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FBI failed to warn of assassination plot against Occupy
Buried within a heavily redacted document dump response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund is an acknowledgment by the US Federal Bureau of...
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CISPA reintroduced in US House
On 12 February 2013, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) was reintroduced in the US House of Representatives by Representatives Mike Rogers (R-Michigan) and Dutch Ruppersberger...
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IRS demonstrates lack of Fourth Amendment understanding
According to internal documents, the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) believes it does not need a probable-cause warrant to read anyone’s email. Declan McCullagh, writing for CNET, cites the IRS 2009...
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CISPA passes US House of Representatives (again)
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) passed the US House of Representatives on a 288-127 vote. The unsurprising move comes two days after ammendments by Representative Adam Schiff...
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SECURE IT would expand FOIA exemption
The Strengthening and Enhancing Cybersecurity by Using Research, Education, Information, and Technology Act (SECURE IT) — first introduced in 2012 by US Representative Mary Bono Mack (R-California)...
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Here come the warrantless wiretap immunities again
The Obama administration has authorized — in secret, of course — ongoing warrantless wiretaps of network segments operated by AT&T, CenturyLink, and several other telecommunications companies,...
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US Justice Department claims email warrants unnecessary
First the US Internal Revenue Service claimed it didn’t need probable-cause warrants to read anyone’s email. Now the US Department of Justice claims its Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) manuals —...
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Spook internet research manual released
In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by Michael Morisy through MuckRock, the US National Security Agency (NSA) has released Untangling the Web; A Guide to Internet Research...
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US Justice Department warrantlessly seizes AP phone records
Earlier this month, the US Justice Department informed the Associated Press (AP) that federal law enforcement had — without notice — seized two months of telephone records of more than 20 AP editors...
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Warren calls for Obama to release TPP documentation
US Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) is wielding her substantial progressive chops in some unexpected (and very welcome) ways. Take, for instance, her recent calls for the Obama...
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Eyes of the world: Candidate Obama v. President Obama
Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world but the heart has its beaches its homeland and thoughts of its own Wake now, discover that you are the song that the morning brings but the heart...
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From Clipper chip to secure email shutdowns
Chances are you don’t remember much about then-President Bill Clinton‘s public encryption management directive — also known as the Clipper chip — whereby private encryption keys would be escrowed...
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Greasing the FOIA wheels
Ryan Shapiro, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology PhD candidate, is the most prolific Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requester for information from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)...
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ACLU files FOIA complaint challenging Executive Order 12333
In 1981, President Ronald Reagan signed Executive Order 12333 allegedly granting the authority relied upon by the US intelligence agencies to surveil foreigners outside of the borders of the US. The...
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Obama administration retains secrecy for phone data memo
The three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has ruled that the Obama administration can retain the secrecy of a Department of Justice memo regarding the...
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