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Kid gets 15y for ISIS Bitcoin, Adults get Facialed at Download
by grarpamp 15 Jun '15

15 Jun '15

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2935192/virginia-teen-pleads-guilty-to-givin… Speculation about whether the Islamic State (IS) group is using bitcoin intensified Thursday in the U.S. when government officials said a Virginia teenager admitted to providing the organization with advice on the virtual currency. http://noisey.vice.com/blog/download-festival-is-a-police-trial-ground-for-… This weekend’s Download Festival will be subjected to strategic facial recognition technology by Leicestershire Police, making those 100,000-plus attendees the first music fans to ever be monitored to this extent at a UK music festival.

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As US Marshals director resigns amid scandal, questions mount over agency's cell phone tracking
by coderman 15 Jun '15

15 Jun '15

https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2015/jun/12/us-marshals-director-res… --- As US Marshals director resigns amid scandal, questions mount over agency's cell phone tracking Agents instructed to hide StingRay details “to the greatest extent legally possible” This week, the director of the US Marshals, Stacia Hylton, announced that she will step down within the year. As reported by The Hill on Tuesday, Director Hylton’s resignation follows increased scrutiny regarding allegations of fiscal mismanagement, cronyism and dubious surveillance practices. But unlike Michele Leonhart, who resigned as director of the Drug Enforcement Administration last month after an awkward hearing over sexual misconduct by DEA agents, Director Hylton’s announcement did not ride the wake of any dramatic findings or even a hearing to review potential impropriety. A handful of members of Congress — most vocally Senator Chuck Grassley of Idaho — have voiced concerns over USMS management and called for independent investigation by the Justice Department’s inspector general. No findings will be published for several months, at least, but the USMS director has now announced her resignation even before results from this new investigation are in. As Director Hylton winds down her tenure, what few documents we have regarding surveillance practices by the US Marshals leave many questions unanswered. The US Marshals Service has spent millions of dollars on StingRays and similar devices to track cell phones. Policy directives released by the agency confirm that its investigators — like their counterparts at the FBI and other law enforcement agencies — are instructed to go to lengths to keep details of cell phone trackers out of courtroom testimony and legal filings. Over the past year, key details have emerged regarding deployment of cell site simulators by USMS investigators and deputy marshals. A Wall Street Journal investigation published last November uncovered a USMS program that uses airplanes outfitted with cell site simulators in nationwide fugitive manhunts. The Justice Department refused to confirm or deny the program’s existence, but insisted the undertaking was legal. Last summer, the US Marshals physically removed documents regarding StingRays used by one Florida police department. Two weeks later, the ACLU obtained emails indicating that the USMS asked the same agency to phrase court filings so as to obscure the role cell phone trackers played in an investigation. One April 2009 email chain details an agreement among the U.S. Marshals, an assistant state attorney and local police regarding the wording of probable cause affidavits (PCA) for a case where a StingRay was deployed to locate a suspect. “In the past, and at the request of the U.S. Marshalls (sic),” Sgt. Ken Castro of the Sarasota Police Department wrote, “the investigative means utilized to locate the suspect have not been revealed so that we may continue to utilize this technology without the knowledge of the criminal element.” “In reports or depositions,” the sergeant further explained, “we simply refer to the assistance as ‘received information from a confidential source regarding the location of the suspect.’” Notably, the US Marshals replied it was unable to locate any communications with Sarasota police or its Florida regional task force regarding cell site simulators, despite considerable media coverage and litigation over the rapid document transfer. The Justice Department upheld the agency’s response upon appeal last August. Forty-one pages of undated policy directives released in February by USMS in response to a Freedom of Information Act request include instructions to keep details of StingRays and similar surveillance tactics out of courtroom filings. One of the broad directives indicates that the US Marshals must obtain a pen/trap order from a judge in order to capture “signaling information” from wireless devices. This information includes numbers dialed and the signals a cell phone exchanges with nearby network towers. StingRays and similar cell phone tracking equipment use this information to triangulate a particular device’s location or record communications activity. To capture the content of communications, US Marshals must request a “Title III” or wiretap court order, which demands a higher evidentiary burden. The FBI told legislators last year that its new StingRay policy requires agents to secure a warrant to deploy StingRays, rather than simply a pen/trap order, except under particular circumstances. The Justice Department also recently announced that it is reviewing policies across all of its components, including the US Marshals, when it comes to cell phone tracking. MuckRock is seeking documents related to both announcements. Another USMS directive — entitled “Security and Protection” — stresses that surveillance division agents must be kept off the stand, if possible, and disclosure of techniques minimized “throughout the judicial process.” “It is imperative that investigators understand,” reads the directive in part, “that they must minimize, to the greatest extent legally possible, any testimony by [surveillance division] personnel or the disclosure of [surveillance division] techniques throughout the judicial process.” “Such disclosure could significantly impair the future effectiveness of the technique and jeopardize the safety of ongoing and future surveillance operations by both the USMS and other investigative agencies.” A spokesperson for the US Marshals indicated by email that the directive is current. The USMS policy documents do not, however, define what constitutes the “greatest extent legally possible” or the limits of such efforts. MuckRock will be monitoring these proceedings closely - please email all tips to info(a)muckrock.com.

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Re: Russia and China crack Snowden Cache
by Shelley 14 Jun '15

14 Jun '15

On June 14, 2015 6:27:18 AM Zenaan Harkness <zen(a)freedbms.net> wrote: [Snip] > Seems like they'd want to keep something like this quiet if their > > operatives really were in danger. Jmo. > >>> Well, may be not. > > <can't resist>Lie back, relax. Now imagine you're 5 years old.</> > > Actually, so you have 20 operatives in say North Korea and you need to > contact them urgently so they know their holiday picture taking is > over and must return post haste, since their holiday cover is about to > be blown - how do you contact them without personally contacting them, > to maximise their safety? > > Is a daily Tor sign in the best idea for operatives in other > countries? Of course for those who do their daily Tor duty, they > presumably will be notified. > > So perhaps just reading the daily newspaper from the country from > which you're officially on holiday from? "Oh, there's some > international spy scandal going on, think we better leave now dear, > since we foreigners might be targetted regardless - how about an > opportunistic trip South?" You do raise a valid point (and I enjoy "explain it like I'm five!") It's an angle I hadn't considered; I should wait to reply until I'm not in the throes of insomnia ;) The larger points, which occurred after I'd already hit 'send': where did they get this 'cache'? (Snowden insists he released what he had to Greenwald/Poitras et al in HK, and until proven otherwise I choose to believe him.) Sure, I guess he could have been blackmailed / rubberhosed... And the TLAs whine loudly about being thwarted by encryption, when they themselves have weakened EC anyway, and Russia/China have decrypted it but not the US?! Why would they even admit to that... I can't put my finger on it, and I'll readily admit I'm biased in that I don't trust the five eyes or their propaganda at all, but there is just something "off" about this whole thing. -S

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Slashdot - Multinational Digerati Probe Tank
by Zenaan Harkness 14 Jun '15

14 Jun '15

Ever notice some "articles" on this far less than illustrious yet overly popular digerati yank tank (aka /.) - which come across as Govt think-tank created probes to do their work for them?

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Reporter-USG Exchanges on Snowden Docs
by John Young 13 Jun '15

13 Jun '15

Italian reporter Stefania Maurizi has published her exchanges with NSA, DoJ and State about publishing Snowden documents (an exemplary model for others to follow): http://www.stefaniamaurizi.it/images/email_exchange_NSA.pdf http://www.stefaniamaurizi.it/images/email_exchange_DoJ.pdf http://www.stefaniamaurizi.it/images/email_exchange_State_Dept.pdf She also said she has published all the Snowden documents she had access to (another exemplar for those still withholding 93% of the Snowden full dump for the public, or 99.98% of the 1.7M USG claims was taken).

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Re: More murder by LEA
by John Young 13 Jun '15

13 Jun '15

This story is not accurate either. Officers did not simply approach Rahim to question, they approached to say hello, one was a friend of Rahim. He did not pull a machete, he pulled out his wallet to show baby photos. Rahim was not shot, he was congratulated on the baby boy. As the cop friend hugged him officers in a passing patrol car thought a struggle was underway, braked, lept out with guns drawn, yelled "freeze." Everybody froze, except for passerby video artist who began taping the scene. Seeing the video taping the cops and Rahim elected to play along, escalated the drama, faking punches, pulling imaginary knives and AK-47s, screaming threats. Then everybody broke up laughing, the video artist hollering thanks for that. Then the tape was uploaded to Fox News to become ISIS orgy pron. Rahim was undercover the Boston gay Muslim scene and still is. Don't ask don't tell. tripped on a broken sidewalk. The other cop (there were only two coming from the free donuts. thought he had been shot. At 02:27 PM 6/13/2015, you wrote: >https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/10/major-questions-remain-unansw… > >Last week in the Boston area, a 26-year-old black Muslim man was shot >and killed by agents of the FBI and Boston Police Department (BPD). As >we documented the following day, major media outlets immediately, >breathlessly and uncritically repeated law enforcement claims (often >anonymous ones) about what happened: that the dead man, Usaamah Rahim, >was on the verge of executing an âISIS-inspiredâ or âISIS-linkedâ plot >to behead random police officers, in a conspiracy with at least two >others. When Rahim was walking to work near a CVS drugstore at roughly >7:00 a.m., the officers approached Rahim simply to question him about >this plot; in response, he pulled out a âmacheteâ or âmilitary-style >knifeâ that he refused to drop, forcing the officers to shoot him >dead.

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Re: DataMines beget DataPirates and Future Orwellian Abuse
by John Young 13 Jun '15

13 Jun '15

No way yet to tell what really happened in these "massive breaches." Accounts vary from initial reports, to later reports, to investigations, to hearings, interlaced with remediations of various alleged iterations, leading in most cases to claim the full story cannot be revealed due to possible harm by disclosure. And best, the favorite runaround: the usual suspects are named without evidence, indeed, assessments are shaded with the customary claims by the usual experts consulted, "it is hard to tell who did it" and not only that evasion but the best and brightest security wizards (there are six of them named, 2 for, 2 against 2 undecided) who disagree on not only who did but what to do about breaches, whether they are breaches or malfunctions or publicity stunts or fund-raisers, hair-raisers, fear-raisers, TED talks, rigged hearings testimony (hearing testifiers are 2 for, 2 against, 2 undecided). Reportedly, cybersec market to increase to $130B by 2020 if not sooner. This increasingly generates more breaches, more massive, more ritual for, against, undecided. This cascading chaos was invented by six cypherpunks, each of them for, against, undecided. Then as now, certain, uncertain, confused about everything and nothing and whatever. No wonder the media follows that leadership, copies its methodology, denies feeding the trolls. At 03:33 PM 6/13/2015, you wrote: >http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/chinese-hack-of-gover… > >https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/12/data-breach-threat-of-future-… > >When are people going to wake up and realize that all privacy >promises are bullshit, that data collection is unnecessary invasive >and orwellian, and that they need to start telling people who claim >to need their info to fuck off. Medical / psych records? Income? >Phone calls? Politik? Their kids sextapes copied from centralized >phone cloud / sharing systems? > >OPM SF86's. Next is SSA, IRS. This is all happening.

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DataMines beget DataPirates and Future Orwellian Abuse
by grarpamp 13 Jun '15

13 Jun '15

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/chinese-hack-of-gover… https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/12/data-breach-threat-of-future-… When are people going to wake up and realize that all privacy promises are bullshit, that data collection is unnecessary invasive and orwellian, and that they need to start telling people who claim to need their info to fuck off. Medical / psych records? Income? Phone calls? Politik? Their kids sextapes copied from centralized phone cloud / sharing systems? OPM SF86's. Next is SSA, IRS. This is all happening.

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Sudden Justice: America’s Secret Drone Wars / UNMANNED
by grarpamp 13 Jun '15

13 Jun '15

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/11/six-facts-sudden-justice-new-… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpzk7OdbjBw

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More murder by LEA
by grarpamp 13 Jun '15

13 Jun '15

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/10/major-questions-remain-unansw… Last week in the Boston area, a 26-year-old black Muslim man was shot and killed by agents of the FBI and Boston Police Department (BPD). As we documented the following day, major media outlets immediately, breathlessly and uncritically repeated law enforcement claims (often anonymous ones) about what happened: that the dead man, Usaamah Rahim, was on the verge of executing an “ISIS-inspired” or “ISIS-linked” plot to behead random police officers, in a conspiracy with at least two others. When Rahim was walking to work near a CVS drugstore at roughly 7:00 a.m., the officers approached Rahim simply to question him about this plot; in response, he pulled out a “machete” or “military-style knife” that he refused to drop, forcing the officers to shoot him dead.

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