The PRISM scandal confirmed our worst fears when it comes to state-level surveillance of the Internet, with the revelation that the NSA has created "backdoors" into major online services such as Google, Facebook, and Yahoo. These backdoors allegedly give intelligence agencies around the world access to user emails, Facebook posts, search queries, web history, and more, with little or no judicial oversight.
When Rochelle Bing bought her modest row home on a tattered block in North Philadelphia 10 years ago, she saw it as an investment in the future for her extended family — especially for her 18 grandchildren. Bing, 42, works full-time as a home health assistant for the elderly and disabled. In summer when school is out, her house is awash with grandkids whom Bing tends to while their parents work. And the home has been a haven in troubled times when her children needed help or a father went to jail. One of Bing's grandchildren lives there now.
CNET has learned the FBI has developed custom "port reader" software to intercept Internet metadata in real time. And, in some cases, it wants to force Internet providers to use the software.
A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Although the House defeated a measure that would have defunded the bulk phone metadata collection program, the narrow 205-217 vote showed that there is significant support in Congress to reform NSA surveillance programs. Here are six other legislative proposals on the table.
On July 23, 2013, Senator Wyden's gave remarks on NSA domestic surveillance and the PATRIOT Act at the Center for American Progress. In his speech Wyden warns that "if we don't seize this unique moment in history to reform our surveillance laws and practices, we will all live to regret it."
Pete Ashdown, XMission, joins Thom Hartmann. Believe it or not - there are some internet companies who actually care about your privacy.
Among the snooping revelations of recent weeks, there have been tantalizing bits of evidence that the NSA is tapping fiber-optic cables that carry nearly all international phone and Internet data.
The European Parliament is gearing up to launch an investigation into the recently revealed NSA surveillance programs—and lawmakers are drawing up an interesting list of witnesses who they want to invite to interview about the snooping.
- By Ralph Nader
Privacy is a sacred word to many Americans, as demonstrated by the recent uproar over the brazen invasion of it by the Patriot Act-enabled National Security Agency
As Congress holds its second major public hearing on the National Security Agency’s bulk spying, we speak with Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian journalist who first published whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations. The NSA admitted their analysis of phone records and online behavior far exceeded what it had previously disclosed.
While President Obama insists that nobody is listening to your telephone calls, cybersecurity expert Susan Landau says the metadata being collected by the government may be far more revealing than the content of the actual phone calls.
- By Amy Goodman
A debate: Chris Hedges, a senior fellow at The Nation Institute and former Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for The New York Times, and Geoffrey Stone, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School. Is Edward Snowden a Hero?
Thom Hartmann talks with Andrea Peterson, tech reporter for the Think Progress Website about a massive online surveillance program you probably haven't heard of.
- By Chris Hayes
Chris Hayes talks about the recent history of government surveillance in America with famed civil rights activist Julian Bond, Maya Wiley of the Center for Social Inclusion, and former deputy White House press secretary Bill Burton.
- By Amy Goodman
The National Security Agency has obtained access to the central servers of nine major Internet companies — including Google, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo! and Facebook.
Anyone who has been paying the least bit of attention was aware that the government was extending their reach into the ordinary citizen privacy drip by drip. However, yesterday's revelation by The Washington Post and The Guardian. What's unclear is what other data mining is being accomplished by whom and for what purpose.
- By Bill Moyers
Glenn Greenwald adds a new dimension to troubling questions about government secrecy, overreach, and what we sacrifice in the name of national security.
An out of control Congress beholden to special corporate clients threatens to criminalize most internet use.
It turns out those far-right tin foil hat-wearing conspiracy theorists aren't that crazy after all. But how did crazy conspiracy theories become unfortunate realities in America today? Ask Attornery General Eric Holder.
- By Staff
It seems that everywhere you look or is it "don't look" these days, the State is continuing to tighten its grip on personal freedoms once held dear by the general population.
But times change. Some of the developments are downright shocking and some are just under most people's radar.
- By Chris Hedges
On Wednesday a few hundred activists crowded into the courtroom of the Second Circuit, the spillover room with its faulty audio feed and dearth of chairs, and Foley Square outside the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse in Manhattan where many huddled in the cold...
The indefinite-detention provision in the defense authorization bill seemed to many civil libertarians like a betrayal by Obama. While the president had promised to veto the law over that provision, Levin, a sponsor of the bill, disclosed on the Senate floor that it was in fact the White House that approved the removal of any exception for citizens from indefinite detention.