The foundation behind Wikipedia, along with several other high-profile non-profit organizations, has sued the National Security Agency challenging its “suspicionless seizure and searching of internet traffic” in the U.S., claiming that this mass data collection goes beyond what the law allows the NSA to collect and that it violates protections afforded by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. [More]
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NSA Chief Defends Legality Of Facial Recognition Program
By 6.3.14
As you’ve probably heard, it was recently revealed that the National Security Agency has been scouring online images and using facial-recognition technology to track suspected terrorists, giving rise to justifiable concerns that the NSA has records of your every selfie, headshot, portrait, and drunken mugging. But the agency’s head is now attempting to do some damage control by saying that everything his people do is on the up-and-up. [More]
When You Give Silicon Valley Permission To Spy On You, It’s Kinda Hard To Say “No” To The NSA
By 5.20.14
The fundamental goal of the ad-supported web is to collect and capitalize on data from its users; rather unsurprisingly, that data is just as valuable to the government as it is to Facebook and Google. You may think you’d never willingly provide the FBI or NSA with a map of your entire private life, but, in fact, you probably already have. [More]
Google Beefs Up Gmail Security In Attempt To Keep Out Any Prying Eyes (Cough, NSA, Cough)
By 3.21.14
In a move that’s likely to make mass-surveillance of its email customers a whole lot harder to pull off, Google announced that it’s just beefed up security for Gmail by only using an encrypted HTTPS connection for all incoming and outgoing messages. [More]
UK Spy Agency Snooped On Yahoo Cam Chats, Including The Nude Ones
By 2.27.14
With help from their pals at the National Security Agency the British intelligence agents at the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) spent two years swiping still frames from millions of Yahoo webcam chats between people who weren’t suspects in any crimes or terrorist activities, according to leaked government documents. [More]
NSA, Homeland Security Admit They Shouldn’t Have Blocked Sale Of Parody Merchandise
By 2.18.14
No one likes being made fun of or humiliated (okay, some people do, but that’s part of a much larger discussion), but you can’t throw your authority as a big, scary federal agency around to stop people from mocking you, even if they’re making some money doing so. [More]
Google, Rest of Internet Urge Congress To Change NSA Surveillance Laws
By 2.11.14
A large coalition of internet companies and advocacy groups has declared today “The Day We Fight Back” against mass surveillance. The coalition is urging US citizens to contact their legislators to ask for Congressional intervention on mass surveillance programs. [More]
What’s The NSA Using To Spy On You Now? Angry Birds.
By 1.28.14
The revelations about just how embedded into every facet of modern, technological life the NSA is just keep coming. The spy agency isn’t just collecting calling records and tracking electronics; they’re in your iPhone games, too. [More]
Advisory Panel Tells President To Stop Letting NSA Collect Everyone’s Phone Data
By 1.23.14
An advisory panel to President Obama is calling for an end to the NSA’s highly controversial phone data collection program. [More]
President Obama To Call For Reforms To NSA Phone Surveillance
By 1.17.14
President Obama is expected to call for reforms to the NSA’s phone surveillance programs in a speech later today, according to reports. [More]
Report Claims NSA Intercepted Computer Deliveries To Fit Electronics With Spyware
By 12.30.13
Another day, another claim that the National Security Agency has been dipping into things in ways that you might not expect: A German magazine report says that a special NSA team was in charge of boosting data in extra-sneaky ways, including intercepting computer deliveries in order to rig them with espionage hardware before they reached the customer/targets. [More]
Judge: NSA’s Mass Collection Of Telephone Data Is Legal
By 12.27.13
A U.S. District Court judge in New York has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the ACLU against James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, and others over the National Security Agency’s mass collecting of information about U.S. consumers’ telephone use, saying that the program is legal while leaving it up to lawmakers to decide whether it’s a program that should exist at all. [More]
Verizon Says It Will Publish Reports On Law Enforcement Requests For Phone Records
By 12.20.13
In the ongoing brouhaha over the National Security Agency’s data-collecting, Verizon announced last night that it will publish information about how many requests it received from various law enforcement agencies this year for customer records. [More]
NSA Also Spied On World Of Warcraft, Second Life, Xbox Live Users
By 12.9.13
Because terrorists may be secretly chatting with each other while also trying to level-up their paladins and warlocks, the National Security Agency thought it was a good idea to eavesdrop on online games like World of Warcraft and Second Life, and on gamers who used Xbox Live. [More]
AT&T Tells Shareholders: We Don’t Have To Disclose What We Do With Customers’ Data
By 12.6.13
Is AT&T cooperating with government intelligence offices like the National Security Agency and sharing its customers’ information with those groups? Sure, it’s fully willing to admit that. But that doesn’t mean it should have to disclose to shareholders exactly what it’s doing with that data, or so it said in a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday. [More]
Apple Slams Government ‘Gag Order’ On Customer Data Requests
By 11.6.13
Last night, Apple provided some very vague details about the number of requests for customer information it received from U.S. law enforcement and national security officials. At the same time, the company made it very clear that it would provide more precise information about the number of these requests, if only the government would let it. [More]
Google Exec To NSA: You Don’t Need To Spy On Everyone To Catch A Few Evil People
By 11.4.13
Last week, it was revealed that the National Security Agency had managed to tap into the private connections between Google’s supposedly secure data centers, effectively giving the agency unfettered access to e-mails, voicemails, and cloud-stored files of all Google users. Not surprisingly, this isn’t sitting well with the people at the Internet giant. [More]
NSA Ticks Off Google & Yahoo With Report Of Snooping On Private Data Centers
By 10.30.13
The latest round of revelations about National Security Agency cyber-snooping includes information that the NSA infiltrated private networks operated by Google and Yahoo. Not surprisingly, these two titans of the Internet are not pleased to find out about the government’s invasive actions. [More]
