Big Brother is Watching You

[Vrede too]

Oh, the ol' "...bad things that can happen..." bugaboo. OMG, if I spent much time thinking about the bad things that can happen, I probably wouldn't get out of bed - or wouldn't get into the bed. /sarcasm.

I don't spend much time thinking about it. After all, I chose a career dealing with bad things that do happen, and both a career and a "hobby" that puts me in a position for bad things to happen to me.

While it's not only reasonable but necessary to take precautions with ones personal information online,

That's all I'm saying.

the issue that started this line was about giving a cellphone number to an agency that has all your personal information already. And in Seth's case, a burner phone at that!

Again, I haven't said what I would do, nor have I gone so far as to agree with Seth. I've just described my own general rule, which may or may not have direct applicability to Seth.

... On the other hand, I'm not going to live like it is 1916

1996, and I get along just fine. Given my penchant for wasting my time online , greater cell phone use could realistically reduce my own efficiency.

just on the ridiculously small chance of some of those "bad things that can happen" coming my way. BTW, do you suppose that if the feds are interested in harassing non-violent activists and general miscreants that there is information they can't discover? Sure, if they're really out to get you, then paranoid is not only the way to go but is a survival skill. For the rest of us, though, not so much.

I find that the general rule reduces the odds of trouble from all sources. I agree that I'm screwed if there's a concerted effort to get me, whatever I've done or not done.

[Seth Milner]

Some of us have more reason(s) to be "paranoid" than others.

[rstrong]

Whistleblowers who report corruption do have protections. "Whistleblowers" who steal data to report something they disagree with, not so much.

Bullshit.

a) Whistleblowers who report torture and mass surveillance of the American people aren't reporting "something they disagree with." They're reporting crimes. (Small wonder that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was lying to Congress about it. Before Snowden's "stolen data" showed that he was lying.)

b) Whistleblowers in these cases have protection ONLY if they report through "proper channels" that ignore them. In other words, only if they don't do any whistleblowing. That's the common theme here with the other whistleblowers: There's no form of whistleblowing that gives you those protections.

Techdirt: Intelligence Community's Top Whistleblower Protector In Need Of Some Whistleblower Protection

[Vrede too]

This Company Has Built a Profile on Every American Adult



"Adult" - So, not Trump?

[Vrede too]

American Muslims Who Refused to Become FBI Informants File Appeal Over No-Fly List

Are Christian white supremacists ever placed on the No-Fly List and are other law-abiding white Christians ever coerced into spying on them?

[Vrede too]

. . . or censoring you.

Facebook deactivated her profile on police request. Then police killed her. (petition)

To Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg:

Deactivating the social media accounts of people at the request of police sets a dangerous precedent. If Facebook continues to comply with police requests to suspend social media broadcasts and accounts, it will rob us of our voices and our narratives and it will shield police violence from the public.

As the CEO of Facebook, we demand you direct your company to stop censoring users at the request of the police.

Sincerely,

From the little I know, I don't have an opinion on the police shooting of Korryn Gaines and I have not signed any petitions condemning it. However, I agree that Facebook acting as a police agent is a dangerous precedent.

[Seth Milner]

This Company Has Built a Profile on Every American Adult

"Adult" - So, not Trump?

"Adult" ?? You can be assured that rstrong and yourself are safe from prying eyes and ears.

[rstrong]

"Adult" ?? You can be assured that rstrong and yourself are safe from prying eyes and ears.

Don't you have a Stormfront meeting to go to?

[Seth Milner]

Inasmuch as my Big Brothers Are Watching Me, all of my future posts will be carefully scrutinized before posting to insure that no humor or any words that can be construed as "joking" be posted without permissions from the Asshole Department, either the one located in N.C. or the one in Canada.

Please be assured that if any posts contain humor or "joking" that cannot be avoided, a general plea for leniency will be posted along with the offending article. If that doesn't work, they can GFT, or each other; whichever they prefer

Don't you have a Stormfront meeting to go to?

No. You? Maybe you have a Palin/Huckabee praise video to watch? Maybe dinner with the Donald?

[Vrede too]

"Adult" ?? You can be assured that rstrong and yourself are safe from prying eyes and ears.

Projection.

[Seth Milner]

"Adult" ?? You can be assured that rstrong and yourself are safe from prying eyes and ears.

Projection.

Well, if you don't care, I don't either.

[rstrong]

Television New Zealand and The Intercept have named a target of the NSA's controversial Prism program, based on the Snowden leaks: A democracy advocate named Tony Fullman. Fullman is an advocate for democracy in Fiji and a critic of Fijian prime minister Frank Bainimarama, who took power in a 2006 coup.

Fortune reports:

According to The Intercept, the NSA in 2012 monitored Fullman’s communications through the Prism program and passed on information to the New Zealand intelligence services. Around the same time, the New Zealand authorities raided Fullman’s home and revoked his passport.

The New Zealand intelligence services were not themselves allowed to spy on Fullman, who was a New Zealand citizen. However, as Snowden has repeatedly described, the agencies of many Anglophone countries spy on each other’s behalf, in order to bypass their national legal restrictions.
[...]
Fullman reckons the timing of the raids was connected with the New Zealand foreign minister’s visit to Fiji for trade talks, just days later.

Again confirming what we already knew about the Five Eyes.

[Vrede too]

Inspector general: NYPD skirted rules for surveillance

[Vrede too]

2 men arrested, charged with hacking senior US officials

Two North Carolina men were arrested Thursday and charged in connection with a computer hacker network that allegedly targeted CIA Director John Brennan and other senior government officials.

Federal prosecutors in Alexandria said Andrew Otto Boggs, 22, known online as "INCURSIO," of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, and Justin Gray Liverman, 24, also known as "D3F4ULT," of Morehead City, North Carolina, were charged and will make initial appearances next week.

Prosecutors say Boggs and Liverman were members of a hacking group called "Crackas With Attitude." ...

... Boggs and Liverman lived in their respective parents' homes....

In one exchange, Boggs tells "Cracka" that he wants to hack Victim 1's agency because "I've been looking for evidence of aliens," according to the affidavit....

News accounts indicate that the Crackas hackers targeted Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and had his phones forwarded to the Free Palestine Movement.

... The hackers are also accused of publishing the names and emails of thousands of employees at the FBI and Department of Homeland Security and about 80 Miami-area law enforcement officers....

In October, when WikiLeaks published the hacked emails, the CIA issued a statement describing the Brennan family as victims. "This attack is something that could happen to anyone and should be condemned, not promoted," the agency said.

Irony.

[Vrede too]

United States v. Johnson

In July of 2014, Kevin Johnson and Tyler Lang were indicted under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) for allegedly releasing, and conspiring to release, thousands of mink and foxes from mid-western fur farms and spray-painting “Liberation is Love” on the side of a barn. Johnson and Lang previously faced state charges of “possession of burglary tools” after a police search during a traffic stop turned up wire cutters and similar items. Both men pleaded guilty to the state charges and served jail sentences. They now face up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted of the new terrorism charges.

The case is part of CCR’s longstanding efforts to combat the criminalization of dissent and, in particular, to defend animal rights and environmental activists targeted by the Green Scare.

Passed by Congress in November 2006, the AETA targets animal rights activists, criminalizing First Amendment protected speech and advocacy, including protests, boycotts, picketing, and whistleblowing. Yet, while the law is aimed at stifling animal rights activism, its language is so broad and vague it could be used to prosecute labor activists who organize a successful boycott of Wal-Mart or union members who picket a university cafeteria, because both sell animal products.

CCR moved to dismiss the indictment on the grounds that the AETA is facially unconstitutional, in violation of the First Amendment. CCR argued that, first, the AETA is overbroad because it criminalizes protected speech that causes an “animal enterprise” to lose profits or business goodwill. Second, the law is unconstitutionally vague, because it fails to delimit law enforcement and prosecutorial discretion; the statute effectively criminalizes every property crime that has an interstate component and is undertaken against a business, allowing for and resulting in arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement against animal rights activists. Third, CCR challenged the AETA on substantive due process grounds because it punishes as an act of “terrorism” a quintessentially non-violent act: saving animals from the violence of being killed and turned into fur coats.

[Vrede too]

Your local police can tap your cell phone from anywhere. We're calling on the FCC to ban phone Stingrays.

Tell the FCC: “Unlicensed use of cell site simulator technology violates the Communications Act by willfully interfering with the cellular network without a license.”

[Seth Milner]

Your local police can tap your cell phone from anywhere. We're calling on the FCC to ban phone Stingrays.

Tell the FCC: “Unlicensed use of cell site simulator technology violates the Communications Act by willfully interfering with the cellular network without a license.”

OMG! That's some seriously disturbing news! Quick! Run out and get some foil!
Cover your ass! (oh yeah; and your head.)

[Vrede too]

Library Worker Heroically Defends Patron’s Free Speech, Is Brutally Arrested in Library Where He Works

We Vow to Keep Fighting for Transparency and Open Government

... “We have made multiple attempts to convey to the Obama administration that we believe transparency has, in fact, gotten worse the past eight years,” Society of Professional Journalists President Paul Fletcher said. “We were hoping we could point to this White House as a shining example of how it should be done. Unfortunately, we can’t do that and will have to start over with the next administration.”

... The groups vow to keep fighting for transparency and open government.

“President Obama may be leaving the White House, but we aren’t going anywhere. Our promise to the American people is to keep fighting for their right to know what their elected officials are up to. To keep fighting for information and images they need to know and see to live their best, most informed, lives as American citizens.”

I doubt that it will get any better with either Hillary or Trump.

[O Really]

OK so I read the Kansas City Library massacre story, where the only people asked to leave before were those who fell asleep and snored. Looks like from all accounts the cops over-reacted and (yet again) poorly handled the situation. If anybody had been black, they probably would have been shot or at least tased. Having agreed the cops were assholes, however, there doesn't seem to be anything to support the idea that they jumped the guy for the content of his question or his comments, but rather an over-zealous enforcement of the one-person-one-question rule.

BTW, does anyone know what, exactly, the Society of Professional Journalists or others want when they talk about "transparency"? I understand the concept, similar to Florida's Sunshine Laws, but what is it they really want?

[Vrede too]

There's a partial list at my link and links to other articles and letters there.

You must not have scrolled down to the "Official Statement from the Kansas City Public Library (9/30/2016)" and one of the guys arrested was the on-scene library authority - thus, no "rule" to enforce by the "off-duty officers ... part of a small, private security squad arranged by the Jewish Community Foundation".