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Politics

Stand Against Spying

By The Electronic Frontier Foundation

A coalition of 22 organizations from across the political spectrum today launched StandAgainstSpying.org, an interactive website that grades members of Congress on what they have done, or often not done, to rein in the NSA.
Led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Sunlight Foundation and Greenpeace, the coalition aims to inspire constituents to hold their elected officials accountable on mass surveillance reform, as well as give lawmakers the opportunity to improve their positions. Using a report card-style format, the grading criteria included whether the legislator was a sponsor of the USA FREEDOM Act or, in the case of the House of Representatives, voted for the “Amash Amendment” to defund NSA mass surveillance. Legislators had multiple avenues for receiving high marks.
Of the 100 senators and 433 representatives included, 241 members (45 percent) received “A” grades. However, 188 members (35 percent) flunked the scorecard, while another 77 members (14 percent) received question marks for taking no measurable action.

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Posted on June 30, 2014

Supreme Court Sets Powerful Limits For Cell Searches, Fails to Protect Internet Streaming

By The Electronic Frontier Foundation

In a groundbreaking decision on cell phone privacy, the court set powerful limits for police searches of cell phones, ruling in two consolidated cases that law enforcement must get a warrant before accessing the data on an arrested person’s cell phone. The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed amicus briefs in both of the cell phone search cases that were at issue in Wednesday’s decision.
“These decisions are huge for digital privacy,” EFF staff attorney Hanni Fakhoury said. “The court recognized that the astounding amount of sensitive data stored on modern cell phones requires heightened privacy protection, and cannot be searched at a police officer’s whim. This should have implications for other forms of government electronic searches and surveillance, tightening the rules for police behavior and preserving our privacy rights in our increasingly digital world.”
In its opinion, the court confirmed the importance of the warrant requirement, writing “Our answer to the question of what police must do before searching a cell phone seized incident to an arrest is accordingly simple – get a warrant.”

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Posted on June 26, 2014

The Best Reporting On Children With Post-Traumatic Stress

By Lois Beckett/ProPublica

When people think of post-traumatic stress disorder, they often focus on military veterans. But there’s growing evidence that PTSD is also a serious problem for American civilians, especially those exposed to violence in their own neighborhoods. Researchers in Atlanta found that 1 out of 3 inner-city residents they interviewed had experienced symptoms consistent with PTSD at some point in their lives.
We’ve put together a collection of some of the best reporting on PTSD in children and teenagers exposed to community violence. The stories here take a nuanced look at the intersection of trauma, poverty and racism. Not all stories about PTSD in high-violence neighborhoods meet that standard. This May, a local CBS affiliate released a segment on trauma in Oakland youth that referred to PTSD as “hood disease.” The anchor who used that term on air later apologized.
Among our recommendations here are magazine stories, radio segments, a book based on a doctor’s interviews with shooting victims, and a documentary film. You can also see our selection of the best reporting on PTSD and the U.S. military.

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Posted on June 24, 2014

EFF To Court: There’s No Doubt The Government Destroyed NSA Spying Evidence

By The Electronic Frontier Foundation

The Electronic Frontier Foundation told a federal court Friday that there was no doubt that the government has destroyed years of evidence of NSA spying – the government itself has admitted to it in recent court filings.
In a brief filed in response to this illegal destruction, EFF is asking that the court make an “adverse inference” that the destroyed evidence would show that plaintiffs communications and records were in fact swept up in the mass NSA spying programs.
EFF filed its first lawsuit challenging illegal government spying in 2006. The current dispute arises from Jewel v. NSA, EFF’s 2008 case that challenges the government’s mass seizure of three kinds of information: Internet and telephone content, telephone records, and Internet records, all going back to 2001.
EFF’s brief notes that the government’s own declarations make clear that the government has destroyed five years of the content it collected between 2007 and 2012, three years worth of the telephone records it seized between 2006 and 2009, and seven years of the Internet records it seized between 2004 and 2011, when it claims to have ended the Internet records seizures.

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Posted on June 2, 2014

A Bailout Botched By Centrists

By ProPublica

If former Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has faced his share of criticism for his rocky tenure, Jesse Eisinger says, his new book makes clear that most of it should be borne by his old boss, President Obama.
Following up on his unsparing examination of the book, Stress Test, last week, Eisinger joins Steve Engelberg for ProPublica’s newest podcast to expand on Obama’s missed opportunities in the wake of the financial crisis.
Among the highlights:
* “I consider the Obama appointment of Geithner to be the single worst political mistake Obama made,” Eisinger says, pointing out that as a former head of the New York Federal Reserve under President Bush, Geithner linked Obama politically to the status quo on financial regulation.

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Posted on May 30, 2014

House Committee Puts NSA On Notice Over Encryption Standards

By Justin Elliott/ProPublica

An amendment adopted by a House committee would, if enacted, take a step toward removing the National Security Agency from the business of meddling with encryption standards that protect security on the Internet.
As we reported with the Guardian and the New York Times last year, the NSA has for years engaged in a multi-front war on encryption, in many cases cracking the technology that is used to protect the confidentiality of intercepted communications.
Part of the NSA’s efforts centered on the development of encryption standards by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which sets standards that are adopted by government and industry.
Documents provided by Edward Snowden suggest that the NSA inserted a backdoor into one popular encryption standard, prompting NIST to launch an ongoing review of all its existing standards.

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Posted on May 27, 2014

The Beachwood Radio Criminal Justice Hour #1: Pot

By Steve Rhodes

How Chicago’s New Pot Law Is Bogus, How Roosevelt University’s New Study Is Bogus, And How The Media Covers The Bogosity. With Tracy Siska of the Chicago Justice Project. Plus: The Week In Juvey.

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Posted on May 25, 2014

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