Companies ‘all too willing’ to comply with FBI requests for personal information, EFF says

As the US prepares once again to extend the Patriot Act, a new report from a privacy watchdog indicates that the FBI’s use of the law and other surveillance powers may have led to as many as 40,000 violations of the law by the bureau in the years since 9/11.

According to documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, from 2001 to 2008 the FBI reported nearly 800 violations of surveillance law and the Constitution to the Intelligence Oversight Board, a civilian monitoring group that reports to the president.

The EFF also determined that the FBI investigated some 7,000 potential violations of the law that occurred during surveillance operations. The group estimated that, based on the rate of reporting of violations, the FBI may have violated the law as many as 40,000 times during investigations since 9/11.

‘The documents suggest the FBI’s intelligence investigations have compromised the civil liberties of American citizens far more frequently, and to a greater extent, than was previously assumed,’ the EFF stated in its report.

Of the nearly 800 confirmed violations, about one-third involved National Security Letters, which give the FBI the ability to request private […]

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The most telling aspect of the anti-regime demonstrations that have rocked the Arab world is what they are not about: They are not about the existential plight of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation; nor are they at least overtly anti-Western or even anti-American. The demonstrators have directed their ire against unemployment, tyranny, and the general lack of dignity and justice in their own societies. This constitutes a sea change in modern Middle Eastern history.

Of course, such was the course of demonstrations against the Shah of Iran in 1978 and 1979, before that revolution was hijacked by Islamists. But in none of these Arab countries is there a charismatic Islamic radical who is the oppositional focal point, like Ayatollah Khomeini was; nor are the various Islamist organizations in the Arab world as theoretical and ideological in their anti-Americanism as was the Shiite clergy. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt functions to a significant extent as a community self-help organization and may not necessarily try to hijack the uprising to the extent as happened in Iran. And even Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is not quite so identified with American interests as was the shah. The differences between 2011 in Egypt and 1978 in […]

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Amoebas – blob-shaped microbes linked to several deadly diseases – contaminate drinking-water systems around the world, according to a new analysis. The study finds that amoebas are appearing often enough in water supplies and even in treated tap water to be considered a potential health risk.

A number of these microorganisms can directly trigger disease, from a blinding corneal infection to a rapidly lethal brain inflammation. But many amoebas possess an equally sinister if less well-recognized alter ego: As Trojan horses, they can carry around harmful bacteria, allowing many types to not only multiply inside amoeba cells but also evade disinfection agents at water-treatment facilities.

Even though recent data indicate that amoebas can harbor many serious waterborne human pathogens, U.S. water systems don’t have to screen for the parasites, according to study coauthor Nicholas Ashbolt of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Exposure Research Laboratory in Cincinnati. He coauthored a study of amoebas’ ‘yet unquantified emerging health risk

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We need to cut these things that aren’t constitutionally mandated, that are kind of on the periphery, the fluffery, like NPR and National Endowment for the Arts. Those are obvious.’-on President Obama’s State of the Union address, to Fox News’ Greta von Susteren, Jan. 26, 2011.

‘His theme last night in the State of the Union was the WTF, winning the future, and I thought, OK, that acronym, spot-on. There were a lot of WTF moments throughout that speech.’-on President Obama’s State of the Union address, to Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, Jan. 26, 2011

‘Especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn.’-Facebook note and video in response to the Tucson shooting, Jan. 12, 2011

‘This isn’t about me, and my response four days after this horrendous event, and in my response I talked about defending those who were innocent, had nothing to do with the shooting, and my defense wasn’t self-defense, it was defending those who were falsely accused.’-to Fox News’ Sean Hannity, in response to criticism of her initial response, Jan. 18, 2011

‘On this day celebrating the legacy and […]

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CAIRO — Pro-democracy protesters have not been won over by President Mubarak’s government reshuffle

The ordered surroundings of the presidential offices where Hosni Mubarak officially appointed Omar Suleiman, his trusted intelligence chief, as his first deputy seemed a far cry from the anger and chaos that was clearly visible on nearby Cairo streets.

While he no doubt hoped his new government would assure demonstrators of his intentions to embrace political reform, as he announced on state television late on Friday, few were convinced by his efforts.

‘We are not dying so that he can just make changes to his ministers. We want a real democracy with limited presidential terms. He didn’t listen to the people,’ said Mohamed Sadiq who had joined tens of thousands of Egyptians in the crowds in central Tahrir Square.

A student, Yumla, dismissed the elderly Mr Mubarak as hopelessly out of touch with reality.

‘All people are against this president and his government and its corruption,’ said Yumla. ‘It’s rubbish. We don’t want it any more and we won’t go home until he goes.’

In recent years, pro-democracy and human rights rallies have tended to draw small numbers of the same familiar faces onto the streets, usually to be crushed with a […]

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