China's "HOWTO abuse people" document revealed

The tactics of the “urban management officers” are now in print, as a Chinese newspaper has published a government document about how to rough up dissenters. Something tells me a few editors are going to get a little visit from the government soon, but let's hope not.

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...

Another suprise... Patriot Act Abused!

Well who saw this coming? The Patriot Act, which has given law enforcement sweeping powers to invade citizens' privacy, has been abused by officers overstepping the mandate given to them by that same act. Here's the story from Wired and from Slashdot. Slashdot, as always, has some good comments. Some samples:
"Funny. I seem to recall a lot of screaming about the possibility for abuse and I distinctly recall being told to shut the fuck up, we can *trust* them to do the right thing."
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"There is no excuse for the mistakes that have been made, and we are going to make things right as quickly as possible," the attorney general said.

And this time, we mean it!"