Abuses of Rights: News About Surveillance, Torture, and Assassination
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-02-25 20:26:12 UTC
- Modified: 2014-02-25 20:40:41 UTC
Summary: This week's news about absence of legal adherence and other moral issues
Brazil and EU/Germany
-
The European Union and Brazil have agreed to lay a fibre-optic undersea communications cable across the Atlantic, between Lisbon and Fortaleza. The cable -- which will cost $185 million (€£110 million) -- is designed to "guarantee the neutrality" of the internet and "enhance the protection of communications".
-
There was something of an international uproar last year when it was revealed that the NSA, in addition to snooping on its own citizens, had bugged the personal cell phone of Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany. The prospect of the U.S. spying on the head of state of a country it supposedly considers an ally infuriated many, especially Merkel, and President Obama quickly promised to stop. That promise was quickly walked back by administration officials, and on Sunday, the Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported that the NSA is still tapping the phones of Merkel’s closest aides, including Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere.
Snowden and Judgment
-
Edward Snowden, who exposed these illegal activities — much like Daniel Ellsberg, who exposed the “Pentagon Papers” in the early 1970s — due probably to his conscience, is now a hunted man hiding in Russia. He is reviled by President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, House Speaker John Boehner, former Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John McCain, to name a few.
On Dec. 18, 2013, a panel gave the president 46 recommendations, all of which meant shut down the spying on American citizens.
That same month, a federal judge ruled the NSA spying was unconstitutional.
-
A few weeks ago, Glenn Greenwald, while working with NBC News, revealed some details of a GCHQ presentation concerning how the surveillance organization had a "dirty tricks" group known as JTRIG -- the Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group. Now, over at The Intercept, he's revealed the entire presentation and highlighted more details about how JTRIG would seek to infiltrate different groups online and destroy people's reputations -- going way, way, way beyond just targeting terrorist groups and threats to national security.
-
Another slide lists ways to “discredit a target”: “Set up a honey-trap,” “Change their photos on social networking sites,” “Write a blog purporting to be one of their victims,” “Email/text their colleagues, neighbours, friends, etc.”
There's also a slide on how to discredit a business: “Leak confidential information to companies/the press via blogs etc,” “Post negative information on appropriate forums,” “Stop deals/ruin business relationships.”
Blackphone
-
Whether classed as the device for the clinically paranoid or the suitably vigilant, the Blackphone is a compelling reason to surface from the Android seas. Periscope up!
What we're looking at is a phone that's well-timed if nothing else. In recent years Earth's paranoia has been inflated like it was some sort of mad blue-green balloon having a panic attack in space, and we're all now super vigilant about protecting our privacy. (Aren't we?)
Zuckerberg 'Anger'
-
Never let it be said that the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is one to overhype a crisis. Asked about the National Security Agency’s spying scandal, which has hit Internet firms with widespread fears among users about being snooped on, he responded: “Well, it’s not awesome.”
-
CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the NSA spy scandal that broke this past summer has strained some of the company's relationships overseas.
Google, Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft
-
After Amazon signed a lucrative, long-term cloud computing contract with the CIA, concerns surfaced that the Internet giant might divulge customer information to the agency. So far, a petition for Amazon’s owner to address these concerns has gathered over 29,000 signatures.
-
IBM is creeping towards the cloud, picking up startups on the way, including a NoSQL database company to fill in some of the perceived shortcomings of DB2.
The acquisition of Cloudant was announced on Monday and will give IBM control of a NoSQL "database-as-a-service" (DBaaS) [As a service? What the hell was a database beforehand? A pleasure cruise? – Ed]. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
-
Microsoft’s Lync communications platform collects a surprising amount of sensitive, analyzable data about its users, making employers who use Lync privy to some very personal information about their employees.
Software developer Event Zero told Microsoft’s Lync 2014 conference that by using call data collected by the platform, companies could analyze information to the point of discovering intimate personal details about employees’ lives, like which are dating one another, or who in the company may be looking for another job.
-
A former White House security advisor has suggested that you, dear reader, are naive if you think hosting data outside of the US will protect a business from the NSA.
"NSA and any other world-class intelligence agency can hack into databases even if they not in the US," said former White House security advisor Richard Clarke in a speech at the Cloud Security Alliance summit in San Francisco on Monday. "Non-US companies are using NSA revelations as a marketing tool."
Security
-
We talked about "Certification Authorities" in the previous installment when discussing how X.509 certificates function. In the X.509 world, you don't assign trust to people's certificates, but instead pick an authority who signs all the keys. Any key bearing the CA's signature is implicitly assumed to be fully valid. Usually, there are several levels of authorities, commonly referred to as "Root authorities" and "Intermediary Authorities," and together they form a "certification chain."
Local Law
-
A pair of bills in the Utah State Legislature are taking a look at the National Security Agency’s massive data center in Bluffdale.
Torture
Air Strikes
-
A senior security official confirmed to The Express Tribune that CIA Director John Brennan traveled to Islamabad last Friday and held meetings with Army Chief General Raheel Sharif and his Pakistani counterpart Lt General Zaheerul Islam.
However, the official, who requested anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media, insisted that he only ‘paid a courtesy call’ on the Army Chief. “It was a routine visit,” the official added.
-
The Obama administration's proposals, some of which are likely to face resistance in Congress, reflect changing fortunes for once-sacrosanct defense spending.
Drones
-
It's been more than a year since incoming CIA Director John Brennan signaled his intention to shift drone warfare to the Pentagon as soon as possible. Brennan, a career spook, was said to be determined to restore the agency to its roots as an espionage factory, not a paramilitary organization. And President Obama endorsed his plan to hand drone warfare over to the military, according to administration officials.
But a funny thing happened on the way back to cloak-and-dagger. According to intelligence experts and some powerful friends of the CIA on Capitol Hill, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the agency may simply be much better than the military at killing people in a targeted, precise way—and, above all, at ensuring that the bad guys they're getting are really bad guys. And that distinction has become more important than ever at a time when Obama is intent on moving away from a "permanent war footing" and on restricting targeted killings exclusively to a handful of Qaida-linked senior terrorists.
-
The U.S. government’s drone use as a means to combat global terrorism was one of the main topics at an event hosted by the Amnesty International Chapters of Georgetown University and Georgetown Law Center on Sunday night in the Intercultural Center Auditorium.
Foreign Policy
-
Ukraine is delaying the formation of a new government until Thursday following the ouster of democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovych after months of protests that killed dozens of people. The Obama administration has indicated it no longer recognizes Yanukovych as Ukraine’s leader and has pledged financial support to Ukraine. President Yanukovych had come under fire for strengthening ties with Russia instead of Europe. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has rejected the interim government.
Police
-
Christopher Roupe, 17, was shot by a Euharlee police officer on Friday when he answered the door. Police say he was pointing a handgun, not the video game device. Roupe was an aspiring Marine, his family said.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Investigative Journalism Protects Society From Corruption, Crimes Against Women, Assaults on Civil Society
- "what is the point of men doing military practice to defend a system that is so rotten?"
- Swiss pimp usurping reputation of legendary Tissot boss Francois Thiébaud from France (BaselWorld, SWATCH Group SA)
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Paris 'Love Nest' & Debian Outreachy: from Lycée Lakanal to ENS Cachan, Cr@ns, nepotism
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Richard Stallman to Give Public Talk in 3 Hours, Then in the Technical University of Munich (Germany) Next Week
- Richard Stallman at TUM on 21.10.2025 18:00, MW2001
- Leaks and Whistleblowers: Our Plan for Today
- Society simply cannot advance when too many people self-censor
-
- The EPO's War on Techrights Was a Massive Mistake
- The EPO started the SLAPPs after we had published a few hundreds of articles; we've since then published close to 6,000 because the attacks on us emboldened insiders to help us
- General-Purpose Computers to Become Growing Area of Coverage
- Without them, we have little left for controlling our lives
- "They missed a great opportunity to shut up." -Jacques Chirac
- Brett Wilson LLP has been trying to cheat the legal system many times
- Harassment evidence: Switzerland, overcrowded fitness and yoga centers, incompetence and racism in accident response
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Vincent Danjean & Debian NXIVM collateral, blackmail risks
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- In Sweden This Past Friday Richard Stallman Explained Why Copyleft is Important
- And he didn't have to 'bash' BSDs, either
- Dystopian Trends in Technology Make Richard Stallman More Relevant Than Ever
- It's good to see him attracting vast audiences
- IBM Layoffs Due to a Lack of Money and Company Debt Rising by Almost 10 Billion Dollars in 6 Months
- IBM didn't buy Red Hat for any ideological reasons; it was a fast "cash grab" for revenue
- Forbes Already Stopped Being a News Sites. Now It's a Spam and Propaganda Platform for "Paying Partners" (Companies).
- news from Forbes became very scarce
- Is the Second-Largest Institution in Europe (EPO) Gradually Becoming More Like a Sweatshop?
- Underpaid, unqualified, inexperienced and incompatible people are already recruited to replace veteran examiners
- The Register MS Has No FOSS Coverage Anymore
- The Editor in Chief is like a Microsoft plant
- Links 13/10/2025: "Toasty Subwoofer" and WiFi Speakers "Are About To Go Dumb"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 13/10/2025: iNaturalist and Tove Jansson’s Moominpappa at Sea
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Does Not Deny That Large Retailers Like Walmart, Costco and Target Are Giving Up on XBox (and Not Stocking It)
- No doubt XBox is in trouble and rumours suggest that more mass layoffs are imminent
- We'll Encourage Richard Stallman to Talk About Software Patents at the EPO Next Week When He Visits Munich (EPO Headquarters)
- Go listen to Richard Stahlmann
- Arnaud Parreaux lost case defending rogue employer
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Mathieu Elias Parreaux declared bankrupt in Switzerland
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Breakdown of the Rule of Law and Patent Law in the European Union (EU)
- The EPO cannot recruit suitably qualified patent examiners this way, let alone retain them
- Gemini Links 13/10/2025: Good Films, Wizard of Earthsea, Upgrading the Steam Controller's Stick
- Links for the day
- It's Not Justice When One Side Denies the Other Side the Ability to Even Speak
- At this stage, Brett Wilson LLP is in my humble opinion acting in contempt of the Court
- Links 13/10/2025: Australian Catholic University Uses Slop to Libel Students, Canada Threatens to Kill Beluga Whales
- Links for the day
- How Not to Silence Tux Machines (It'll Only Backfire, Badly)
- defending Microsoft while attacking this site
- Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT and Google News
- It seems abundantly clear that Google News and Google in general participates in the slop epidemic
- Vincent Danjean (not INTERPOL), Claire Bardel & Debian pregnancy cluster
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Christmas lynchings: Martin Krafft (madduck), Penny Leach (mjollnir) & Debian pregnancy cluster
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Gemini Links 13/10/2025: Birthdays and "Committee Unable to Contact Nobel Prize Winner"
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 12, 2025
- IRC logs for Sunday, October 12, 2025
- The Same People Who Attacked Richard Stallman (RMS) Are Attacking Daniel Pocock to Discourage People From Listening to His Information
- Pocock is being demonised for the same reasons and by the same people who attack RMS
- Your Typical Anti-Richard Stallman (RMS) Cancellist
- "About the RMS cancellation"
- Richard Stallman (RMS) Has Announced His Talk in Rome Less Than 20 Hours in Advance (and on a Sunday)
- Why did he wait until the night before?
- We Are Safe in a Modern "Tech" Society, Right?
- People are safer if they control their own computing
- GNU Tools Cauldron Event in Portugal: Videos Now Available via Invidious
- Go have a look
- The Way Things Are Going, They May Soon Stop Saying "Web Address" and Instead Say "Chrome Address"
- The Web isn't built or based around open Web standards anymore. It's centered around user-agent.
- Microsoft as a Golden Cage
- "I was laid off by Microsoft and can't find a job. I'm weeks away from giving up my apartment and moving across the country to live with family."
- Weekend Discussion About How IBM's Bluewashing of Red Hat Will Cause "Enshittification" for Users
- "I worked at a software company that was acquired by IBM so I knew it was game over for RedHat the day they were acquired"
- Brett Wilson LLP Getting Sued by Its Very Own Clients, a Legal Story That Has Made the Mainstream News (Law360)
- Law360 or Law.com are about as mainstream as one can get in that "sector" (litigation 'industry')
- Slopwatch: GNU/Linux Sites That Became Slopfarms and Spamfarms
- The Web is a mess and "Linux" or "Ubuntu" sites became part of the problem
- Richard Stallman's Talk 25 Hours Away, Aula Magna Palazzo del Rettorato (CU001), Sapienza Università di Roma (Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5)
- The talk is 25 hours away and we see some QR code for it
- Gemini Links 12/10/2025: Watches, the Depression of 2026, Gamboling with Odds
- Links for the day
- Links 12/10/2025: 'False' DMCA Claims and Slop Facing Perils Again (the Hype Wears Off)
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Has Just Lost Privacy Case in Austria and Its Latest Moves Make a Complete Ban Seem Imperative
- Microsoft is not a software company, it's a spying agency that uses software to collect data
- The Register MS: Microsoft is the Security Expert, Not the Prime Culprit, So Buy More Microsoft
- This front page feature is devoid of any actual substance, it's just Microsoft copypasta
- Stefano Zacchiroli (Zack) & Debian pregnancy cluster
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Lucas Nussbaum & Debian pregnancy cluster
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Gemini Links 12/10/2025: "Palm Computering", Further Exploration of Slide Rules, and Key Takeaways from The Well-Grounded Rubyist
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 11, 2025
- IRC logs for Saturday, October 11, 2025
- Tomorrow: Founder of the Free Software Foundation and of GNU/Linux, Richard Stallman, Speaks in Roma (Rome), Italy at 4PM
- GNU/Linux is more important than ever in this dystopian world
- Microsoft and Apple Are Rare Topics in Geminispace
- in Geminispace it's rather safe to assume everyone is into BSD, GNU/Linux, and sometimes retro
- Qualcomm and Manchester United Appear to Have Dumped Microsoft (Qualcomm Now Invests More in Linux, Apparently)
- It's a relief to no longer see Microsoft logos and brands on a local football club's gear (I'm not a Manchester United fan, but not a foe either)
- As Guest of Honour in Rome, Founder of the Free Software Foundation to Speak ("Distinguished Lecture") After Introduction by Leonardo Querzoni
- Happy hacking...
- All Things Open is Proprietary
- The OSI has become a front group of proprietary software openwashers, led and sponsored by proprietary giants
- When Microsoft Lays Off Lots of Workers They Say It "Invests in AI" (a Lie), Now It's "Reshuffles" or "Microsoft Tightens"
- Microsoft "news" by bots
- "I saw Richard Stallman give a talk in the mid 80s, which began my fear and loathing of software patents" and "Richard Stallman was always right."
- "By betraying the legacy of our ancestors, we’ve set ourselves on a path toward self-destruction — moral, intellectual, economic, and ultimately biological."
- There Were Several Waves of Microsoft Shanghai Layoffs in 2025, Western Media Continues to Turn a Blind Eye to Chinese Layoffs of an Epic Scale
- Sometimes select Taiwanese news sites (published in English) or automated translations are all we have
- Brett Wilson LLP Spreads Trumpism to the United Kingdom, Looking to Profit From 'Legal Colonialism' (Overriding Sovereignty)
- There's growing recognition of this conundrum worldwide
- The Demise of Shopping in Person
- In a world like this, how valued is the customer?
- This Past Friday, "Nearly 700 People Came to Listen to RMS!" (Richard Stallman)
- "Nearly 700 people came to listen to RMS!"
- Distinguished Lecture by Richard Stallman This Coming Monday in Rome
- After "Free software, Crucial for Freedom in a Digital World"
- Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT Churning Out Plagiarism and the Slopfarm LinuxSecurity Turns to Pseudonyms
- Our hunch is, UbuntuPIT will sooner or later realise that this toxic approach is just harming UbuntuPIT and tainting the reputation of past articles
- The Lawsuit by Clients of Brett Wilson LLP Against Brett Wilson LLP is Officially On, It is Progressing, The 'Experts' Pick Outside Law Firms (RPC and Mills & Reeve) to Spare Them From Litigants in Person
- So it is probably quite potent
- Gemini Links 11/10/2025: Nyctography, Gerrymandering, and Lurking
- Links for the day
- The 'Culture Wars' in Free Software Have Gone Out of Control
- Social control media amplifies such utterly infantile discourse
- Teaser: To Compensate for the Fact Our Clients Are Terrible Human Beings Who Strangle Women (While on Microsoft's Payroll) and We Get Paid by Mystery Parties We Bombard You and Your Wife With Almost 10 Kilograms of Legal Papers
- If you can't win an argument, then drown the other side with papers?
- Links 11/10/2025: World Mental Health Day 2025, Another European Legal Defeat for Microsoft 360
- Links for the day
- MIT Technology Review is Part-Time SPAMfarm of Billionaires and Mega-Corporations
- Does MIT operate its own "b2b" SPAMfarm?
- Open Source Initiative Executive Director Leaves, Replacement Sought by Monopolists, Not the Community or OSI Members
- Serves to show who runs this show...
- Links 11/10/2025: China-US Tensions Grow Again, "Hey Hi" More Widely Recognised as Bubble Made of Capital That Doesn't Exist
- Links for the day
- Now Confirmed in Western Media: Microsoft Azure Layoffs This Month
- Affirmed by more sources moments ago
- Peter O'Callaghan QC represented grandparents, Westernport Hotel, at Liquor Royal Commission
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Either The Register MS Divests From FOSS Coverage or Liam Proven is on Long Holiday
- Publishers perish when their audience loses trust in them
- Microsoft Cancelling Another Datacentre is a Sign of Financial Trouble and Lack of Growth
- The debt continues to grow
- Gemini Links 11/10/2025: An Evening at the Fair and Fast Fourier Friday
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 10, 2025
- IRC logs for Friday, October 10, 2025