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Submission + - ask - what do you think caused the NSA to start collecting so much data? (slashdot.org) 13

Submitted by raymorris
raymorris writes: Many people believe that the NSA collects far too much data, violating the privacy rights of the very citizens the NSA is supposed to protect. How did we get here? What specific structural or cultural changes can be identified that led some to believe it is okay to engage in this sort of broad dragnet surveillance as opposed to getting specific court orders for specific suspects?

Many people simply assign the blame to the opposite political party, which doesn't get very far in solving the problem and ensuring it doesn't happen again. Can we look at specific, identifiable factors and show exactly how they directly caused the intelligence community to get off track? For example, precisely which sections of which laws are being used to justify these programs, and what caused those laws to be passed? Is the surveillance directly authorized by law, or do the justifications require "creative" interpretation of the law?

In order to avoid getting into yet another fruitless political flame war and keep the discussion factually focused, please provide citations where possible.
Electronic Frontier Foundation

DOJ Often Used Cell Tower Impersonating Devices Without Explicit Warrants 146

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the bending-the-rules dept.
Via the EFF comes news that, during a case involving the use of a Stingray device, the DOJ revealed that it was standard practice to use the devices without explicitly requesting permission in warrants. "When Rigmaiden filed a motion to suppress the Stingray evidence as a warrantless search in violation of the Fourth Amendment, the government responded that this order was a search warrant that authorized the government to use the Stingray. Together with the ACLU of Northern California and the ACLU, we filed an amicus brief in support of Rigmaiden, noting that this 'order' wasn't a search warrant because it was directed towards Verizon, made no mention of an IMSI catcher or Stingray and didn't authorize the government — rather than Verizon — to do anything. Plus to the extent it captured loads of information from other people not suspected of criminal activity it was a 'general warrant,' the precise evil the Fourth Amendment was designed to prevent. ... The emails make clear that U.S. Attorneys in the Northern California were using Stingrays but not informing magistrates of what exactly they were doing. And once the judges got wind of what was actually going on, they were none too pleased:"

Comment Re: As a biz tool - its what it doesn't have (Score 1) 349

by BigT (#41730231) Attached to: Black Sheep Blackberry Blackballed By Business

At the facility where I work, you cannot have the camera hardware in the phone; disabling it in software isn't close to sufficient. You have to remove the camera module, fill in the cavity where the module was with JB-weld or other hard epoxy so that the phone can never again have a camera, and then get the phone inspected by security, and get a sticker/card for it. Another nearby facility I occasionally have to visit doesn't even allow that, the phone has to be non-camera from the factory.

The only reason I still have a blackberry is because it is the only thing close to a smartphone I can get without a camera. At least, without voiding the warranty on a new phone I have to pay big bucks for.

Comment Re:Rainier (Score 1) 269

by BigT (#41265477) Attached to: Mt. Fuji May Be Close To Erupting

I think Seattle is far enough away to just get ash fall. Tacoma, Puyallup, and Sumner on the other hand, are directly downstream and are going to get BURIED by the lahars coming off the mountain. A few small towns and a lot of recreational area are going to get hammered by the pyroclastic flows.
Australia

Submission + - Anonymous Threatens To Expose Australian ISPs Over Data Retention (gizmodo.com.au)

Submitted by
lukehopewell1
lukehopewell1 writes: "The Australian government is currently discussing a plan that would force local internet service providers (ISPs) to collect and retain user browsing data for up to two years in a new National Security inquiry.

This has ruffled the collective feathers of Anonymous, who have formed Operation Australia to show just how insecure data actually is when retained by governments.

The group started by hacking 10 state government websites and have now threatened to hack a local ISP if the inquiry doesn't rule out data retention."
United States

Submission + - The Nation is Losing its Toolbox 2

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Louis Uchitelle writes that in Aisle 34 of Home Depot is precut vinyl flooring, the glue already in place, in Aisle 26 are prefab windows, and if you don’t want to be your own handyman, head to Aisle 23 or Aisle 35, where a help desk will arrange for an installer as mastering tools and working with one’s hands recede as American cultural values. "At a time when the American factory seems to be a shrinking presence, and when good manufacturing jobs have vanished, perhaps never to return, there is something deeply troubling about this dilution of American craftsmanship," writes Uchitelle. "Craftsmanship is, if not a birthright, then a vital ingredient of the American self-image as a can-do, inventive, we-can-make-anything people." Mass layoffs and plant closings have drawn plenty of headlines and public debate over the years, and they still occasionally do. But the damage to skill and craftsmanship — what’s needed to build a complex airliner or a tractor, or for a worker to move up from assembler to machinist to supervisor — has gone largely unnoticed. “In an earlier generation, we lost our connection to the land, and now we are losing our connection to the machinery we depend on,” says Michael Hout. “People who work with their hands are doing things today that we call service jobs, in restaurants and laundries, or in medical technology and the like.” The damage to American craftsmanship seems to parallel the precipitous slide in manufacturing employment. and manufacturing’s shrinking presence helps explain the decline in craftsmanship, if only because many of the nation’s assembly line workers were skilled in craft work. “Young people grow up without developing the skills to fix things around the house,” says Richard T. Curtin. “They know about computers, of course, but they don’t know how to build them.”"
Crime

Submission + - Brazil is Turning Inmates into Power Plants

Submitted by derekmead
derekmead writes: Since the oil shocks of the ‘70s, Brazil has been home to a carnival of renewable energy initiatives that now generate a whopping 85 percent of the country’s power. At Santa Rita do Sapucaí prison, inmates are contributing to the effort by riding stationary bikes which charge batteries that fuel lights at a nearby park that previously didn’t have electricity. That makes the park safer and shaves a little off the city’s carbon footprint, while giving the inmates a chance to get buff – and reduce their sentences.

City judge José Henrique Mallmann was apparently inspired by other prisons that offer prisoners incentives for riding bikes. At Phoenix, Ariz.’s Tent City Jail, female prisoners who want to watch television are required to pedal stationary bikes that power TVs. The technology has been in use at some fitness clubs for years, and is gaining traction for use in everyday life by cycling enthusiasts.

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