#MassOps, supported by the Defend the Fourth Coalition and Digital Fourth, are putting together a protest rally at the Boston Regional Intelligence Center. This is located at the headquarters of Boston PD, at One Schroeder Plaza, Roxbury, MA 02120. The rally is at 2:30pm, and there’s a pub crawl starting around 6:00-6:30pm. For background on fusion [...]
FBI-Borg Informs US Private Sector of its Impending Assimilation, Generously Limits Fines for Resistance to $25,000 Per Day Per Violation
by Alex Marthews on May 8, 2013
The FBI has a new proposal afoot to require communications companies doing business in the US to make their communications technologies “wiretap-ready”, to avoid the “going-dark problem”. From Charlie Savage at the New York Times, six hours ago: The Obama administration, resolving years of internal debate, is on the verge of backing a Federal Bureau of [...]
Total Information Asymmetry
by Alex Marthews on April 29, 2013
From the ever-brilliant Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal:
Quick Update:: Lockdown Lifted, and There is Lots to Come
by Alex Marthews on April 20, 2013
So we’re out from under the lockdown, and plenty happened while we were “requested” to stay inside. This has been an extraordinary week here in Massachusetts, and we’ll be dealing with the implications of it for some time to come. Our congratulations go to the members of the public who provided crucial information that helped [...]
The Theory of Surveillance: The Panopticon and the Stainless Steel Rat
by Alex Marthews on March 25, 2013
As we residents of Massachusetts gambol heedlessly downward from the Mountains of Liberty toward the Swamps of Oppression, let’s take a brief breather to consider a more general commentary on surveillance. Philosophical examinations of governmental surveillance powers center on eighteenth-century founder of utilitarianism Jeremy Bentham and twentieth-century philosopher Michel Foucault. The key concept used to [...]
Not A Clown Car Law: Comparing Massachusetts’ Electronic Wiretapping Laws to Connecticut’s
by Alex Marthews on March 11, 2013
The way you hear Martha Coakley tell it, Massachusetts’ laws relating to when you can and cannot issue an electronic wiretapping warrant are about as effective as using a clown car to fly folks to the moon. They were passed in the 1960s, man! Don’t you know you can’t trust any law over 30? Of [...]
Security Theater on the T: Demonstration Condemns Random Bag Searches
by Alex Marthews on February 4, 2013
On Saturday, a new civil rights group called “Defend the 4th” conducted a successful protest against the TSA. Despite the bitter cold, over 200 people turned out, marching from various points on the MBTA system and congregating on Boston Common. People attending included folks from Anonymous, Occupy Boston, the Pirate Party, the Republicans, the Ron [...]
Won’t Somebody Think of the Children!!!1!!!: Mass Law Enforcement Proposes Massive Expansion of Wiretapping Powers
by Alex Marthews on January 29, 2013
Some folks might be ashamed to use the bodies of dead kids as cover for a power grab. That clearly doesn’t include Massachusetts Attorney-General and failed Democratic Senate candidate Martha Coakley. The Globe reports that Coakley, along with state senator Gene O’Flaherty (D-Chelsea) and state rep John Keenan (D-Salem), have introduced a new bill to [...]
Aaron Swartz, RIP: Overcriminalization Claims Another Victim
by Alex Marthews on January 16, 2013
There are no words to describe the loss to the world of brilliant technologist Aaron Swartz, who killed himself this weekend at the age of 26. Aaron had already helped to develop RSS and Reddit, worked to stop the Stop Online Piracy Act, and was deeply involved in Internet activism. He could easily have devoted [...]
The States Are Where It’s At: With End of Al-Haramain Case, Federal Litigation on Surveillance Hits a Brick Wall
by Alex Marthews on January 9, 2013
The big guys, the big dogs, are going to own everything from the White House to the courthouse. Gov. Brian Schweitzer. In the one case where someone has evidence of having been surveilled by the government’s warrantless wiretapping program, the lawyers representing the plaintiffs have decided not to appeal to the Supreme Court. They don’t [...]