following September, Apple removed the app, once again citing “excessively objectionable or crude content.”

Begley persisted. The reason he was writing the post this week, in fact, was because that day — March 28, 2017 — Apple had once again accepted the app. He wasn’t writing to talk about his ordeal with Apple, though. He was writing about the issue that motivated him to create the app in the first place:

“As an artist who works with data, I think the story of this app is about more than a petty conflict with Apple. It is about what can be seen — or obscured — about the geography of our covert wars.”

He pointed out that over the past 15 years, people have worked tirelessly to document what’s happening on the ground where these drone campaigns are being waged. And that work is certainly praiseworthy. But Begley went further, pointing out what he calls the “difficult truth” of drone warfare — that at the end of the day, we don’t really know who these missiles are killing.

Again, rather than focusing on his spat with Apple, Begley stayed with the issue that inspired him and talked about the end product of that inspiration:

“Because the particulars of drone wars are scant, we only have ‘metadata’ about most of these strikes—perhaps a date, the name of a province, maybe a body count. Absent documentary evidence or first-person testimony, there isn’t much narrative to speak of.

“The name ‘Metadata’ has a double meaning: the app both contains metadata about English-language news reports, and it refers to the basis on which most drone strikes are carried out.”

The only time Begley questioned Apple’s earlier decisions to refuse his app was in his summation.

“Smartphones have connected us more intimately to all sorts of data,” he wrote. “Yet information about drone strikes — in Apple’s universe — had somehow been deemed beyond the pale.”

He used the past tense, of course, because Apple had, that very day, re-accepted Metadata. But as it turned out, the party was short-lived. Hours after Begley’s post ran at The Intercept, Apple pulled his app once more.

Highlighting the suddenness of Apple’s move, here’s how Reason opened its coverage of the news on Tuesday:

“This was supposed to be a post about how anybody who wants to easily keep track of U.S. drone strikes overseas can do so through an app on their iPhone. But never mind. They can’t anymore.”

Josh Begley chose not to go after Apple in his article when he easily could have. He took the high road and stuck to the far greater issues — the nature of drone warfare itself and how we, as a society, are responding to it in an age of instant communication.

This writer will follow Begley’s lead and not speculate on the myriad possibilities of why Apple seems afraid of his app. That’s the far less important aspect of what’s happening here. It all goes back to the core of the Metadata project and the question that drove Begley to get started: Given the option, would we really want to be as connected to U.S. foreign policy as we are to our smartphones?

Or, in other words, would we really want constant updates on all the killing?

Creative Commons / Anti-Media / Report a typo

Judge Forcing Town to Return $3 Million to Residents Fined by Traffic Cameras

February 10, 2017   |   Josie Wales

(ANTIMEDIA) New Miami, OH — A Butler County judge has ordered the village of New Miami to refund $3 million in fines to motorists ticketed for speeding by traffic light cameras. The ruling was issued Wednesday by Butler County Judge Michael Oster, who said the money amounted to unjust enrichment of the village.

The cameras were ruled unconstitutional in 2014 by Butler County Common Pleas Judge Michael J. Sage, who approved class action status. That ruling allowed the drivers to seek refunds. Nearly 45,000 citations were issued in just 15 months, and though motorists were permitted to challenge the tickets, the judge saw the administrative system as unfairly favoring the village and police.

Of the $3 million collected in fines, 60% of the revenue went to the village while 40% went to the traffic light company running the program. The village’s attorney plans to take the case to the Supreme Court, claiming the village should not be responsible for funds it did not receive, seemingly ignoring the fact that it was responsible for implementing the unconstitutional program and collecting the fines in the first place.

This article (Judge Forcing Town to Return $3 Million to Residents Fined by Traffic Cameras) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Josie Wales and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11 pm Eastern/8 pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, please email the error and name of the article to edits@theantimedia.org.

The New Travel Ban You Didn’t Hear About Is Against U.S. Citizens

February 6, 2017   |   Shaun Bradley

(ANTIMEDIA) As emotions intensify over Trump’s recent immigration ban, the State Department and IRS have quietly used it as a smokescreen to roll out a new policy that targets U.S. citizens for unpaid taxes.

The passports of these individuals can now be revoked and their citizenship status undermined at the behest of one of the government’s most corrupt agencies. By granting the Internal Revenue Service control over passports, due process has been significantly undermined. The shield of protection that U.S. citizenship used to represent has transformed into an inescapable brand of ownership. The desperate financial condition of the federal government will only worsen in the future, forcing it to further consume its own people’s wealth in order to survive.

The new program is set to be implemented over the next few months, and currently only those with ‘seriously delinquent tax debt’ are in the crosshairs. An individual must have $50,000 worth of tax debt to be subject to revocation, but that number can easily be adjusted downward in the future. Once identified by the IRS, a certification is sent to the State Department to begin the process. The taxpayer is then informed of the action taken against them, but any recourse from there is extremely limited. This policy blatantly targets citizens living outside of the country who may not have filed with the IRS while earning an income abroad.

The United States is one of only two countries in the world that entitles itself to tax citizens while they work in other countries. These regulations were bolstered by FACTA legislation, which requires all foreign financial institutions to report account information on Americans. The additional risks that come with having to deal directly with the U.S. government have led many foreign banks to deny American clients altogether.

As society progresses into the next age of authoritarianism, it’s clear that control over travel is going to play a key role in the power structure. The National ID is just one sign of the changing tide and will require federal identification instead of a state driver’s license to travel. These new cards would establish a kind of ‘domestic passport’ system that would open the door to serious abuses against law-abiding citizens. The consolidation of authority into agencies like the TSA and IRS should act as a canary in the coal mine to those worried about the suppression of their freedom of movement.

The ACLU has come out strongly against this kind of control grid being established:

“Americans have long had a visceral aversion to building a society in which the authorities could act like totalitarian sentries and demand ‘your papers please!’ And that everyday intrusiveness would be conjoined with the full power of modern computer and database technology. When a police officer or security guard scans your ID card with his pocket bar-code reader, for example, will a permanent record be created of that check, including the time and your location? How long before office buildings, doctors’ offices, gas stations, highway tolls, subways and buses incorporate the ID card into their security or payment systems for greater efficiency? The end result could be a nation where citizens’ movements inside their own country are monitored and recorded through these ‘internal passports.’”

Considering all of this, the implications of Trump’s border wall should start to appear more sinister than ever to individual freedom. In the years to come, the wall could just as easily be used to keep people in rather than out.

When a country is no longer able to say who can, and who cannot , come in & out, especially for reasons of safety &.security – big trouble!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

The pride that used to be associated with American citizenship created a country of opportunity for those willing to work hard, but now that pride has been replaced with a ball and chain that drags down the prosperity of those hindered by it. Tax evasion is seen by many as a crime deserving of severe punishment, but the hypocrisy of a nation like the United States claiming the moral high ground is laughable. Those who can distance themselves from the jurisdiction of bureaucrats in Washington should do so as soon as possible. America is starting to resemble the Titanic, and there aren’t enough lifeboats for the passengers. The objective now should be to avoid being pulled under the water when the $20 trillion debt bubble implodes.

This article (The New Travel Ban You Didn’t Hear About Is Against U.S. Citizens) by Shaun Bradley is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Shaun Bradley and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11 pm Eastern/8 pm Pacific. Image credit: seantoyler. If you spot a typo, please email the error and name of the article to edits@theantimedia.org.

8 Things You Need to Know About Trump’s Wall

January 25, 2017   |   admintam

(TFC) It’s expected to happen today: The President of the United States will order the construction of a 2000-mile long wall stretching across the nation’s southern border. While exact specifications of the wall are unknown, what is known is the cost of a single layer fence running the length of the border along with accompanying roads and fencing at checkpoints is $21,400,000,000. That’s not a wall, just a single fence. This cost doesn’t include maintenance, which would undoubtedly be enormous.

The cost isn’t the only problem with the wall, especially since despite the President’s outlandish claims, Mexico has repeatedly said it will not pay for the wall. The other problems range from the logistical to very concept.

It’s unnecessary: Apprehensions of aliens crossing the southern border are at their lowest levels in more than 40 years. In fact, in recent years, more Mexicans are leaving than coming. There are 160,000 less within US borders today than there were in 2005. Mexico’s fertility rate has dropped like a rock. The country is no longer experiencing a population explosion, in fact, it’s almost static. Therefore, they are staying home.

Walls are on the ground: Seems like an obvious statement, right? Apparently, it’s not. Depending on the estimate or study, 40% to 60% of illegals in the United States are here because of visa overstays. Most people who arrive with a visa fly into the country. Planes typically fly over walls without much trouble. After reading dozens of studies, I feel 40% is probably the most accurate figure. Trump’s anti-immigration centerpiece doesn’t address almost half of illegals.

Walls are on the ground: Yes, again. Walls are on the ground. The Mexican cartels have become the most ingenious tunnel-builders since the Viet Cong. They’re already using them to defeat drones. Remember, that the $21 billion dollar figure is for building a fence, not a massive wall that runs 20-feet underground. Even if it did, 21-feet isn’t really that much deeper. So instead of nonviolent Mexicans walking across the border, they will now enlist the help of the smuggling cartels, who will be happy to meet this new demand. The United States learned nothing from the War on Drugs. If there is a demand, it will be filled. The profits go up, and the money becomes a motive to murder law enforcement who get in the way.

Walls and fences can be breached: As an Immigration officer stated, “As an ICE officer, I visited the wall along the San Diego and Tijuana border, and saw portions blasted by smugglers only to be rebuilt over and over again on the taxpayers’ dime. How many times would Trump try to rebuild his multibillion dollar wall? Once? Ten times?”

History: Historically speaking, border walls don’t work. Even the Great Wall of China didn’t actually work.

It might increase illegal residents: Many illegals cross the border, work for a few months, then return to Mexico. Once the wall is up, those immigrants who honestly just come here to do the jobs Americans won’t may find it better to stay in the United States than risk another crossing. In the ultimate form of poetic justice, the wall meant to stop illegal immigration may increase it.

The TSA: After 9/11, Americans clamored for airport security as a method of stopping terrorists. This agency fails 95% of the time. In its entire history, there hasn’t been a case of the TSA stopping attacks. 9/11 did what Trump’s fear-mongering has done. It scared the American people into supporting something they know will be ineffective. This wall will be the utter disaster the TSA is. It will be expensive, bloated, militarized, and an utter failure.

Freedom: Walls have two sides. Just as the TSA was supposed to help protect you from those who hate you for your freedoms but then morphed into a grossly invasive federal agency with almost no accountability, the wall and the militarized presence that must accompany it will be turned on you.

The American people were sold by recycled slogans from the 80s and the nostalgia of a President who spoke as if the Cold War was still happening. He told Americans what to be afraid of and they were. He packaged and sold a concept that is false. He sold Americans on living in Fort Freedom. The problem is the only difference between a fort and a prison is which side of the door locks.

---

This article (8 Things You Need to Know About Trump’s Wall) by Justin King originally appeared on The Fifth Column and was used with permission. Tune in! Anti-Media Radio airs Monday through Friday @ 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Help us fix our typos: edits@theantimedia.org.

Trump Plans to Shrink, Reorganize CIA, Other Intel Agencies

January 5, 2017   |   admintam

(ANTIWAR) Deals on the exact nature of the changes are still being sorted out, but President-elect Donald Trump reportedly plans to revamp multiple US intelligence agencies, particularly the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, with a primary goal of shrinking them considerably.

Those familiar with the plans say they believe that the US intelligence community is “completely politicized,” and that the various intelligence agencies need to be “slimmed down,” and restructured in how they interact.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence appears to be a particular target, with Trump apparently believing that the office is driving efforts by the outgoing Democratic administration to accuse Russia of “hacking the election,” trying to portray Trump’s election as the result of interference.

Despite the FBI being the ones initially ordered to investigate the accusations, the CIA is also seen playing a significant role in this narrative, coming out after the election to claim they had concluded that Russia had deliberately tried to influence the outcome of the US election in favor of Trump.

In not accepting the accusations, Democrats are now presenting Trump as “siding with Russia” or deliberately disrespecting the intelligence community. The Trump team appears to believe this whole effort is the result of the politicization of the intelligence community, and that it needs considerable efforts to resolve.

---

This article (Trump Plans to Shrink, Reorganize CIA, Other Intel Agencies) by Jason Ditz, originally appeared on AntiWar.com and was used with permission. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

Cops Now Taught to Use Appliances in Crime Investigations, Because Your Fridge is Watching You

Thanks to what’s known as the Internet of things — the growing number of ‘smart’ devices and appliances connected to the web and each other — will be used by police to solve violent crimes.

Your fridge, law enforcement says, might help solve a murder.

However beneficial that sounds, it indicates a number of circumstances to send chills down the spines of privacy rights advocates — or anyone who doesn’t find the idea of, say, a washing machine spying on their every move.

“Wireless cameras within a device, such as fridge, may record the movement of owners and suspects,” Metropolitan Police head of the digital, cyber and communications forensics unit, Mark Stokes told The Times.

“Doorbells that connect directly to apps on a user’s phone can show who has rung the door and the owner or others may then remotely, if they choose, to give controlled access to the premises while away from the property.

“All these leave a log and a trace of activity. The crime scene of tomorrow is going to be the internet of things.”

Stokes explained detectives are already being trained to hunt for such devices at crime scenes in order to map both victims’ and suspects’ digital footprints. So many appliances and personal devices are now linked to the Internet under the premise of convenience, Stokes assessment isn’t an exaggeration.

Indeed, many privacy advocates and domestic surveillance critics — like whistleblower Edward Snowden — have long warned the consumer culture’s lust for convenience and saving time would usurp more rational goal of keeping the government’s prying eyes out of our homes.

Instead, as the Telegraph explains, in just one example,

“The new Samsung Family Hub Fridge has cameras that carry a live feed of its contents, so shoppers can tell what they need when they are out at the shop. The dates and times that people logon to the fridge, therefore could provide alibis or prove people were not were they said they were.”

Further, authorities have been working to create a portable “digital forensics toolkit” —  for analyzing microchips and downloading information on the spot — so police would not be forced to remove large appliances from a crime scene for testing.

As Stokes noted, however, private corporations — the manufacturers of these devices — could create obstacles to this potential gold mine of information. Concern for customers’ privacy has, indeed, been a barrier for investigators in Bentonville, Arkansas, who have filed search warrants to obtain the information from murder suspect James A. Bates’ Amazon Echo.

Law enforcement have filed search warrants with Amazon for recordings from the device in hopes it had been voice activated and captured clues to explain how Victor Collins was strangled to death in Bates’ hot tub in 2015 — but, thus far, the company has not complied.

“It is believed that these records are retained by Amazon.com and that they are evidence related to the case under investigation,” the search warrant reads.

Police have already obtained information from the electric water meter on Bates’ house, and feel the Echo — a voice-activated device which plays music, can answer questions, turns on home appliances, and uses artificial intelligence to improve service over time — might have recorded information vital to parsing out the murder.

When it comes to the Internet of things and the accommodating features such devices provide, costs to personal privacy far outweigh the benefits of saved time. Indeed, considering law enforcement and government authorities are far from infallible, the thought your connected devices have an astonishing amount of information about your otherwise private life should be of sharp concern.

While it might be noble to solve violent crime using any means necessary, the potential for abuse — police trumping up charges after accidentally ‘discovering,’ for example, non-violent, victimless crimes a person committed — is unparalleled.

For owners of the Amazon Echo worried about privacy, instructions for deleting audio recordings can be found here.

China Seizes US Navy Underwater Drone From South China Sea

December 16, 2016   |   admintam

(ZHE) Update: according to US officials cited by Reuters, the unmanned vehicle was seized unlawfully by China. A Reuters official also adds that “the UUV was lawfully conducting a military survey in the waters of the South China Sea,” the official said. “It’s a sovereign immune vessel, clearly marked in English not to be removed from the water – that it was U.S. property.”

The incident, the first of its kind in recent memory, took place on Dec. 15 northwest of Subic Bay off the Philippines just as the USNS Bowditch, an oceanographic survey ship, was about to retrieve the unmanned, underwater vehicle (UUV), the official told Reuters.

The Pentagon later confirmed the incident at a news briefing. It said the drone used commercially available technology and sold for about $150,000.

The Pentagon views China’s seizure seriously since it had effectively taken U.S. military property.

“It is ours, and it is clearly marked as ours and we would like it back. And we would like this not to happen again,” Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said.

The seizure by the Chinese Navy will add to concerns about China’s growing military presence and aggressive posture in the disputed South China Sea, including its militarization of maritime outposts. A U.S. think tank this week said new satellite imagery indicated China has installed weapons, including anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems, on all seven artificial islands it has built in the South China Sea.

Mira Rapp-Hooper, a senior fellow in the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, said China would have a hard time explaining its actions. “This move, if accurately reported, is highly escalatory, and it is hard to see how Beijing will justify it legally,” Rapp-Hooper said.

* * *

The escalating, so far mostly verbal conflict with China may have just heated up following a Reuters reports that China has seized an unmanned, underwater US navy vehicle inside off international waters in the South China Sea, and that the US has issued a formal statement demanding the return of the vehicle.

According to CNN, which has a slightly different take on events, a US oceanographic vessel Thursday had its underwater drone stolen by a Chinese warship literally right in front of the eyes of the American crew.

In the latest encounter in international waters in the South China Sea region, the USNS Bowditch was sailing about 100 miles off the port at Subic Bay when the incident occurred, according to the official.

The Bowditch (T-AGS 62) is a Pathfinder class oceanographic survey ship, a third ship in the class. The USNS Bowditch is a part of a 29 ship Special Mission Ship program and operates in the South China Sea. She is named after Nathaniel Bowditch. Bowditch was engaged in surveying at Tacloban shortly after typhoon Haiyan in advance of the Navy’s Operation Damayan in an area known for its shifting hazards to navigation using its multi-beam contour mapping system.

Bowditch had stopped in the water to pick up two underwater drones. At that point a Chinese naval ship that had been shadowing the Bowditch put a small boat into the water. That small boat came up alongside and the Chinese crew took one of the drones.

The US got no answer from the Chinese on the radio when it said the drone was American property, the official said cited by CNN. More details:

As they turned away, the Chinese did come up on the radio and indicated they were returning to their own operations.

US oceanographic research vessels are often followed in the water under the assumption they are spying. In this case, however, the drone was simply measuring ocean conditions, the official said.

The Pentagon has not officially commented on the incident.

Although it’s unclear what the motivation was for the Chinese, the seizing of the drone comes on the heels of other provocative incidents that have happened since President-elect Donald Trump received a congratulatory call with Taiwan’s President, a violation of the US’s agreement with China’s “One China policy”. China publicly voiced their disapproval of that incident and contacted the White House at the time.

This “seizure” takes place one day after China’s influential state-run tabloid, the Global Times, called for a plan to take Taiwan by force and make swift preparations for a military incursion. The article urged China to rebalance its stance towards Taiwan to “make the use of force as a main option” and carefully prepare for possible moves toward independence.

It also follows a series of warnings to the Trump administration by Chinese diplomats, in which they cautioned that China will not allow the “One China” policy to be used as a bargaining chip, something Trump hinted he was willing to do in a Fox News interview last Sunday.

---

This article (China Seizes Unmanned, Underwater US Navy Vehicle Off South China Sea) by Tyler Durden originally appeared on ZeroHedge.com and was used with permission. Tune in! Anti-Media Radio airs Monday through Friday @ 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Help us fix our typos: edits@theantimedia.org.