spying

Verizon Claims Disclosing Customer Records To The NSA Is "Free Speech"

Verizon Claims Disclosing Customer Records To The NSA Is "Free Speech"

“In fact, Verizon basically argues that the entire lawsuit is a giant SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) suit, and that the case is an attempt to deter the company from exercising its First Amendment right to turn over customer calling information to government security services.

Walmart Investigates Nuns As A Potential Threat

Walmart Investigates Nuns As A Potential Threat

A group of Benedictine nuns in Texas are shocked that Walmart considers them a threat and ordered a “threat assessment” from their crack security team. The nuns had filed a shareholder resolution that was critical to Walmart. “The Benedictine Sisters of Boerne, Texas have written a letter to Lee Scott, Wal-Mart’s chief executive, to say they were “deeply disappointed, appalled and shocked.”

Arkansas State Police Director Resigns To Go Work At Walmart

Arkansas State Police Director Resigns To Go Work At Walmart

The director of the Arkansas State Police, Colonel Steve Dozier, has resigned from his position, (with provides a salary of $98,400 a year), to join Walmart’s security force. According to WMC TV, Walmart spokesperson Sarah Clark says that Dozier will “oversee several elements of the company’s security program” and will report to Ken Senser, Wal-Mart’s senior vice president for global security, aviation and travel.”

Walmart's Spying Operation Is Hiring!

Walmart's Spying Operation Is Hiring!

Former CIA or FBI intelligence expert? Want to train your eye on more… “innocent” suspects than you did during your days in law enforcement? Look no further than Walmart’s Global Security division, which is headed by former senior CIA and FBI senior officer Kenneth Senser and Army Special Operations veteran David Harrison.

New York City Comptroller Requests Investigation Into Walmart Spying Operation

New York City Comptroller Requests Investigation Into Walmart Spying Operation

In letters to both agencies, Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr., citing a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, said he was “particularly troubled by reports that Wal-Mart engaged in chilling and truly outrageous surveillance activities.”

Walmart Granted Gag Order Against Former Spy

Walmart Granted Gag Order Against Former Spy

The suit and restraining order were filed two days after Wal-Mart apologized to activist shareholders for Gabbard’s revelation that they were considered potential threats and ahead of a story in Monday’s editions of the Wall Street Journal on Gabbard’s claim that Wal-Mart had a super-secret “Project Red” aimed at bolstering its stagnant share price.

Walmart Is Watching

Walmart Is Watching

The WSJ goes in depth today about Walmarts intense surveillance operation. According to the recently fired employee who intercepted calls and text messages from a New York Times reporter (and a few other Walmart employees) Walmart’s surveillance tactics include:

Hewlett-Packard Is Listening

Hewlett-Packard Is Listening

FROM: KEVIN HUNSAKER

FBI Broke Law In Domestic Spying, DOJ Finds

FBI Broke Law In Domestic Spying, DOJ Finds

The FBI broke the law in obtaining information about private citizens after 9/11, a Department of Justice audit concluded today. From the AP:

FBI Investigation: Is Walmart Reading Your Email?

“What we’re told here is that Wal-Mart had security officials who were monitoring e-mails, but somehow the monitoring got out of control,” said Williams, who broke the news on CNBC.

No word yet on the extent of the problem or who was targeted by the Walmart spies. —MEGHANN MARCO

Bush: I Can Read Your Mail

Bush: I Can Read Your Mail

The New York Daily News is reporting on a signing statement President Bush issued two weeks ago when signing a postal reform bill, in which he “asserts his right to open mail without a warrant.”

HP to Pay $14.5 Million in Deal on Spying Case

The attorney general alleges that company officials passed on information to private investigators — who in turn passed it to other private investigators — that allowed the personal phone records of several board members and journalists to be viewed. The investigators used a form of subterfuge, called pretexting, to obtain the private phone records by pretending to be someone else.

Federal Judge Orders NSA Spy Program Stopped

Federal Judge Orders NSA Spy Program Stopped

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit today found the NSA domestic spying program “without warrant” and violated the First and Fourth Amendments. She ordered it stopped.

Qwest CEO Nacchio to NSA: “Go Screw.”

Qwest CEO Nacchio to NSA: “Go Screw.”

Although doubtlessly guilty of insider trading, former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio has one moral feather tucked beneath the diamond-encrusted ribbon of his Mr. Moneybags-style top hat: when the NSA approached Nacchio and demanded Qwest phone records to stave off the terrorist threat, Nacchio told them to go fuck themselves. This is while executives at companies like Verizon, AT&T and Bell South gleefully capitulated to what amounts to an illegal and unconstitutional request.

AT&T Tries To Seal Docs About Secret Spy Rooms

AT&T Tries To Seal Docs About Secret Spy Rooms

As you all know, AT&T is currently fighting a class action lawsuit leveled against it by the Electronic Frontiers Foundation, claiming that AT&T has been working with the Bush Administration to secretly spy on millions of Americans without warrants.

EFF Sues AT&T For NSA Spying

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has sued AT&T for its complicity in the secret monitoring of millions of American’s phone and internet records by request of the NSA. EFF’s website has the scoop on their pursual of these scumbags: