Every once in a while, not often, they do the right thing...
Queen of Good Things, Honest
It's pretty consistent. Winston Churchill put it best.
"You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've exhausted everything else."
I'd say we've hit that point.
edited 14th May '15 8:28:49 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.
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And now Cameron is going crazy about a "passively tolerant" society.
Let's not get too excited. Like I said, it still has to clear the Senate, and it's going to be met with some reluctance.
Link. It's similar to comments made by certain Congresspeople (such as Marco Rubio), who argue that due to ISIS, now is not the time to weaken the NSA's abilities. To that, I say, if you think like that, it will NEVER be the time. There are always going to be threats in the world, whether it be ISIS or Al Qaeda or whoever else. Fear of violence is not a good justification for recording/storing anything and everything about everybody across the board.
edited 15th May '15 7:17:17 AM by speedyboris
Just out of boredom, and maybe to give information how things are here, Finland literally has no such thing as intelligence legislation.
The only passage even giving a hint of it, are the words "the FDF most provide advance warning of imminent threats". This means military intelligence does exist, but is largely limited to SIGINT and other more indirect methods.
There has been discussion on this for years, and a plan to actually create legislation for intelligence activities are planned. Apparently, this will give the military better cyber warfare and ELINT capability. FSIS may also gain the ability to "tap" the internet in the same way as they do phones. Through a court order as per usual.
The agenda for the new government also discusses the possibility of legislation to create a foreign intelligence service.
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V
Surveillance commissioner warns councils 'turning off CCTV'
He told the BBC the situation was a "concern" and blamed the government's austerity cuts "sweeping the country". He is due to present his findings to the government in the autumn.
Mr Porter, who is the commissioner for England and Wales, said budget cuts had led councils to decide to spend less on public space CCTV, meaning there was less money for staff training, poorer understanding of legal issues and a reduced service. He told BBC Radio Four's Today programme that councils did not have an "absolute right" to monitor a community so it had to be done "in a way that generates trust".
"If there are going to be training and compliance issues, that trust will be damaged," he said.
In a separate interview with the Independent, Mr Porter said: "There are an increasing number of examples where councils and employees are citing a lack of money as being the rationale to reduce the service or completely change its composition - and that does concern me. Because CCTV isn't a statutory function, it is something a lot of councils are looking at. Most people recognise the utility of CCTV for supporting law enforcement. To degrade the capacity may have an impact on police. It may well be that they will find it increasingly difficult to acquire the images that will help them investigate crimes. I do think public authorities should be held to greater account."
The UK has one of the largest number of CCTV cameras in the world. The British Security Industry Association (BSIA) estimates there are between 4 and 5.9 million cameras, with around one in 70 publicly owned.
He said councils could face greater scrutiny of their use of CCTV, including potential inspections and enforcement. Mr Porter, who has been in his post for just over a year, has written to council chief executives to remind them of the law and code of practice.
In a speech to the CCTV User Group conference this week, he warned of misuse of cameras in some local authority areas. He said: "I've seen councils in large towns like Blackpool and Derby stop monitoring their systems 24-7. My understanding is that this is not as the result of a review or public consultation but simply to save money. And as austerity measures continue to bite on public space CCTV will we see a deterioration of standards and training?"
A government spokesman said the "majority" of local authorities have continued to balance their budgets, and increased or maintained public satisfaction with services. He also pointed out that falling crime figures in the independent Crime Survey for England and Wales meant that people and communities were the safest they had been since the survey began in 1981. CCTV provision should be decided by elected local councillors, reflecting local circumstances and residents' views, especially concerns about crime, he added.
The Patriot Act has expired. Thoughts?
"In distress", my ass.
Not all of it, just parts involving NSA collecting phone records in bulk.
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
And there are attempts/plans by pro-Patriot Act congressmen to push for renewing it post haste.
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
"The witch is dead, the witch is dead, ding dong, the witch is dead..."
So, this has been going on in my town and others. The companies that these planes are registered to are fake. And it's being done without a court order! Not cool.
Another article on the subject.
edited 2nd Jun '15 7:14:13 AM by speedyboris
Aren't front companies routine in investigations? Drug trafficking for example?
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NOT THE BEES
This makes me feel somewhat better about the FBI's ability to actually pick a target instead of surveilling ALL THE THINGS at least. Still, they should get some kind of court order.
From the article: "In this photo taken May 26, 2015, a small plane flies near Manassas Regional Airport in Manassas, Va. The plane is among a fleet of surveillance aircraft by the FBI, which are primarily used to target suspects under federal investigation. Such planes are capable of taking video of the ground, and some _ in rare occasions _ can sweep up certain identifying cellphone data."
That's nothing. Law enforcement agencies have greatly expanded the use of unmanned surveillance drones. I'm surprised that the FBI still uses actual airplanes. An article by the Electronic Frontier Foundation: "Privacy law has not kept up with the rapid pace of drone technology, and police may believe they can use drones to spy on citizens with no warrant or legal process whatsoever. Several bills are currently going through Congress, which attempt to provide privacy protections to Americans who may be caught up in drone surveillance."
The Wanderer
World's smallest spirals could guard against identity theft: "Researchers have made the world's smallest spirals and found they have unique optical properties that are nearly impossible to counterfeit if they were added to identity cards, currency and other objects."
V
Emergency surveillance law faces legal challenge by MPs
The government said at the time that without the new law, the UK's ability to fight crime and protect the country against terrorism would be seriously impeded.
Their legal challenge comes as Home Secretary Theresa May draws up proposals to give police and spies new powers to monitor internet and phone use. Downing Street said the measures, announced in last month's Queen's Speech, would "address gaps" in intelligence gathering and access to communications data that are putting "lives at risk".
However, civil liberties campaigners claim they will pave the way for mass surveillance of UK citizens. Mrs May's efforts to introduce a similar bill in 2012, dubbed the "snooper's charter" by critics, were blocked by their coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats.
Yes, more powers.
Keep Rolling On
"In distress", my ass.
On the lighter side: NSA Launches "Revenge Porn Site"
*
edited 13th Jun '15 3:04:10 PM by Nohbody
All your safe space are belong to Trump
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
... WTF, NSA?! Oh. Oh, you devil, you! ![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
edited 13th Jun '15 3:20:04 PM by MarqFJA
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
"In distress", my ass.
V
British spies removed from operations after Russia and China crack codes to leaked Snowden files
"Senior government sources confirmed that China had also cracked the encrypted documents, which contain details of secret intelligence techniques and information that could allow British and American spies to be identified," the newspaper added.
Last year the Telegraph revealed GCHQ had lost track of some of the most dangerous crime lords and has had to abort surveillance on others after Snowden exposed their tactics. The spy agency has suffered “significant” damage in its ability to monitor and capture serious organised criminals following the exposes by the former CIA contractor. Intelligence officers are now blind to more than a quarter of the activities of the UK’s most harmful crime gangs after they changed their communications methods in the wake of the Snowden leaks.
There seems to be two sides to this story. On the one hand, GB's spy agencies are claiming that their agents are being targeted. On the other hand, there may be domestic politics behind the timing of these revelations:
"...The revelations about the impact of Snowden on intelligence operations comes days after Britain's terrorism law watchdog said the rules governing the security services' abilities to spy on the public needed to be overhauled.
Conservative lawmaker and former minister Andrew Mitchell said the timing of the report was "no accident".
"There is a big debate going on," he told BBC radio. "We are going to have legislation bought back to parliament (...) about the way in which individual liberty and privacy is invaded in the interest of collective national security."
V
Indeed, the new Government want to increase their powers to monitor online use and communications, something widely called the "snooper's charter".
edited 14th Jun '15 6:31:08 AM by Greenmantle
Keep Rolling On
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Reminds me of the FSIS and military intelligence; we know that the amount of spies in Finland has exceeded Cold War levels, so could we PLEASE have the ability to snoop around more? As if they'd ever get the resources needed for that. We don't even have any sort of intelligence law here.
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