U.S.-China Surveillance

From today’s Seattle Times:
Microsoft device helps police pluck evidence from cyberscene of crime
By Benjamin J. Romano
Seattle Times technology reporter
Microsoft has developed a small plug-in device that investigators can use to quickly extract forensic data from computers that may have been used in crimes.
The COFEE, which stands for Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, is a USB [...]

The Information Office of China’s State Council released an English-language report on human rights in the US today. Section III of the report, On Civil and Political Rights, deals with issues of surveillance and data privacy. Here are some excerpts:
From January 2005 to September 2007, Verizon provided data to federal authorities “on an emergency [...]

The Fourth Amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be [...]

Good opinion piece be Leslie Harris on the Real ID program….
Most disappointing, the hard decisions on how to implement Real ID — including how to protect privacy — have been left to the states. Simply put, there are no privacy rules. States are simply encouraged to follow a set of “best practices” for protecting privacy. [...]

A scheme to train firefighters in major cities to look out for terrorists has raised fears that their iconic standing in American society could be damaged.
Unlike police, firemen and paramedics do not need warrants to get into homes and other buildings during technical inspections of emergency facilities, making them particularly useful for spotting signs of [...]

A journalism professor in Oregon, exchanging emails with a friend in Sudan, begins to wonder if he needs to “watch” what he is writing:
As I wrote him back, expressing my relief and my on-going concern for his safety, I also wanted to tell him about my concern for my own country and about my opposition [...]

I’ve added a new feature to this blog, a real-time feed of surveillance-related news items and other documents as I find them. There is a link to it on the navigation bar to the left. Comments welcome.

The Baltimore Sun reported yesterday on the NSA’s highly classified “Cyber Initiative” to monitor traffic on the Internet within the U.S.. The program will be run by the Department of Homeland Security.
Since the existence of its warrantless domestic eavesdropping program was revealed in 2005, the NSA and other U.S. intelligence agencies have been mired [...]

The Bill of Rights Defense Committee has produced an excellent instructional video on the growing use and abuse of national security letters (NSLs) by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Its available in two parts on Youtube and embedded below.
When a private firm does not comply with a friendly request from the FBI for information [...]

Signed into law yesterday by George Bush, now law of the land.
Final roll call.
Bill full text @govtrack.
ThreatLevel Analysis:   New Law Gives Government Six Months to Turn Internet and Phone Systems into Permanent Spying Architecture

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