Government

Thu
18
Mar
Dennis Faas's picture

US Gov't Attempted to Hush Whistleblower Site, Report Says

The U.S. government is being accused of attempting to deliberately take down the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.org, approximately two years ago. This virtual David versus Goliath war came to life after a 32-page classified document written by ... the Department of Defense (DoD) Intelligence Analysis program was posted on Wikileaks. The document, which was dated March 2008, speaks of the "counterintelligence threat posed to the U.S. Army by the Wikileaks.org website." The document accentuates the fact that there is the "possibility that a current employee or mole within the Department of ... (view more)

Fri
12
Mar
Dennis Faas's picture

ACTA Treaty: Can Seize, Destroy Your PC, Electronics

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a far-reaching proposal that the U.S. government has insisted was too sensitive to be exposed to the public. Now that the 44-page document (PDF) has been leaked, it's easy to see why the U.S. wanted ... to keep it a secret. (Source: die-linke.de ) ACTA, in its present form, is heralded by the Film and Music industries and their fight against piracy. However, if upheld, citizens will pay a heavy price for their privacy. Gov't Can Search, Seize and Destroy Electronics Former President George W. Bush and current President Barack Obama both favor ACTA ... (view more)

Fri
19
Feb
Dennis Faas's picture

US Gov't Pushes for Warrantless CellPhone Tracking

The United States government is in court fighting for the right to track people's location via their cellphone, without warrant. It says the powers are needed to hunt down criminals, but civil rights activists say that tracking shouldn't be allowed ... without ."probable cause." Cellphone Tracking Uses Triangulation The case doesn't involve monitoring conversations or reading text messages, but rather using call records to track a user to within 150 feet. That's usually done by triangulation, which involves finding a cellphone's distance from the three nearest network towers. Cellphone ... (view more)

Fri
15
Jan
Dennis Faas's picture

Airport Full Body Image Scans can be Transmitted, Stored

Contrary to U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) assurances, full body scanners used in U.S. airports can store and transmit digital strip search images of people. The TSA has asserted that these scanners have zero storage capability ... and that any scanned full body images won't be printed, stored or transmitted and will be deleted immediately once viewed. However, those assertions appear to be false. (Source: theregister.co.uk ) Full Body Scanners Have Storage, Transmission Capabilities A redacted 70-page document (PDF) obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) ... (view more)

Fri
08
Jan
Dennis Faas's picture

Thousands Arrested as China Cracks Down on 'Nasty' Sites

Here's a New Year's resolution for designers, writers, and generally anyone associated with skin-trade sites in China: get the heck out of your country. According to a recent report, over five thousand arrests were made by the Communist government ... during the past year in an effort to stamp out this kind of web content. The report itself is reliable. How do we know? It came straight from the horse's mouth -- in a statement last week, the Chinese government fully admitted that a sweeping attack against adult-themed content in the country during 2009 had led to the arrest of 5,394 persons and a ... (view more)

Wed
06
Jan
Dennis Faas's picture

CAD Gov't Strong-Arms Enviro Critics, Knocks Out 4,500 Sites

The " Blame Canada " cliche is back in force amidst reports that the Canadian government has shut down 4,500 websites -- two of which are owned and operated by global warming activists who have routinely criticized the Harper Conservatives for not ... doing enough to help shape an effective international environmental policy. The two websites in question are both Canadian and include enviro-canada.ca and eg-gc.ca. In recent weeks these sites engaged in lively campaigns to highlight the disappointing results at Copenhagen and to specifically blame Canada for its role in the debacle. Part of that ... (view more)

Fri
18
Dec
Dennis Faas's picture

Australian Gov't Approves Internet Censorship Plan

Australia's federal government has announced that it is proceeding with controversial plans to censor the Internet after government-commissioned trials found that using a blacklist of banned sites was accurate and would not slow down web use. ... Critics, including Google , Electronic Frontiers Australia and Greens communications argue that the censorship policy is fundamentally flawed and the trial results are not surprising. Stephen Conroy, Australia's Communications Minister, will introduce legislation just before next year's elections designed to force ISPs to block a blacklist of refused ... (view more)

Wed
04
Nov
Dennis Faas's picture

UK to Spend $330M a Year to Track Citizens Online

According to reports, Britain will spend 200 million British Pound Sterling per year (equivalent to $330M US Dollars, or $627 per minute), in a massive expansion of its surveillance networks. The new funding is intended to give officials access to ... details of every Internet click -- on top of the email and telephone records that are already available -- made by every British citizen. LibDem Home Affairs spokesman Chris Huhne, who describes the amount of money being spent on the increasing surveillance state as 'eye-watering,' claims the increase in money spent on tapping phones and emails is ... (view more)

Wed
23
Sep
Dennis Faas's picture

FCC to Formalize Net Neutrality Laws, Draws Fire

The U.S. government is considering a plan that would prevent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from banning actions online that 'hog' bandwidth. The government's proposal would change how Internet providers such as AT ... (view more)

Mon
10
Aug
Dennis Faas's picture

Marine Corps Ban Social Networking on Military PCs

It seems "being all that you can be" also means being an online hermit. The United States Marine Corps recently announced that it will be banning social networking for all members of the elite fighting force from this day forward. Included in the ... ban are uber-popular pages Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, which encourage members to publish personal information and photos, while roping friends into joining them online. That's a problem for the Marines, who believe that such activity -- and more specifically the disclosure of personal data -- is a security threat to its members who, by extension ... (view more)

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Government