Julian Assange is mean and egocentric, there's no doubt about it. Years ago, he betrayed the trust of his British supporters. And he was suspected to be behind the publication of Hillary Clinton's private emails, which sank her campaign - which in turn destroyed the last remnants of his aura of fighter for transparency. Some of his critics believe ( Read more... )

WikiLeaks says it releases files on CIA cyber spying tools

"Anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks on Tuesday published what it said were thousands of pages of internal CIA discussions about hacking techniques used over several years, renewing concerns about the security of consumer electronics and embarrassing yet another U.S. intelligence agency.

The ( Read more... )

Ecuador admits cutting Julian Assange's internet access over impact of leaks on US election

Ecuador's move aims to avoid interfering in the US election? Ha! What a riot! Smells of the Economic Hit-man scenario all over again.

Is it just me, or doesn't this act come across as a bit cowardly, and a sign of fear both from Ecuador and the US, but ( Read more... )

FBI Drops iPhone Case Against Apple After Outside Hack Succeeds

"A mysterious method suggested by a third party appears to have allowed the FBI to hack into the iPhone belonging to Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the attackers in last year’s shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., prompting the agency to withdraw its legal case against Apple."

LOL. ( Read more... )

Apple likely to invoke free-speech rights in encryption fight
...
NYC police: Criminals say Apple encryption a ‘gift from God’

It's the eternal fight, isn't it. Civil rights like personal privacy and free speech against public concerns like national security.

The bottom-line is elsewhere, though. Apple would certainly help the government open a ( Read more... )

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34873057So...the Donald doesn't object to a database to assist monitoring Muslims. Is there a constitutional amendment that deals with this? Is it possible to be on other lists too? Could, for example, one be on the Muslim database, and the gun-owner's database, or are they mutually exclusive? Or is it ( Read more... )

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/16/france-nationwide-state-of-emergencyRead more... )

At long last. Two years after Edward Snowden's revelations about illicit wiretapping by the NSA, it would appear that Congress may have drawn a lesson or two from the whole affair. After a vigorous debate, a surprisingly large majority has voted for reforming the agency.

Granted, the changes in the law, now known as the Freedom Act, are far from ( Read more... )

Curious how things quickly turn around, as soon as they don't happen to match the official partisan narrative of your political camp. So, big guvmint = bad; but big police state = good. Got it.

Civil War Breaks Out Over Rand Paul On Fox's 'The Five'

The predictable reactions from the mainstream Republicans to his 13-hour filibuster effort aside, ( Read more... )

First off, we've all heard the news:

In NSA-intercepted data, those not targeted far outnumber the foreigners who are
"Files provided by Snowden show extent to which ordinary Web users are caught in the net"

Now the question.

Should governments spy on their citizens?


( Read more... )