Some backstory, for those of you not in Vermont: Brooke Bennett is a young girl in Vermont who disappeared a short while ago. During the search for her, it was discovered that she'd had some cyber contact with a major creep. For more details on that horrible story, a simple google search will yield you all sorts of stuff to fill in the gaps.
But this story isn't about Brooke Bennett. It's about a tiny (literally: she's 4' 10") librarian who stood up to the Vermont state police when they tried to intimidate her into handing over the computers without the requisite warrant.
A tiny Librarian took it to the wall to protect your privacy a few days ago.
Children's librarian Judith Flint was getting ready for the monthly book discussion group for 8- and 9-year-olds on "Love That Dog" when police showed up.
They weren't kidding around: Five state police detectives wanted to seize Kimball Public Library's public access computers as they frantically searched for a 12-year-old girl, acting on a tip that she sometimes used the terminals.
Flint demanded a search warrant, touching off a confrontation that pitted the privacy rights of library patrons against the rights of police on official business.
"Self-Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson is an essay about how one should "to thy ownself be true," as Shakespeare advised.
He talks about how one shouldn't let others "misunderstand" you or pressure you to do what the group has decided to be the best course of action, because they often choose "bread," or in this case, their perceived "electability," over liberty.
This is just what is happening with this new FISA amendment before the Senate that they try to tell you isn't all that bad, but pardons Bush for warrantless wiretapping, breaking the law, and attacking the Constitution, and it allows them not to account for how this happened, which companies were involved (foreigh & domestic), & what do they have recorded in these databanks about ordinary citizens, nor does it investigate whether foreign countries may have access to information which could allow them to blackmail our leaders: a threat to our national security.
One of my closest friends is a gay. His family doesn't know it and though a few friends do, he's spent the past 2 years trying to figure out how to deal with the issue. I met him in our local coffee shop yesterday and he said, "Well, now they know".
I knew what he was talking about immediately, and asked, "How'd you break it to them?" He said "I didn't"
You may have heard, "truth is stranger than fiction," and indeed, that often seems the case. While that strange truth is usually just entertaining and innocuous, there are times when it is exactly the opposite... stupefying, shocking, even threatening.
Mimicking Ripley is not the intent here, though. It is simply to point you to a variety of recent articles, some of which just bring a smile, some that give pause for thought, and some that deal with very serious issues. Not surprisingly, many involve government and elected officials at various levels.
Aside from the trivial 'fun' articles, many are important but have been beneath the radar for whatever reason. They need greater exposure, for they often have implications that scream for attention.
The entries here do not comprehensively quote their referenced sources, except for maybe a one or two line teaser that might pique your interest, and, of course a link, along with maybe short comment. Better that you follow the links and look in the horse's mouth yourself:) Hope you enjoy.
On Openleft.com, Jon Pincus posts a response to Barack Obama's campaign, calling for Obama to Get FISA Right.
Dear Senator Obama,
Thank you for taking the time to respond to us with your post "My Position On FISA" dated July 3rd, 2008. In your response, you pledged to "listen to [our] concerns, take them seriously, and seek to earn [our] ongoing support," and in that spirit, we would like to continue this conversation. We ask that you help transfer our passion and political activism into getting the FISA bill right -- now.
So, you think domestic surveillance is a problem only for terrorists and criminals? Well, take that smug look off your face. As I write, information collected on millions of Americans is being used to punish them for activities as benign as purchasing retread tires.
Have you visited a bar, played billiards, visited a massage parlor or sought marriage counseling? Then, there's a good chance you have been economically punished for those activities through lowering of your credit limits and scores. That could cost you a home loan or a job, or perhaps a government security clearance. If you reported illegal activities by a former employer, you could be blacklisted for life thanks to databases maintained by firms that conduct background checks on workers for both government and businesses.
As activists have repeatedly warned, corporate and government voyeurism, aided by datamining technology, homeland security mandates and secrecy, has progressed to manipulation and penalization of lawful activities. And, it's likely to get much worse.
The Williams sisters played in the Wimbledon tennis final, Venus Williams won her fifth Wimbledon title. Serena seemed headed to victory early but ran out of gas. The sisters are to be congratulated for their redemption and recovery from all the distractions and injuries they have had since the last time they dominated women's tennis some five years ago. It was good television what with the drama of the family watching and knowing that one had to lose. I don't know how they do it. I sometimes think that Venus as the older sis sandbags little sis Serena with some mind games, but then, you still have to hit the shots don't you. No doubt the Williams sisters will enjoy the extra shopping money they just shagged out of merry old England as they well should. They earned it!
You may have heard, "the truth is stranger than fiction," and indeed, often that seems the case. While that strange truth is usually just entertaining and innocuous, there are times when it is exactly the opposite... stupefying and malicious.
Here are a few instances which you may not have been aware. Not so surprisingly, many involve government and elected officials at various levels.
The entries here do not quote their referenced sources, except for maybe a one or two line teaser that might pique your interest, and, of course a link, along with maybe short comment. Hope you enjoy.
Standing Up Against Government Interference - including warrantless wiretapping, the assault on habeas corpus, the pursuit of Real ID cards, and retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that illegally helped the federal government spy on Americans.
No Surveillance on Law-Abiding Americans – Begich opposes efforts since 9/11 to take advantage of public fears, bypassing the courts and Congress to eavesdrop on Americans.
Repeal the Patriot Act – Begich believes national security resources should be built on human intelligence and Special Forces that will identify and respond to real threats of terrorism, not monitoring what books Americans read.
Restore Habeas Corpus – Begich called the Military Commissions Act, passed in 2006, the lowest point in our country’s response to the threat of terrorism. The Act suspends habeas corpus for millions of Americans, and that right needs to be restored.
That Begich is implementing civil liberties as a core element of his campaign shows how important these issues are to Western voters. It's a message that resonates particularly well out here in the Western part of the country. That's why Jon Tester wasn't hurt but was helped when he said that he didn't want to see the PATRIOT Act weakened, he wanted to see it repealed. It's why Gov. Brian Schweitzer has been able to lead a successful revolt among governors against the the Real ID act. It's why Gary Trauner is standing so strong against FISA in his red state of Wyoming.
If Democrats are really serious about turning the purple mountains majesty blue, particularly in this election, they should be paying attention to the messages successful Democratic candidates out here are sending: privacy matters, civil liberties matter to Western voters.
Hopefully, Mark Begich will be able to join his fellow Western Senator Tester on the floor next year, leading the charge to repeal the PATRIOT Act, restore habeas, and maybe even try to undo some of the damage the Senate is set to do on FISA next week.
Viacom (CBS, Comedy Central) is suing YouTube/Google for $1 billion for facilitating copyright violations when videos (e.g. Daily Show, Colbert, CBS News) are uploaded to the YouTube site.
During discovery, Viacom demanded that Google turn over just about everything in its database, and the trial judge has ruled that they will have to turn over:
* all data concerning what videos users watched and uploaded;
* usernames;
* user IP addresses.
It's yet another example of the copyright laws being used to suppress free speech. Don't buy it? Read below the fold.
Below is newsletter from Privacy Forum I subscribe to. The author has given me permission to quote these in toto, given it is published as a public newsletter electronically via a listserv that anyone can subscribe to, and the whole point is, after all, to try and get people to pay attention to the threats to their privacy that loom larger and out of control in our society every day.
There is little to say about it other than, well, is anyone surprised anymore at the arrogance of the corporations like AT&T? They have Congress eating out of their hands after pouring tens of millions of dollars into Congress' pockets.
Congress is going to pass a bill that unconstitutionally exempts them illegally and ex post facto from investigation for their crimes, committed at the behest of the Bush / Cheney administration.
The vast majority have not even read, and do not even know what is in the law that is about to be passed. They just know that in their secret meetings with the telecoms, as the money changed hand's they were assured is was best for them, and of course, best for America.
Remember the 90s? It was the dawn of an era of globalization and easy, instantaneous movement of information. The hero of this new age was the "road warrior" who jetted around the globe solving problems, selling Infomation Age products and making deals. And the warrior's chief weapon was the state-of-the-art laptap crammed with all the features and data needed to accomplish the task.
Not any more. The Patriot Act, zealous U. S. Customs and TSA officials and a Federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling giving a green light to warrantless searches and seizures has made traveling with a laptop very difficult. And if you carry sensitive data on that laptop these days, you're a fool.
Here is the text of my latest letter to Senator Feinstein on FISA and telecom immunity. It appears that we have been corresponding for so long that I now have a pretty good record to go by to understand her position. To see where she was, and where she's gone on this issue is not pretty.
Please note that I did take one thing out of this letter before I faxed it, but I left it in for the readers here to understand just how I feel.
We've all been there. A project is supposed to be done and turned in to the boss and for what ever reason you just can't turn it in. Maybe you blew the project off to go drinking. Maybe you just need a little more time to finish the project to your satisfaction. What ever the reason you need to weasel yourself a little time. Blaming the dog is perhaps a little archaic, now we complain about the network going down or a virus deleting all our hard work. So what did the FBI tell the GAO when it came looking for information on the $78,700,000 the FBI requested for a data mining operation that might violate our privacy? Take the red pill and jump to find out.
U.S. border agents are copying and seizing the contents of laptops, cell phones and digital cameras from U.S. and foreign travelers entering the United States, witnesses told a Senate subcommittee Wednesday.
The extent of this practice is unknown despite requests to the Department of Homeland Security from the Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution and several nonprofit agencies.
The department also declined to send a representative to the hearing. Subcommittee Chairman Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said Homeland Security had told him that its "preferred" witness was unavailable Wednesday.
We have no privacy. The genie is out of the bottle. There's relatively little left to protect.
I once saw a demo of a data mining product that integrated commercial and public data to lay bare anyone's private life. You gave someone's SSN or name & address and a whole life history came out, with social networks and all. It was shocking.
Total Information Awareness is already here whether we like it or not. It's really just a matter of degree from here on end. The problem is: it is in the wrong hands.
I agree with the concept in Mike McL's diary: we need to turn the table and strip our political appointees and their own appointees of their privacy in the conduct of our business, and I would say with few caveats for national security.
