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Judge Orders Recovery, Release of Emails Proving Close Monitoring by Top IRS Officials of Tea Party Groups

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Judicial Watch released 906 pages of newly recovered Lois Lerner emails from the IRS that are believed to recently have been recovered by the IRS’ internal watchdog – the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). The IRS released the emails under a court order by U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan. The new documents show that Lois Lerner and other top officials in the Exempt Organizations Unit of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), including soon-to-be Acting IRS Commissioner Steve Miller, closely monitored and approved the controversial handling of tax-exempt applications by Tea Party organizations. The documents also show that at least one group received an inquiry from the IRS in order to buy time and keep the organization from contacting Congress.

At July 1, 2015, status conference, Judge Sullivan ordered the IRS to begin producing, every week, the nearly 1,800 newly recovered Lois Lerner emails responsive to Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Despite the court order, the IRS did not produce any Lois Lerner emails until July 15. The IRS also failed to provide Judicial Watch a status report of the Lois Lerner email production issues, as also ordered by Judge Sullivan. Last week, Judge Sullivan ordered sua sponte the parties to appear for a status hearing for tomorrow (July 29) shortly after Judicial Watch raised concerns about the IRS’ failure to comply with his orders to release the newly discovered Lerner emails and status updates on its production of previously “missing” documents.

The developments come in Judicial Watch’s FOIA lawsuit seeking documents about the Obama IRS’ targeting and harassment of Tea Party and conservative opponents of President Obama (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Internal Revenue Service (No. 1:13-cv-01559)). Judicial Watch’s litigation forced the IRS first to admit that Lerner’s emails were supposedly missing and, then, that the emails were on IRS’ back-up systems. . .

IRS Program Manager Cindy Thomas of the Cincinnati Exempt Organization [emailed] Lerner . . . detailing the pressure caused by the IRS’ Washington headquarters failure to move on the “advocacy cases.” Thomas warned of litigation and admitted that she authorized a letter for more information that was sent to one of the complaining groups to keep it from contacting Congress:

The backlog of work involves advocacy organizations. As of about a month ago, there were 161 of these cases sitting idle and we probably have more by now. The control dates for these cases go back to the end of 2009 and all through 2010. We’ve been waiting for EO in D.C. to get us a guidance/reference document with lessons learned from the c4 and c3 cases they worked and coordinated with Judy Kindell and Counsel. We’re getting calls from POAs wanting to know who has put the halt on working these cases and threatening to contact their Congressional offices. Just today, I instructed one of my managers to get an additional information letter out to one of these organizations — if nothing else to buy time so he didn’t contact his Congressional Office. Soon, we’re going to start getting TAO’s [Taxpayer Assistance Orders] from TAS [Taxpayer Advocate Service] or declaratory judgment cases filed —- then, I guess everyone will decide its time to start moving the cases when we have mounds of additional paperwork to process along with the cases (adding even more work for us to do).

(Read more from “Court Order Forces Recovery, Release of Emails Proving Close Monitoring by Top IRS Officials of Tea Party Groups” HERE)

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Mind Your Own Business! Federal Reserve Chair Warns Congress

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Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen urged lawmakers to tread lightly when it comes to overhauling the central bank, warning that proposed changes could undermine its ability to support the economy.

In prepared testimony, Yellen will tout the Fed’s own efforts to boost its transparency as a way to discourage lawmakers from pushing their own proposals to bring the Fed under stricter oversight.

“Efforts to further increase transparency, no matter how well intentioned, must avoid unintended consequences that could undermine the Federal Reserve’s ability to make policy in the long-run best interest of American families and businesses,” she said.

Yellen’s testimony Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee will come one day after that panel held a hearing in which Republicans blasted the Fed as being unaccountable.

While Yellen will argue in her testimony that Fed tweaks could subject the central bank to political pressure and make it less effective, GOP lawmakers have argued the Fed holds up its political independence as a way to avoid scrutiny. (Read more from “Mind Your Own Business!: Federal Reserve Chair Warns Congress to Be Wary of Fed Reforms” HERE)

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US Personnel Chief Resigns After Massive Data Breach, Bigger Than Previously Disclosed

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By Tribune News Service. The head of the U.S. personnel office, Katherine Archuleta, resigned Friday in the wake of a pair of massive data hacks said to affect 25 million people, far more than had been acknowledged before.

Personal information, including the Social Security numbers of 21 million people, was stolen in the hacks into government personnel files that began last year, officials said Thursday. Another 4 million people also had information stolen in one of the breaches, which weren’t discovered until a few months ago.

Archuleta said in a statement that she told President Obama that it was best for someone else to lead the Office of Personnel Management as it tries to recover from the intrusions and toughen the government’s digital security systems.

“It is best for me to step aside and allow new leadership to step in, enabling the agency to move beyond the current challenges and allowing the employees at OPM to continue their important work,” Archuleta said. (Read more from “US Personnel Chief Resigns After Massive Data Breach” HERE)

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Day Before Hack Announced, Director of Personnel Focused on ‘Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination’ Issues

By Jeryl Bier. The day before the Office of Personnel Management first announced a massive data breach of personal information, now former OPM director Katherine Archuleta’s attention was focused elsewhere. Archuleta published a blog post on June 3 entitled “Celebrating Every Member of Our Federal Family” in recognition of “LGBT Pride Month.” The White House reposted Archuleta’s article the same day.

In her post, Archuleta announced the release of an updated guide called “Addressing Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination in Federal Civilian Employment: A Guide to Employment Rights, Protections, and Responsibilities.”

As we celebrate LGBT Pride Month, I want to proudly reinforce my continued commitment to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender members of our federal family, and recognize the incredible contributions this community has made in service to the American people…

That’s why I’m so excited to announce that the Office of Personnel Management is joining our partners at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Merit System Protections Board, and the Office of Special Counsel to release an updated guide titled “Addressing Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination in Federal Civilian Employment: A Guide to Employment Rights, Protections, and Responsibilities.” This informative resource will help LGBT federal employees make more informed choices about how best to pursue their individual claims when they believe they have suffered from discrimination.

On the OPM website, the agency has seven “top priorities” listed. The first two are “Honoring the Workforce” and “Build a More Diverse and Engaged Workforce”. Number four on the list is “IT Improvement” to “streamline and update IT systems” and number five is “Background Investigations” to “lead efforts to strengthen the background investigations program across government.” The priorities list does not include any direct references to “security.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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US: More Than 21 Million Affected by Government Data Breach

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Hackers stole Social Security numbers, health histories and other highly sensitive data from more than 21 million people, the Obama administration said Thursday, acknowledging that the breach of U.S. government computer systems was far more severe than previously disclosed.

The scope of the data breach — believed to be the biggest in U.S. history — has grown dramatically since the government first disclosed earlier this year that hackers had gotten into the Office of Personnel Management’s personnel database and stolen records for about 4.2 million people. Since then, the Obama administration has acknowledged a second, related breach of the systems housing private data that individuals submit during background investigations to obtain security clearances.

That second attack affected more than 19 million people who applied for clearances, as well as nearly 2 million of their spouses, housemates and others who never applied for security clearances, the administration said. Among the data the hackers stole: criminal, financial, health, employment and residency histories, as well as information about their families and acquaintances.

The new revelations drew indignation from members of Congress who have said the administration has not done enough to protect personal data in their systems, as well as calls for OPM Director Katherine Archuleta and her top deputies to resign. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, said Archuleta and her aides had “consciously ignored the warnings and failed to correct these weaknesses” . . .

House Republican leaders — Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Whip Steve Scalise — also called for Archuleta’s resignation and said President Barack Obama must “take a strong stand against incompetence.” (Read more from “US: More Than 21 Million Affected by Government Data Breach” HERE)

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Google Accused of Abusive Conduct in Privacy App Case

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An award-winning company founded by former Google engineers is taking legal action against the search engine giant over claims it has engaged in a “pattern of abusive behavior” and is violating privacy rights on a “massive scale.”

Disconnect, a U.S. firm that designs privacy-enhancing technology, has filed a complaint with European antitrust regulators after its Android app was banned from the Google Play Store. The app was designed to protect smartphone users from invisible tracking and malware distributed through online advertisements.

The complaint was submitted earlier this month, but the full allegations were not made public at the time. The Intercept has obtained a copy of the 104-page complaint, which attacks Google over its claimed commitment to privacy and accuses the tech titan of trying to stop people from using the Disconnect app because it poses an “existential threat” to its revenue sources.

Google’s business, the complaint claims, “consists almost entirely of gathering data about the preferences, locations, and behavior of ordinary people and monetizing that data through the sale of targeted advertisements on the Internet.” Because of this, it alleges, Google is “using the full weight of its market power to deny users control over tracking, particularly mobile tracking.”

When you visit a website, usually unbeknown to you, other websites and services try to connect to your device in the background to collect data about your browsing habits. The Disconnect app allows users to view and block these invisible network connections, which the company says “permit intrusions into the personal privacy of users by facilitating tracking and the collection of personal information” and “expose users to risks associated with malware and other forms of cybercrime.” However, some of these same invisible connections are used to generate advertising revenue, an issue that appears to be at the root of Google’s decision to crack down on Disconnect. (Read more from “Google Accused of Abusive Conduct in Privacy App Case” HERE)

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Uber May Track You 24/7

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A privacy group has filed a complaint against Uber for its updated policy of tracking passengers and accessing their personal information.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C., is asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the growing ride service, which is considering tracking passengers through their mobile devices — even when they’re not actively using the Uber app.

“Uber will claim the right to collect personal information and detailed location data of American consumers, even when they are not using the service,” EPIC said in its complaint filed Monday.

Uber explained last month in a statement how it collects information on drivers and passengers when they use the service. Uber gathers information through the user’s mobile device to track location, contacts, transactions and other details. The company said it “may also collect the precise location of your device when the app is running in the foreground or background.” (Read more from “Uber May Track You 24/7” HERE)

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DHS Secretly Videotaping Citizens to Do This

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Traveling through the T. F. Green Airport of Providence, Rhode Island?

If so, the Department of Homeland Security may be collecting video of you as part of a project to sniff out behavioral indicators of “malicious intent” . . .

On Tuesday, the DHS quietly released online a “privacy impact assessment” that provides the legal justification for an ongoing experiment it is calling “Data Collection for the Centralized Hostile Intent Project.”

The 14-page document, reviewed in full by WND, reveals the DHS’ Science and Technology Directorate will conduct an exercise at the Providence airport at an undisclosed date.

The DHS is planning to collect video images at designated areas throughout the airport, including at TSA security checkpoints, ticket counters, baggage claim and the airport entrance. No audio will be recorded at any time, states the document. (Read more from “DHS Secretly Videotaping Citizens to Do This” HERE)

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Apple CEO Tim Cook Makes Stand on Data Privacy and the Country’s ‘Founding Principles’

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In a blistering speech given to the Washington, D.C.-based Electronic Privacy Information Center on Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that many successful Silicon Valley companies have “built their businesses by lulling their customers into complacency about their personal information.”

“They’re gobbling up everything they can learn about you and trying to monetize it. We think that’s wrong,” he said. “And it’s not the kind of company that Apple wants to be. So we don’t want your data” . . .

He apparently isn’t even a fan of companies leaving a “backdoor” open for law enforcement agencies to utilize because it makes the data inherently less secure. He broke it down like this:

“If you put a key under a mat just for the cops, a burglar can find it, too,” said Cook. ”Criminals are using every technology tool at their disposal to hack into people’s accounts. If they know there is a key hidden somewhere, they won’t stop until they find it” . . .

Further, such practices can have a “chilling effect on our first amendment rights, and undermine our county’s founding principles,” the Apple boss added. (Read more from “Apple CEO Tim Cook Makes It Clear Where He Stands on Data Privacy and the Country’s ‘Founding Principles'” HERE)

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Hunting for Hackers, NSA Secretly Expands Internet Spying at U.S. Border

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Photo Credit: NY Times By Charlie Savage, Julia Angwin, Jeff Larson and Henrik Moltke. Without public notice or debate, the Obama administration has expanded the National Security Agency‘s warrantless surveillance of Americans’ international Internet traffic to search for evidence of malicious computer hacking, according to classified N.S.A. documents.

In mid-2012, Justice Department lawyers wrote two secret memos permitting the spy agency to begin hunting on Internet cables, without a warrant and on American soil, for data linked to computer intrusions originating abroad — including traffic that flows to suspicious Internet addresses or contains malware, the documents show.

The Justice Department allowed the agency to monitor only addresses and “cybersignatures” — patterns associated with computer intrusions — that it could tie to foreign governments. But the documents also note that the N.S.A. sought permission to target hackers even when it could not establish any links to foreign powers.

The disclosures, based on documents provided by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor, and shared with The New York Times and ProPublica, come at a time of unprecedented cyberattacks on American financial institutions, businesses and government agencies, but also of greater scrutiny of secret legal justifications for broader government surveillance.

While the Senate passed legislation this week limiting some of the N.S.A.’s authority, the measure involved provisions in the U.S.A. Patriot Act and did not apply to the warrantless wiretapping program. (Read more from “Hunting for Hackers, N.S.A. Secretly Expands Internet Spying at U.S. Border” HERE)

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The NSA’s Bulk Collection Is Over, but Google and Facebook Are Still in the Data Business

By Kaveh Waddell. Don’t be fooled: Congress may have finally passed the bill reining in the National Security Agency’s bulk-surveillance programs, but your data is still being collected on the Internet.

Lost in the debate over the NSA is the fact that companies like Google and Facebook continue to vacuum up vast troves of consumer data and use it for marketing.

The private-sector tech companies that run the social networks and email services Americans use every day are relatively opaque when it comes to their data-collection and retention policies, which are engineered not to preserve national security but to bolster the companies’ bottom lines.

Critics say the consumer data that private companies collect can paint as detailed a picture of an individual as the metadata that got caught up in the NSA’s dragnets. Companies like Google and Facebook comb through customers’ usage statistics in order to precisely tailor marketing to their users, a valuable service that advertisers pay the companies dearly to access.

“What both types of information collection show is that metadata—data about data—can in many cases be more revelatory than content,” said Gabe Rottman, legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union. “You see that given the granularity with which private data collection can discern very intimate details about your life.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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FBI Behind Mysterious Surveillance Aircraft Over US Cities

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Photo Credit: AP News My Way By Jack Gillum, Eileen Sullivan and Eric Tucker. The FBI is operating a small air force with scores of low-flying planes across the country carrying video and, at times, cellphone surveillance technology — all hidden behind fictitious companies that are fronts for the government, The Associated Press has learned.

The planes’ surveillance equipment is generally used without a judge’s approval, and the FBI said the flights are used for specific, ongoing investigations. In a recent 30-day period, the agency flew above more than 30 cities in 11 states across the country, an AP review found.

Aerial surveillance represents a changing frontier for law enforcement, providing what the government maintains is an important tool in criminal, terrorism or intelligence probes. But the program raises questions about whether there should be updated policies protecting civil liberties as new technologies pose intrusive opportunities for government spying.

U.S. law enforcement officials confirmed for the first time the wide-scale use of the aircraft, which the AP traced to at least 13 fake companies, such as FVX Research, KQM Aviation, NBR Aviation and PXW Services. Even basic aspects of the program are withheld from the public in censored versions of official reports from the Justice Department’s inspector general.

“The FBI’s aviation program is not secret,” spokesman Christopher Allen said in a statement. “Specific aircraft and their capabilities are protected for operational security purposes.” Allen added that the FBI’s planes “are not equipped, designed or used for bulk collection activities or mass surveillance.” (Read more from “FBI Behind Mysterious Surveillance Aircraft Over US Cities” HERE)

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Police Arrest Robbery Suspect After Tracking With Drone

By Cassidy McDonald. The robbery suspect who was arrested with the help of a police drone on Sunday also stole a running car from a Near West Side coffee shop, police said.

Marquis Meki Isiah Phiffer, 21, of Monroe, was arrested on tentative charges operating a car without the owner’s consent, eluding an officer and robbery.

Around 1:15 p.m., a 50-year-old Madison man told police he stopped at EVP Coffee, 555 S. Midvale Blvd., and left his Subaru Outback running in the parking lot because he only planned to be inside for a few minutes. (Read more from this story HERE)

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