November 2015 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Re: Fwd: Do ethnic Germans have the right to racial and cultural strength? - was Re: At a Berlin church, Muslim refugees converting in droves.
by Zenaan Harkness 17 Jan '16

17 Jan '16

On 9/11/15, Nathan wrote: > WTF? I've read this *twice* and I *still* don't get it..... Is this an > argument against multiculturalism? That's not the question - the question is, does each individual human of a nation have the right to protect their current, existing culture? Or at least to have a say, i.e. a vote about it? Some nations, through their power structures, go to extraordinary lengths to protect their rights to cultural and racial strength, Japan for example. Is this the right of the Japanese? Or are they doing the wrong thing? >From their perspective, they are doing what is required to protect their rights, to self determination as a people, a tribe, a race. It appears that the rights of individuals are determined (in practice) by those in power, and not by those who are directly affected by the decision makers (the people themselves). Is keeping such decisions in the hands of a few "educated elected" an elitist approach? If democracy be the will of the people manifested, then ought the people of any nation be asked directly (nation wide vote) on such questions as cultural dilution due to immigration and or asylum? Or is it appropriate for an "elected" few to impose their personal preference on a nation? Regards Zenaan

6 14

Yoga class cancelled for "cultural issues" (insufficient awareness by class attendees of yoga origins)
by Zenaan Harkness 17 Dec '15

17 Dec '15

The practices of this yoga regime must be corrected. Zenaan's trigger warnings: contains the following words and phrases: spiritual, oppression, cultural genocide, yoga, cultural issues, Disabilities (I was so sure we weren't allowed to use that word any more), feeling left out, mindful stretching (evidently a taboo phrase as well). http://nypost.com/2015/11/23/pc-police-suspend-yoga-class-at-university-ove… A yoga instructor who teaches at the University of Ottawa says she is fighting to keep her program alive after the school’s student body suspended it over concerns that “cultural issues” relating to the class could offend students. Jennifer Scharf, who has been offering free weekly sessions at the university’s Center for Students with Disabilities since 2008, told the Ottawa Sun that she was informed in September that the program would not come back for the fall semester. ICYMI: Still our hottest story – Free yoga class cancelled over 'cultural issues' https://t.co/GZbUHJ8VRa #ottnews pic.twitter.com/J4F7AZo6Zj — Ottawa Sun (@ottawasuncom) November 23, 2015 In an email exchange between Scharf and a representative of the university’s Student Federation — which was viewed by the newspaper — a student wrote that “while yoga is a really great idea and accessible and great for students… there are cultural issues of implication involved in the practice. “Yoga has been under a lot of controversy lately due to how it is being practiced,” the email continues, and which cultures those practices “are being taken from.” The Student Federation, which operates the center, went on to say that many of those cultures “have experienced oppression, cultural genocide and diasporas due to colonialism and Western supremacy… we need to be mindful of this and how we express ourselves while practicing yoga.” Student Federation Acting President Romeo Ahimakin told the Ottawa Sun that the class has been put on hold until a way can be figured out “to make it better, more accessible and more inclusive to certain groups of people that feel left out in yoga-like spaces. “We are trying to have those sessions done in a way in which students are aware of where the spiritual and cultural aspects come from, so that these sessions are done in a respectful manner,” he added. But Scharf, who instructed about 60 students each week in the program, said, “people are just looking for a reason to be offended by anything they can find.” Scharf says she offered the student body leaders a compromise by suggesting she change the name of the course to “mindful stretching,” but after some debate, they couldn’t reach an agreement. “I guess it was this cultural appropriation issue because yoga originally comes from India,” she told CBC News. “We’re not going through the finer points of Scripture. We’re talking about basic physical awareness and how to stretch so that you feel good.” Scharf added that she is “fighting so hard” to keep the class.

3 2

NSA Attacks on VPN, SSL, TLS, SSH, Tor
by John Young 16 Dec '15

16 Dec '15

Der Spiegel released largest single day number of Snowden docs today, 666 pages, on NSA Attacks on VPN, SSL, TLS, SSH, Tor. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/nsa-documents-attacks-on-vpn-ssl-… We offer a RAR of the 44 docs: http://cryptome.org/2014/12/nsa-spiegel-14-1228.rar (197MB)

8 9

Re: [Cryptography] Sadly predictable: Terrorism used as excuse to attack encryption
by grarpamp 03 Dec '15

03 Dec '15

On Tue, Nov 17, 2015 at 1:07 PM, Henry Baker <hbaker1(a)pipeline.com> wrote: > With enough fear, anything comes to look threatening: a gaming console, a toilet, a smartphone. Will destroying them make us more or less powerful? It makes "us" look like cowards, because you're not addressing the source of the fear, you're taking the *apparrent* easy route, while still leaving the source to reign. It takes courage to conquer your fears. Grow some.

2 2

Re: Paris Attacks Blamed on Strong Cryptography and Edward Snowden
by John Young 02 Dec '15

02 Dec '15

Wheedling about crypto and Snowden diverts from CIA Director's full speech and broader critique. CIA version omits Q&A. <https://t.co/d6tAq2PiZi>http://csis.org/files/attachments/151116_GSF_OpeningSession.pdf To be sure, commentators must promote their products to flatter their consumers as do spies, officials and armaments (crypto) producers. Officials buy the armaments to gain votes and post-service directorships, word artists blow wind to fan the flames. "This Is War!" Perfect for all consumers except the slaughtered, a few of which get ritual mourning (most ignored, unreported, unsacrelized, unheroricized, unencrypted). Hard to tell the difference between opportunistic warmongerers or anti-warmongerers, so ying and yang in complicity. At 10:03 AM 11/17/2015, you wrote: >1. ><https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2015/11/paris_attacks_b.html>https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2015/11/paris_attacks_b.html >2. >https://theintercept.com/2015/11/15/exploiting-emotions-about-paris-to-blam… > ><<As Paris reels from terrorist attacks that >have claimed at least 128 lives, fierce blame >for the carnage is being directed toward >American whistleblower Edward Snowden and the >spread of strong encryption catalyzed by his >actions. Now the Paris attacks are being used an excuse to demand back doors>> > > ><<how can âofficialsâ and their media >stenographers persist in trying to convince >people of such a blatant, easily disproven >falsehood: namely, that Terrorists learned to >hide their communications from Snowdenâs >revelations? They do it because of how many >benefits there are from swindling people to >believe this. To begin with, U.S officials are >eager here to demonize far more than just Snowden >They want to demonize encryption generally as >well as any companies that offer it. Indeed, as >these media accounts show, theyâve been trying >for two decades to equate the use of encryption > anything that keeps them out of peopleâs >private onlinee communications with aiding and abetting The Terrorists>> > ><<Above all, thereâs the desperation to >prevent people from asking how and why ISIS was >able to spring up seemingly out of nowhere and >be so powerful, able to blow up a Russian >passenger plane, a market in Beirut, and the >streets of Paris in a single week. Thatâs the >one question Western officials are most >desperate not to be asked, so directing >peopleâs ire to Edward Snowden and strong >encryption is beneficial in the extreme>> > > ><<Thereâs the related question of how ISIS has >become so well-armed and powerful. There are >many causes, but a leading one is the role >played by the U.S. and its âallies in the >regionâ (i.e., Gulf tyrannies) in arming them>>

5 4

DuckDuckGo
by Jason McVetta 01 Dec '15

01 Dec '15

On Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 1:56 PM, rysiek <rysiek(a)hackerspace.pl> wrote: > > DuckDuckGo to the rescue. DuckDuckGo is an obvious honeypot. Why does anyone use it?

8 17

Brief history lesson on Islam - Fwd: ALA Senate candidate Bernard Gaynor struts his stuff in a powerful speech.
by Zenaan Harkness 01 Dec '15

01 Dec '15

>From an aspiring Australian senate candidate who I and many others admire, Bernard Gaynor. Hopefully he is observant enough to not get imprisoned on trumped up charges like Pauline Hanson did some years back due to a united effort (it turned out) between our two major ("left" and "right") political parties. Good luck Bernard, Zenaan ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2015 14:32:09 +1100 Subject: ALA Senate candidate Bernard Gaynor struts his stuff in a powerful speech. FW: ALA SENATE CANDIDATE STRUTS HIS STUFFThis is one of the best political speeches I have read from a man who is a true Australian patriot and not a typical brain-dead Australian politician. Bernard's speech is full of facts and truth about Islam and politics in Australia. He was given a rough deal by the ADF and NSW Anti-Discrimination Board and successfully defended himself against both of them. My only criticism is that Bernard didn't go far enough in calling out the Liberal and Labor parties as the Islamic lap dogs, gutless snivelling cowards and traitors they truly are. Get ready for the major parties and the slimy Greens to launch attacks against Bernard Gaynor, the ALA and Pauline Hanson. I hope they have have the determination, resilience and endurance for a long political battle to win seats in Parliament. I don't think the Liberal party will be able to have the leader of ALA imprisoned on trumped up charges like they did with Pauline. With today's social media it will be far more difficult to substantiate false claims against Gaynor and the ALA. Jim ----- Original Message ----- From: Admin To: POLITICIANS ; C.Q. FREE STATE GROUP ; SENATORS ; CHURCH MILITANTS Sent: Monday, November 30, 2015 7:07 AM Subject: FW: ALA SENATE CANDIDATE STRUTS HIS STUFF ALA SENATE CANDIDATE STRUTS HIS STUFF THE PICKERING POST Larry Pickering Fri 27 Nov 2015 http://pickeringpost.com/story/-ala-senate-candidate-struts-his-stuff/5620 Outspoken ex-military Senate candidate, Bernard Gaynor, faced a large crowd on Queensland’s Gold Coast this week to launch his campaign for the newly-formed Australian Liberty Alliance party which is looming as a force in the upcoming Federal election. Mr Gaynor spoke mainly about public concern over Islamic immigration. There is certainly a world-wide movement gaining political momentum on this issue and the current Labor and liberal parties are certain to join in moving against any viable threat to their comfortable duopoly, as they have with ruthless efficiency in the past. This is the text of what Mr Gaynor had to say: Ladies and gentleman, Australia is facing a crisis. It is a crisis that threatens all of us right now. And it is a crisis that threatens our children most of all because they will have to live with the decisions we make today. This crisis comes from Islamic ideology. For far too long, our government has pretended that Islamic ideology is peaceful. Our political leaders have pretended that this ideology can be integrated safely into our society. But they have been wrong. Any student of history knows that this belief is wrong. Islam was founded by a man who brilliantly merged politics with religion and created an empire where the church was the state. In the process, an army was raised, wars were fought, and populations were enslaved, forcibly converted or executed. This man was Mohammad and the Islamic religion teaches that he was perfect and that his example is to be followed. There should be no surprises, therefore, that the Islamic religion leads to violence. It idolises a warlord. It should also come as no surprise that this religion advocates immigration into non-Islamic lands as a means of conquering them. The Islamic calendar itself is based on the first successful conquest undertaken by Islamic immigration: the conquest of Medina. For much of the last three centuries, all of this has been forgotten. Then September 11 happened. Unfortunately, the Western world believed that September 11 was something new. But it was not. It was something old. In fact, in the first battle of September 11 was in 1683. This was the first September 11. On that first September 11, European forces defeated an invading Islamic army that had been besieging Vienna for two months. Those of you who know Europe will know that the city of Vienna is right in the middle of the continent. It is not an understatement to say that this victory saved Europe. After this first battle of September 11, the Islamic threat to Europe receded due to the efforts of those who protected Western civilisation, until it was forgotten. But before this first battle of September 11, Europe was constantly threatened by Islam, just as it is today. In fact, Vienna was under constant attack for 150 years prior to that first battle of September 11 in 1683. The Battle of Lepanto occurred in 1571. It saved Europe from an Islamic fleet sent to invade Italy. In 1453, the city of Constantinople fell. It has been the capital of the Byzantine Empire since Roman days. It finally succumbed after a 700 year fight against Islamic aggression. Now this empire and its culture is gone. The Spanish also battled Islam for about 700 years. That’s how long it took to remove Islam after it arrived with the Caliph’s armies shortly after Mohammad’s death. The year that Columbus discovered America was also the year that Islam was eventually removed from Spain. Now it is walking in again via Europe’s open borders. Mohammad died in the year 632. Within five years, Jerusalem had been captured and in the next century Islam had conquered the Persians, the Egyptians, all of North Africa, Spain and had even reached into the heart of France. In 732, at a place called Tours in Northern France, this first Islamic invasion was finally stopped but as we can see through history, it was not the last. We face another invasion today. September 11 shows that we are once again under attack. So does Bali. And Madrid. And London. So do the terrorist atrocities on our home soil, in Melbourne, in Sydney’s Martin Place and at Parramatta. And two attacks in Paris this year show that appeasing the enemy only makes things worse. Yet our politicians, our government and our security organisations remain obstinately and wilfully determined to ignore the reality of this crisis and the threat that we face. Let me give you three examples. The first example is that of our Prime Minister. Our Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has been talking a lot about Islam lately. And every time he does, he shows how ill-equipped and unprepared he is for the task at hand of protecting Australia and Australians. In early October, Prime Minister Turnbull announced that he was going to ‘reset’ relations with the Islamic community. By the end of the day, a police worker lay dead outside Parramatta police station as a result of an attack launched from the Parramatta mosque. Undeterred, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced a National Day of Unity in late October, where Australians were invited to welcome the Islamic community. The very next day, Hizb ut Tahrir held a conference attended by nearly 1000 people and announced that they rejected Australia, and rejected our values, our laws, our flag and our anthem. Just so you know, this organisation, Hizb ut Tahrir, has been supported by almost every Islamic organisation or imam in Australia, including the Grand Mufti, Australia’s highest ranking Islamic figure. The truth is that Hizb ut Tahrir is the political wing of an Islamic insurgency intent on overthrowing our system of government. Then the Prime Minister flew to Europe and rejected calls for European nations to shut their borders to an Islamic invasion. Within a couple of days, 130 people lay dead in Paris and hundreds more were wounded. These attacks were carried out by immigrants who lived in France, but who never became French. And now, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull wants us to negotiate a political settlement in Syria. He thinks the Islamic State can be dealt with by nothing more than words. As such, it is clear that the Prime Minister, installed by the majority of his Liberal party colleagues, has simply no idea about the nature of Islamic ideology or how we should confront its attacks on us. The second example relates to government funding of Islam in this country. This is just a small example of how your taxes are spent: The federal government has provided millions over the last five years to ‘deradicalisation’ programs. Only one out of 87 of these programs actually deals with radicalised individuals. The remainder actually promote Islam. Some of these programs over the last 12 months are: $120,000 has been provided for an Australian Rules Football competition open only to Islamic schools. $114,820 has been provided to tackle violence between Islamic sects within the Islamic community. $115,700 has been allocated to a program called People Against Violent Extremism. It tackles extremism by trying to ‘deradicalise’ those who oppose the construction of new mosques in their local community. $56,500 was allocated to SalamCare. This group is led by a person who wrote Allahu Akbar on their Facebook page when the Islamic State announced that it had formed the caliphate and it campaigns against radicalisation by trying to stop people like the courageous Dutch politician, Geert Wilders, from coming to Australia. Over $1 million has been allocated by the Attorney-General’s Department to pay for the legal fees of those facing terrorism charges or who are being questioned by ASIO. Over $15 million was allocated to improve school security last year. Islamic schools made up the vast majority of schools to receive funding for this project. $66,000 was provided by the Australian Federal Police to the Lebanese Muslim Association. This organisation has hosted a US-based imam who has stated: “If we put a nationwide infrastructure in place and marshalled our resources, we’d take over this country in a very short time….What a great victory it will be for Islam to have this country in the fold and ranks of the Muslims.” Over $165 million was given to Islam-sympathetic groups by Centrelink to help resettle migrants in Australia in the last 12 months. And the Queensland government is now funding mosque open days. The list goes on. The Prime Minister doesn’t understand the threat. And our government uses our taxes to fund and promote Islam. This helps to explain why, despite the billions that we spend on this problem, it is only getting worse. The third example is that of our Australian Army. It is now removing a motto from the hat badges of its Christian chaplains because it has been deemed offensive to Muslims. This motto is “In this sign conquer”. The appeasement within the military comes just a few months after the appointment of the first imam in the Australian Defence Force, Sheikh Mohammadu Nawas Saleem. Saleem is one of Australia’s most prominent imams. He is the treasurer of the Australian National Imams Council and works very closely with the Grand Mufti. And Sheikh Saleem has called for Sharia law to implemented in Australia. He has supported Hizb ut Tahrir publicly. This is the same Hizb ut Tahrir that says Muslims must not attend Anzac Day because it represents an attack on the caliphate. This is the same Hizb ut Tahrir that defends the concept of honour killings. Sheikh Saleem has opposed military action against the Islamic State. And he has condemned laws that prohibit the advocation of terrorism on the basis that they limit the free speech of Islamic preachers. And the Liberal government appointed this imam to the military. His job is to help increase recruitment from the Islamic community. Just so you know, the Islamic community has more of its sons fighting for the Islamic State than for Australia. All of these examples highlight how unprepared our political leaders, our government and our military is to deal with the threat of Islamic violence. And if they won’t defend against Islamic violence, then we are also wide open for subversion in other ways: through the implementation of halal certification, through the acceptance of polygamy via Centrelink, through the indoctrination of our children in the national curriculum. If our government cannot bring itself to understand the violence of Islam, it will never be able to defend itself against the non-violent but equally subversive political threat that Islam poses in a democracy. But I have not come here today to tell you how bad things are. You already know it. Australians everywhere already understand this. What we desperately need is a solution and that is why I am here because the Australian Liberty Alliance is that solution. The Australian Liberty Alliance will stand up to the threat of Islam and we will do this while Australia still has time to act. It is important to understand this. The problems in Australia are there, but they are not as great as those faced by Europe. So we have a window of opportunity to act and for the future of our children, we must. This is the Australian Liberty Alliance’s plan. The Australian Liberty Alliance will stop Islamic immigration. It will do this by imposing a moratorium on immigration from any countries that are members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, with exceptions only for persecuted non-Muslims from those countries. The Australian Liberty Alliance will axe the halal certification tax. It will do this by scrapping all halal certification fees and forcing the Islamic community to pay for its own religious offices. That will kill the profit taking. And it will force producers to clearly label their products and explain to Australians that the food they buy – especially meat – has been produced as part of an Islamic animal sacrifice. This will kill demand and halal certification will simply disappear. The Australian Liberty Alliance will reject any government support for Sharia law, in law and in practice. That means there will be no more welfare for polygamous Islamic families, no segregation of women, no female genital mutilation and none of the other Islamic practices that are incompatible with Australian culture and society. The Australian Liberty Alliance will put an end to the construction of dangerous new mosques and Islamic schools. It will force Islamic organisations to sign up to a Charter of Muslim Understanding, which will require these organisations to reform Islam so that it no longer acts as a violent political ideology, if they wish to be classified as religious organisations. And the party will work with local governments to introduce proper and stringent risk assessments into the development planning process. This means that without reform of Islam, and I doubt that will ever happen, there will be no new mosques and existing mosques will face the prospect of being shut down. The Australian Liberty Alliance will also address the threat of terrorism by addressing the problem: Islam. Our intelligence and security agencies will be directed to gain a true understanding of Islam, rather than the politically-correct version that they pretend into existence today. These organisations will no longer be allowed to promote this religion or its ideas. And the Australian Liberty Alliance will start using treachery laws against those who support the Islamic State and other Islamic terrorist groups against our own Defence Force. All of these measures could be implemented today. And if they were, the problem we face would not grow and the serious troublemakers within the Islamic community would be neutralised, while the remainder of the Islamic community would soon get the message: get on board with Team Australia, or face the full force of the law. Most of them want to and we welcome that. The situation within Australia is containable if we act today. If we wait until 2020 or 2025, it may well be too late. Unfortunately, these decisions are not being taken because our current leaders do not understand the problem and they do not have the will to act. They are lethargic in the face of the enemy. Australians deserve much better and that is what the Australian Liberty Alliance will provide: an energy to act, driven by a proud and uncompromising belief in our Western Christian civilisation. Unlike the others, the Australian Liberty Alliance is proud that it is proud of Australia. As a result, the Australian Liberty Alliance is not just addressing the big picture. Its policies, intent and resolve will also address the problems that Australians face in their local communities: like right here on the Gold Coast. For instance, the Gold Coast Mayor, Tom Tate, has been quoted in Islamic webpages outlining a vision where entire suburbs convert to Islam in order to bring in Islamic tourists. I say this: Tom Tate might as well strap a suicide vest to the Gold Coast’s tourism industry. I grew up in Southport. I love this city and I know why people come here. It is not because of Islam. Sharia tourism will kill the Gold Coast. These ideas must be stopped and as the Australian Liberty Alliance grows it will work with local Gold Coast residents to run strong campaigns for good local representatives to be elected to council so that they can fight this dangerous political correctness. This is how we must protect ourselves from Islam: and not just Islam’s threat of violence, but the danger it also offers against our economic security and our social fabric. Of course, the Australian Liberty Alliance is more than a party focused on Islam. It is not a single issue party. It has a conservative philosophy and policies that will help Australians in other ways. Its vision is for a smaller, decentralised government that does not leave a legacy of debt for future generations. It believes in reform of the tax system. At the moment debate is focused solely on new taxes. The Australian Liberty Alliance believes that it is more important to look at how current taxes are spent and how the grants system allows government funds to flow into projects that have no responsibility, accountability or oversight. It will sell the SBS to the highest bidder and put a broom through the ABC. The Australian Liberty Alliance will support natural families and reform welfare so that it is not used as a substitute for work, but so that it also provides Australian families with more choice and opportunity to spend time with their children raising them. It will not waste billions trying to control the level of the oceans, yet the Australian Liberty Alliance’s environmental policies will have the exact same impact on the climate as those of other parties. The Australian Liberty Alliance will address the flaws in our education system and refocus our schools so that they teach the basics exceptionally well and this will set the foundation for exceptional higher educational studies. These are all ideas that the Australian Liberty Alliance will champion. And our political system needs debate about these ideas. At the moment, the major parties have a monopoly on debate. They are the Coles and Woolworths of politics, screwing down on the voters. Their efforts and endeavours are not about providing customer service or better products. Instead, they focused solely on maintain their monopoly on power. We desperately need an Aldi to come and shake up the system. That is what the Australian Liberty Alliance will do and by doing so, it will provide Australians with a brighter future. That future starts at the next election. Between now and then I will be working night and day to campaign for the Australian Liberty Alliance and I hope you will join me in that campaign. We need to build a strong team on the Gold Coast and across Queensland. This campaign will not be successful if it is a one man band. But it will succeed if we work as a team and the turn out tonight shows that we are well and truly on the way to building this team, this army of patriotic Australians. I look forward to growing that team on the Gold Coast from tonight. I also thank you for coming tonight. I thank for you for already standing tall and fighting hard for Australia. And I thank you for your support of the Australian Liberty Alliance. Source: http://pickeringpost.com/story/-ala-senate-candidate-struts-his-stuff/5620

5 10

Haynault's Pattern, Seeing God, Susceptability [re: Brief history on FSM]
by grarpamp 30 Nov '15

30 Nov '15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VER5_j9VHI http://www.fleen.org/ http://pmwdzvbyvnmwobk5.onion/project/brain_hacking http://skunksworkedp2cg.onion/ Seek, and ye shall find...

1 0

Facebook censorship
by Zenaan Harkness 30 Nov '15

30 Nov '15

http://russia-insider.com/en/zakharchenkos-new-facebook-page-blocked/ri10875 Nothing new to cp-ers I guess - I remember about 7 years ago a video/ slide presentation that circulated - on facebook no less, showing the leadership of FB was mostly ex-CIA, ex-NSA. (Yes, I carefully look out from my brown paper bag - I did log in to facebook for a few weeks.) Z

13 17

Give Me Your Data Without a Warrant
by Александр 30 Nov '15

30 Nov '15

*We knew that - didn't we?* But most people are simply too lazy or too afraid to stand up against the aggressor or at least to change their own internet behaviour, but often believe they could bigmouth about "Nothing to hide ..." and get away with it. In all times the dictators could trust in the laziness, ignorance and fear of their sheeple. While in Fortress Europe now martial law, kin liability and arrest for thought or free speech have been imposed like under Nazi Germany, the USofAmerica are leading us all into WWIII. *Revealed: * *FBI can demand web history, phone location data without a warrant* The FBI can use national security letters (NSLs) to force companies to turn over sensitive user data without a warrant, according to filings. By Zack Whittaker <http://www.zdnet.com/meet-the-team/us/zack-whittaker/> for Zero Day <http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/> | November 30, 2015 -- 16:35 GMT (08:35 PST) | Topic: Security <http://www.zdnet.com/topic/security/> The FBI can compel companies and individuals to turn over vast sums of personal data without a warrant, it has been revealed for the first time. In a case that's lasted more than a decade, a court filing released Monday <https://yale.app.box.com/Nicholas-Merrill-SDNY-Decision> showed how the FBI used secret interpretations to determine the scope of national security letters (NSLs). Nicholas Merrill, founder of internet provider Calyx Internet Access, who brought the 11-year-old case to court after his company was served a national security letter, won the case earlier this year. National security letters are almost always bundled with a gag order, preventing Merrill from speaking freely about the letter he received. While it was known that national security letters can demand customer and user data, it wasn't known exactly what. In a statement on Monday, Merrill revealed the FBI has used its authority to force companies and individuals to turn over complete web browsing history; the IP addresses of everyone a person has corresponded with; online purchase information, and also cell-site location information, which he said can be used to turn a person's phone into a "location tracking device." According to a release <https://yale.app.box.com/NSL-Attachment-Unredacted>, the FBI can also force a company to release postal addresses, email addresses, and "any other information which [is] considered to be an electronic communication transactional record." Merrill said in remarks: "The FBI has interpreted its NSL authority to encompass the websites we read, the web searches we conduct, the people we contact, and the places we go. This kind of data reveals the most intimate details of our lives, including our political activities, religious affiliations, private relationships, and even our private thoughts and beliefs." Federal district judge Victor Marrero described in his decision that the FBI's position was "extreme and overly broad." He also found that the FBI's overbroad gag order on Mr. Merrill "implicates serious issues, both with respect to the First Amendment and accountability of the government to the people." Merrill is the first person who has succeeded in completely lifting a national security letter gag order. The Patriot Act expanded the reach of national security letters when it was signed into law a month after the September 11 attacks in 2001. More than ten thousand national security letters are issued by the FBI every year, without a warrant or judicial oversight. These letters have been surrounded with controversy for years, leading to many unsuccessful attempts to litigate against them. Major companies, including Google <http://www.zdnet.com/article/google-fails-to-strike-down-fbis-unconstitutio…>, have challenged national security letters, with little luck. Microsoft recently challenged an order, which led to the FBI to withdraw the demand <http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-challenged-an-fbi-national-security-…> . In 2008, a US court found the National Security Letter statute, amended by the Patriot Act in 2001, was unconstitutional. In a separate case in 2013, the gag order provision was found to be in breach of the First Amendment <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/gagging-recipients-of-national-s…>. The government appealed the ruling.

1 0