Tag: Shut Up Slave

Big Brother is Watching You Tweet

OK the title is misleading because Big Brother is watching more than just your Twitter feed but Twitter is one of the sites being monitored by General Dynamics under a contract granted by the Department of Homeland Motherland Security (DHS).

EPIC’s FOIA lawsuit forced the DHS to disclose 285 pages of records. The documents include contracts, price estimates, Privacy Impact Assessment, and communications concerning DHS Media Monitoring program. These records make public, for the first time, details of the DHS’s efforts to spy on social network users and journalists.

The records reveal that the DHS is paying General Dynamics to monitor the news. The agency instructed the company to monitor for “[media] reports that reflect adversely on the U.S. Government, DHS, or prevent, protect, respond government activities.”

The documents can be viewed at the provided link. What makes this interesting is the fact that this monitoring was apparently used to arrest a person traveling to the United States:

Two British tourists were barred from entering America after joking on Twitter that they were going to ‘destroy America’ and ‘dig up Marilyn Monroe’.

Leigh Van Bryan, 26, was handcuffed and kept under armed guard in a cell with Mexican drug dealers for 12 hours after landing in Los Angeles with pal Emily Bunting.

The Department of Homeland Security flagged him as a potential threat when he posted an excited tweet to his pals about his forthcoming trip to Hollywood which read: ‘Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America’.

Bruce Schneier, who I obtained this story from is doubtful that General Dynamic’s monitoring of Twitter is what actually lead to the arrest of the two British tourists:

Still, I have trouble believing that this is what happened. For this to work General Dynamics would have had to monitor Twitter for key words. (“Destroy America” is certainly a good key word to search for.) Then, they would have to find out the real name associated with the Twitter account — unlike Facebook or Google+, Twitter doesn’t have real name information — so the TSA could cross-index that name with the airline’s passenger manifests. Then the TSA has to get all this information into the INS computers, so that the border control agent knows to detain him. Sure, it sounds straightforward, but getting all those computers to talk to each other that fast isn’t easy. There has to be more going on here.

Twitter does have a mechanism for entering your real name as I have my real name entered in it. When you go to my Twitter feed you can see my user name is ComradeBurg but the name displayed is Christopher Burg and that I’m in Minnesota. Therefore it is conceivable that the monitoring being done by General Dynamics grabbed the offending tweeter’s real user name and location, fed to to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to be cross referenced with flight manifests, and a target could be found and arrested.

Of course this all depends on the Twitter user entering the real name and real location, but that is a problem that must be overcome when monitoring any website. I do agree with Schenier’s remark though because as he said getting all of those computers (not to mention those bureaucracies) to talk to each other so quickly is unlikely. Claiming that the target was arrested solely from obtaining their Twitter information seems like propaganda being thrown out to scare the public into obedience. In fact that’s exactly what the concept of Big Brother was supposed to do in 1984’s society, scare the populace into obedience. Truthfully nobody was sure whether or not Big Brother was actually watching them, but the fear of being watched kept the people from getting too many thoughts of revolution in their heads.

North Korea is Strict

Compared to North Korea the United Police States of America is in its infancy. With the recent death of their Scumbag Dear Leader the people of North Korea has been going into full out fake grief mode in the hopes of avoiding execution for not being fully loyal to the state. What does being fully loyal to the state entail in North Korea? Apparently not using a cell phone:

North Korea has warned that any of its citizens caught trying to defect to China or using mobile phones during the 100-day mourning period for Kim Jong-il will be branded as “war criminals” and punished accordingly.

The funny thing is that I didn’t even know North Korea had cell phones.

Your Health is Irrelevant in The War on Drugs

The war on drugs, like prohibition, has turned out to be nothing but a money sinkhole that promotes violent crime. Any person with a couple of properly firing synapses would say the American people certainly aren’t getting any return on the government’s investment in preventing many of those same people from using various verboten substances. Now the government is stepping up its game and plainly informing the citizenry that their health matters not when it comes to preventing drugs from entering this country:

A 63-page set of specifications (PDF), heavily redacted, obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center through the Freedom of Information Act, says the scanners must “be based on X-Ray or gamma technology,” which use potentially dangerous ionizing radiation at high energies, and “shall be capable of scanning cars, SUVs, motorcycles and busses.”

“Society will pay a huge price in cancer because of this,” John Sedat, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California at San Francisco, told CNET. Sedat has raised concerns about the health risks of X-ray scanners, and the European Commission in November prohibited their use in European airports.

In other words those entering or leaving the country will have to submit to scans by devices that use radition known to cause cancer. According to the United States government no price is too high to pay for the war on drugs, even if that price is your health.

Judge Order Violates Fifth Amendment Protections

I understand the Bill of Rights has been relegated to the back room of a dusty library but it would be nice if the government would at least pretent to abide by it onces in a while. A judge has ordered a woman to decrypt her laptop harddrive so that prosecutors can used the data to nail her to the wall:

A judge on Monday ordered a Colorado woman to decrypt her laptop computer so prosecutors can use the files against her in a criminal case.

The defendant, accused of bank fraud, had unsuccessfully argued that being forced to do so violates the Fifth Amendment’s protection against compelled self-incrimination.

“I conclude that the Fifth Amendment is not implicated by requiring production of the unencrypted contents of the Toshiba Satellite M305 laptop computer,” Colorado U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn ruled Monday. (.pdf)

The judge ruled incorrectly. Let’s take a look at the text of the Fifth Amendment:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Emphasis added to the part that is relevant to this story. According to the Bill of Rights you may not be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against yourself. By having to reveals her decryption key the woman is being compelled to be a witness against herself. Sadly our country gives the government the ability to both declare and interpret law meaning their definition of the Fifth Amendment directly opposes the reading of it whenever it’s convenient:

The government had argued that there was no Fifth Amendment breach, and that it might “require significant resources and may harm the subject computer” if the authorities tried to crack the encryption.

In other words the Fifth Amendment doesn’t come into play if it would make it difficult for the government to prosecute you. It seems that TrueCrypt’s plausible deniability may be a person’s only protection against being forced to reveal their decryption keys.

Greatest Campaign Stunt Ever

While I still haven’t made up my mind on Rand Paul he continues to impress me. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has detained the senator because he refused to be sexually molested by a government thug:

Paul’s office confirmed he set off an airport security full-body scanner “on a glitch,” according to a spokesman.

The Paul staffer said TSA agents would not let Paul walk back through the body scanner and were demanding a full body pat-down.

The Paul spokesman said his office called TSA administrator John Pistole about the incident this morning.
The U.S. Constitution actually protects federal lawmakers from detention while they’re on the way to the capital.

So he setup of the scanner, offered to walk back through the scanner to verify, and then TSA agent who was chomping at the bit to feel somebody up decided that wasn’t good enough. Of course the TSA is claiming they never detained Paul:

“When an irregularity is found during the TSA screening process, it must be resolved prior to allowing a passenger to proceed to the secure area of the airport,” according to an official statement released by TSA. “Passengers who refuse to complete the screening process cannot be granted access to the secure area in order to ensure the safety of others traveling.”

This is also the same agency that lied about the safety of these body scanners so I’m more inclined to believe Paul’s statement about being detained. Either way it does boil down to a he said she said argument.

Let me give Paul some serious points for refusing to be sexual molested. On that note let me also take away points for submitting to the body scanner in the first place. Still refusing the pat down does take some balls, especially in this police state.

Just because it’s predictable can you guess where our Dear Leader stands on this issue? I’m sure you already guessed that the White House sided with the TSA thugs:

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday that he didn’t have any reaction to Paul’s “police state” comments.

But Carney sided with the TSA saying, “I think it is absolutely essential that we take necessary actions to ensure that air travel is safe.”

That last comment is some major doublespeak. Those body scanners aren’t necessary for airport security as demonstrated by the fact we haven’t had another terrorist hijacking since 9/11 even though body scanners have only recently been implemented. The TSA will gladly take credit for the lack of hijackings but truth be told hijackings were exceedingly rare before 9/11 when airports handled their own security.

Truthfully the White House doesn’t care about security, they care about control.

The Ultimate Shut Up Slave Legislation

Listen up slaves, you’re government has now decreed that you are to shut up while traveling overseas. HR313, the Drug Trafficking Safe Harbor Elimination Act of 2011, will make it illegal for American citizens to discuss acts that are verboten under the Controlled Substances Act:

The House Judiciary Committee passed a bill yesterday that would make it a federal crime for U.S. residents to discuss or plan activities on foreign soil that, if carried out in the U.S., would violate the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) — even if the planned activities are legal in the countries where they’re carried out. H.R. 313, the “Drug Trafficking Safe Harbor Elimination Act of 2011,” is sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), and allows prosecutors to bring conspiracy charges against anyone who discusses, plans or advises someone else to engage in any activity that violates the CSA, the massive federal law that prohibits drugs like marijuana and strictly regulates prescription medication.

Nice huh? What’s even better is the fact this has already passed a House vote. This is a wonderfully verbose and yet horrible piece of legislations:

‘(b) Whoever, within the United States, conspires with one or more persons, or aids or abets one or more persons, regardless of where such other persons are located, to engage in conduct at any place outside the United States that would constitute a violation of this title, other than a violation of section 404(a), if committed within the United States, shall be subject to the same penalties that would apply to such conduct if it were to occur within the United States.’.

The government’s fingers spread far and wide in an attempt to control the actions of the people it claims to rule over. Even fleeing to another country is no longer a safe harbor.

Public Domain is Effectively Dead

We’re all aware of the fact that copyrighted works eventually go into public domain. Well that’s how it used to work, now the Supreme Court has ruled that Congress can re-copyright public domain works:

Congress may take books, musical compositions and other works out of the public domain, where they can be freely used and adapted, and grant them copyright status again, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

In a 6-2 ruling, the court ruled that just because material enters the public domain, it is not “territory that works may never exit.” (PDF)

The top court was ruling on a petition by a group of orchestra conductors, educators, performers, publishers and film archivists who urged the justices to reverse an appellate court that ruled against the group, which has relied on artistic works in the public domain for their livelihoods.

This ruling has farther implications that some may realize. There is a huge amount of public domain works out there, many of which are made freely available by sites like Project Gutenberg. Unfortunately if Congress were to renew the copyright on some of these public domain works these sites would find themselves in violation of copyright law and therefore be subject to arrest.

Another possible problem with this ruling is the fact Congress may have the ability to copyright works that were never copyrighted previously. Many authors put out material as public domain from the start, allowing people to download these works and use them in any way they see fit.

When you combine this ruling with legislation like SOPA or PROTECT-IP things get very frightening indeed. For example we will take a hypothetical piece of dissenting literature made freely available under public domain. For the sake of this discussion let’s say somebody within Congress finds this piece of literature extremely unsavory and wants it removed. In order to get it removed he works with other members of Congress to re-copyright the work. Shortly after the work is re-copyrighted the domains of every provider are seized in an effort to enact censorship of the work.

While some will claim such thing couldn’t happen in the United States the truth is it can. We live in a police state where our government is working around the clock to eliminate the rights of free speech, trial by jury, and to be secure in our belongings. Legislation like the PATRIOT Act and the new section in the National Defense Authorization Act have ensured the latter two are entirely gone but the government still has work to do on eliminating the freedom of speech. This ruling combined with legislation like SOPA and PROTECT-IP are the endgame.

SOPA and PROTECT-IP Were Irrelevant

The Internet blackout did a good job of raising awareness of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act (PROTECT-IP, PIPA, or entirely absurd acronym). In fact so much awareness was raised and so many calls were made to “representatives” that both bills lost a great number of co-sponsors. People are cheering this as proof that democracy works and that we only need to bring attention of erroneous legislation to our “representatives” to stop the advance of the police state.

Unfortunately I have some bad news to report. You know all of those calls and e-mails made to “representatives” in Washington DC? They accomplished nothing. How can I say that? Simple, since passing either SOPA or PROTECT-IP became too difficult the government simply gave the middle finger to us serfs and decided to proceed as though either bill was passed. The popular file-sharing website MegaUpload was shutdown by the federal government*:

One of the world’s most popular file-sharing sites was shut down Thursday, and its founder and several company officials were accused of facilitating millions of illegal downloads of films, music and other content.

A federal indictment accused Megaupload.com of costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue. The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to make it easier for authorities to go after sites with pirated material, especially those with overseas headquarters and servers.

Here’s a copy of the indictment [PDF] for those who are curious. When those assholes in Washington can’t get what they want in the form of legislation they just go ahead and do what they want anyways. In their eyes passing legislation is just a formality.

Many people were chanting, “This is what democracy looks like!” as “representatives” repealed their sponsorship of SOPA and PROTECT-IP. What they should have been saying is, “This is what a police state looks like.” The United States isn’t a republic or a democracy, it’s a fascist empire.

* As of this writing MegaUpload can be accessed using the IP address 109.236.83.66.

Felony Whale Feeding

Whenever somebody tells me all felons should be prohibited from owning firearms I show them shit like this:

For this, Ms Black might now face up to 20 years in prison and half a million dollars in fines, after a federal grand jury indicted her this month. Little about the charges makes common sense. The federal law in question is the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, which was intended to save dolphins, seals and whales from being killed and harassed. The law also banned feeding these animals, on the theory that doing so might compromise their ability to forage naturally in future. Feeding is what Ms Black is now accused of. She says she was using the protocols she had learned from the federal agencies that are now investigating her to observe a natural feeding that was already in progress.

That’s right a marine biologist is facing felony charges for observing Orcas as they feed. The last time I checked observing marine mammals feeding is in the marine biologist job description. This poor woman could lose her right to own a firearm and vote because she was literally doing he fucking job. On top of that she is also being nailed with a double-standard:

Just as ridiculous, says Mr Biegel, is the accusation, increasingly common in federal cases, that Ms Black lied to the authorities, which carries its own prison terms. Ms Black always edits the commercial videos of her whale outings to make them more interesting. When investigators demanded footage, she gave them one of these edited videos. Prosecutors now claim that she had tampered with evidence.

Remember the police can lie to you but if you lie to them you’re in deep shit. Or, in this case, if you give them edited footage instead of raw footage they can claim you lied to them and pile on more charges to ensure you get more than mere felony whale feeding. Felony. Whale. Feeding. Just typing that sounds like a bad joke I would use as a hypothetical example of a stupid overreaching law. The problem here is this law isn’t hypothetical, it’s actually on the damned books and being enforced.

It bears repeating that the prohibition against feeding whales, like all prohibitions, actually requires the use of violence to enforce. If you toss a whale some dead meat you can actually be murdered by the state. Think about that.

The Rumors of SOPA’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

Everybody is cheering about the death of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA):

In a surprise move today, Representative Eric Cantor(R-VA) announced that he will stop all action on SOPA, effectively killing the bill.

Huzzah! Hurray! Let’s all go out for drinks and celebrate!

Before we do there is one minor detail that needs to be brought up, SOPA isn’t dead. While the house version, H.R.3261 is effectively dead, it’s sister bill in the Senate, S.968 the PROTECT-IP Act, is still alive and well:

PIPA is less well known than SOPA, but the provisions are basicly the same. It still includes the same DNS blocking and censoring system that the original SOPA did, just without the SOPA name. There are around 40 co-sponsors of the bill in the Senate so far, with no word on how many senators support the bill in addition to that. There will most likely need to be 60 votes in the Senate in order to invoke cloture and end an almost guaranteed filibuster.

Much like the need to remove every head of a hyra, both bills in our legislative body must be killed before this erroneous legislation is truly dead. Hell I’m pretty sure our “representatives” purposely gave the bills two different names in the hope one’s death would lull people into a false sense of security while the other bill was ramrodded through both houses and signed by the president.