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 [...]
Drowning in Data, Starved for Wisdom: The surveillance state cannot meaningfully assess terrorism risks
by Alex Marthews on April 26, 2013
The NSA has just vigorously denied that their new Utah Data Center, intended for storing and processing intelligence data, will be used to spy on US citizens. The center will have a capacity of at least one yottabyte, and will provide employment for 100-200 people. With the most generous assumptions [200 employees, all employed only [...]
Panel Discussion on Privacy and Security, BU, April 24
by Alex Marthews on April 23, 2013
If you are in the BU area on Wednesday evening, come by to hear interesting speakers talking about privacy and security in the wake of the Boston Marathon attacks. Panelists will include Alex Marthews (that’s me!), James O’Keefe of the Massachusetts Pirate Party, and Gregg Housh. RSVP here.
The Fourth Amendment and the Boston Marathon Attacks: Racialized “Reasonable Suspicion” and the Search of the Saudi Marathoner’s Apartment
by Alex Marthews on April 20, 2013
The Boston Marathon attacks have brought to the surface some of the best and the worst in Massachusetts. On the one side, many news sources reported responsibly and refused to speculate too quickly and without foundation about who the bombers were or why they might have done what they did. There seems at this stage [...]
The Boston Marathon: Generalized Surveillance Fails To Thwart Attack
by Alex Marthews on April 15, 2013
Headline updated [x2]. Today, by the finish line of the Boston Marathon, on the same city block as the church I go to, two bombs went off. I feel shocked and sad beyond belief. My thoughts and prayers are with those who died or were hurt, with their families, and with all the people stranded [...]
Microscope Monday: Analysis of Massachusetts’ proposed Free Speech Act, S. 642 / H. 1357
by Alex Marthews on April 1, 2013
Have you ever wondered why your Mondays have become an unending bliss of delight, falling upon you like Zeus visiting Danae in a shower of gold? It must surely be because of Microscope Monday, your weekly look at notable surveillance-related bills on Beacon Hill. This week’s bill, tying in with our new Campaign to Close [...]
Close the Fusion Centers, Free the American People
by Alex Marthews on March 27, 2013
[Artwork adapted slightly from Leo Reynolds on Flickr] After the 9/11 attacks, a traumatized nation considered whether the attacks could have been thwarted by coordinating intelligence-gathering better between the FBI and CIA. From that impulse grew the fusion centers, of which there are now at least 72 77 across the country. Us lucky SOBs here in [...]
Yay of the Day: In Ninth Circuit, Fusion Center Employee Not Completely Unaccountable for Infiltrating Peaceful Anti-War Group
by Alex Marthews on December 21, 2012
The long-running case Panagacos v. Towery deals with the two-year-long infiltration by fusion center employee John Towery of peace groups including Students for a Democratic Society, the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, the Industrial Workers of the World, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and an anarchist bookstore in Tacoma (probably this one). Towery is [...]
Meanwhile, Here in Massachusetts: Legislation Limiting Surveillance Proposed
by Alex Marthews on October 19, 2012
Many people don’t realize that there’s plenty of activity in US state legislatures around warrants, surveillance and privacy. One good bill that has been proposed this session here in Massachusetts is S. 1194 / H. 1336, “An Act to protect privacy and personal data” These identical bills were brought forward by Senate Majority Whip Harriette [...]
Symbolic Spending to Combat Terror: Or, Let’s Spend Your Tax Dollars on Snooping rather than on Anything Useful
by Alex Marthews on October 19, 2012
The new US Senate report on the uselessness of fusion centers reminds me irresistibly of an old episode of “Yes Prime Minister”: Nobody’s interested in the Social Science Research Council. Or the Milk Marketing Board. Or the Advisory Committee on Dental Establishments. Or the Dumping At Sea Representation Panel. But Government still pays money to [...]