GoOgLe/NsAholes/FaCiAeBoOk' PrIvAcY IlLuSiOn - PrIvAcY aNd CoNtRoL

April, 17, 2010 - Authors Comment: It's interesting to note that once the 'truth' is exposed concerning DOD's hacking of 'our' electronic communications that the 'damage control' mechanism is obvious for all to see.

By Bruce Schneier - Privacy and Control

In January, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg declared the age of privacy to be over. A month earlier, Google Chief Eric Schmidt expressed a similar sentiment. Add Scott McNealy'sand Larry Ellison's comments from a few years earlier, and you've got a whole lot of tech CEOs proclaiming the death of privacy -- especially when it comes to young people.

It's just not true. People, including the younger generation, still care about privacy. Yes, they're far more public on the Internet than their parents: writing personal details on Facebook, posting embarrassing photos on Flickr and having intimate conversations on Twitter. But they take steps to protect their privacy and vociferously complain when they feel it violated. They're not technically sophisticated about privacy and make mistakes all the time, but that's mostly the fault of companies and Web sites that try to manipulate them for financial gain.

To the older generation, privacy is about secrecy. And, as the Supreme Court said, once something is no longer secret, it's no longer private. But that's not how privacy works, and it's not how the younger generation thinks about it. Privacy is about control. When your health records are sold to a pharmaceutical company without your permission; when a social-networking site changes your privacy settings to make what used to be visible only to your friends visible to everyone; when the NSA eavesdrops on everyone's e-mail conversations -- your loss of control over that information is the issue. We may not mind sharing our personal lives and thoughts, but we want to control how, where and with whom. A privacy failure is a control failure.

People's relationship with privacy is socially complicated. Salience matters: People are more likely to protect their privacy if they're thinking about it, and less likely to if they're thinking about something else. Social-networking sites know this, constantly reminding people about how much fun it is to share photos and comments and conversations while downplaying the privacy risks. Some sites go even further, deliberately hiding information about how little control -- and privacy -- users have over their data. We all give up our privacy when we're not thinking about it.

Group behavior matters; we're more likely to expose personal information when our peers are doing it. We object more to losing privacy than we value its return once it's gone. Even if we don't have control over our data, an illusion of control reassures us. And we are poor judges of risk. All sorts of academic research backs up these findings.

Here's the problem: The very companies whose CEOs eulogize privacy make their money by controlling vast amounts of their users' information. Whether through targeted advertising, cross-selling or simply convincing their users to spend more time on their site and sign up their friends, more information shared in more ways, more publicly means more profits. This means these companies are motivated to continually ratchet down the privacy of their services, while at the same time pronouncing privacy erosions as inevitable and giving users the illusion of control.

You can see these forces in play with Google's (GOOG -News-People) launch of Buzz. Buzz is a Twitter-like chatting service, and when Google launched it in February, the defaults were set so people would follow the people they corresponded with frequently in Gmail, with the list publicly available. Yes, users could change these options, but -- and Google knew this -- changing options is hard and most people accept the defaults, especially when they're trying out something new. People were upset that their previously private e-mail contacts list was suddenly public. A Federal Trade Commission commissioner even threatened penalties. And though Google changed its defaults, resentment remained.

Facebook tried a similar control grab when it changed people's default privacy settings last December to make them more public. While users could, in theory, keep their previous settings, it took an effort. Many people just wanted to chat with their friends and clicked through the new defaults without realizing it.

Facebook has a history of this sort of thing. In 2006 it introduced News Feeds, which changed the way people viewed information about their friends. There was no true privacy change in that users could not see more information than before; the change was in control -- or arguably, just in the illusion of control. Still, there was a large uproar. And Facebook is doing it again; last month, the company announced new privacy changes that will make it easier for it to collect location data on users and sell that data to third parties.

With all this privacy erosion, those CEOs may actually be right -- but only because they're working to kill privacy. On the Internet, our privacy options are limited to the options those companies give us and how easy they are to find. We have Gmail and Facebook accounts because that's where we socialize these days, and it's hard -- especially for the younger generation -- to opt out. As long as privacy isn't salient, and as long as these companies are allowed to forcibly change social norms by limiting options, people will increasingly get used to less and less privacy.
There's no malice on anyone's part here [BULLSHIT!]; it's just market forces in action. If we believe privacy is a social good, something necessary for democracy, liberty and human dignity, then we can't rely on market forces to maintain it. Broad legislation protecting personal privacy by giving people control over their personal data is the only solution.

Bruce Schneier is a security technologist and the Chief Security Technology Officer of BT. You can read more of his writing at www.schneier.com

[Link Add: 06.03.10 Google’s DNA ‘Bio-Piracy’ & Federal DNA Databanks]

Latest Damage Control Using False U.S. vs. Them Scenario

[Google backs Yahoo in privacy fight with DOJ] [Microsoft vs. DOJ]....OPSEC Ops...Shhhhhhhh

[DOJ abandons warrantless attempt to read Yahoo e-mail] Yeah Right! LOL LOL LOL

[Word War III: Google vs. Governments] ...Like I said....S H I T is getting D E E P!

[Open Letter Signed by 10 Countries Slams Google’s Privacy Policies] E.X.C.E.L.L.E.N.T.

Now if we can just get rid the the NSA/SAIC cancer!

[BTY: Cryptome Online Spying Guide(s)] :)))

[BTY: EFFs Six Tips To Protect Your Search Privacy] Go EFF ;)

The use of third party advocates or front groups for the dissemination of US government propaganda is well documented: JSOU: Covert Blogs & Military Information Strategy

LOOOOOOOOOOOL [Google cleared of wi-fi snooping] LOOOOOOOOOOOL

NO|O|O SHIT [Google and CIA Fund Political Precrime Technology] NO|O|O SHIT

LOL :O [07.21.10 Google WiFi Privacy Breach Challenged by 38 States] LOL :O

[07.19.10 Group Calls for Hearings Into Google’s Ties to CIA/NSA] ? More Damage Control

[06.28.10 Watch Out: NSATube Exposes Your NSAGmail Contacts] WOW!

[06.20.10 EPIC Investigations of Google Street View] C.Y.A.

[06.08.10 GoogleNSAholes New Euro MP Plan To Log/Save Serches Three Years]:O|O:

[06.08.10 LOL GoogleNSAholes Assures Customers On Cloud Security Practices LOL]OO:

[06.08.10 Aussie police probe GoogleNSAholes] Yesssssssssssss! :O|O:

[06.03.10 Lawyers Claim Google Wi-Fi Sniffing ‘Is Not an Accident’] :O

[06.03.10 SSL Gmail Not As Safe As You Thought — UPDATED] :O

[06.03.10 More Google Side Jacking] Rated Top Hack 2007 :O

[06.03.10 Technical details of the Street View WiFi payload controversy] :O

[06.03.10 Google tries to patent tech that snoops Wi-Fi networks] :O

[06.02.10 Facebook 'Like' Button Draws Privacy Scrutiny] More DoD R&D Backdoors!

[06.01.10 Researchers Beat Clickjacking Defenses of Top Websites] Ya don't say! :O

[06.01.10 Clickjacking Worm Hits Facebook] More DoD R&D Backdoors!

[05.26.10 EU says Google and Microhoo still violate data protection law] E.X.C.E.L.L.E.N.T

[05.26.10 Google backpedals on IP 'anonymization' claim] :O

LOL LOL LOL [05.21.10 Congress Urges FTC to Investigate Google] LOL LOL LOL

[05.21.10 EPIC Urges FCC to Open Investigation Into Google Street View] Go EPIC :)

[05.21.10 Germany to Google: Respect data privacy] E.X.C.E.L.L.E.N.T.

[05.20.10 Facebook Bug Exposes Users to Dangerous CSRF Attacks] :O

[05.19.10 Pakistani court orders gov't to block Facebook] E.X.C.E.L.L.E.N.T.

[05.16.10 Consumer Groups Try to Block Google/NSA Purchase of AdMob] :O

[05.16.10 Germany Lashes Out at Google for Privacy Breach] E.X.C.E.L.L.E.N.T.

[05.13.10 Google Private Data Collection: ADMITS Snooping Via WiFi Networks] :O

[05.10.10 Scroogle Has Been Blocked By Google] NSA We Can Spy Over SSL Connections :(

[05.09.10 Facebook's Gone Rogue] No Kidding!!!

[05.08.10 Californian university drops Gmail over privacy concerns] High Five ! ! !

[05.08.10 Heads Up! Plague in (Security) Software] Intel back-doors

[05.08.10 New attack bypasses virtually all AV protection] More DuDs R&D

[05.07.10: Stealth installs and adware come to Facebook] Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[05.04.20: Six Things You Need to Know About Facebook Connections] :)))

[05.03.10: Google personal suggest bug exposed user web history] LOL LOL LOL

"And Ye Shall Know The Truth and The Truth Will Set You Free"

WAKE UP AMERICA.....IT(s) OUR COUNTRY!!!

Love "Light" and Energy

_Don

References: [GoOgLe: We DiDn'T hElP tHe NSA (Or dId wE?) - "TeMpUs OmNiA ReVeLaT"]

[How To Fight The New Cyberspies]
[What Your iPhone Apps Know About You]
[ID Theft: Don't Take It Personally]
[No Hacker Left Behind]
[Cybercrime Checks Into Hotels]
[Oracle Hacker Gets The Last Word]
[Zuckerberg on privacy]
[Schmidt on privacy]
[McNealy on privacy]
[Ellison on privacy]
[Danah Boyd on privacy and younger people]
[The Supreme Court on privacy and secrecy]
[Privacy and Salience]
[Social networking sites downplaying privacy concerns]
[Sites that make misleading privacy claims]
[Humans are a poor judge of risk]
[Academic research on how people make privacy decisions]

Google's Buzz:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31322_3-10451428-256.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/warning-google-buzz-has-a-huge-privacy-flaw-2010-2
http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/CIAtAGlance.jsp?tkr=GOOG
http://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2010/02/12/whats-the-buzz-about-studying-user-reactions/
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9172079/FTC_member_rips_privacy_efforts_by_Google_Facebook

Facebook's privacy problems:
Facebook's New Privacy Changes: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Facebook's "Evil Interfaces"
Facebook's Eroding Privacy Policy: A Timeline
[Time For Google to Grow Up: Open Wi-Fi Privacy Mistake Must Be The Last] :O

Facebook News Feeds:
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=2207967130
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2208288769

Facebook's latest privacy changes:
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=376904492130

The value of privacy:
http://www.schneier.com/essay-114.html

Privacy legislation:
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/02/a_model_regime.html

Google responds: LOL
http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/12/privacy-facebook-gmail-technology-security-google.html

Another essay on the topic:
http://www.secureconsulting.net/2009/05/the_new_school_of_privacy.html

CaLiFoRnIa JuSt-U$ On BrInK oF CoLlAp$e

Friday, April 16, 2010

Internet exclusive Full Disclosure® Video News Preview

Los Angeles, CA Having filed a Federal Lawsuit against L.A. County Sheriff Leroy Baca and the Sheriff’s Department the Full Disclosure Network® was finally allowed access to an “on camera” interview with one of L. A.’s Political Prisoners, Richard I. Fine. Having never been convicted of a crime, he has been held in solitary “coercive confinement” in the Central Men’s Jail for more than a year, as punishment inflicted by L. A. Superior Court Judge David P. Yaffe for exposing the corrupt practices of the Judges, the Sheriff and the County.

In a four minute video preview Full Disclosure Network® presents excerpts from the one-hour jail-house interview with Richard Fine where he succinctly describes how the judges and government officials in California have brought the entire justice system to the brink of collapse.

Fine, who holds a PhD in international law and who served as an anti-trust prosecutor at the Department of Justice in Washington D.C. offers a simple solution to rid the state of the corruption perpetrators. He points to those who have participated in the massive judicial bribery scheme that has prevent the people from getting justice. He cites the tremendous cost to the California taxpayers of hundreds of millions of dollars over the last two decades where judges have been paid under the table, while standing for election to their offices every six years. And he warns that America who fought for independence from the King of England has now returned to a country without a functioning justice system and how it has undermined the essence of the democratic process.

The one hour interview is being featured on community cable stations throughout California, and in major cities throughout the country, on the Internet and copies on DVD are available for purchase at the top of this web page.

Watch all six segments and preview below

Preview (4:07 min)

Segment #1 (8 min)Richard Fine Describes the first days of confinement that denied his "due process" rights and his ability to file legal actions on his own behalf.

Segment #2 (8 min) Systematic Judicial bribery scheme for past 20 years is described here along with the 2009 California Senate Bill SBX2 11 provides all government/judicial officials retroactive immunity from criminal prosecution for the bribery scheme.

Segment #3 (8 min) Penal Codes vs "Coercive Confinement" presents conflict for LA County and 70 year old inmate Richard Fine who develops health problems during the year of incarceration. As a "political prisoner" in Los Angeles County Central Men's Jail it takes it toll on him and his family.

Segment #4 (8 min) Inmate Richard Fine describes how the judicial bribery scheme undermines the Democratic election process and how County officials use the budget process to transfer illegal money to the judges who do their bidding.

Segment #5 (8 min) Richard Fine describes his background as a Federal anti-trust prosecutor and the threats and dangers encountered while serving at the Department of Justice in Washington D.C. [District of Corruption]

Segment #6 (8 min) Fine describes sources and motivation for judicial bribery along with the resulting destructive impact on American Democracy.

"And Ye Shall Know The Truth and The Truth Will Set You Free"

WAKE UP AMERICA.....IT(s) OUR COUNTRY!!!

Love "Light" and Energy

_Don

References: [Systemic Injustice Against Two Longtime Political Prisoners]

[Free Richard I. Fine]

[Free Richard I. Fine Petition]

[Supreme Court Orders Disbarment of Attorney Richard I. Fine]

WaLl $tReEt BaIlOuT ToTaL $4.6 TrIlLiOn In FeD Di$bUr$eMeNt

April 1, 2010

Contact: Conor Kenny 202-277-6427 or Mary Bottari 608-345-6806

Today, the Real Economy Project of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) released an assessment of the total cost to taxpayers of the Wall Street bailout. CMD concludes that multiple federal agencies have disbursed $4.6 trillion dollars in supporting the financial sector since the meltdown in 2007-2008. Of that, $2 trillion is still outstanding.

CMD's assessment demonstrates that the Federal Reserve has provided by far the bulk of the funding for the bailout in the form of loans amounting to $3.8 trillion. Little information has been disclosed about what collateral taxpayers have received in return for these loans. CMD also concludes that the bailout is far from over as the government has active programs authorized to cost up to $2.9 trillion and still has $2 trillion in outstanding investments and loans.

Learn more about the 35 programs included in our tally by visiting our Total Wall Street Bailout Cost Table, which contains links to pages on each bailout program with details including the current balance sheet for each program. 

"While the Treasury Department is patting itself on the back for recouping Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds and allegedly making money off of its aid to Citigroup, our accounting shows that these programs were a relatively small portion of the federal funds that have gone out the door in support of the financial sector. Far more has been done to aid Wall Street through the back door of the Federal Reserve than through the front door of Congressional appropriations," said Mary Bottari, Director of CMD's Real Economy Project.

"The tally shows that more scrutiny needs to be given by policymakers and the media to the role of the Federal Reserve especially as the Fed has accounted for the vast majority of the bailout funds, yet provides far less disclosure and is far less directly accountable than the Treasury," said Conor Kenny, the researcher who collected the data on the bailout.

CMD has presented its work in a table that shows: funds disbursed, maximum funds that were at-risk at the height of the bailout, and actual funds still outstanding for each program. CMD is also making available a Financial Crisis Tracker, a widget for the table that can be downloaded to websites to get up-to-date numbers on the financial crisis and the bailout. The Wall Street Bailout table will be updated monthly and will be a tremendous resource for reporters and the public alike. 

"And Ye Shall Know The Truth and The Truth Will Set You Free"

WAKE UP AMERICA.....IT(s) OUR COUNTRY!!!

Love "Light" and Energy

_Don

References:

[Congressional Insider Trading Bill Stalls]

[Bill Threatens Congress’ Shield From Insider Trading Laws]

[WALL STREET BAILOUT COST TABLE can be accessed here]

[KEY FINDINGS can be accessed here] PDF Format

[FINANCIAL CRISIS TRACKER can be accessed here]

ACLU Documents Reveal Details Of Civilian Casualty Claims In Afghanistan And Iraq

April 1, 2010

ACLU Releases 13,000 Pages Of Government Files That Underscore Flaws In Compensating Victims' Families

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org

NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today made public more than 13,000 pages of documents regarding reports of civilians killed or injured by Coalition Forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. The documents include more than 800 claims for damages by the family members of those killed, including many that were denied, and reveal new details about the flaws in the system for compensating victims' families. The ACLU received the records in response to its September 2007 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, which is part of an effort to make more details about the ongoing wars available to the public.

"With more U.S. forces being sent into civilian areas in Afghanistan, it is critical that the American public be informed about what is at stake," said Nasrina Bargzie, cooperating counsel with the ACLU and an attorney at Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP in Oakland, CA. "These newly released records illustrate that innocent civilian victims and their families are still not being appropriately compensated for their losses. Now that this problem has been brought to light, we hope the Obama administration will be compelled to reform the broken civilian compensation program."

The files made public today comprise over 800 claims for compensation or condolence payments submitted to the U.S. Foreign Claims Commissions and the Commander's Emergency Response Program by surviving family members of Afghan and Iraqi civilians said to have been killed or injured or to have suffered property damages due to actions by Coalition Forces. Many of the claims were denied under the so-called "combat exemption" to the Foreign Claims Act (FCA), which provides that harm inflicted on residents of foreign countries by U.S. soldiers during combat cannot be compensated under the FCA, even if the victims had no involvement whatsoever in the combat. The documents reveal that, due to the claim denials, many innocent civilians were not compensated for their harm or were referred to the Commander's Emergency Response Program for a discretionary condolence payment that is subject to an automatic $2,500 limit per death.

In related litigation, the ACLU is seeking records relating to the government's expanded use of predator drones to conduct targeted killings overseas. That FOIA lawsuit asks for information about the legal basis for drone strikes, as well as the number and rate of civilian casualties caused by the attacks.

"These records will help the American people comprehend the impact of war on innocent civilians and will allow the public to participate meaningfully in the ongoing debate about these wars," said Ben Wizner, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. "An informed public is a critical part of any democracy. Releasing the civilian casualty records is a good step towards increasing government transparency. The Obama administration should continue releasing documents that could inform the public about the critical issues of war."

Attorneys on the civilian casualty FOIA litigation are Bargzie; Wizner and Alexander Abdo of the ACLU National Security Project; and Arthur B. Spitzer of the ACLU of the Nation's Capital.

===snipped===>"And Ye Shall Know The Truth and The Truth Will Set You Free"

WAKE UP AMERICA.....IT(s) OUR COUNTRY!!!

Love "Light" and Energy

_Don

References:

[Predator Drone FOIA Request]

[OLC Documents Released 3/15/2010]

[CIA Documents Released 3/15/2010]

[The Conclusion of Chapter 4, "A Ponzi Scheme of Torture"]

[DOJ OIG Documents Released 3/15/2010, Batch [3]

[Letter to ACLU Regarding 2008 Torture FOIA Documents Released 3/15/2010]

WhY ThE FaCtS oF 9/11 MuSt Be SuPpReSsEd - TURN IT UP !

Friday, March 19, 2010

by Dr. John McMurtry

AUDIO: Why The Facts of 9/11 Must Be Suppressed

Understanding the Ruling Group Mind Behind the War Without End" with Dr. John McMurtry.

Dr. McMurtry was one of the first academics to analyze 9/11 and the 9/11 wars. He is Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of of Guelph, Ontario.

Que Bono: Who benefits? - Think about it.

How many hoops must the common man, or woman, jump through, in order to please some drunken sod, and attain what is essentially not much more that a passing glimpse of the past, if only to please some idiot in higher office? At what point must one please the tyrant in office, such as to be entirely within the current law, and still be completely within the newer law, which is just now being enacted?

How many hoops? - Who benefits?

It is a fine thing to face machine guns for immortality and a medal, but isn't it a fine thing, too, to face calumny, injustice and loneliness for the truth which makes men free?

- H. L. Mencken

E.X.C.E.L.L.E.N.T. - (((3)))

"And Ye Shall Know The Truth and The Truth Will Set You Free"

WAKE UP AMERICA.....IT(s) OUR COUNTRY!!!

Love "Light" and Energy

_Don

References:

[Update: 06.15.10 SEC: Govt Destroyed Documents Regarding Pre-9/11 Put Options]

[Update: 05.30.10 The 9/11 "Official Story" and the Collapse of WTC Building Seven]

[Update: 05.26.10 Top Construction Firm: WTC Destroyed By Controlled Demolition]

[Update: 05.26.10 Here's What May Have Really Happened on 9/11!]

[The Command & Control Network that Perpetrated the 9/11 Attacks]

[Professor Francis Boyle The October 2001 Anthrax Attack]

[On the Duty of Civil Disobedience]

[TURN UP THE VOLUME! - AUDIO: Why The Facts of 9/11 Must Be Suppressed]

NeWlY ReLeAsEd FBI DoCuMeNtS SuPpOrT SiBeL EdMoNdS [TrUtHFuLl]

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Why The Idiot Community Needs Oversight:

Sibel Edmonds explains what happens to whistleblowers

Newly Released FBI Documents Support Explosive Claims by Former FBI Translator Sibel Edmonds

Recently released FBI documents prove the existence of highly sensitive National Security and criminal investigations of “Turkish Activities” in Chicago prior to September 11, 2001. These documents add further support to many of the allegations that former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds has claimed, in public and in Congress, since 2002.

The documents were released under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request into an organization called the Turkish American Cultural Alliance (TACA), an organization repeatedly named by Ms. Edmonds as being complicit in the crimes that she became aware of when she was a translator at the FBI.

The documents released under FOIA are almost completely redacted, but they do support many of Edmonds’ claims, including:

*There were a number of very serious FBI investigations into “Turkish activity in Chicago” involving a number of targets.

*These investigations were related to “National Security” among other things.

*These investigations were regarded as so sensitive that no files were to be uploaded to FBI’s computer system.

*Congressional corruption was involved.

*The FBI repeatedly conducted actual “physical surveillance” against Turkish and American targets.

*Some of these investigations were shut down in 2001.

The documents comprise primarily of internal FBI ECs (Electronic Communications) between FBI offices. Most of the ECs are titled “Turkish American Cultural Association” although one from Feb 2000 is titled “Turkish Investigations in Chicago” which indicates that there were at least seven different pending investigations into Turkish activity in Chicago, and another later document from July 2001 indicates that there were at least ten investigations into TACA alone.

The earliest document is a November 1999 EC from the FBI’s National Security Division (NS-2D) to FBI field offices in Chicago, Washington DC, Los Angeles and New York (although there is a reference to a September 1999 EC from NSD.) The timing is significant.

In an article in The American Conservative by Phil Giraldi, Ms. Edmonds notes that although there were investigations into Turkish activity dating back to 1996, most of that activity was being monitored by Counter-Intelligence based on FISA warrants because the main targets were foreigners, however in 1999 investigations were opened into ‘US Persons‘ and “they wiretapped the congressmen directly.”

The FBI was obviously concerned about ‘campaign donations’ being paid to Congressional Representatives by these groups. Ms. Edmonds has repeatedly referred to certain groups making “different kinds of campaign contributions – legal and illegal, declared and undeclared” to various congressional members. Two days after an EC from the National Security Division, Chicago reviewed the Federal Electoral Commission (FEC) database which contains details of donations to congressional campaigns. Chicago was apparently interested in donations made by “three individuals who attended the meeting at TACA.”

The FBI was also interested in the leadership of TACA. One EC notes that TACA held elections in 2000 and provides a list of all the newly elected officials. The EC states “Most pertinent to the above investigations was the fact that REDACTED had been REDACTED.” We know that Mehmet Celebi was elected President of TACA at that meeting. Ms. Edmonds has previously referred to Celebi as a key player in the Turkish mafia in the US, noting that the Celebi family is involved in arms and heroin trafficking. Celebi was also Vice-President of the Assembly of Turkish-American Associations (ATAA), another organization named by Ms. Edmonds and others as being involved in various criminal activities.

In 2008, Celebi briefly received some attention when he was key fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, and was nominated as one of Clinton’s Chicago delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. He was eventually kicked out of the Clinton campaign because of the scrutiny.

At the time, Ms. Edmonds said:

“In 2005, Vanity Fair reported that Dennis Hastert had been bribed by Turkish interests. If people want to investigate this further they should FOIA the FBI’s Chicago Field Office for information regarding Mehmet Celebi going back to 1997. If the FBI is honest, there will be boxes and boxes of files responsive to these FOIA requests.“

Famed whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg once said that “Sibel says that suitcases of cash have been delivered to the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, at his home, near Chicago, from Turkish sources, knowing that a lot of that is drug money.”

The aforementioned Vanity Fair article, apparently trying to dodge some potential legal liability, suggested that “the reported content of the Chicago wiretaps may well have been sheer bravado, and there is no evidence that any payment was ever made to Hastert,” however a July 2001 EC regarding the “Statistical Accomplishments” of the TACA case notes that there were thirteen separate instances of actual ‘Physical Surveillance’ in the TACA case alone, suggesting that the FBI may very well have first-hand evidence of some of these crimes.

One fascinating feature of many of these documents is that many of them ominously warn about the sensitivity of the investigation. A typical warning reads:

“Extreme caution must be exercised in the handling of sensitive information contained within. No material pertaining to this investigation is to be computer uploaded. Information concerning this REDACTED investigation is not to be shared with CID (Criminal Investigation Division) absent FBIHQ/DOJ concurrence.“

Ms. Edmonds has often stated that these investigations into illegal Turkish activity were shut down by the White House and State Department in 2001 and 2002, but that the FBI Chicago Office fought to keep them open. Two of the ten cases related to TACA were officially closed by Chicago in July 2001, however even the documents relating to these ‘closed’ cases still warned that the information required ‘extreme caution’ and were not to be uploaded or shared with CID.

Asked to comment on these new documents, Ms. Edmonds replied:

“Finally! I’ve been saying this for years, and now we finally have documented proof from the FBI of this Turkish criminal activity based in Chicago.

This is fantastic, but even this is only the tip of the iceberg. The main question is this: Why has the White House and the State Dept been so determined to shut these investigations down? They shut down these investigations at the FBI, they shut me down with the State Secrets Privilege.

What are they hiding? Chicago was the center of it all, Chicago was the center of the foreign espionage activity, and the center for money laundering, and also a major heroin distribution center. Celebi was a key player, but Dennis Hastert, Mayor Daley, Robert Creamer and other US officials also helped facilitate these activities. When will we see some accountability?“

That is the ultimate question. We now have even more evidence of these crimes – but there is still no sign of any accountability. What will it take?

===snipped===>"And Ye Shall Know The Truth and The Truth Will Set You Free"

WAKE UP AMERICA.....IT(s) OUR COUNTRY!!!

Love "Light" and Energy

_Don

References:

[HILL OUSTS BIGOT]

[Sibel Edmonds Interview]

[Who’s Afraid of Sibel Edmonds?]

[Vanity Fair - An Inconvenient Patriot]

[Key Clinton Backer Guilty in Sibel Edmonds Case]

[Boiling Frogs Interviews Stephen M. Kohn: The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act]

ObAmAC.H.A.N.G.E. PrOtEcTiNg AgEnCiEs FrOm OvErSiGhT...WhY?

Monday, March 15, 2010 - [Who Are The Real Criminals?]

Why The Idiot Community Needs Oversight:

Sibel Edmonds explains what happens to whistleblowers

By Stephen C. Webster

The White House is threatening to veto a key intelligence funding bill over what it considers to be a dangerous amount of oversight on covert agencies, according to published reports.

The 2010 Intelligence Budget has gone through a number of key changes over the past few months, with House Democrats and the ObamaC.H.A.N.G.E. administration butting heads over a number of provisions. Key among them for the latest White House veto threat is a provision that would allow the Government Accountability Office to investigate intelligence agencies.

"Current law exempts intelligence and counterintelligence activities from GAO review, leaving oversight to the inspectors general at the various intelligence community agencies," Politico reported.

In a letter to the House and Senate intelligence committees, Office of Management and Budget chief Peter Orszag highlighted several areas of the bill that have intelligence officials worried, including the GAO oversight provision.

Orszag's letter also claims that proposed reforms to how Congress is notified of covert activities poses a "serious" threat that intelligence agencies object to.

Strangely, Orszag additionally called out an effort to re-investigate the 2001 anthrax attacks, which have since been blamed on the deceased government scientist Bruce Ivins. An unnamed Obama administration official told Bloomberg News that if the 2010 Intelligence Budget demands another look at the FBI's conclusions, the bill would be vetoed.

The FBI's probe has been heavily criticized by members of ObamaC.H.A.N.G.E. own party for "numerous" mistakes made by the FBI during the lengthy inquiry. Joseph Michael, a scientist at the Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, also noted a key difference in "chemical fingerprints" between a flask linked to Ivins and the anthrax that was sent to government offices around the country.

At the FBI’s request, the National Academy of Sciences convened a 15-member panel to review the scientific soundness of the eight-year investigation. According to Elie Dolgin at Nature magazine, the FBI believes the scientific review of its own investigation to be “unprecedented,” but at least one member of Congress, Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), thinks the case deserves another look, suggesting that the FBI's investigators themselves be investigated.

Ivins, 62, a biodefense researcher who spent years working on a better anthrax vaccine, overdosed on Tylenol and Codiene in 2008, after learning that the FBI was preparing to indict him on murder charges.

In its' present form, the 2010 Intelligence Budget would also significantly revise the "Gang of Eight" requirement, under which the president informs key members of Congress about ongoing covert activities.

As a reaction to the BushF.R.A.U.D. administration's secrecy over its' massive electronic spying program, Congress last year approved the revisions that would allow House and Senate intelligence committees to write their own rules on who is told what. President ObamaC.H.A.N.G.E. objected.

===snipped===>C.H.A.N.G.E. 'WE' can believe in?...B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T.!

President ObamaC.H.A.N.G.E. issued his first veto threat against the bill in late February, reacting to a provision that would have mandated prison sentences for intelligence operatives that employ "cruel, inhuman and degrading" interrogation techniques. As one of his first orders of business, President ObamaC.H.A.N.G.E. banned the so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" that hallmarked the Bush years, requiring all interrogators to abide by guidelines in the Army Field Manual.

===snipped===>"And Ye Shall Know The Truth and The Truth Will Set You Free"

WAKE UP AMERICA.....IT(s) OUR COUNTRY!!!

Love "Light" and Energy

_Don

References:

[Update: 06.26.10 How Many Americans Are Targeted For Assassination?] Surprised?

[CIA Second Taping System Reported in Zubaydah Interrogation] ...Psychopaths@their best!

[Gang of Eight]

[Investigate the investigators]

[Anthrax Investigation Probe Underway]

[A Look Behind the FBI's Redacted Documents] ...Some More Why (.)

[ObamaC.H.A.N.G.E. Threatens To Veto Intel Bill]

[Anthrax Spores Don't Match Dead Researcher's Samples]

[Freedom Of Information Act FOIA: National Security Letters (NSLs)] ...Some More Why (.)

PeNtAcOn DiScLoSeS HuNdReDs Of RePoRtS Of PoSsIbLy IlLeGaL InTeLlIgEnCe AcTiViTiEs

February 27, 2010 - by Nate Cardozo

The Department of Defense has released more than 800 heavily-redacted pages of intelligence oversight reports, detailing activities that its Inspector General has “reason to believe are unlawful.”

The reports are the latest in an ongoing document release by more than a half-dozen intelligence agencies in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by EFF in July 2009.

The reports, submitted to the Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB) by various Department of Defense components, cover the period from 2001 through 2008. The IOB’s role within the Executive Office of the President is to ensure that each component of the intelligence community works within the Constitution and all applicable laws. As such, the Inspector General of each intelligence agency is required to submit periodic reports to the IOB, which in turn is required to forward to the Attorney General any report identifying an intelligence activity that violates the law. Intelligence oversight reporting is rarely disclosed to the public.

This new release, from various Defense components including the Army and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, comes in three parts. Much of the reported improper activity consisted of intelligence gathering on so-called “U.S. Persons,” including citizens, permanent residents and U.S.-based organizations. Although Defense agencies are generally prohibited from collecting such information (except as part of foreign intelligence or counter-intelligence activity), it is apparent from the unredacted reports released to EFF that some DoD components have had chronic difficulty complying with that prohibition.

Part 1

Pg 98: A report that the Joint Forces Command, working with the FBI, improperly collected and disseminated intelligence on Planned Parenthood and a white supremacist group called the National Alliance, as part of preparations for the 2002 Olympics.

Pg 122-137: A NORAD intelligence briefing improperly included intelligence on an anti-war group called Alaskans for Peace and Justice in 2005.

Pg 257-258: A 2006 report that NORAD had procedural problems relating to collecting information on U.S. Persons.

Part 2

Pg 53-54: A report from 2003 of a closed investigation into prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and other sites in Iraq.

Pg 60: A report from 2006 of improper intelligence (in the TALON program) on an anti-recruiting group.

Pg 112: A report from 2007 of an Army Reserve officer routinely collecting data on U.S. Persons exercising their free speech rights.

Part 3

Pg 19: A 2008 report that Army Signals Intelligence in Louisiana intercepted civilian cell phone conversations.

Pg 65: A 2008 report that Army Cyber Counterintelligence officers attended the Black Hat hacker conference without disclosing their Army affiliation and without prior authorization to do so.

Pg 173: A report that the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) set up a “honey pot” computer system to identify foreign threats in May 2006. In October 2007, AFOSI realized that the honey pot system might have been in violation of a sealed Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) order that required a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant for such activity. AFOSI was not privy to the FISC order and only knew of it from public media reporting. The operation was suspended. Amazingly, when the Air Force asked the Justice Department to see the FISC order at issue, DOJ’s National Security Division denied the Air Force’s request.

===snipped===>"And Ye Shall Know The Truth and The Truth Will Set You Free"

WAKE UP AMERICA.....IT(s) OUR COUNTRY!!!

Love "Light" and Energy

_Don

References:

Of interest: [CIA-AIR Report]

[Intelligence Analyst Charged Hacking Top Secret, NGA/SAP Anti-Terror Program]

[The Securitization and Militarization of Daily Life]

[FOIA Releases]

[FOIA Litigation for Accountable Government]

[FOIA: Intelligence Agencies' Misconduct Reports]

[Contractors Tied To Effort To Track, Kill Militants]....it not just militants!

[Transforming TSA into a Military Intelligence Operation]

SiBeL EdMoNdS: ThE TrAiToR$ AmOnG U.$. - Ab$oLuTeLy $hE’s CrEdIbLe

February 26, 2010 - by Brad Friedman

SIBEL EDMONDS HAS NAMED NAMES. WHY ISN’T THE MEDIA REPORTING THE STORY?

According to a declassified version of a 2005 Department of Justice Inspector General’s report, Sibel Edmonds’s allegations are “credible,” “serious” and “warrant a thorough and careful review by the FBI.”

Perhaps more damningly, the FBI’s John Cole recently confirmed a key element of Edmonds’s claims when he revealed the existence of “the FBI’s decade-long investigation” of the State Department’s Grossman. Edmonds claimed that Grossman was perhaps the top U.S. ringleader for the entire foreign espionage scheme. The probe, Cole added, “ultimately was buried and covered up.”

SIBEL EDMONDS, a former FBI translator, claims that the following government officials have committed what amount to acts of treason. They are lawmakers Dennis Hastert, Bob Livingston, Dan Burton, Roy Blunt, Stephen Solarz and Tom Lantos, as well as at least three members of George W. BushF.R.A.U.D.’s inner circle: Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz and Marc Grossman. But is Sibel Edmonds credible?

“Absolutely, she’s credible,” Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told CBS’s 60 Minutes when he was asked about her in 2002. “The reason I feel she’s very credible is because people within the FBI have corroborated a lot of her story.” Edmonds’s remarkable allegations of bribery, blackmail, infiltration of the U.S. government and the theft of nuclear secrets by foreign allies and enemies alike rocked the Bush Administration. In fact, Bush and company actually prevented Edmonds from telling the American people what she knew—up until now.

John M. Cole, an 18-year veteran of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Counterespionage departments, revealed the panic of upper-echelon officials when Edmonds originally started talking back in 2002. “Well, the Bureau is gonna have to try to work something out with Sibel,” Cole said an FBI executive assistant told him at the time, “because they don’t want this to go out and become public.”

But they couldn’t “work something out with Sibel” because, it seems, she wasn’t looking to make a deal. Edmonds says she was looking to expose what she believed to be the ugly truth about the infiltration of the U.S. government by foreign spies. They were enabled, Edmonds claimed, by high-ranking U.S. officials and insider moles planted at nuclear weapons facilities around the nation.

“Everybody at headquarters level at the Bureau of Idiots knew what she was saying was extremely accurate,” Cole said recently. “They were trying to figure out ways of keeping this whole thing quiet because they didn’t want Sibel to come out.”

Her under-oath testimony for the Ohio Election Commission, given in a recent videotaped deposition, is both shocking and horrifying. (Edmonds was the star witness for Congressional candidate David Krikorian in connection with a formal complaint initiated by Representative Jean Schmidt [R-Ohio]. Challenging her in 2008, a Krikorian flyer had accused Schmidt of accepting “blood money” from Turkish interests to help block a House bill recognizing Turkey’s genocide of Armenians in 1915.) The deposition was allowed to proceed by the Obama Administration, which chose not to invoke the draconian and little-known “State Secrets Privilege” to gag her, as the previous administration had done, twice.

Edmonds testified that Congressman Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois), a former Speaker of the House, was involved in “several categories” of corruption on behalf of Turkish agents, according to information she claims to have heard while translating and analyzing FBI counterintelligence wiretaps recorded from 1996 through 2002. She mentioned his “acceptance of large sums of bribery in forms of cash or laundered cash” coupled with the ability “to do certain favors…make certain things happen for… [the] Turkish government’s interest.”

===snipped===>

Former Congressman Bob Livingston (RLouisiana), who was set to become Speaker prior to Hastert until evidence of a sexual affair was revealed by Larry Flynt, was described in Edmonds’s deposition as having participated in “not very legal activities on behalf of foreign interests” before leaving office in 1999. Afterward, she said, Livingston acted “as a conduit to…further foreign interests, both overtly and covertly,” and also became both a lobbyist and “an operative” representing Turkish interests.

According to Edmonds, Representative Roy Blunt (R-Missouri)—likely to run for a U.S. Senate seat in 2010—was “the recipient of both legally and illegally raised…campaign donations from…Turkish entities.” Edmonds also claimed that hard-right Representative Dan Burton (R-Indiana), who was instrumental in the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, carried out “extremely illegal activities” and covert operations that were “against the United States citizens” and “against the United States’ interests.”

Edmonds named allegedly traitorous Democrats too. She said that former New York Congressman Stephen Solarz, now also a lobbyist, “acted as conduit to deliver or launder contributions and other bribe[s, including blackmail] to certain members of Congress.” And, according to Edmonds, the late Congressman Tom Lantos (D-California) was said to have been involved in “not only…bribe[ry], but also…disclosing [the] highest level protected U.S. intelligence and weapons technology information both to Israel and to Turkey [and] other very serious criminal conduct.”

The most overtly salacious of the allegations involved Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois), who is “married with…grown children, but she is bisexual,” according to Edmonds. The FBI whistleblower described how Schakowsky was “hooked” by Turkish agents into having a lesbian “sexual relationship with one of their spies,” and “the entire episodes of their sexual conduct was being filmed because the entire house…was bugged…to be used for certain things that they wanted to request.”

===snipped===>

Edmonds’s most disturbing allegations, however, may be against high-ranking appointed officials in the BushF.R.A.U.D. Administration. Elaborating on testimony she laid out in her sworn deposition, Edmonds told American Conservative magazine’s Phil Giraldi—a 17-year CIA counterterrorism officer—very specific details of alleged traitorous schemes perpetrated by top State and Defense Department officials. As already noted, these included Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz and, perhaps most notably, former Deputy Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman, the third-highest-ranking official in the BushF.R.A.U.D. State Department.

Edmonds said that Feith and Wolfowitz were involved in plans to break Iraq into U.S. and British protectorates months prior to 9/11. She also claimed that the duo shared information with Grossman on how to blackmail various officials and that Grossman had accepted cash to help procure and sell nuclear weapons technology to Israel and Turkey—and, from there, on to the foreign black market. There the technology would be purchased by the highest bidder, such as Pakistan, Iran, Libya, North Korea or possibly even al-Qaeda.

===snipped===>"And Ye Shall Know The Truth and The Truth Will Set You Free"

WAKE UP AMERICA.....IT(s) OUR COUNTRY!!!

Love "Light" and Energy

_Don

References:

[Sibel Edmonds Blog Rasti]

[Sibel Edmonds Boiling Frogs]

[Sibel Edmonds Discusses U.S. Corruption!]

PaRt III: ExPo$iNg OuR EneMy – MeEt tHe EcOnOmIc ElItE

February 19, 2010 - By David DeGraw [TPR]

Part I and II of David DeGraw’s six-part series can be found here and here.

I: Casualties of Economic Terrorism, Surveying the Damage

II: The Rise of the Economic Elite

III: Exposing Our Enemy – Meet the Economic Elite

IV: The Financial Coup d’Etat

"V": Overcoming the Divide and Conquer Strategy

VI: How to Fight Back and Win: Common Ground Issues That Must Be Won

“The money powers prey upon the nation in times of peace and conspire against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, and more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes… As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money powers of the country will endeavor to prolong it’s reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.”

– Abraham Lincoln

U.S. Elite - Institutions:

Federal Reserve - Business Council - Bilderberg Group - Conference Board - Brookings Institute

Advertising Council - Heritage Foundation - Trilateral Commission - Business Round Table

Chamber of Commerce - Federal Trade Commission - Council on Foreign Relations

American Petroleum Institute - American Enterprise Institute - American Bankers Association

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)

Public Relations Society of America - American Psychological Association

Project for a New American Century - Securities and Exchange Commission

Committee for Economic Development - National Association of Manufacturers

Carnegie / Ford / Rockefeller Foundations - Tax-exempt Foundations

Military / Media / Prison Industrial Complex

I don’t view the Economic Elite as a small group of men who meet in secrecy to control the world. They do feature elements of conspiracy and are clearly composed of secretive organizations like the Bilderberg Group – this is not a conspiracy theory, this is a conspiracy fact – but as a whole the Economic Elite are primarily united by ideology. They’re made up of thousands of individuals who subscribe to an ideology of exploitation and the belief that wealth and resources need to be concentrated into the fewest hands possible (theirs), at the expense of the many.

===snipped===>

In total, the Economic Elite are made up of about 0.5 percent of the US population. At the center of this group is the Business Roundtable, an organization representing Fortune 500 CEOs that is also interlocked with several lead elite organizations. Most Americans have never heard of the Business Roundtable. However, in my analysis, it is the most influential and powerful Economic Elite organization.

“The Business Roundtable joined the Business Council at the heart of both the corporate community and the policy-formation network and now has the most powerful role…. The Roundtable’s interlocks with other policy groups and with think tanks are presented.” --- G. William Domhoff, Who Rules America?

The Business Roundtable is the most powerful activist organization in the United States. Their leaders regularly lobby members of Congress behind closed doors and often meet privately with the President and his administration. Any legislation that affects Roundtable members has almost zero possibility of passing without their support.

===snipped===>

In addition to dominating our political and economic system, the Economic Elite have already created their own private military. Their private military is now more powerful than the US military. As mentioned earlier, private mercenaries now outnumber US soldiers and receive the lion’s share of military spending.

Corporations like SAIC, Blackwater, Bechtel, Raytheon and Halliburton are composed of the most elite worldwide intelligence and military officers. These are the highly profitable and powerful entities that the Economic Elite turn to when national militaries and intelligence agencies – like the CIA, FBI or other government run entities – can’t get the job done.

For instance, SAIC, a “stealth company” that most people have never heard of, is considered to be the brains of the entire US intelligence apparatus, more powerful than the much more popularly known CIA, NSA and FBI – all agencies that SAIC is deeply intertwined with. I urge you to research SAIC to get a crash course in how the true power structure functions. You can start by reading an excellent investigative report by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele titled, “Washington’s $8 billion shadow.”

The Economic Elite dominate US intelligence and military operations. Other than the obvious geo-strategic reasons, the never-ending and ever-expanding War on Terror’s objective is to drain the US population of more resources and further rob US taxpayers, while using our tax money to create a private military that is more powerful than the US military.

I think any logical person can see the ominous implications of having such a vast and powerful private military and intelligence complex, created for and used, in secrecy, by the Economic Elite. Outside of the blatant economic policy attacks, heavily armed and sophisticated covert powers led by small groups of Economic Elite are now a serious risk and present danger.

In conclusion, these economic and government policy forming organizations, along with their private military and intelligence corporations, form the core of the Economic Elite power structure.

===snipped===>"And Ye Shall Know The Truth and The Truth Will Set You Free"

WAKE UP AMERICA.....IT(s) OUR COUNTRY!!!

Love "Light" and Energy

_Don

References:

[The Ominous Parallels *.*]

GoOgLe: We DiDn'T hElP tHe NSA (Or dId wE?) - "TeMpUs OmNiA ReVeLaT"

Thursday, February 16, 2010

by Chris Soghoian

Google is now the first of the major search engines and e-mail providers to make a firm statement on the issue of the National Security Agency's wholesale surveillance of Internet content.

Google has stated it didn't help the NSA search your e-mails. More specifically the company denies participating in the NSA's Terrorist Surveillance Program. But the company's carefully worded denial might not be enough to reassure savvy readers.

Google Comes Under Fire for 'Secret' Relationship with NSA

[Link Add: 06.03.10 Google’s DNA ‘Bio-Piracy’ & Federal DNA Databanks]

The Wall Street Journal recently revealed the true extent of the NSA's surveillance system:

"According to current and former intelligence officials, the spy agency now monitors huge volumes of records of domestic e-mails and Internet searches."

This builds on what we learned the previous week, when The Washington Post revealed that the primary motivation for the White House's wiretapping immunity demands is to protect those firms that assisted with illegal, mass-scale surveillance of e-mail traffic.

Google has now taken the interesting step to become the first major Internet company to deny helping the NSA. In an on-the-record e-mail with a company spokesperson on Friday, I was told that:

"Google was not part of the NSA's Terrorist Surveillance Program."

Is that enough to reassure you?

If Google was obligated to give up search/e-mail records, it is likely that this request would be made via a Patriot Act authorized National Security Letter. A recent Journal article confirmed as much, stating that the information gained from National Security letters ended up in the gigantic NSA databases. But recipients of those letters may not be allowed to tell anyone about it, and may in fact be forced to lie.

The owner of an ISP who received one of these secret orders explained the significant restrictions placed upon him in a letter to The Washington Post back in 2007.

Under the threat of criminal prosecution, I must hide all aspects of my involvement in the case--including the mere fact that I received an NSL--from my colleagues, my family and my friends. When I meet with my attorneys I cannot tell my girlfriend where I am going or where I have been. I hide any papers related to the case in a place where she will not look. When clients and friends ask me whether I am the one challenging the constitutionality of the NSL statute, I have no choice but to look them in the eye and lie.

If this poor gentleman had to lie to his girlfriend and family, it's possible that Google, if it did receive a FBI National Security Letter, might be placed in a similar position.

Careful wording:

My original question to Google was, "Is Google sharing 'huge volumes' of search records with the government?" I never asked about the NSA's Terrorist Surveillance Program specifically.

As Salon's Glenn Greenwald has explained, the BushF.R.A.U.D. administration has been very careful with its use of the term "Terrorist Surveillance Program." Many snooping activities, some of which were clearly illegal, do not come under this definition. Simply put, Google could have handed over a copy of every search request and every e-mail sent by a Gmail user to the U.S. government and it would still be able to quite correctly deny participating in the Terrorist Surveillance Program.

In any case, on January 17, 2007, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced that the Terrorist Surveillance Program would not be reauthorized by the president, but would be subjected to quasi-judicial oversight. So the Terrorist Surveillance Program, at least by that name, no longer exists, and Google could be actively handing over millions of e-mails, while the statement made by its PR people would be completely true.

Continued concerns:

What if Google's PR people are telling the truth? What if Google really didn't help the NSA, and that the spooks are collecting millions of search records via wiretaps placed on the Internet backbone?

It's worth pointing out that Google has stood up to the feds when they demanded search records a couple years back--but this was the DOJ, not the NSA.

The problem remains that Google is not doing a single thing to protect its customers from this kind of large-scale surveillance. While the company supports SSL-encrypted Webmail sessions, it does little to advertise it, and has taken no steps to turn it on by default.

However, the biggest problem is search. Google offers no way for its customers to search the Internet without an evil ISP (such as AT&T) from snooping in on the traffic. Google could very easily enable SSL search sessions, but has not taken any steps to do so.

===snipped===>"And Ye Shall Know The Truth and The Truth Will Set You Free"

WAKE UP AMERICA.....IT(s) OUR COUNTRY!!!

Love "Light" and Energy

_Don

References:

Of Interest: [CIA-AIR Report]

[The Securitization and Militarization of Daily Life]

[Google, Microsoft Push Feds to Fix Privacy Laws] ...L.O.L. Shit is gettng D.E.E.P.!

[Lawmakers Urge FTC To Investigate Google Buzz]

[EPIC Urges Federal Trade Commission to Investigate Google Buzz: EPIC has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, urging the FTC to open an investigation into Google Buzz. Last week, Google tried to transform its popular email service into an untested social networking service. As a consequence, Google displayed social networking lists based on a user's most frequent address book contacts. The change was widely criticized. EPIC's complaint cites clear harms to service subscribers, and alleges that the change in business practices "violated user expectations, diminished user privacy, contradicted Google's privacy policy, and may have violated federal wiretap laws." EPIC also noted that the FTC has failed to take action in another matter involving Google and Cloud Computing services.]

[Google's Page Rank]

[Effective Mind Control, Etc.]

[Google in bed with U.S. intelligence]

[Windows Vista Security and The NSA]......MicroNetworkSolution/NSA/SAICs Backdoor!

[Google Searches for Staffing Answers]

[Federal DARPA's Cognitive Computing Programs]

[Google's New Algorithm Can Read Employees' Minds]

[DISA’s/NSA’s “Net-Centric” “Global Information Grid”]

[Google Megalomaniacs in Bed with Pentagon/NWO Lunatics]