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Obama Admin. Mining Facebook, Twitter to Predict Crimes

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Photo Credit: WND

Clues to the federal government’s reason for collecting the telephone records of millions of Verizon customers may be found in a recently unearthed 2010 project seeking to predict criminal activity using vast quantities of data on citizens mined from social network websites such as Facebook and Twitter.

In February, the Sydney Morning Herald reported the Massachusetts-based multinational corporation, Raytheon – the world’s fifth largest defense contractor – had developed a “Google for Spies” operation.

Herald reporter Ryan Gallagher wrote that Raytheon had “secretly developed software capable of tracking people’s movements and predicting future behavior by mining data from social networking websites” like Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare.

The software is called RIOT, or Rapid Information Overlay Technology.

Raytheon told the Herald it has not sold RIOT to any clients but admitted that, in 2010, it had shared the program’s software technology with the U.S. government as part of a “joint research and development effort … to help build a national security system capable of analyzing ‘trillions of entities’ from cyberspace.”

Read more from this story HERE.

New York Times: Obama Has Lost All Credibility; Phone Surveillance Was Tipping Point for Gray Lady

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Photo Credit: AP

New York Times editorial board says administration has ‘lost all credibility’

By Fox News. The New York Times editorial board, which twice endorsed President Obama and has championed many planks of his agenda, on Thursday turned on the president over the government’s mass collection of phone data — saying the administration has “lost all credibility.”

The grey lady’s editorial section lately has shown frustration with the administration’s civil liberties record. It has criticized the escalation of the lethal drone program, and it lashed out after the Justice Department acknowledged seizing reporters’ phone records last month.

The report that the National Security Agency has been collecting phone records from millions of Verizon subscribers appeared to be the last straw.

An editorial published late Thursday said the administration was using the “same platitude” it uses in every case of overreach — that “terrorists are a real menace and you should just trust us.”

The editorial continued: “Those reassurances have never been persuasive — whether on secret warrants to scoop up a news agency’s phone records or secret orders to kill an American suspected of terrorism — especially coming from a president who once promised transparency and accountability. The administration has now lost all credibility.” Read more from this story HERE.

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New York Times Editorial: President Obama’s Dragnet

By The Editorial Board. Within hours of the disclosure that federal authorities routinely collect data on phone calls Americans make, regardless of whether they have any bearing on a counterterrorism investigation, the Obama administration issued the same platitude it has offered every time President Obama has been caught overreaching in the use of his powers: Terrorists are a real menace and you should just trust us to deal with them because we have internal mechanisms (that we are not going to tell you about) to make sure we do not violate your rights.

Those reassurances have never been persuasive — whether on secret warrants to scoop up a news agency’s phone records or secret orders to kill an American suspected of terrorism — especially coming from a president who once promised transparency and accountability.

The administration has now lost all credibility on this issue [Editor’s note: the New York Times altered this sentence by adding the words “on this issue” after the initial posting; see Mr. Howerton’s article below]. Mr. Obama is proving the truism that the executive branch will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it. That is one reason we have long argued that the Patriot Act, enacted in the heat of fear after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by members of Congress who mostly had not even read it, was reckless in its assignment of unnecessary and overbroad surveillance powers.

Based on an article in The Guardian published Wednesday night, we now know that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency used the Patriot Act to obtain a secret warrant to compel Verizon’s business services division to turn over data on every single call that went through its system. We know that this particular order was a routine extension of surveillance that has been going on for years, and it seems very likely that it extends beyond Verizon’s business division. Read more from this story HERE.

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Hannity Slams the New York Times for quietly altering it’s scathing Obama editorial

By Jason Howerton. The New York Times created a stir on Thursday when it published a scathing editorial, slamming the Obama administration for its drastic domestic surveillance efforts. The “administration has lost all credibility,” it read.

But it was only a few hours before the Times quietly altered that harsh statement, adding the words “on this issue.” Though a small change, it completely changes the meaning of the sentence…

Fox News host Sean Hannity caught the sneaky edit and slammed the publication for once again caving to protect President Obama. Read more from this story HERE.

Outrage Over NSA’s Theft of Millions of Verizon Customers’ Records; but What About the Agency’s Recording of All Cell Calls?

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Photo Credit: Matt Rourke/AP

As Restoring Liberty reported last month, a retired FBI counter-terrorism agent let it slip during a CNN interview regarding the Boston Marathon Bombing that the U.S. government is recording all cell phone conversations.

Previously, NSA whistle-blower William Binney, a 32-year veteran of the agency, claimed in an interview with the New York Times that the federal government was engaged in near-universal surveillance of digital communications, not just in the United States but internationally. He claims that he helped develop the technology to accomplish this.

With that as the backdrop, it was disclosed yesterday that the NSA secured an Order from a top secret U.S. Foreign Intelligence Court out of Washington, D.C. to gather up the records – on an ongoing, daily basis – of all telephone calls such as the length of the call, phone numbers, time of the call, and geographic location of the call.

Why would the Feds need this when they’re already recording all cell communications? Mr. Binney would have to answer that question but perhaps the government is only able to intercept the data packets for voice communications and is unable to match those to specific phone numbers without the additional information supplied by the carriers.

In any event, this outrageous Fourth Amendment violation is yet another reason that many are suggesting the country has entered into an era of “soft tyranny.”

Here’s more on the NSA’s Verizon snooping from the British outlet that first broke the story:

The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America’s largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April.

The order, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, requires Verizon on an “ongoing, daily basis” to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries.

The document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing.

The secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (Fisa) granted the order to the FBI on April 25, giving the government unlimited authority to obtain the data for a specified three-month period ending on July 19.

Under the terms of the blanket order, the numbers of both parties on a call are handed over, as is location data, call duration, unique identifiers, and the time and duration of all calls. The contents of the conversation itself are not covered

Ex-Head of British Spy Agency Calls on Everyone to Spy on Neighbors

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Photo Credit: APThe former head of MI5 Dame Stella Rimington has called for British people to inform security services if they suspect their neighbours maybe extremists.

Dame Stella, who supports the Government’s controversial ‘snoopers’ charter’, said people need to be more alert because it is impossible for security services to spot every threat.

She called for a wartime vigilance and for people to be the Government’s ‘eyes and ears’ following the killing of Lee Rigby.

The 78-year-old, who was MI5’s first female Director General, said: ‘The community has the responsibility to act as the eyes and ears, as they did during the war … where there were all these posters up saying the walls have ears and the enemy is everywhere.

‘There have often been indications in the community, whether it’s Muslim or anywhere else, that people are becoming extremists and spouting hate phrases.’

Read more from this story HERE.

Google Glass and Other Devices Promise to Erase What Little Privacy We Have Left

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Photo Credit: Pam Berry/The Boston GlobeLast year, after Google unveiled its wearable computer, I had a brief opportunity to test it and was awe-struck by the potential of this technology.

A few months later, at a work-related party, I saw several people wearing Glass, their cameras hovering above their eyes as we talked. I was startled by how much Glass invades people’s privacy, leaving them two choices: stare at a camera that is constantly staring back at them, or leave the room.

This is not just a Google issue. Other gadgets have plenty of privacy-invading potential. Memoto, a tiny, automatic camera that looks like a pin you can wear on a shirt, can snap two photos a minute and later upload it to an online service. The makers of the device boast that it comes with one year of free storage and call it “a searchable and shareable photographic memory.”

Apple is also working on wearable computing products, filing numerous patents for a “heads-up display” and camera. The company is also expected to release an iWatch later this year. And several other start-ups in Silicon Valley are building products that are designed to capture photos of people’s lives.

But what about people who don’t want to be recorded? Don’t they get a say?

Deal with it, wearable computer advocates say.

Read more from this story HERE.

Gov’t Out-of-Control: FBI Tracked, Followed Fox Reporter, Got Parent’s Phone Records, Too

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Newly uncovered court documents reveal the Justice Department seized records of several Fox News phone lines as part of a leak investigation — even listing a number that, according to one source, matches the home phone number of a reporter’s parents.

The seizure was ordered in addition to a court-approved search warrant for Fox News correspondent James Rosen’s personal emails. In the affidavit seeking that warrant, an FBI agent called Rosen a likely criminal “co-conspirator,” citing a wartime law called the Espionage Act.

Rosen was not charged, but his movements and conversations were tracked. A source close to the leak investigation confirmed to Fox News that the government obtained phone records for several numbers that match Fox News numbers out of the Washington bureau.

Further, the source confirmed to Fox News that one number listed matched the number for Rosen’s parents in Staten Island.

Rosen’s father, attorney Myron Rosen, told FoxNews.com he found the records seizure to be “downright ludicrous.”

Read more from this story HERE.

CBS Star Reporter: Feds Hacked My Computers, Too

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Photo Credit: WNDCBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson has been a thorn in the Obama administration’s side for some time now.

The Emmy-award winning journalist has refused to let the president’s scandals be swept under the rug, interviewing “Fast & Furious” whistleblowers and chasing down Benghazi leads long after even her own network didn’t want to hear it anymore.

Now she says, however, her personal and work computers have been compromised, an intrusion that may be linked back to the White House.

“I can confirm that an intrusion of my computers has been under some investigation on my end for some months, but I’m not prepared to make an allegation against a specific entity today, as I’ve been patient and methodical about this matter,” Attkisson told Politico. “I need to check with my attorney and CBS to get their recommendations on info we make public.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Admin. Poised to Back FBI’s Demand For Wiretap Access to Online Communications

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Photo Credit: Christopher GregoryThe Obama administration, resolving years of internal debate, is on the verge of backing a Federal Bureau of Investigation plan for a sweeping overhaul of surveillance laws that would make it easier to wiretap people who communicate using the Internet rather than by traditional phone services, according to officials familiar with the deliberations.

The F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, has argued that the bureau’s ability to carry out court-approved eavesdropping on suspects is “going dark” as communications technology evolves, and since 2010 has pushed for a legal mandate requiring companies like Facebook and Google to build into their instant-messaging and other such systems a capacity to comply with wiretap orders. That proposal, however, bogged down amid concerns by other agencies, like the Commerce Department, about quashing Silicon Valley innovation.

While the F.B.I.’s original proposal would have required Internet communications services to each build in a wiretapping capacity, the revised one, which must now be reviewed by the White House, focuses on fining companies that do not comply with wiretap orders. The difference, officials say, means that start-ups with a small number of users would have fewer worries about wiretapping issues unless the companies became popular enough to come to the Justice Department’s attention.

Still, the plan is likely to set off a debate over the future of the Internet if the White House submits it to Congress, according to lawyers for technology companies and advocates of Internet privacy and freedom.

“I think the F.B.I.’s proposal would render Internet communications less secure and more vulnerable to hackers and identity thieves,” said Gregory T. Nojeim of the Center for Democracy and Technology. “It would also mean that innovators who want to avoid new and expensive mandates will take their innovations abroad and develop them there, where there aren’t the same mandates.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Drone Wars Hit the States

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Photo Credit: Reuters Drones could soon be entering the airspace above you — and privacy-minded state lawmakers, banding together in an unusual left-right political alliance, are in a dogfight with law enforcement groups across the country as they move to put protections in place for those on the ground.

Sen. Rand Paul, a leading critic of drones, recently helped drive them into the national debate with his 13-hour filibuster on the issue and a later comment that it would be OK if a drone were used by police in the U.S. to kill an armed robber at a liquor store. That comment infuriated some of Paul’s libertarian followers and sent the Kentucky Republican and possible 2016 candidate into full damage control mode.

While Paul brought the issue more mainstream attention, activity had already been under way in legislatures. In more than three-quarters of the states this year, legislators who fear the “surveillance state” are seeking to limit the use of the unmanned, unarmed aircraft in the name of privacy rights, clashing with police and industry organizations that argue the efforts unfairly stigmatize a still-developing, widely misunderstood and potentially useful technology that has an unfortunate link to the killing of terrorists in faraway deserts.

“We want to make sure we don’t create a system where Big Brother is always up there watching us,” Michigan state Rep. Tom McMillin, a Republican sponsoring a bill restricting drones, told POLITICO. “These can be used, but only in certain instances.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Retired FBI Counter-Terrorism Agent Confirms NSA Whistle-Blowers: Feds are Recording All Cell Phone Conversations (+videos)

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During an interview with CNN this past week, a retired FBI counter-terrorism agent let it slip that the U.S. government is recording all cell phone conversations.

The interview concerned the FBI’s investigation of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s widow, Katherine Russell, and what, if anything, she knew about the Boston Marathon bombings. The CNN panel speculated on the FBI’s efforts to determine if Russell were a part of the conspiracy.

The CNN host, Erin Burnett, thinking that the feds could gain access to Russell’s old voice mails but couldn’t actually listen to her old phone calls, observed, “there’s no way they actually can find out what happened, right, unless she tells them.”

The former agent, Tim Clemente, disagreed:

No, there is a way. We certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation. It’s not necessarily something that the FBI is going to want to present in court, but it may help lead the investigation and/or lead to questioning of her. We certainly can find that out.

Burnett knew immediately that Clemente was referring to Russell’s old phone calls and asked incredulously, ” So they can actually get that? People are saying, look, that is incredible.”

Clemente answered, “No, welcome to America. All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not.”

The former counter-terrorism agent’s revelation is not the first time former federal officials have admitted that Washington is engaged in extensive warrantless surveillance of all US citizens. This past fall, NSA whistle-blower William Binney, a 32-year veteran of the NSA was widely interviewed about his work that allowed federal agencies to conduct near-universal surveillance of digital communications.

In his interviews, Mr. Binney voiced sincere regret for his contribution to this Orwellian eavesdropping program, noting that he intended it for use internationally, not domestically:

Additionally, in a federal court case several weeks ago, the FBI admitted to the use of another warrantless tool that selectively targeted cell phone conversations and revealed the participants’ locations.

And Congress seems to be going right along with it. In March, experts testified before the House arguing that federal law should be changed to explicitly permit the permanent storage of virtually all of Americans’ text messages and emails.

When considering this along with the existing federal ability to track almost all credit card transactions and banking transactions, the aggressive IRS efforts to track everyone’s “digital footprints,” and many other warrantless federal intrusions into our privacy, all liberty-loving Americans should demand that their elected leaders reign in the massive surveillance state.

We have little time to turn this around. The enormous, unlawful power that the central government is accumulating is a real threat to the constitutional freedoms entrusted to us by our Founders.