sunbird - Slashdot User

Submission + - Warrantless wiretaping decisions issued by Ninth C (eff.org)

Submitted by

sunbird

on Friday December 30, 2011 @11:15AM

sunbird writes: "The Ninth Circuit yesterday issued two decisions in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's lawsuits against the National Security Agency (Jewel v. NSA) and the telecommunications companies (Hepting v. AT&T). EFF had argued in Hepting that the retroactive immunity passed by Congress was unconstitutional. The Ninth Circuit decision (.pdf) upholds the immunity and the district court's dismissal of the case. Short of an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, this effectively ends the suit against the telecoms. In much better news, the same panel issued a decision (.pdf) reversing the dismissal of the lawsuit against the N.S.A. and remanded the case back to the lower court for more proceedings. These cases have been previously discussed here ."

Submission + - Warrantless wiretapping cases at the 9th Circuit (eff.org)

Submitted by sunbird on Thursday September 01, 2011 @10:37AM

sunbird writes: The Electronic Frontier Foundation argued several critical cases yesterday before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Both Hepting v. AT&T and Jewel v. National Security Agency raise important questions regarding whether the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program (pdf summary of evidence) disclosed by whistleblower Mark Klein and implemented by AT&T and other telecoms, violates the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The full text of the Klein declaration and redacted exhibits are publicly available (pdf). This issue has been previously discussed here (1 2 3 4). The Klein evidence establishes that AT&T cut into the fiber optic cables in San Francisco to route a complete copy of internet and phone traffic to the "SG3" secure room operated by the NSA. The trial court dismissed the Hepting lawsuit (pdf order) based on the 2008 Congressional grant of immunity to telecoms. Similarly, the trial court in Jewel dismissed (pdf order) the lawsuit against the government agencies and officials based on the state secrets privilege. Both cases were argued together before the same panel of judges. The audio of the oral argument will be available after 12noon PT today.

Submission + - Law enforcement guidebooks leaked

Submitted by

sunbird

on Wednesday December 02, 2009 @01:34AM

sunbird writes: "Buried in comments to a blogger's post about his research regarding Sprint's release of GPS records to law enforcement are the law enforcement guidance manuals issued by yahoo (pdf), facebook (pdf), and myspace. (pdf) Each provides helpful hints for law enforcement regarding the specific data available (some of which may be obtained with a mere subpoena and without any judicial scrutiny), and even sample request language to use in different circumstances. According to the manual, facebook retains IP information about its users for 30 days and has an application called "Neoprint" to deliver a handy packet of information about subscribers, including profile contact information, mini-feed, friend listing (with friend's facebook ID), group listing and messages. There is little oversight of this practice in the U.S. because the Department of Justice does not report the number of pen registers issued, notwithstanding a 1999 law requiring reports, and there is no reporting requirement for court orders issued under the Stored Communications Act."

Submission + - Law enforcement guides leaked (twitter.com)

Submitted by

sunbird

on Wednesday December 02, 2009 @12:36AM

sunbird writes: "Buried in comments to a blogger's post about his research regarding Sprint's release of 8 million GPS records to law enforcement in one year are the law enforcement guidance manuals issued by yahoo, facebook, and myspace. Each provides helpful hints for law enforcement regarding the specific data available (with a mere subpoena and without any judicial scrutiny), and even sample request language to use in different circumstances. According to the manual, facebook retains IP information about its users for 30 days and has an application called "Neoprint" to deliver a handy packet of information about subscribers, including profile contact information, mini-feed, friend listing (with friend's facebook ID), group listing and messages. Law enforcement may also request a "photoprint:":
The Photoprint is a compilation of all photos uploaded by the user that have not been deleted, along with all photos uploaded by any user which have the requested user tagged in them.

This may explain how, as previously reported here, a Canadian insurer was able to rely on private photos from a woman's facebook page to cancel her insurance."

Submission + - Technology and resistance in Pakistan (rabble.ca)

Submitted by

sunbird

on Friday November 23, 2007 @03:29AM

sunbird writes: "I'm living in Pakistan right now working at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an NGO, and despite what you might think from media coverage in the west, there is still significant resistance to Musharraf's second coup. One author is describing the critical role played by technology and media in organizing efforts here, especially among newly-politicized students. Organizers here are using SMSs, blogs, and flash protests (1 | 2) to confound and evade the police. Some of the most current information about events here is often found on blogs (See 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6); although the Pakistani English-language press (1 | 2 | 3 | 4) has done a decent job covering the crisis too, notwithstanding draconian media restrictions that forbid publication of anything that "brings into ridicule or disrepute" the president."

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