How DOJ Gagged Google Over Surveillance of Wikileaks Volunteer
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Re: How DOJ Gagged Google Over Surveillance of Wikileaks Volunteer
#2I communicated with Jason when I asked him for a Google Wave invite (which he kindly gave me). I assume I'm also therefore on a list.
I imagine that the NSA is building a database with every single person on the planet sourced from multiple databases, both PRISMed, FISAed and stolen, and each person has a 'risk' and 'delinquency' factor, just like credit ratings. They also have an 'influence' factor and next to it a link that takes the operator to the available naked pics of the subject for blackmail purposes.
Re: How DOJ Gagged Google Over Surveillance of Wikileaks Volunteer
#3More often than not I look to the judiciary to reign in overreaching by the executive, but more and more the judiciary seems entirely complicit in what I personally consider to be affronts to the basic ideas on which the Constitution was written.
It seems to me that secrecy is the default state of the federal government now, not the exception, and between the NSA and gag orders keeping me (or you) from knowing you're privacy is being violated, my right to defend myself and redress against the government are both violated.
The Founding Fathers knew the price paid by the general public when government acted for its own gain first, and held dominion over the population. Their attempt to reign in its powers and make it truly a collective representation of the will of the people was in reaction to oligarchy and monarchy - both of which make the relationship between the people and their government adversarial at best.
The U.S. government - and more and more, state and local governments - feel entirely adversarial to the people they claim to represent. Lobbies, super pacs, laws written by the entertainment industry and so on make it pretty clear we're bound to an oligarchy which attempts to masquerade itself as a democracy. There is rarely cooperation between the general public and their government - more often, the general public finds itself universally against (SOPA) or universally disgusted by (NSA, Snowden) the actions of the government that claims to be their mouthpiece, working for justice for all.
So long as the judiciary upholds the government's power grabs against the people, there's little that can be done.
Edit: kudos to Google for fighting as hard as they could for the Fourth Amendment (and First). At least someone is. Secrecy was desired because of the huge public backlash the last time they acted so egregiously. Instead of the Judiciary acknowledging how out of bounds the last action was, they instead agreed public knowledge of bad acts was an unnecessary burden on government overreach.
Edit 2:
However, the Justice Department asserted that “journalists have no special privilege to resist compelled disclosure of their records, absent evidence that the government is acting in bad faith,”
I contend that this seizure of private data, with a threshold of evidence far below a Fourth Amendment level, ignoring historic protections for journalists based on the absolute importance of their work in keeping the government in check, is the government acting in the worst faith possible.
Re: How DOJ Gagged Google Over Surveillance of Wikileaks Volunteer
#4I communicated with Jason when I asked him for a Google Wave invite (which he kindly gave me). I assume I'm also therefore on a list. I imagine that the NSA is building a database with every single person on the planet sourced from multiple databases, both PRISMed, FISAed and stolen, and each person has a 'risk' and 'delinquency' factor, just like credit ratings. They also have an 'influence' factor and next to it a…
If I was the bad guys I would definitely do that. In fact, it's not enough to have a risk factor because there are many types of risk (terrorism risk, standard crime risk, political risk, and even whistle-blower risk, for those with access to classified information).
Re: How DOJ Gagged Google Over Surveillance of Wikileaks Volunteer
#5I communicated with Jason when I asked him for a Google Wave invite (which he kindly gave me). I assume I'm also therefore on a list. I imagine that the NSA is building a database with every single person on the planet sourced from multiple databases, both PRISMed, FISAed and stolen, and each person has a 'risk' and 'delinquency' factor, just like credit ratings. They also have an 'influence' factor and next to it a…
If I was the bad guys I would definitely do that. In fact, it's not enough to have a risk factor because there are many types of risk (terrorism risk, standard crime risk, political risk, and even whistle-blower risk, for those with access to classified information).
Someone with a bit of UI design skills should make a mocknup of this. A visual idea conveys so much more to the general public than words.
Re: How DOJ Gagged Google Over Surveillance of Wikileaks Volunteer
#6More often than not I look to the judiciary to reign in overreaching by the executive, but more and more the judiciary seems entirely complicit in what I personally consider to be affronts to the basic ideas on which the Constitution was written. It seems to me that secrecy is the default state of the federal government now, not the exception, and between the NSA and gag orders keeping me (or you) from knowing you're…
Whilst the rights of Americans is important and the 4th amendment a key continent those rights, we should not forget that the privacy invasions are not limited to those in the US.
More importantly, those outside the US have NO rights under the US constitution. To the contrary we have about as much rights as a chimpanzee, unless we are at war with the US and if we are lucky we won't be declared non-combatants, imprisoned in some black or quasi illegal prison for 15 years and ideally will be treated fairly under the Geneva Convention.
Re: How DOJ Gagged Google Over Surveillance of Wikileaks Volunteer
#7Here's Appelbaum's reaction to the disclosure from Google: https://storify.com/bbhorne/jacob-appelbaum-s-legal-disclosu...
It's interesting to get a glimpse into the lengths that Google goes to push back against government requests.
Re: How DOJ Gagged Google Over Surveillance of Wikileaks Volunteer
#8Presumably a number of people at Google had access to the orders, if only to implement the government's surveillance.
What's always baffling to me is how seldom stuff like this is leaked -- all it takes is one person with the right access, conscience and the technical skills to work out how to siphon off their own unofficial copy, then put that unofficial copy anonymously on the internet when the appeals to do it legally have been exhausted.
Re: How DOJ Gagged Google Over Surveillance of Wikileaks Volunteer
#9Here's Appelbaum's reaction to the disclosure from Google: https://storify.com/bbhorne/jacob-appelbaum-s-legal-disclosu... It's interesting to get a glimpse into the lengths that Google goes to push back against government requests.
This makes Julian Assange's rant about Google and Eric Schmidt all the more concerning. The two should be working together instead of against each other. It's clear where Google's morals lie. It's just hard to tell at times as they are bound by the rule of law (and business).
Re: How DOJ Gagged Google Over Surveillance of Wikileaks Volunteer
#10Presumably a number of people at Google had access to the orders, if only to implement the government's surveillance. What's always baffling to me is how seldom stuff like this is leaked -- all it takes is one person with the right access, conscience and the technical skills to work out how to siphon off their own unofficial copy, then put that unofficial copy anonymously on the internet when the appeals to do it leg…
No one wants to go through what Chelsea Manning went through. Psychological torture and completely ruining someone's life is a powerful deterrent.