Judge: Not unreasonable for city workers to surf Web -- Newsday.com

~~~ Bravo !! I hope the higher courts see this the same way. ~~~ TP
-----------------------------------

Judge: Not unreasonable for city workers to surf Web -- Newsday.com: "
In his decision, Spooner wrote: 'It should be observed that the Internet has become the modern equivalent of a telephone or a daily newspaper, providing a combination of communication and information that most employees use as frequently in their personal lives as for their work. He added: "For this reason, city agencies permit workers to use a telephone for personal calls, so long as this does not interfere with their overall work performance.'"

AT&T Sued Over NSA Eavesdropping

~~ A new twist in the NSA wiretap mess.

Did Ma Bell do it with Big Brother ?!?!

~~~TP

------------------------------

AT&T Sued Over NSA Eavesdropping
Wired News::
By Ryan Singel
04:03 AM Jan, 31, 2006

The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T Tuesday, accusing the telecom company of violating federal laws by collaborating with the government's secret, warrantless wiretapping of American citizens' phone and internet usage.

The suit, (.pdf) filed by the civil liberties group in federal court in San Francisco, alleges AT&T secretly gave the NSA access to two massive databases that included both the contents of its subscribers' communications and detailed transaction records, such as numbers dialed and internet addresses visited.

'Our goal is to go after the people who are making the government's illegal surveillance possible,' says EFF attorney Kevin Bankston. 'They could not do what they are doing without the help of companies like AT&T. We want to make it clear to AT&T that it is not in their legal or economic interests to violate the law whenever the president asks them to.'"

"Could Your VoIP Phone Be Tapped?"

~~ America has to decide just exactly how "Big" we want our "Big Brother " to be. As reported in New York Times , polls show a 50 -50 split , or so on Americans support of the Bush Wiretaps. ~~ TP
--------------------------------------------------


PCWorld.com - Could Your VoIP Phone Be Tapped?: "

Dennis O'Reilly, PC World

Friday, January 27, 2006

BURLINGAME, CALIFORNIA -- "Several privacy and civil-liberties organizations are mounting a legal challenge to prevent VoIP and other Internet-based communications from being subject to taps from law-enforcement agencies."

Google : Communist sympathizer !!

Google is willing to bow to China on search censorship . but yet Google fights the American Government on releasing search data.
Seems clear to me . Google 's motto of " Do no evil", is easy to abide by when you have your own definitions of right and wrong. ~~ TP
-------------
--------

Google faces China challenges

By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter, BBC News website

Google has acknowledged that its decision to launch in China will be seen as inconsistent with its mission to make information universally accessible but believes it has little choice.

"We don't want to risk becoming irrelevant or useless due to the way that our content is blocked or filtered currently," Google's senior policy adviser Andrew McLaughlin told the BBC Radio Four's Today programme.

"We feel it is a step forward. Not a big step forward but a step forward. We understand that many people will find the decision either puzzling or objectionable," he said.

NSA Web Site Places 'Cookies' On Computers |

~ I personally now will delete my cookies after visiting any Government website. ~` `TP

---------------

InformationWeek | Privacy | NSA Web Site Places 'Cookies' On Computers | December 29, 2005: " By Anick Jesdanun , NEW YORK (AP)--The National Security Agency's Internet site has been placing files on visitors' computers that can track their Web surfing activity despite strict federal rules banning most of them. These files, known as 'cookies,' disappeared after a privacy activist complained and The Associated Press made inquiries this week, and agency officials acknowledged Wednesday they had made a mistake. Nonetheless, the issue raises questions about privacy at a spy agency already on the defensive amid reports of a secretive eavesdropping program in the United States. 'Considering the surveillance power the NSA has, cookies are not exactly a major concern,' said Ari Schwartz, associate director at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a privacy advocacy group in Washington, D.C. 'But it does show a general lack of understanding about privacy rules when they are not even following the government's very basic rules for Web privacy.'"

F.B.I. Watched Activist Groups, New Files Show - New York Times

~~~ Not that this is really surprising. When i worked for GreenPeace in during the Reagan years, we knew that we were being monitiored. Strange thing is we had nothing to hide,, I mean we were publicity-hound-political-activists, who telegraphed to the media most everything we did or said. Why non-violent groups need to be "monitiored" is still really beyond me.

Either way the Bush Team is in trouble. If these domestic spying games the Administration is playing are found to be more than just unethical, but also to be illegal, some heads are going to have to roll. Being Scooter Libby already got indicted, maybe Dick Cheney is next, as he is the main powerplayer. { Don't tell me you really think Bush is in charge of this complicated stuff ! } ~~ ` TP
----------------------------

F.B.I. Watched Activist Groups, New Files Show - New York Times: "the documents, coming after the Bush administration's confirmation that President Bush had authorized some spying without warrants in fighting terrorism, prompted charges from civil rights advocates that the government had improperly blurred the line between terrorism and acts of civil disobedience and lawful protest.

One F.B.I. document indicates that agents in Indianapolis planned to conduct surveillance as part of a 'Vegan Community Project.' Another document talks of the Catholic Workers group's 'semi-communistic ideology.' A third indicates the bureau's interest in determining the location of a protest over llama fur planned by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
The documents, provided to The New York Times over the past week, came as part of a series of Freedom of Information Act lawsuits brought by the American Civil Liberties Union. For more than a year, the A.C.L.U. has been seeking access to information in F.B.I. files on about 150 protest and social groups that it says may have been improperly monitored."

ABC News: Was Bush Authorized to Spy on American Citizens?

ABC News: Was Bush Authorized to Spy on American Citizens?: "Speed Necessary?

The president said he needed the power to eavesdrop without a court order to streamline the process of wiretapping suspected terrorists.

'We've got to be fast on our feet, quick to detect and prevent,' Bush said.

But the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allows investigators to wiretap before getting a warrant, as long as they request permission from a special intelligence court within 72 hours.

'Doesn't hold water,' said Saltzburg. 'As long as you can act in emergencies before you get a court order, then speed is irrelevant here.'

The secret court has overwhelmingly done the bidding of recent administrations. Since 1979, the Justice Department has gone before the secret court 18,742 times and has only been turned down in four instances.

But for the Bush administration, court approval, at times, was not fast enough.

ABC News' Pierre Thomas filed this report for 'World News Tonight.'"

Just Three More Years !!!

~~ So Bush admits, with his anti-terror flag wrapped tightly around him,
Congress is ticked off. Hearings will come with the new year.
Well at least it will not be a boring three more years. ~~ TP

===================

Lawmakers Call for Domestic Spying Probe - Yahoo! News

"Lawmakers Call for Domestic Spying Probe"
============================

http://news.bbc.co.uk

Bush admits he authorised spying

President George W Bush has admitted he authorised secret monitoring of communications within the United States in the wake of the 2001 terror attacks.

Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts - New York Times

~~~ The NY Times has an extensive article today on the Bush team again forgetting that a Democracy is a place where the Government does not spy on its citizens with out first getting a Court order. This is major news , but unless Congress raises a stink and starts hearings , it will pass under the radar of most voters.

I have to keep saying to myself -

-- "Just three more years,, Just three more years".

Anybody will be better than the Bushies in 2008. 

{ Assuming that Team Bush does not find 

some way to cancel the 2008 American elections.] ~~~ TP
-----------------------------------------

Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts
By JAMES RISEN and ERIC LICHTBLAU

"WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 - Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials"

"China Reportedly Shuts Down Blog" -Thu Nov 3, 8:17 AM ET

To ban the Internet completely is impractical for dictatorships if they want their oppressed citizenship to be able to compete in the globalized world economy. So for dictatorships the only authoritarian option is to attempt control and stifle political cyber-dialogues the best they can without curtailing economic activity.

Or in other words to use their powers of E-Governance in order to constrain the citizen use of Cyber-Activism.

~~So, REMEMBER CHINA ,, I'M WATCHING YOU!!

Be careful how you treat those nice and

well meaning bloggers .

Don't make me come over there !!

-----------------------------

China Reportedly Shuts Down Blog

Thu Nov 3, 8:17 AM ET

"BEIJING - Chinese authorities have blocked a pro-democracy Web log after it was nominated for a freedom of expression award by a German radio station, a press freedom group said Thursday.

The blog, titled Wang Yi's Microphone, dealt with 'sensitive subjects' and was maintained by a teacher from Sichuan province, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said in a statement"China Reportedly Shuts Down Blog - Yahoo! News:

----------------------------

6abc.com: Wrangling Over Denver Pot Vote

6abc.com: Wrangling Over Denver Pot Vote: "DENVER-November 3, 2005 - Denver officials say they'll sidestep a voter-approved city law that decriminalizes adult possession of an ounce or less of marijuana by prosecuting under state law."

Boo - hiss the City of Denver --TP

Wired News: Fatal Flaw Weakens RFID Passports

Wired News: Fatal Flaw Weakens RFID Passports: "RFID chips are passive, and broadcast information to any reader that queries the chip. So critics, myself included, were worried that the new passports would reveal your identity without your consent or even your knowledge. Thieves could collect the personal data of people as they walk down a street, criminals could scan passports looking for Westerners to kidnap or rob and terrorists could rig bombs to explode only when four Americans are nearby. The police could use the chips to conduct surveillance on an individual; stores could use the technology to identify customers without their knowledge."

Very Very interesting !

.: Legal Challenge To Subway Bag Searches 1010 WINS -

~~~ This is an important case.

The Losing side will appeal.

I expect the Supreme Court with get

the final say here.

This is also a tough case. The balance

between security , random searches,

and privacy is a tight legal knot of

Constitutional Rights

vs.

Communal Sercurity. ~`

~ TP

: Legal Challenge To Subway Bag Searches: "Nov 1, 2005 6:14 am US/Eastern
(1010 WINS) (NEW YORK)" In a perfect world, all the people who enter the subways would have their possessions searched in an effort to prevent terrorism, a police official testified Monday at the start of a civil liberties trial."

Yahoo, Chinese police, and a jailed journalist | csmonitor.com

~` We in American tend to forget what a blessing a politically free internet is. ~tp

Yahoo, Chinese police, and a jailed journalist | csmonitor.com: "police, and a jailed journalist
By Robert Marquand | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
HONG KONG – The role of the US Internet firm Yahoo in helping Chinese security officials to finger a journalist sentenced to 10 years for e-mailing 'state secrets' is filtering into mainland China. The revelation reinforces a conviction among many Chinese 'netizens' that there is no place security forces can't find them.

Yet if netizen reaction in China is resignation, the story of Yahoo's complicity in the arrest of Shi Tao, a journalist with the Contemporary Trade News in Hunan, brought a spontaneous uproar among Western human rights and business watchdogs."

Yahoo defends itself over China accusations - Yahoo! News

Yahoo defends itself over China accusations - Yahoo! News: "Just like any other global company, Yahoo! must ensure that its local country sites must operate within the laws, regulations and customs of the country in which they are based,' Yahoo spokeswoman Mary Osako said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters by the firm's Hong Kong arm.

Yahoo declined to confirm or deny that it furnished the Chinese government with the information."

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Yahoo 'helped jail China writer'

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Yahoo 'helped jail China writer': "Internet giant Yahoo has been accused of supplying information to China which led to the jailing of a journalist for 'divulging state secrets'."

Firms testing Web-based immigration check

Firms testing Web-based immigration check: "
But across the country, a small group of businesses is quietly testing a Department of Homeland Security program that can check immigration status with a few clicks on the Internet. The program will likely be at the heart of any federal immigration reform, even as critics say it needs improvement.

'It's not a question of 'can we fix this?' It's 'when and how?'' said Tamar Jacoby, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute think tank who specializes in immigration.

Many businesses, however, oppose making the program mandatory because it would stop them from hiring illegal workers and force them to pay higher wages, said Maria Echeveste, an immigration expert and political consultant who worked as a deputy chief of staff in the Clinton White House."

Hallmark of Bush presidency: control over information flow | csmonitor.com

Hallmark of Bush presidency: control over information flow | csmonitor.com: "September 01, 2005 edition

Hallmark of Bush presidency: control over information flow
By Pat M. Holt
WASHINGTON – Disagreements with President Johnson over the Vietnam War drove Congress to circumscribe the powers of the presidency so much that when Johnson left the White House in 1969, it was said it would take until the end of the century to restore those lost powers. Thanks to a succession of weak presidents, the end of the century arrived without much having been done in this respect.

Richard Nixon, impeached by the House over Watergate, resigned to avoid trial by the Senate. Gerald Ford was unable to deal with the mess Nixon left. Despite the considerable accomplishment of the Camp David accord making peace between Egypt and Israel, Jimmy Carter was weakened by the hostage crisis in Iran and the botched rescue attempt. Ronald Reagan and his vice president, George H.W. Bush, had the Iran-contra scandal. For Bill Clinton, it was Monica Lewinsky and an impeachment trial (he was acquitted)."

China tries to wipe Internet icon from Web - Yahoo! News

Wired News: No Sex, Please, We're Repressed

"Beijing has worked hard but struggled to extend its heavy-handed control of domestic media to the country's booming internet, which is forecast to have 120 million users, second only to the United States, by the end of the year."

~~ China using their powers
of E-Governance in a totalitarian fashion. ~
~ techno pol. ~~

The New York Times > International > Asia Pacific > Chinese Censors and Web Users Match Wits

~~ You will notice I pick on the Chinese Censors alot .
Remember China , I 'm monitoring   you !!
Now go export something disposable to the USA....
you Commie-Capitalist you.
~~ TechnPolitical~ ~

March 4, 2005
Chinese Censors and Web Users Match Wits
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/04/international/asia/04censor.html
By HOWARD W. FRENCH

HANGHAI, March 3 - For many China watchers, the holding of a National People's Congress beginning this weekend is an ideal occasion for gleaning the inner workings of this country's closed political system. For specialists in China's Internet controls, though, the gathering of legislators and top political leaders offers a chance to measure the state of the art of Web censorship.