HOW I COULD OWN YOU

Posted by Ed 11 yrs ago

It doesn’t matter if you are the CEO of a multinational corporation, it doesn’t matter if you are a billionaire, it doesn’t matter if you are a 2 metre tall, 120kg former rugby star… I can own you.

Let’s say I had the ability to monitor and record your every email, your every phone call … and I had the resources to store these communications – forever.

Now you may think that is no big deal because you have done nothing wrong – you are not a terrorist – you are not a criminal – you are a law-abiding citizen with nothing to hide.

BUT … are you really sure that you have done nothing wrong … done nothing to compromise yourself?

So I open your file and I see:

- On May 7, 2012 at 7:16 pm you made a call on your cell to an escort service while you were in Taipei – you requested a girl to come to your room at the Hyatt at 9pm.

- On January 4, 2009, at 8:03 am you sent an email to your friend as follows: ‘my wife’s mother is pissing me off – she is a god damn bitch – I would have known I was signing up for this I would never have married my wife’

- On September 23, 2011, at 6:44 pm you made a phone call to your wife and you complained that your boss was a son of a bitch – you already work night and day and yet he is not happy – he wants you to be on call 24 hours a day when you leave for that holiday in Phuket – you tell your wife that you’d like to tell the boss to piss off – you also mention that his wife is a tai tai and she spends her days shopping and getting her nails done - I don’t know what it is with these Hong Kong people!!!

- On March 17, 5:33 pm you sent an email to your father as follows: ‘yes I know Bob is part of the family but let’s face it – he is a lazy bastard – he’s never had a decent job – and he’s a drunk – so giving him an advance on his inheritance is a bad move – I think you should tell him no’

- On June 11, 2008, at 11pm, you sent an sms to your friend Jim asking him to cover for you because you were in Wanchai on a mission – you specifically asked Jim to say, if asked, that you were with him at the pub watching the football match.

I could go on and on … I am sure there are lots of other useful bits of information that I could dig out of your file. But I think you get the idea – I know EVERYTHING about you. I know your thoughts – your vices – your prejudices – your gossip.

Are you comfortable with the fact that I have all of this information? That I have it stored in a nice safe place – FOREVER?

Perhaps you are OK with me knowing your most intimate detail…. Perhaps you are comfortable with me having the same access to you as a ‘fly on the wall’ … you don’t mind that I am the ultimate ‘peeping tom’

But what if I decided to use that information to control you?

Let’s say, I wanted to make you do something – or stop you from doing something? Hmmmm…. Let me see who do I threaten to call first? Your wife? Your boss? Hmmmm… maybe you prefer I don’t call anyone…. I am sure we can come to an arrangement.

But you say – I trust you Ed – I trust you to monitor my every email, sms and phone conversation because you are a good person – you would never hang me out to dry – we are buddies – I’ve never done anything to deserve something like that

Yes we are buddies – and so far you have never done anything that would warrant me using that info.

But knowledge is power – and power corrupts absolutely so things might change… I may be tempted to use that information at some point.

And even if I don’t - what about the next Ed… of the one after him… and what about all the other people in my organization... the programmers... the network guys... they also have access to your private communications....

Remember – we have your data FOREVER.

And we OWN YOU.

You still ok with me monitoring and storing your communications?

johnk348 11 yrs ago

Ed, there's a difference between data and metadata...

Ed 11 yrs ago

If you are trying to say that the NSA does not have the actual data then you are mistaken - and the NSA is lying.

I know principals of telecom companies and they have told me that they are required to install monitoring software on their networks - this software monitors and records all voice and sms traffic.

Whoever runs the software knows who you are - where you are - and exactly what you have communicated.

So for the purposes of this exercise we will assume I have the same powers as the NSA - I have buildings full of the world's most powerful computers - I have unlimited storage capacity - and I am monitoring and storing your every email - your every telcon - and your every sms.

scorpio01 11 yrs ago

scary.....

TLW888 11 yrs ago

and even IF the NSA only had the metadata (which I doubt very much, they outright lied about collecting data on americans before) I can still reconstruct your entire life from just that ...

read, watch and think again:

http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention/

Ed 11 yrs ago

Is Snowden more distraction than traitor?

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is being used to distract Americans from the truth behind spying allegations.

Edward Snowden is the man who has been "spilling America's political secrets." Or at least, that is how I just heard him described on a cable news program.

Since the former NSA contractor outed himself, I've heard him called many names by people from both official and "unofficial" spokespeople of Washington - the pundits, paid thinkers and writers who are part of that well-groomed group.

For those unlucky people who can't experience the joy of watching domestic television, allow me share a few of the descriptions I've heard and read.

Snowden has been called "a traitor, high school dropout, loser, slacker, and a man with messianic aspirations."

So to sum it up, most of the people who have access to professional microphones are targeting him with labels that would make any human being feel like a skinny, acne covered High School freshman with lice.

This has an impact beyond Snowden’s self-esteem. It sets the tone for the conversation, it casts a light on the discussion, and it has the potential to impact how Americans feel about this story and about the surveillance the US government is conducting.

I can't tell you how Americans really feel about NSA surveillance. There have been polls, but I don't think there has been enough public discussion to say with any degree of confidence that Americans really understand the depth of what Snowden is telling the world.

They do know all about the hotels and bars in the Moscow airport, the potential countries he may end up in, and who he has dated.

Americans know far less about what Snowden says the US government is doing.

So as to not fall into that trap and since it is Independence Day (yes, I am sadly working), let's detail what we now know the US government does because of Snowden and others:

Keeps a record of every cell phone call made.

Keeps a record of all emails sent.

Takes pictures of all the letters mailed in the US.

Uses drones for domestic surveillance.

Reserves the right to detain people (including Americans) indefinitely without trial.

Can search homes without telling people they were there.

Can still carry out renditions.

Can get copies of all of your records (from the library, bank or credit card company) without a warrant.

So to sum things up, if you become a person of interest, the government can quickly find out everyone you have ever talked to and written to; everything you have ever read and bought; and everywhere you have ever been.

If you are overseas, they reserve the right to bring you back against your will and possibly hold you forever without trial.

President Barack Obama says he wants to have a serious discussion about these programs - which he says are necessary.

But that serious, national discussion about the scope of US surveillance and the definition of privacy will have to wait, because the media is distracted and busy painting their own narrative.

It might not be the most common phrase, but when I want to describe how to easily distract someone, I say: "Look! Something shiny!"

If you don't believe me, hold up a spinning disco ball to a small child mid-tantrum – it works every time.

Edward Snowden has turned into something shiny.

It seems an appropriate analogy today on the Fourth of July, when Americans celebrate our independence with fireworks.

After all, those are shiny too.

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/blog/americas/snowden-more-distraction-traitor

Ed 11 yrs ago

Now there are those who will say they don’t mind being spied upon… because they trust their government … that their government would never use the stored data against them – ever.

I would ask who is it that you trust? Is it your representative – who we know is paid off by corporations and special interests? Is it Obama – who we know is pretty much a puppet controlled by those who provide the billions for his election campaign?

So you trust a government that is not really democratically elected … that lied about WMD to start a war in Iraq – that tortures – that kills innocent people with drones – that kills people that MIGHT be terrorists - that wants to enact laws that allow any American to be thrown into a dungeon without habeus corpus – that pepper sprayed students at a sit in protest of the financial scandal – that beat and kicked women who were peacefully protesting at OWS – that smashed the peaceful protests at Zuccotti Park that spies on your every communication without telling you – that is stockpiling billions of rounds of ammunition and purchasing armoured military vehicles for use on home soil – that engages in acts of piracy forcing countries to not allow the president of Ecuador’s plane to overfly …

Of course such a government would never abuse your personal data… they would never carry out witch hunts against Americans and persecute them unless they were engaged in criminal or terrorist activities.

But wait…. Recall this guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy

Now just imagine if someone like him got a hold of your data…

Let’s trot out another parallel… Germany …. Hitler was a joke – initially… but as reparations from WW1 cratered the economy what happened?

The people – faced with hyperinflation desperately looked for a solution – and Hitler offered that to them….

The US has printed 10 trillion dollars in the past 5 years – they have kept interest rates at 0 – these are unprecedented policies. And growth is barely registering in spite of all this…. Also the minute they threaten to raise interest rates the markets crash…. This is just on the rumour….

Money printing cannot go on forever…. Eventually you could revisit Weimar Germany … money printing as we all know will eventually lead to hyperinflation.

You may trust Obama with you ever email, sms and telcon…. But would you trust a guy like Hitler?

First they came for the communists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the socialists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Catholic.

Then they came for me,

and there was no one left to speak for me.

Once the door is open it can never be closed.... and one can never know what the future may bring... ask the Germans... ask the Russians...

Ed 11 yrs ago

“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”: The new warrior cop is out of control

SWAT teams raiding poker games and trying to stop underage drinking? Overwhelming paramilitary force is on the rise

Sal Culosi is dead because he bet on a football game — but it wasn’t a bookie or a loan shark who killed him. His local government killed him, ostensibly to protect him from his gambling habit.

Read the rest: http://www.salon.com/2013/07/07/%E2%80%9Cwhy_did_you_shoot_me_i_was_reading_a_book_the_new_warrior_cop_is_out_of_control/

Ed 11 yrs ago

1.6 Billion Rounds Of Ammo For Homeland Security? It's Time For A National Conversation

The Denver Post, on February 15th, ran an Associated Press article entitled Homeland Security aims to buy 1.6b rounds of ammo, so far to little notice.

It confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security has issued an open purchase order for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition.

As reported elsewhere, some of this purchase order is for hollow-point rounds, forbidden by international law for use in war, along with a frightening amount specialized for snipers.

Also reported elsewhere, at the height of the Iraq War the Army was expending less than 6 million rounds a month.

Therefore 1.6 billion rounds would be enough to sustain a hot war for 20+ years. In America.

Add to this perplexing outré purchase of ammo, DHS now is showing off its acquisition of heavily armored personnel carriers, repatriated from the Iraqi and Afghani theaters of operation. As observed by “paramilblogger” Ken Jorgustin last September

Read the rest http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2013/03/11/1-6-billion-rounds-of-ammo-for-homeland-security-its-time-for-a-national-conversation/

Oh ya... I guess this is about 'the terrorists' as well... tens of thousands of them will be swimming across the Atlantic and invading the east coast cities.... gotta be ready for 'the terrorists'

Ed 11 yrs ago

New Polls show 55% of Americans support Snowden....

From the comments section of another site:

Barack Obama’s administration has been pressuring other countries not to grant Snowden asylum, and U.S. officials who have called him a traitor include House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican. – Poll

Perhaps Justin Raimondo (Antiwar.com) sums up the Snowden unveiling best: If the U.S. should capture Snowden, the result would likely be Snowden capturing the U.S. Specifically, the public uproar would be so great that the Diane Feinstein’s would be transformed from prosecutors to defendants.

Snowden sounded the alarm for patriot Americans: run or fight. Decade after decade the American people have been bullied by this banker controlled government until today the people have lost any representation in their government. Mostly it is about individual and states’ rights, whether the people and the states or the iron fist of the central government shall control.

Snowden’s revelations, for which he is giving his life, are no scare. They are the real thing. And the 55+ percent are facing up to the trouble. If Snowden is run down by Obama’s and Boehner’s thuggish outlaws, if they kill him, it was because he was honest when they wanted him to be otherwise.

If we want to remain civilized, we’re going to have to fight to protect America from these internationalists who “care not who makes America’s laws,” or all the civilized world as we knew it will be dead, and “we will be back in the darkness of savagery.”

Ed 11 yrs ago

Substitute USSR for US?

Washington - In an initiative aimed at rooting out future leakers and other security violators, President Barack Obama has ordered federal employees to report suspicious actions of their colleagues based on behavioral profiling techniques that are not scientifically proven to work, according to experts and government documents.

The techniques are a key pillar of the Insider Threat Program, an unprecedented government-wide crackdown under which millions of federal bureaucrats and contractors must watch out for “high-risk persons or behaviors” among co-workers. Those who fail to report them could face penalties, including criminal charges.

Obama mandated the program in an October 2011 executive order after Army Pfc. Bradley Manning downloaded hundreds of thousands of documents from a classified computer network and gave them to WikiLeaks, the anti-government secrecy group. The order covers virtually every federal department and agency, including the Peace Corps, the Department of Education and others not directly involved in national security.

Under the program, which is being implemented with little public attention, security investigations can be launched when government employees showing “indicators of insider threat behavior” are reported by co-workers, according to previously undisclosed administration documents obtained by McClatchy. Investigations also can be triggered when “suspicious user behavior” is detected by computer network monitoring and reported to “insider threat personnel.”

More http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/17500-obamas-plan-to-crackdown-on-whistleblowers-leaked

seablues24 11 yrs ago

The naivety here is amazing. Spying goes on? We're shocked! Guess none of you saw buildings, buses or trains filled with people you knew blown to bits. Good luck with that.

seablues24 11 yrs ago

Oh yeah. And let's see what happens when someone blows the whistle on the "open societies" Snowden wants to settle in.

Ed 11 yrs ago

So you are agreeing that America is no different than Russia or China? i.e. it is a totalitarian state

Ed 11 yrs ago

And the final piece falls into place... Pulitzer prize winning journalist Chris Hedges had been battling Mr Hope and Change in the courts ... and has (of course) now lost the battle....

What this means is that the door is now open - forever - to allow the government to seize anyone it determines to be an enemy of the state - lock them in a dungeon - without habeus corpus.

How is America now any different than Russia or China? The whole point of habeus corpus is to give the accused the right to appear before a judge - to have one's family informed of your status - to have legal representation.

In one foul swoop Obama has overturned the basis of the legal system.

This is a very slippery... very dangerous slope....

Think abuses can't happen in America? They already have e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AdDLhPwpp4

A ‘Black Day’ for Liberty

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit has dealt a terrible blow to Chris Hedges, Daniel Ellsberg, Noam Chomsky and the other activists and journalists suing to prevent the indefinite military detention of American citizens.

Sections 1021 and 1022 of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 would allow the military to detain indefinitely persons who are deemed to consort with terrorists or those who commit “belligerent acts” against the United States. Journalists, whose job it is to do just that, would undoubtedly qualify, Hedges has argued.

This is quite distressing. It means there is no recourse now either within the Executive, Legislative or Judicial branches of government to halt the steady assault on our civil liberties and most basic Constitutional rights. It means that the state can use the military, overturning over two centuries of domestic law, to use troops on the streets to seize U.S. citizens, strip them of due process and hold them indefinitely in military detention centers. States that accrue to themselves this kind of power, history has shown, will use it. We will appeal, but the Supreme Court is not required to hear our appeal. It is a black day for those who care about liberty.

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/chris_hedges_responds_to_ndaa_defeat_20130717/

Ed 11 yrs ago

Aldous Huxley

“Everything in our background has prepared us to know and resist a prison when the gates begin to close around us . . . But what if there are no cries of anguish to be heard? Who is prepared to take arms against a sea of amusements? To whom do we complain, and when, and in what tone of voice, when serious discourse dissolves into giggles? What is the antidote to a culture's being drained by laughter?”

“When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience, and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility.”

Huxley Interview - 1952: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3TQZ-2iMUR0

Ed 11 yrs ago

Breaking the Set

On this episode of Breaking the Set, Abby Martin reports on the latest in the Chris Hedges lawsuit, with news that a federal court has ruled in favor of the government’s right to indefinitely detain US citizens.

http://rt.com/shows/breaking-set-summary/ndaa-court-censorship-us-293/

Ed 11 yrs ago

From the comments on another site;

let's see; the government can read all of our private papers, monitor all of our phone conversations, infiltrate our non-violent peace groups, violently disrupt any gathering in public, secretly detain people w/out notifying their families or lawyers, and if they're really pissed they can murder practically anyone anywhere in the world w/ a drone.

freedom, liberty, fraternity ???

we've been slowly boiling in a pot of creeping totalitarianism. and where is the outcry from the american public ? ask a person on the bus tomorrow what their opinion is concerning the democratic president signing off on the 2012 NDAA. you will be met w/ gaping mouths. if you explain the implicit implications of allowing the military to work w/ local law enforcement or the risks of indefinite detention in secret detention facilities, they will look at you like you're a conspiracy nut.

we live in dangerous times...

...peace...

Ed 11 yrs ago

There’s No Hiding from the NSA

If you really do want to have every single trace of you lost, then you might like to think about living under ground for the rest of your life, or up a mountain in Outer Mongolia. The chances are that you will be found anyhow. It turns out that the National Security Agency of the US can actually locate your cell phone even when it has been turned off and is no longer emitting a signal.

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-07-25/there%E2%80%99s-no-hiding-nsa

Feds tell Web firms to turn over user account passwords

Secret demands mark escalation in Internet surveillance by the federal government through gaining access to user passwords, which are typically stored in encrypted form.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57595529-38/feds-tell-web-firms-to-turn-over-user-account-passwords/

Ed 11 yrs ago

The United States is Supporting Al Qaeda

Supporters of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan have been getting U.S. military contracts, and American officials are citing “due process rights” as a reason not to cancel the agreements, according to an independent agency monitoring spending.

The U.S. Army Suspension and Debarment Office has declined to act in 43 such cases, John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, said today in a letter accompanying a quarterly report to Congress

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-30/al-qaeda-backers-found-with-u-s-contracts-in-afghanistan.html

But the NSA has to spy on every single email, web search, phone call etc... of every single person on the planet to 'protect us from the terrorists'

Bradley Manning exposes this War Crime http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0 and is told to take a hike by his bosses - and he goes to jail...

Is it only me - but is there something very wrong with this picture?

P.S. I am feeling very safe from the terrorists knowing that the NSA is picking up potential terrorists like this ... great work guys!

And no this is real - it is not from the spoof site 'The Onion'

New York woman visited by police after researching pressure cookers online

Long Island resident said her web search history and 'trying to learn how to cook lentils' prompted a visit from authorities

"Do you own a pressure cooker? My husband said no, but we have a rice cooker. Can you make a bomb with that? My husband said no, my wife uses it to make quinoa. What the hell is quinoa, they asked."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/01/new-york-police-terrorism-pressure-cooker

Everything you do online - everything you say on the phone - EVERYTHING - is being watched... by idiots... for what reason?

Oh - to protect us from 'the terrorists' .... whom we are funding.

Ed 11 yrs ago

What Google Knows About You

64,019 Searches: A Dark Journey Into My Google History

Let’s run through a little thought experiment.

Imagine there’s a list somewhere that contains every single webpage you have visited in the last five years. It also has everything you have ever searched for, every address you looked up on Google GOOG +1.86% Maps, every email you sent, every chat message, every YouTube video you watched. Each entry is time-stamped, so it’s clear exactly, down to the minute, when all of this was done.

Now imagine that list is all searchable. And imagine it’s on a clean, easy-to-use website. With all that imagined, can you think of a way a hacker, with access to this, could use it against you?

And once you’ve imagined all that, go over to google.com/dashboard, and see it all become reality.

http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2013/07/31/googles-all-seeing-eye-does-it-see-into-me-clearly-or-darkly/

scorpio01 11 yrs ago

scary..

Ed 11 yrs ago

Do we believe these powers would not be abused?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AdDLhPwpp4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4jCalrs_jg

http://www.theguardian.com/gall/0,8542,1211872,00.html

Ed 11 yrs ago

Email service used by Snowden shuts itself down, warns against using US-based companies

A Texas-based encrypted email service recently revealed to be used by Edward Snowden - Lavabit - announced yesterday it was shutting itself down in order to avoid complying with what it perceives as unjust secret US court orders to provide government access to its users' content. "After significant soul searching, I have decided to suspend operations," the company's founder, Ladar Levinson, wrote in a statement to users posted on the front page of its website. He said the US directive forced on his company "a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit." He chose the latter.

CNET's Declan McCullagh smartly speculates that Lavabit was served "with [a] federal court order to intercept users' (Snowden?) passwords" to allow ongoing monitoring of emails; specifically: "the order can also be to install FedGov-created malware." After challenging the order in district court and losing - all in a secret court proceeding, naturally - Lavabit shut itself down to avoid compliance while it appeals to the Fourth Circuit.

What is particularly creepy about the Lavabit self-shutdown is that the company is gagged by law even from discussing the legal challenges it has mounted and the court proceeding it has engaged. In other words, the American owner of the company believes his Constitutional rights and those of his customers are being violated by the US Government, but he is not allowed to talk about it.

I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision. I cannot. I feel you deserve to know what's going on - the first amendment is supposed to guarantee me the freedom to speak out in situations like this. Unfortunately, Congress has passed laws that say otherwise. As things currently stand, I cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks, even though I have twice made the appropriate requests."

Does that sound like a message coming from a citizen of a healthy and free country? Secret courts issuing secret rulings invariably in favor of the US government that those most affected are barred by law from discussing? Is there anyone incapable at this point of seeing what the United States has become? Here's the very sound advice issued by Lavabit's founder:

This experience has taught me one very important lesson: without congressional action or a strong judicial precedent, I would _strongly_ recommend against anyone trusting their private data to a company with physical ties to the United States."

More http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/09/lavabit-shutdown-snowden-silicon-valley

scorpio01 11 yrs ago

the complete message can be seen here

http://lavabit.com/

Ed 11 yrs ago

This guy did absolutely nothing wrong... but as we can see - when authorities are given absolute power ... they can do whatever they want ... and you have no recourse...

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/18/david-miranda-detained-uk-nsa

Ed 11 yrs ago

The people behind this ... are the people who are monitoring your every communication...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfWz20nDAyI

Whitemischief 11 yrs ago

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/9-household-items-could-spying-100006425.html

Ed 11 yrs ago

David Miranda, schedule 7 and the danger that all reporters now face

As the events in a Heathrow transit lounge – and the Guardian offices – have shown, the threat to journalism is real and growing

The state that is building such a formidable apparatus of surveillance will do its best to prevent journalists from reporting on it. Most journalists can see that. But I wonder how many have truly understood the absolute threat to journalism implicit in the idea of total surveillance, when or if it comes – and, increasingly, it looks like "when".

We are not there yet, but it may not be long before it will be impossible for journalists to have confidential sources. Most reporting – indeed, most human life in 2013 – leaves too much of a digital fingerprint. Those colleagues who denigrate Snowden or say reporters should trust the state to know best (many of them in the UK, oddly, on the right) may one day have a cruel awakening. One day it will be their reporting, their cause, under attack. But at least reporters now know to stay away from Heathrow transit lounges.

More http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-19/uk-government-pulverizes-guardian-hard-disks-snowden-retaliation-says-theres-no-need

NuinHK 11 yrs ago

Ed: given your access to this website, I assume you're pretty privy to all sorts of musings people have posted and the things/threads people have poked around on this website. It would not be too difficult for you to develop a composit pic of any of the frequent users of AsiaXpat. Yes?

Ed 11 yrs ago

Actually I am not...

The only time we look at messages is if someone files a complaint over unacceptable comments or illegal activity and sends us the message trail.

Private communication remains private communication on this site - as it should on every online platform UNLESS a court order comes through asking for co-operation related to illegal activity.

Ed 11 yrs ago

How Sinister is the State? http://www.tothetick.com/sinister-state

Ed 11 yrs ago

Shades of Animal Farm... a whiff of totalitarianism...

The British government has defended the detention of a journalist's partner for nine hours at Heathrow Airport, saying authorities "have a duty to protect the public and our national security".

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/08/201382011404941429.html

Ed 11 yrs ago

SO THE INNOCENT HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR?

So Mr Miranda has had his computer and phone taken by UK authorities... he has been detained for 9 hours... http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/20/innocent-fear-david-miranda

Why?

Even the most delusional person could see that he is most obviously no terrorist - no threat to the UK...

So why was this action taken?

Of course we all know it was taken to intimidate him and Mr Greenwald... because the UK and US did not like what they were reporting on...

We can see where this leads - what other subjects are taboo for reporters? Perhaps some sort of corruption in the government... perhaps they expose Cameron is tight with Ruppert Murdoch ... perhaps they were to publish evidence that WMD was a crock ofsh*t invented to invade a country?

The door is now open ... they can do whatever they want...

But we can sue them if we don't like what they are doing and stop them - right?

Oh but no we can't - because they have changed the laws - you have no recourse... if they want to stop you they will stop you... if they want to take your stuff they will take it...

And they can throw you in a Dungeon - because habeaus corpus is DEAD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedges_v._Obama

This is how such things begin... and when the abuse levels become intolerable ... and you wake up and say 'hey - this is bullshit' - it is too late. Because if you speak out it is YOU with the boot on your neck.

Ed 11 yrs ago

"If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

Specific Advice

Regionally Shared Advice

Posted by Ed 11 yrs ago

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