Posts Tagged ‘wiretapping’

News Digest 05/17/13

Friday, May 17, 2013 at 5:00 pm by

5/16, Daniel Halper, Weekly Standard, Congressman: Justice Dept. Wiretapped the House of Representative’s Cloak Room

5/16, Josh Peterson, The Daily Caller, DOJ sought to surveil several thousand U.S. citizens in 2012

5/16, Alina Selyukh and Deborah Charles, NBC News, CISPA cybersecurity bill backers hope second time’s a charm

5/16, Charlie Savage, New York Times, Debating the Legal Basis for the War on Terror

5/16, Somini Sengupta, New York Times, Concerns Arise on U.S. Effort to Allow Internet ‘Wiretaps’

5/16, Brad Knickerbocker, Christian Science Monitor, US loses track of terrorists in witness protection: Poor data sharing blamed

5/15, Matthew Alexander, MSNBC, New WikiLeaks film discusses government secrecy

News Digest 05/15/13

Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at 5:00 pm by

News Digest 05/09/13

Thursday, May 9, 2013 at 5:00 pm by

5/9, Peter Van Buren, Salon, The government whistleblower who wouldn’t be silenced

5/9, Brian Bennett and Richard A. Serrano, Los Angeles Times, Intelligence report identified vulnerability before Boston bombing

5/9, Alicia A. Caldwell and Eileen Sullivan, Salon, Boston police commissioner: We need more cameras

5/9, Hazel Dukes, Amsterdam News (NY), NAACP condemns Quinn’s support of stop-and-frisk

5/9, Barbara Ross, Daily News (NY), Judge backs NYPD’s refusal to detail its surveillance of Muslim community under Freedom of Information Law

5/9, VIDEO, Huffington Post, FBI Planning To Revise Wiretapping Laws

News Digest 05/02/13

Thursday, May 2, 2013 at 5:00 pm by

News Digest 04/30/13

Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 5:00 pm by

News Digest 04/04/13

Thursday, April 4, 2013 at 5:00 pm by

News Digest 03/06/13

Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 5:00 pm by

Alan Westin, expert on privacy in internet age, dies at 83

Saturday, March 2, 2013 at 10:08 am by

On February 18, Dr. Alan Westin, a scholar who helped define and justify the field of privacy law, passed away. He was a professor of Public Law & Government Emeritus at Columbia University. He also published the book Privacy and Freedom and served as editor of the Civil Liberties Review.

Much of Dr. Westin’s most influential work was before the popularization of the computer, but was integral in defining what privacy is in the age of mass information. Dr. Westin saw privacy as “an individual’s right to control edit, manage, and delete information about them[selves] and decide when, how, and to what extent that information is communicated to others.” His work contributed to many modern privacy laws, including the Privacy Act of 1974, which regulated how the government could use personal information. Dr. Westin said his interest in the subject was sparked by the McCarthy’s Red Scare in the 1950′s. He often focused on topics like illegal wiretapping.

Although Dr. Westin helped define and defend privacy rights, he was careful to balance what he perceived as national security with individual privacy. He argued in favor of wiretapping if there was a threat to national security. He later defended the USA PATRIOT ACT of 2001 as “justified.”

In recent years, Dr. Westin attempted investigating Google and social networking sites for their use of personal information. Jeffrey Rosen, with whom he worked, said, “He recognized that the problems of protecting privacy are now so daunting that they can’t be dealt with by the law alone, but require a mix of legal, social, and technical solutions.”

Dr. Westin’s important contributions to what privacy is and should be remain a vital part of our national debate about security and privacy.

Demure dissent against domestic surveillance

Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 11:35 am by

Don’t want to wear your heart on your sleeve? Stealth Wear may be for you. Stealth Wear is a collection of clothing designed by conceptual artist, Adam Harvey. The collection protects its wearer from a variety of surveillance mediums, which include thermal imaging, x-rays, and wiretapping. It consists of four pieces of clothing that will be displayed by Primitive London and Tank Magazine in London, England starting this Thursday, January 17.

Each piece of clothing has it’s own purpose, including an “anti-drone hoodie and scarf hide you from thermal imaging, the XX-shirt protects your heart from x-ray radiation, and an accessory called Off Pocket can instantly black out your phone signal.”

Dissenting against surveillance technologies has been a longtime passion for Harvey. He created makeup and hair styling products that would interfere or deflect facial recognition systems for his New York University masters’ thesis. This creation is called CV Dazzle. CV stands for computer vision and Dazzle was a type of camouflage used during World War I. All of Harvey’s creations blend the facets of an individual’s person and transforms them into barrier of dissent against unwanted surveillance.

Harvey is not the only artist fighting against domestic surveillance. Essam Attia is a New York artist that was arrested for designing a series of posters against the use of drones. Harvey’s new clothing line is a direct response to the dramatic use of drones for domestic surveillance. Joanne McNeil interviewed Harvey for Rhizome magazine, where he discussed his thoughts on privacy. Harvey explained, “building privacy into modern garments can make them feel more comfortable and, like armor, more protected. Data and privacy are increasingly valuable personal assets and it doesn’t make sense to not protect them.”

This balance of design and privacy truly incorporates the concerns of the connected, online individual with the sensibility and ascetic of the modern world. These clothes are more than just cover up for the new surveillance world. These clothes are a statement to those who partake in use of surveillance. And the message is clear: We will not consent to our rights being violated against our will and without our knowing.

News Digest 1/10/13

Thursday, January 10, 2013 at 5:00 pm by