Obama doesn't want you to have privacy using a cellphone

The Obama administration is arguing in court that there is no expectation of privacy while using a cell phone. That is, the administration wants to track you without probable cause or a warrant. As usual, the EFF and the ACLU seem to be the only people that care...

Robot surveillance/law enforcement coming soon to the UK

According to Wired, the UK is planning to deploy a fleet of unmanned aircraft for surveillance. But the article also ominously notes that "Military drones quickly moved from reconnaissance to strike." Great.

FBI violates your privacy... again

From Slashdot which links to the Washington Post:

An anonymous reader writes to tell us of a report from the Washington Post which alleges that the FBI "illegally collected more than 2,000 US telephone call records between 2002 and 2006 by invoking terrorism emergencies that did not exist or simply persuading phone companies to provide records."

Sprint served 8 million customer GPS coordinate requests to law enforcement in one year

Sprint Nextel provided law enforcement agencies with its customers' (GPS) location information over 8 million times between September 2008 and October 2009. This massive disclosure of sensitive customer information was made possible due to the roll-out by Sprint of a new, special web portal for law enforcement officers.

If you build it, they will come... and infringe on your privacy.

Bush administration implemented additional surveillance programs

It has come to light that George W. Bush authorized surveillance that went beyond what the NSA has been known to be doing for a few years now. Furthermore, there is an even more secret program that the CIA refuses to tell us (or apparently, even congress) about. Not surprisingly, it was Dick Cheney himself who ordered this program's concealment from our representatives. Darth Vader strikes again.

Blimps to monitor sports crowds using military technology

Apparently Raytheon is adapting military-style technology to use in blimps at sporting events to monitor the crowd. Not sure what they're trying to prevent here, other than passing up an opportunity to profit off the unending corruption of fearmongering politicians.

In Wisconsin, you can be GPS tracked without a warrant

A court has ruled that police do not have to require a warrant before fixing a GPS tracking device to one's car. Yet another thing the police can do to you that you have no recourse against (but only in Wisconsin). Thankfully, contrary (and therefore sensible) decisions are being made in other states.

Via Schneier

UK has list of potential terrorist schoolchildren, as reported by teachers

The first commenter on this article on boingboing says it best: WTF?

Another NSA Data-Mining Site Being Built

Seems that the Virgina site was just getting way too crowded with all of our phone and email records, so the NSA is building a new data-mining operation in Texas. As luck would have it, this facility is right next to Microsoft's immense data center there, and the NSA wanted assurance that Microsoft's data would be in the area before choosing to move in next door. As if crappy products weren't enough of a reason to not use Microsoft stuff.

Government can Track your Location Without Telco Help

Law enforcement agencies have been installing "Triggerfish" cell phone tower simulators which force cell phones to reveal unique identifiers. In other words, they now have the ability to track your location if you are carrying a cell phone. This requires a court order, but we all know how that story goes -- nowadays those are viewed as completely optional by those in power (not that they are all that hard to obtain anyways).

This wouldn't be all that significant (compared to other things we know about government surveillance) except that this monitoring technology is unique in that the government does not require the cooperation of any telco company to use it.

Coverage:
Daily Kos
Schneier

Chinese surveillance one-ups itself

Chinese citizens must now must have their picture taken and id card scanned when entering an Internet cafe. This in addition to, you know, being constantly monitored by their government while on the internet, being monitored by big mamas and the whole blocking access to any kind of information that interferes with the regime's dogma thing. Oh, and these details are entered into a city-wide database. Just when you thought Chinese surveillance couldn't get any more intrusive...

eBay linked to Chinese text-message surveillance

Man, if one Silicon Valley giant after another isn't caught red-handed aiding Chinese government evildoers. This time it is eBay, who in a joint venture with a Chinese company owns the company that operates the Tom-Skype text messaging system. Apparently the Tom-Skype system was logging user-identifiable messages that contained certain topics that might be critical of the Chinese government. Luckily, the New York Times article that mentions it at least has the decency to mention the NSA is doing the same thing over here, avoiding the rank hypocrisy that permeates much American coverage of Chinese government policy.

Coverage:
Seth Finkelstein
New York Times

FBI, Police Detaining GOP Convention Protest Group Members

Glenn Greenwald is covering the FBI and Minnesota Police's raids of protesters houses ahead of the Republican convention. This is without any probable cause and mostly without warrants. Hopefully someone in the political establishment will object to this unlawful and un-American treatment of citizens, but who am I kidding? What's the chance of politicians sticking up for democratic freedoms? Slim.

FBI involvement:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/31/raids/index.html

Police raids:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/30/police_raids/index.html

Government has plans for martial law

Radar is reporting that the government has (not so?) contingency plans to round up suspicious individuals in the event of declared martial law... 8 million suspicious individuals, that is.

The database can identify and locate perceived 'enemies of the state' almost instantaneously." He and other sources tell Radar that the database is sometimes referred to by the code name Main Core. One knowledgeable source claims that 8 million Americans are now listed in Main Core as potentially suspect. In the event of a national emergency, these people could be subject to everything from heightened surveillance and tracking to direct questioning and possibly even detention.

Joe Biden is an Internet Idiot

Senator Joe Biden (D-Del) thinks that you can 1) monitor all P2P traffic easily 2) pick out files that are illegal or infringe copyright by looking at their file names. Idiot.

US to have aircraft spy on its citizens

Surveillance isn't just limited to the Internet and the NSA. Looks like the DHS is going to get in on the party as well by using satellites to monitor citizens. Awesome. Slashdot. Post. Also see Naomi Wolf's Ten Steps to Close Down an Open Society.

FBI Abusing NSL

The FBI has been found to have been abusing National Security Letters, aka warrants sans judge. Here is the article from Wired and Slashdot. Is anyone surprised that when you give an investigative agency license to investigate anyone at the drop of a hat, it will (a lot)? I guess I just have more foresight than Dick Cheney, et al. Either that or they hate due process and privacy. Probably the latter.

DHS and more domestic spying

Yet again, the government has decided that it's a good idea to spy on its own citizens. This time, it's not via wiretapping but by satellite. Apparently, DHS is going to be able to peer into my house via infrared technology whenever they want. My favorite quote from the story, however, is this irrelevant point:

The new plan explicitly states that existing laws which prevent the government from spying on citizens would remain in effect, the official said. Under no circumstances, for instance, would the program be used to intercept verbal and written conversations.

And I promise not to manufacture munitions with this banana. These satellites take pictures, they don't tap phone calls.

Stalk and Threaten your Ex with Government Databases

Guess what? Massive federal databases are being abused by insiders! Suprise! This particular incident involved a man who was stalking and threatening his former girlfriend by utilizing information he found in the Treasury Enforcement Communications System. Apparently he (mis)used this database 163 times before being caught. I wonder how many of these stories are not public...

Point and Click Surveillance

Wired has an excellent article on the FBI's surveillance system used to eavesdrop on anyone with a cellphone. Some of the pictures are particularly revealing; they show how simple it is to use this powerful system. Some commentary on the system from the article:

Columbia's Bellovin says the flaws are appalling and show that the FBI fails to appreciate the risk from insiders.

"The underlying problem isn't so much the weaknesses here, as the FBI attitude towards security," he says. The FBI assumes "the threat is from the outside, not the inside," he adds, and it believes that "to the extent that inside threats exist, they can be controlled by process rather than technology."

Bellovin says any wiretap system faces a slew of risks, such as surveillance targets discovering a tap, or an outsider or corrupt insider setting up unauthorized taps. Moreover, the architectural changes to accommodate easy surveillance on phone switches and the internet can introduce new security and privacy holes.

"Any time something is tappable there is a risk," Bellovin says. "I'm not saying, 'Don't do wiretaps,' but when you start designing a system to be wiretappable, you start to create a new vulnerability. A wiretap is, by definition, a vulnerability from the point of the third party. The question is, can you control it?"

Well it's a good thing that we can completely trust the FBI to understand the scope of its responsibilities and the limits of its power because it has never abused the privileges entrusted to it in the past. Oh, wait.