Hissyspit
Hissyspit's JournalBreaking: Court Filings Show NSA Broke Rules on Call-Tracking Data for Three Years; Misled Judges
Source: Associated Press / NBC News
Bloomberg News ?@BloombergNews 11m NSA violated restrictions on checking telephone records, misled judges on how data was used | http://bloom.bg/1aoazkR
The Associated Press ?@AP 13m MORE: Federal officials release documents showing misuse of secret domestic spying program: http://apne.ws/1eBb65M -SS
NSA Phone Records Spying Violated Court Rules for Years
By Chris Strohm - Sep 10, 2013 4:32 PM ET
The National Security Agency for about three years violated restrictions on checking U.S. telephone records for surveillance and misled judges on how the data was used, intelligence officials said.
The agency on a daily basis improperly checked a select list of phone numbers against databases containing millions of call records, without meeting the necessary standard, according to documents released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to privacy groups today in response to lawsuits.
The violations occurred between May 2006 and January 2009 and involved checks on as many as 16,000 phone numbers, including some based in the U.S., said two senior intelligence officials with direct knowledge of how the program operated. They asked not to be identified in order to speak about sensitive matters.
The new disclosures add to evidence that U.S. intelligence agencies have violated legal and administrative restrictions on domestic spying. Lawmakers are considering new restraints on intelligence gathering programs.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-10/nsa-phone-records-spying-violated-court-rules-for-years.html
BREAKING: Syria Will Declare Its Chemical Weapons Arsenal, Sign Chemical Weapons Convention
Source: Associated Press
@BreakingNews: Syria will declare its chemical weapons arsenal, sign chemical weapons convention, foreign minister says - @AP
CNN Breaking News - Report: Syria ready to disclose location of chemical weapons, halt production, and show facilities to Russia and U.N. Reply STOP 2 unsub
Syria Will Sign Chemical Weapons Convention, Declare Arsenal, Foreign Ministery Says
Posted: 09/10/2013 2:28 pm EDT | Updated: 09/10/2013 2:31 pm EDT
BEIRUT (AP) -- Syrian FM: Syria will declare its chemical weapons arsenal, sign chemical weapons convention.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/10/syria-chemical-weapons-convention_n_3901417.html
US Files Show How Feds Waited for Political Advocate to Cross Border to Seize His Laptop
Source: Associated Press
@AP: US government files show how feds waited for political advocate to cross border to seize his laptop: http://t.co/FX5SZhIG7j - VW
NEW DETAILS IN HOW THE FEDS TAKE LAPTOPS AT BORDER
By ANNE FLAHERTY
— Sep. 9 9:40 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Newly disclosed U.S. government files provide an inside look at the Homeland Security Department's practice of seizing and searching electronic devices at the border without showing reasonable suspicion of a crime or getting a judge's approval.
The documents published Monday describe the case of David House, a young computer programmer in Boston who had befriended Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning, the soldier convicted of giving classified documents to WikiLeaks. U.S. agents quietly waited for months for House to leave the country then seized his laptop, thumb drive, digital camera and cellphone when he re-entered the United States. They held his laptop for weeks before returning it, acknowledging one year later that House had committed no crime and promising to destroy copies the government made of House's personal data.
The government turned over the federal records to House as part of a legal settlement agreement after a two-year court battle with the American Civil Liberties Union, which had sued the government on House's behalf. The ACLU said the records suggest that federal investigators are using border crossings to investigate U.S. citizens in ways that would otherwise violate the Fourth Amendment.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/new-details-how-feds-take-laptops-border
Breaking: 4 Men Convicted in India Gang Rape Case
Source: Associated Press
4 MEN CONVICTED IN INDIA GANG RAPE CASE
By KATY DAIGLE
— Sep. 10 3:19 AM EDT
NEW DELHI (AP) — An Indian court convicted four men Tuesday in the fatal gang rape of a young woman on a moving New Delhi bus, a case that set off waves of protests and gave voice to years of anger over the treatment of women.
The men, convicted on all the counts against them, including rape and murder, now face the possibility of hanging. The sentences are expected to be handed down Wednesday.
The men, along with another suspect who hung himself in prison and a juvenile convicted in August, were riding through the city on an off-duty bus in December when they tricked the 23-year-old woman and a male friend into boarding.
They beat the friend into submission, held down the woman and repeatedly raped her. They also penetrated the woman repeatedly with an iron rod, causing severe internal injuries that led to her death two weeks later. As a rape victim, the woman cannot be identified under Indian law.
- snip -
Facing public protests and political pressure, the government reformed some of its antiquated laws on sexual violence, creating fast-track courts to avoid the painfully long rape trials that can easily last over a decade. The trial of the four men, which took about seven months, is astonishingly fast by Indian standards.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/authorities-set-verdict-new-delhi-rape-case
Controversial Author (Orson Scott Card) Named to UNC-TV Board
Source: News & Observer (Raleigh NC)
Controversial author named to UNC-TV board
Published: September 9, 2013 Updated 4 hours ago
The Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. — A Greensboro author who is a critic of same-sex marriage and has written an article calling President Barack Obama a dictator has been named to the UNC-TV Board of Trustees.
The North Carolina Legislature approved Orson Scott Card's appointment to the board in July.
Card told The Associated Press that he was asked to join the board and agreed to put his name up for a seat. He said he supports public television.
"UNC-TV does a fine job of serving the people of North Carolina and I want to be of any help that I can," Card said in an email.
- snip -
The statement did not mention his column in Greensboro's Rhinoceros Times earlier this year suggesting Obama "is, by character and preference, a dictator," and saying he might train urban gangs to do his bidding.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/09/09/3180404/controversial-author-named-to.html#storylink=cpy
Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/09/09/3180404/controversial-author-named-to.html
Kerry: Syrian Handover of Chemical Arms Could Prevent Attack
Source: Reuters
Kerry: Syrian handover of chemical arms could prevent attack
LONDON | Mon Sep 9, 2013 5:37am EDT
LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday that Syria could prevent a military attack if President Bashar al-Assad handed over all his chemical weapons to the international community within the next week but added that Assad was not about to do so.
When asked by a reporter whether there was anything Assad's government could do or offer to stop an attack, Kerry said:
"Sure, he could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week - turn it over, all of it without delay and allow the full and total accounting (of it) but he isn't about to do it and it can't be done."
Speaking to reporters in London, Kerry also stressed the relationship between Britain and the United States was as strong as ever despite the British parliament having decided not to join military action against Syria.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE9880BV20130909
New Docs Show NSA Can Access User Data From All Major Cell Phones—Including iPhone, Android
Source: Der Spiegel
@trevortimm
New Snowden docs show NSA can access user data from all major cell phones—including iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-920971.html#ref=rss …
Privacy Scandal: NSA Can Spy on Smart Phone Data
September 07, 2013 – 06:00 PM
SPIEGEL has learned from internal NSA documents that the US intelligence agency has the capability of tapping user data from the iPhone, devices using Android as well as BlackBerry, a system previously believed to be highly secure.
The United States' National Security Agency intelligence-gathering operation is capable of accessing user data from smart phones from all leading manufacturers. Top secret NSA documents that SPIEGEL has seen explicitly note that the NSA can tap into such information on Apple iPhones, BlackBerry devices and Google's Android mobile operating system.
The documents state that it is possible for the NSA to tap most sensitive data held on these smart phones, including contact lists, SMS traffic, notes and location information about where a user has been.
The documents also indicate that the NSA has set up specific working groups to deal with each operating system, with the goal of gaining secret access to the data held on the phones.
In the internal documents, experts boast about successful access to iPhone data in instances where the NSA is able to infiltrate the computer a person uses to sync their iPhone. Mini-programs, so-called "scripts," then enable additional access to at least 38 iPhone features.
The documents suggest the intelligence specialists have also had similar success in hacking into BlackBerrys. A 2009 NSA document states that it can "see and read SMS traffic." It also notes there was a period in 2009 when the NSA was temporarily unable to access BlackBerry devices. After the Canadian company acquired another firm, it changed the way in compresses its data. But in March 2010, the department responsible declared it had regained access to BlackBerry data and celebrated with the word, "champagne!"
Read more: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-920971.html#ref=rss
Visit SPIEGEL ONLINE International on Monday for the full article.
Tokyo Wins Race to Host 2020 Olympics
Source: BBC News / CBS News
@CBSNews: #BREAKING: #Tokyo wins bid to host 2020 Olympics
Tokyo wins race to host 2020 Olympics
7 September 2013 Updated 20:22 GMT
Tokyo has been chosen to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games ahead of Istanbul and Madrid.
The Japanese capital won a majority of second round votes from the International Olympic Committee members in Buenos Aires to beat Istanbul.
After tying with the Turkish city in the first round, Madrid was earlier eliminated in a tiebreak by 49-45.
More to follow.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/24002795
Greg Mitchell: 'Expert' on Syria Cited by Kerry Paid by Rebels
@GregMitch: Amazing: WSJ has now added note to that key piece cited by Kerry and McCain, confirming writer paid by Syria rebels! http://t.co/cZJbkvjzlf
Friday, September 6, 2013
'Expert' on Syria Cited by Kerry Paid by Rebels
UPDATED WSJ now acknowledges. "Ms. O'Bagy is affiliated with the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a nonprofit operating as a 501(c)(3) pending IRS approval that subcontracts with the U.S. and British governments to provide aid to the Syrian opposition."
Earlier: I noted earlier that the author of a WSJ article last week claiming--against most evidence--that the rebels in Syria are actually overwhelmingly moderate and growing in numbers was paid by a hawkish neo-con think-tank. Still, her report was cited as gospel by Kerry, McCain and many others. Now we learn that she is also paid by the Syria rebels themselves. "In addition to her work for the Institute for the Study of War, O’Bagy is also the political director for the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), a group that advocates within the United States for Syria’s rebels — a fact that the Journal did not disclose in O’Bagy’s piece."
Greg Mitchell at 10:47 AM
Report: U.S. Intercepts Iranian Order for Attack on U.S. Interests in Iraq (if Strike on Syria)
Source: Reuters
U.S. intercepts Iranian order for attack on U.S. interests in Iraq -report
Fri Sep 6, 2013 12:17am EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has intercepted an order from an Iranian official instructing militants in Iraq to attack U.S. interests in Baghdad in the event the Obama administration launches a military strike in Syria, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
The American embassy in Baghdad was a likely target, according to unnamed U.S. officials quoted by the newspaper. The Journal said the officials did not describe the range of potential targets indicated by the intelligence.
In addition, the State Department issued a warning on Thursday telling U.S. citizens to avoid all but "essential" travel to Iraq.
President Barack Obama has asked the U.S. Congress to back his plan for limited strikes in response to a chemical weapons attack on civilians that the United States blames on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE98504120130906
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