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Show: Reality Exploit Roundtable
Episode: 22
Date: June 14, 2013
Topics: Court finds NSA surveillance unconstitutional,
Moderator: Plato
Panelists: Wise-Guy, Voodoo, Hiro
Tags: NSA, Surveillance, PRISM
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Intro music by Sun Araw - "Deep Cover"
- Voodoo: Black and Yellow Pages, Beer Can Engines
- Plato: Twitter, Reddit
- Wise-Guy
- Hiro: Podcasts: AgoristRadio | News: OrlinGrabbe
It turns out that Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2011 found that the NSA’s surveillance under the FISA Amendments Act to be unconstitutional. Why doesn’t anyone know this? Because the decision was kept secret:
"In a rare public filing in the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), the Justice Department today urged continued secrecy for a 2011 FISC opinion that found the National Security Agency’s surveillance under the FISA Amendments Act to be unconstitutional. Significantly, the surveillance at issue [then] was carried out under the same controversial legal authority that underlies the NSA’s recently-revealed PRISM program."
It gets worse:
"The government’s argument is guaranteed to make heads spin. DOJ earlier argued that it lacks discretion to release the FISC opinion without the FISC’s consent, but DOJ now argues that if the FISC were to agree with EFF, “the consequence would be that the Government could release the opinion or any portion of it in its discretion.” But FISC material is classified solely because the Executive Branch demands that it be, so release of the opinion has always been a matter of Executive discretion."
- Court finds NSA surveillance unconstitutional. Administration’s response: keep the ruling secret and carry on
- FISA Court Rejects Catch-22 Secrecy Argument in FOIA Case
- U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Public Filings
- EFF response to Justice Dept. secrecy demands
The Internal Revenue Service is collecting a lot more than taxes this year -- it's also acquiring a huge volume of personal information on taxpayers' digital activities, from eBay auctions to Facebook posts and, for the first time ever, credit card and e-payment transaction records, as it expands its search for tax cheats to places it's never gone before.
The IRS, under heavy pressure to help Washington out of its budget quagmire by chasing down an estimated $300 billion in revenue lost to evasions and errors each year, will start using "robo-audits" of tax forms and third-party data the IRS hopes will help close this so-called "tax gap." But the agency reveals little about how it will employ its vast, new network scanning powers.
- IRS tracks your digital footprint
- IRS to monitor Facebook, Twitter for tax cheats
- sockpuppet/VM tool?
What to make, then, of an Internet-connected household computer that requires users to install a futuristic microphone and camera able to track their movement—and even heart rate and mood—in pitch black?
In addition, Xbox One must be connected to the Internet regularly—once every 24 hours—in order to function. Observers worry these two features could be combined into a pipeline for surveillance.
As for whether a device could be turned back on from afar via an Internet connection —either by Microsoft or anyone else—a spokesman told MSNBC over e-mail that “Xbox One has a very robust security system to protect against such compromise provided the user doesn’t tamper with the console hardware or software.”
He added that Microsoft only divulges customer information in response to a legally binding court order, does so only for specific individual accounts and that “[If] the government has a broader voluntary national security program to gather customer data we don’t participate in it.”
Paul Judge, Chief Research Officer at security firm Barracuda Networks, told MSNBC that the privacy complaints surrounding Microsoft’s new console are “misplaced and blown out of proportion.” Not because Kinect couldn’t be exploited by the NSA or a hacker—it’s a plausible scenario, he said—but because the same consumers criticizing Microsoft surround themselves with potential monitoring devices every day without a second thought.
“The same holds true for every other cool device that you’ve purchased recently that has a mic and a camera including your cell phone, your tablet, laptop and desktop computer,” Judge said. “They all have mics and cameras that could be turned on if the computer is compromised remotely.”
Greece first to be downgraded from 'developed' to 'emerging market'
Employees have been front-running client orders and rigging WM/Reuters rates by pushing through trades before and during the 60-second windows when the benchmarks are set, said five current and former traders, who requested anonymity because the practice is controversial.
Banks have rigged forex rates and front-run their clients for a decade