Whatever you say, Kyle...

Sexual privacy under threat in a surveillance society

Because of the Patriot Act, any of us, if we annoy or threaten powerful interests, can have our e-mails read without our knowledge. Any of us can be subject to a search that could lead from one e-mail correspondent to another until the National Security Agency or the FBI, which have both confirmed that they have invested heavily in domestic surveillance of social networks, find something — anything — that could be seen as compromising.

America Going Orwell at Mach Speed -- Authorities Are Starting to Identify You by Your Voice

The blurb for  VoiceGrid ID  has a particularly dystopic echo, offering a “voice data management solution with unlimited database size” in addition to system architecture that scale all the way up to “national system deployments.”

4 Government and Private Entities Conspiring to Track Everything You Do Online and Off

Americans’ personal privacy is being crushed by the rise of a four-headed corporate-state surveillance system.  The four “heads” are: federal government agencies; state and local law enforcement entities; telecoms, web sites & Internet “apps” companies; and private data aggregators (sometimes referred to as commercial data warehouses).

FBI's $1B USD Facial Recognition Project Enjoys Strong Bipartisan Support

… the FBI has also hinted that it might add photos of individuals under investigation, or individuals who appeared near high-profile persons of interest to the database.  The latter prospect has privacy advocates most alarmed, as it could land you on “Big Brother’s database” without a single criminal act.

In fact, the FBI appears to be doing exactly that already, as some states now pass drivers’ license headshots to the agency for future reference/screening.  The ambiguity surrounding photographic databases and facial recognition of law-abiding citizens has advocacies very upset.

(Source: anandtech.com)

America's Surveillance State Breeds Conformity and Fear

Once the government is able to monitor everything we do and say, we will be unable to fight back.

Mass Arrests Likely at Political Conventions: 6 Historical Precedents

Clinton’s law designates political conventions National Special Security Events, a category of state security that virtually dooms the exercise of First Amendment Rights.

Why Is the Government Collecting Your Biometric Data?

EFF’s Jennifer Lynch discusses the expansion of biometric data collection, the growth of databases and the impact on increased surveillance.

FBI Terror Plot: How the Government Is Destroying the Lives of Innocent People

The FBI is using informants to stir up fake terror plots, destroying lives in the process.

(Source: thenation.com)

Talking Monkeys In Space: Most U.S. Terrorist Plots Are Hatched By The FBI

talkingmonkeynews:

The New York Times points out that two-thirds of the most frightening post-9/11 plans for attacks on American soil were stings orchestrated by government agents. Typically, a bumbling, gullible, down on their luck “potential terrorist” with no history of violence is coaxed into some…

(Source: higherthinkingprimate)

6 Government Surveillance Programs Designed to Watch What You Do Online

If you are a user of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Craigslist or another popular site, the U.S. security state is watching you.

You need to know one simple truth: you have no privacy with regard to your electronic communications.

Your seemingly private information is a public commodity, subject to the dictates of the security state and market opportunists.

FBI: We need wiretap-ready Web sites - now!

CNET learns the FBI is quietly pushing its plan to force surveillance backdoors on social networks, VoIP, and Web e-mail providers, and that the bureau is asking Internet companies not to oppose a law making those backdoors mandatory.

(Source: CNET)

FBI breaching the Constitution in the name of national security

A report in Wired has exposed the shady way in which the FBI is using National Security Letters (NSL) and 2001’s Patriot Act to spy on American citizens…