Bonum Certa Men Certa

COINTELPRO Never Really Ended, It Just Changed Identity

Summary: The enemy of the state appears to be clever, politically-aware people who are eager to pursue justice, based on what we are learning about surveillance

CIVIL disobedience is necessary as means of challenging abuse of power. Sometimes people may also have to break the law in order to expose violations of the law (at a much higher level, with crimes of high severity). Now that we remember Martin Luther King (born January 15th, 1929) we should recall that the FBI recorded him and then played a recording back to him, urging him to commit suicide. Surveillance was used for blackmail as part of what we now know as COINTELPRO.



How do we know about COINTELPRO? Well, some professors and others chose to investigate what the FBI had been doing at the time. We now know this because they came forward [1,2,3,4,5,6], revealing that anti-war (or pro-peace) activism was treated as some kind of crime by the FBI. Now that the NYPD mimics the FBI [7] (CIA agents were reported to be embedded in NYPD) and the CIA uses FBI staff [8] we should all be concerned. Moreover, we can see how in New York City (i.e. NYPD) protest against corruption by banks is now treated like terrorism and activists are put under surveillance [9-11] on behalf of banks. This is beyond unjust; it's tyrannical. The domestic population is treated like an enemy if it wants justice.

A year ago we discovered that Aaron Swartz too had been put under secret surveillance as though he was some kind of terrorist. He was then crushed and bullied by the system, to the point where even his parents' house was in jeopardy (collective punishment), and then he committed suicide. The FBI could not make Martin Luther King commit suicide, but eventually he was assassinated anyway.

People now remember Aaron Swartz and even march in his memory [12-23] (see some new revelations of cover-up in the news). This case showed how far the system of surveillance still goes and who it really targets. It's not about terrorism, it's about control. The corporations use surveillance to impose their will on everyone and hound dissidents.

Related/contextual items from the news:

  1. Burglars who embarrassed FBI in unsolved document heist come forward (+video)


  2. Activists Who Took FBI Files in 1971 Praise Edward Snowden, Defend How He Blew the Whistle
    The shrill brigade of critics opposed to National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden have repeatedly emphasized their belief that if he truly thought he was engaged in civil disobedience he should have remained in the United States and allowed himself to be jailed and prosecuted like Daniel Ellsberg or even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But now, this argument should be even more difficult for critics to make.


  3. Burglars Who Took on F.B.I. Abandon Shadows


  4. Remembering an earlier time when a theft unmasked government surveillance


  5. Peace Activists Admit to Role in FBI Burglary That Exposed COINTELPRO
    One of the great mysteries of the Vietnam War era has been solved. In 1971, a group of peace activists broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, and lifted files that helped reveal the FBI’s elaborate program of illegally spying on political groups. The documents, given to journalists at the time, provided the first hints of a secret counter intelligence program, or COINTELPRO, the FBI’s secret program to infiltrate, monitor and disrupt social movements. The burglars called themselves the Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI. They were never caught. But decades later, a number of them are coming forward for the first time. The idea for the burglary came from William Davidon, a physics professor and leader of civil disobedience against the Vietnam War. Davidon died last year. Also involved were a social worker named Bob Williamson and John and Bonnie Raines, a married couple with children. Convinced the FBI was infiltrating peace groups, they hatched a plan to stage the break-in on the night of a major championship boxing match. Another of the burglars, Keith Forsyth, described his motivation in a video produced by Retro Report.


  6. Stealing J. Edgar Hoover’s Secrets
    On March 8, 1971, a group of eight Vietnam War protestors broke into a Federal Bureau of Investigation field office in Media, Pennsylvania and stole hundreds of government documents that shocked a nation.

    The stolen memos, reports and internal correspondence provided the first tangible evidence that J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI was systematically targeting and harassing hundreds of American citizens then known collectively as “the New Left.”


  7. NYPD Decides To Ape FBI's Tactics And Cite The 'Mosaic Theory' As The Reason It Won't Disclose Budget Data


  8. Intelligence: American Spies Told To Clean Up And Get Persecuted
    The CIA has another intelligence collecting scandal to deal with. This time it was the November 2013 revelation that a former FBI agent (Robert Levinson) who disappeared while visiting Iran in 2007 was actually working for the CIA. Well, sort of. It seems Levinson was being paid by some CIA analysts to seek out some specific information while visiting Iran. The analysts were not using Levinson as a professional spy but as a professional observer.


  9. How a major bank and the U.S. government joined forces to spy on Anonymous


  10. Bank of America employs 20 full-time social media spies, watches anarchists and occupy protesters
    Bank of America works with fusion centers, the FBI, state and local police, and campus security to monitor public protest in the United States, newly disclosed documents confirm.


  11. Open Letter To OWS: You Were Right All Along
    The first thing I’d like to do as I conclude this open letter to the Occupy Movement is to congratulate every single person who consider themselves part of it. Contrary to the false narrative the corporate state has been trying to propagate so desperately, the Occupy Movement was enormously effective and successful if one takes into consideration the massive amount of resources the corporate state invested in suppressing it.


  12. Join us as we walk across the state of New Hampshire to bring awareness to the central issue that binds us all.
    As the first step in rebelling against a broken system and a dysfunctional Congress, the NHRebellion invites you to continue Granny D and Aaron’s work by walking down through New Hampshire. On January 11, 2014—15 years after Granny D began her walk, and beginning on the day Aaron died—we will walk the state from the top to the bottom, recruiting as many citizens in New


  13. One-Year Later: In Remembrance of Aaron Swartz
    Although our hearts remain heavy, on the one-year anniversary of his death we are reflecting as an organization and as individuals on how we can honor Aaron’s legacy by redoubling our commitment to the struggle for a more just and equitable world.


  14. Noam Chomsky: MIT Shares Blame For Aaron Swartz Tragedy
    The Massachusetts Institute of Technology bears some of the blame for the tragedy of Internet activist Aaron Swartz's suicide, according to author and activist Noam Chomsky, who has spent his academic career at the university.


  15. Why We're Marching Across New Hampshire to Honor Aaron Swartz


  16. Lawrence Lessig Walking Across New Hampshire In Memory Of Aaron Swartz


  17. Aaron's Walk: The New Hampshire Rebellion
    A system of corruption, not particular crimes. Our focus is not Rod Blagojevich; it is the system of campaign funding in which fundraising is key, and the funders represent the tiniest fraction of the 1%. That system, we believe, corrupts this democracy. (We, and 71% of Americans according to a recent poll.) And until that system changes, no sensible reform on the right or the left is possible. Politicians may continue to play this fundraising game. We believe that New Hampshire can change it.


  18. Prosecutors used this cybercrime law against Aaron Swartz. Now a senator wants to strengthen it.
    A high-ranking Democratic senator is trying to beef up the law that let prosecutors go after Internet activist Aaron Swartz.

    Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Wednesday introduced the Personal Data Privacy and Security Act, making it the fifth time since 2005 that the chairman of the powerful judiciary committee has brought the bill forward. The bill's key aim is to standardize the disclosure rules governing businesses that have been hacked.


  19. Eric Holder Criticized On Anniversary Of Aaron Swartz Death


  20. Lawmakers to Holder: ‘Inconsistencies’ in Reports of Swartz Prosecution ‘Require Serious Responses’


  21. Why They Mattered: Aaron Swartz
    In January we lost Aaron Swartz, 26, to suicide. Or better, as the breadth of his work was wide and its depth, profound: In January we all lost Aaron Swartz to suicide.


  22. Losing Aaron
    After his son was arrested for downloading files at MIT, Bob Swartz did everything in his power to save him. He couldn’t. Now he wants the institute to own up to its part in Aaron’s death.


  23. A suicide's fractured narrative: The death of computer programming whiz Aaron Swartz
    Suicides, by their nature, are difficult stories to tell. Unless the deceased leaves a note explaining everything, there is only a story with a terrible question mark at the end. Reporters have a natural tendency to focus on one event that must have prompted the decision to end it all. Depression is seldom so tidy.


Recent Techrights' Posts

Writing and Coding Isn't Always Enough
Last year we had to assume a role we didn't have before: litigants
Autumn Has Come
Autumn should be exciting in all sorts of ways; it'll also mark our anniversary
IBM Has Taken Control of GNOME
Don't expect a successor to be found any time soon
 
“Sideloading” Never Killed Anybody
There are many online discussions this week about the misnomer "sideloading"
Slopwatch: Google News as FUD Vector Against Linux and Plagiarism Enhancer, Serial Slopper (SS) Uses LLMs to Googlebomb "Linux"
Slop destroys the Web not just by screwing with search engines and helping plagiarists. It's also responsible for de facto DDoS attacks...
Links 01/09/2025: "Attacks on Science" and China's "Soft Power" Grows
Links for the day
Links 01/09/2025: Fresh Backlash Against Slop and "Norway’s Electricity Crisis is About to Hit Britain"
Links for the day
Links 01/09/2025: Catching Up (Mostly via Deutsche Welle), "Windows TCO" Effect in UK
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/09/2025: Linguistic Barriers and "Web 1.0 Hosting"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 31, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 31, 2025
The UEFI 9/11 - Part IV - External Interference
They all seem to be playing a role in crushing Software Freedom and self-determination for users
Links 31/08/2025: Baggage Claim Scams, an Insurrectionist’s War on Culture, and a Sudden Robotics Hype
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/08/2025: Reviewing Netsurf and Slightly Less Historic Ada Design
Links for the day
Links 31/08/2025: Google Gmail Data Breach and LF Puff Pieces for Pay
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 30, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 30, 2025
This is What Google News Has Become
Moments ago
The Slopfarm WebProNews Has Turned Google News Into a Laughing Stock Full of Plagiarism by Slop
If Google News dies of neglect, that's one thing. It's starting to seem like active neglect by Google is a form of participation.
Do What is Moral, as What's Legal Isn't Always Moral
Do what's objectively moral, no matter the costs and the risks
Slopwatch: Google News Assisting Plagiarism and Anti-Linux FUD, Serial Slopper Rips Off Linux-Centric Journalists
This makes the Web a much worse place and lessens the incentive to do journalism
Links 30/08/2025: NVIDIA Fakes Results to Hide a Bubble Already in Implosion Phase, Data Breaches Galore, Important Win for Workers' Union in Canada
Links for the day
Representing and Speaking for Animals
If I ever choose to take this matter to tribunal with animals-centric NGOs on my side, it'll get some press coverage for sure
The UEFI 9/11 - Part II - Campaign of Censorship and Defamation Against Critics
In dictatorships, humour serves an important role. It's tragic.
In Kazakhstan, Yandex Estimated to be 20 Times Bigger Than Microsoft
Bing is measured as down this month
Shutterstock Not Enough? The Register MS Uses Slop Images in Articles (Seemingly More and More Over Time)
Cost-saving trajectory amid office shutdown?
Gemini Links 30/08/2025: Games, PostmarketOS, and Slop
Links for the day
Links 30/08/2025: Imgur Uproar and Many Ukraine Updates (Mediazona Reports Over 200,000 Russians Died for Putin)
Links for the day
How Not to Build Software
code forges that need a Web browser perhaps fill some 'niche' demand
GAFAM and "MATA"
The use of dark humour there hopefully helps illuminate what a lot of "modern" technology became like and how it interacts with human civilisation (to what ends and whose gain)
Birds Are Not "Pests and Vermin", Privacy is Not a Crime, and GNU/Linux is Not 'Hacking Platform'
I could not help but think of Free software analogies
The Sites Should Be Very Fast Again
That issue is now resolved
Flying in 2025
worse than ever before
Activists, Including Technical Activists, Need Not Pursue Affirmation
Techrights doesn't play or participate in a "popularity contest"
The UEFI 9/11 - Part III - Chaos is Scheduled to Happen Second Thursday of September (No Matter What the Microsofters Tell You)
The clock is ticking
Downplaying the Impact of "UEFI 9/11" is a Losing Strategy
we won't publish much whilst on holiday
Government Sites Should Run Free Software
Not proprietary bloatware with buzzwords
LLM Slopfarms Take No Breaks
When people run sites by bots they don't need to worry about "breaks"
GNOME Having a Meltdown Again
Thanks and farewell to Steven Deobald
Gemini Links 30/08/2025: Low Tech and Hunchbin 1.0.6
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 29, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 29, 2025