Perfect batting average continues with the FISA Court two years in a row now.
Source: Secret US spy court approved every surveillance request in 2015
Tag: Edward Snowden
Mass Surveillance Silences Minority Opinions – Schneier on Security
Abstract: Since Edward Snowden exposed the National Security Agency’s use of controversial online surveillance programs in 2013, there has been widespread speculation about the potentially deleterious effects of online government monitoring. This study explores how perceptions and justification of surveillance practices may create a chilling effect on democratic discourse by stifling the expression of minority political views. Using a spiral of silence theoretical framework, knowing one is subject to surveillance and accepting such surveillance as necessary act as moderating agents in the relationship between one’s perceived climate of opinion and willingness to voice opinions online. Theoretical and normative implications are discussed.
Source: Mass Surveillance Silences Minority Opinions – Schneier on Security
Senator Wyden Warns That The Justice Department Is Lying To The Courts; Also Still Worried About Secret Law | Techdirt
We’ve been noting for years: when Senator Ron Wyden says that (1) there’s a secret interpretation of a law that is at odds with the public’s understanding of it, or (2) that government officials are lying, you should pay attention.
Big Brother is born. And we find out 15 years too late to stop him • The Register
Elected MPs were deliberately misled by Brit spy agencies
Source: Big Brother is born. And we find out 15 years too late to stop him • The Register
James Clapper has found another reason why he lied about NSA spying • The Register
Yep: he had actually forgotten about the storing of all Americans’ phonecalls
Source: James Clapper has found another reason why he lied about NSA spying • The Register
Venezuelan President Calls NSA Spying on State Oil Company “Vulgar,” Orders Official Inquiry
Nicolas Maduro called monitoring of state oil-company emails — revealed by The Intercept and teleSUR — “illegal action in light of international law.”
Source: Venezuelan President Calls NSA Spying on State Oil Company “Vulgar,” Orders Official Inquiry
MI5 carried out secret mass surveillance for a decade | Ars Technica
GCHQ denies doing it, claims that “Alan Turing started it, so it must be okay.”
Source: MI5 carried out secret mass surveillance for a decade | Ars Technica
Germany trades citizens’ metadata for NSA’s top spy software | Ars Technica
In order to obtain a copy of the NSA’s main XKeyscore software, whose existence was first revealed by Edward Snowden in 2013, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency agreed to hand over metadata of German citizens it spies on. According to documents seen by the German newspaper Die Zeit, after 18 months of negotiations, the US and Germany signed an agreement in April 2013 that would allow the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamtes für Verfassungsschutz—BfV) to obtain a copy of the NSA’s most important program and to adopt it for the analysis of data gathered in Germany.
Source: Germany trades citizens’ metadata for NSA’s top spy software | Ars Technica
New Documents and Reports Confirm AT&T and NSA’s Longstanding Surveillance Partnership | Electronic Frontier Foundation
Reports today in the New York Times and ProPublica confirm what EFF’s Jewel v. NSA lawsuit has claimed since 2008—that the NSA and AT&T have collaborated to build a domestic surveillance infrastructure, resulting in unconstitutional seizure and search of of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of Americans’ Internet communications.
Israeli Special Forces Assassinated Senior Syrian Official
According to an internal National Security Agency document provided by Edward Snowden, the 2008 assassination of Muhammad Suleiman, a top General and aide to the Syrian president, was an Israeli military operation.
Source: Israeli Special Forces Assassinated Senior Syrian Official