Federal government going after master encryption keys from Internet companies for easier spying

Madison Ruppert

According to a new report, the U.S. government is demanding the master encryption keys that are used by Internet companies to protect the private communications of countless users from government surveillance.

A recent government report revealed that encryption actually thwarted attempted wiretaps for the first time on record, which makes it all the more understandable that the government would now be attempting to break through any and all methods of encryption.

The demands for these master encryption keys have not been disclosed previously, according to Declan McCullagh, the journalist who broke the story for CNET.

Pulling the plug on privacy

How technology helped make the 4th Amendment obsolete

The Bill of Rights - Wiki Image

Alex Kozinski and Stephanie Grace
The Daily

“We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of a dear friend, the Fourth Amendment. Born on the freedom-loving soil of early America, the Fourth Amendment will be remembered as the bulwark of the liberty we once called privacy. For ye, we mourn.”

As you can see, we’re working on a eulogy for the Fourth Amendment, the part of the Constitution guarding against “unreasonable searches and seizures” — in effect, a privacy provision.

When did the Fourth Amendment die, you ask?

Recently, but it’s been sick for a while.

The Cloud: Trojan Horse For Internet Takeover

Wiki Commons

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars

Despite the corporate-driven hubbub surrounding the inevitability of “the cloud” replacing personal hard drives as the pre-eminent storage center for all web content, this system represents another dangerous trojan horse for the establishment to complete their agenda to regulate and shut down the free Internet.

Apple, Google and Amazon amongst other tech giants have all jumped on board with “the cloud,” a remote server network that allows users to store their data without using hard drives.

“It’s all part of a generational trend away from owning physical media content and towards renting media content from the computing universal cloud,” reports Investmentu.com.

However, despite the convenience of having all your files easily accessible in one place wherever you go, the drawbacks are ominous.

Back from the Dead: The Internet “Kill Switch”

The American author William Faulkner once wrote: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” 

Tom Burghardt  
Dissident Voice

And like a horde of flesh-eating zombies shuffling out of a parking garage to feast on what’s left of our freedoms, the Obama administration has promised to revive a proposal thought dead by most: the internet “kill switch.”

On May 12, the White House released a 52-page document outlining administration plans governing cybersecurity. The bill designates the Department of Homeland Security as the “lead agency” with authority to initiate “countermeasures” to protect critical infrastructure from malicious attacks.
But as with other aspects of U.S. policy, from waging aggressive wars to conducting covert actions overseas, elite policy planners at the Pentagon and at nominally civilian agencies like DHS hide offensive plans and operations beneath layers of defensive rhetoric meant to hoodwink the public.

The term “countermeasure” is described by the White House as “automated actions with defensive intent to modify or block data packets associated with electronic or wire communications, internet traffic, program code, or other system traffic transiting to or from or stored on an information system for the purpose of protecting the information system from cybersecurity threats, conducted on an information system or information systems owned or operated by or on behalf of the party to be protected or operated by a private entity acting as a provider of electronic communication services, remote computing services, or cybersecurity services to the party to be protected.” (Section 1. Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity Authority, May 12, 2011, p. 1)

In other words, the proposal would authorize DHS and presumably other federal partners like the National Security Agency, wide latitude to monitor, “modify or block” data packets (information and/or communications) deemed a threat to national security.

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US in new push to break China Internet firewall

China's so-called Great Firewall
© AFP/File

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) -  The United States plans to pump millions of dollars into new technology to break through Internet censorship overseas amid a heightened crackdown on dissent in China, officials have said.

State Department officials said they would give $19 million to efforts to evade Internet controls in China, Iran and other authoritarian states which block online access to politically sensitive material.

Michael Posner, the assistant secretary of state in charge of human rights, said funding would support cutting-edge technology that acts as a "slingshot" -- identifying material that countries are censoring and throwing it back at them.

"We're responding with new tools. This is a cat-and-mouse game. We're trying to stay one step ahead of the cat," Posner said.

The announcement came shortly after the United States and China wrapped up wide-ranging annual talks in which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton showed exasperation at Beijing's intensifying clampdown on domestic critics.

Google Blackmailing Users to Obtain Their Mobile Phone Numbers?

Activist Post

Internet users, who may have one or multiple accounts through Google, whether they’re for Gmail, YouTube, Blogger, AdSense, or other services, now seem to be forced to give Google their mobile phone number in order to maintain their services.

Surely, the message below has now been seen by nearly all users:

The message prompts users to give their mobile phone number to receive an automated call with a security code to verify their account in order to reinstate it.  In the past when account discrepancies arose, Google simply asked for verification through a “recovery” email account.  There are no explanations from Google as to why this method has been insufficient enough to now appear to require the mobile phone number of all users.

For many users, Google provides services vital to operating a business.  It may be a blog that generates income, a popular Youtube channel, or simply emails that must be answered by professionals.  In today’s world, when these services are blocked for even 24 hours, many stand to lose tremendous potential.

It is for this reason that if Google users have no choice but to submit to further personal data forfeiture, it can only be viewed as forced submission, or drop Google services.  Because Google has grown so large, if this new requirement becomes mandatory, it will surely affect a large portion of Internet users.

With the recent spate of stories concerning smart phone tracking and lawsuits against Google for harvesting data illegally, forgive us if we view this recent information request suspiciously.  This not only means Google will obtain your phone number, but potentially the ability to track your movements via that data.

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US lawmakers plan 'Do Not Track' bills

© AFP/File Frederic J. Brown

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US lawmakers announced plans on Friday to introduce "Do Not Track" legislation that would let Internet users block companies from gathering information about their online activities.

Senator Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat from West Virginia, said his "Do Not Track Online Act of 2011" will offer a "simple, straightforward way for people to stop companies from tracking their every move on the Internet."

"Consumers have a right to know when and how their personal and sensitive information is being used online -- and most importantly to be able to say 'no thanks' when companies seek to gather that information without their approval," Rockefeller said in a statement.

Police State: Rent-To-Buy Company "Aaron’s" Spies On PC Users

Alex Thomas
The Intel Hub

A lawsuit filed on Tuesday alleges that Aaron’s, a huge furniture rent to buy company, used software and a special device on their computers that enabled them to spy on PC renters.

According to the lawsuit, the company is able to track keystrokes and snap webcam pictures in the home of their customers.

Brian and Crystal Byrd, the couple who filed the lawsuit, claim that they were never told about these intrusive spying measures.

While computer privacy experts agree that Aaron’s has the right to install devices that enable them to shut down the computers remotely, customers must be told that they are being monitored.

White House unveils cyber ID proposal

A man surfing the web at an internet cafe
© AFP/File Amro Maraghi

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House unveiled a plan on Friday designed to boost confidence and business in cyberspace through the creation of a single, secure online credential.

"By making online transactions more trustworthy and better protecting privacy, we will prevent costly crime, we will give businesses and consumers new confidence, and we will foster growth and untold innovation," President Barack Obama said in a statement.

"That's why this initiative is so important for our economy," Obama said.

The National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) proposes the creation of secure and reliable online credentials that would be available to consumers who want to use them.

FBI urges Congress to expand Internet wiretapping

AFP image

Eric W. Dolan
Raw Story

The FBI urged members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security on Thursday to update the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) and make it easier for authorities to eavesdrop on Internet.

The act was passed in 1994 and requires telecommunication companies to design their equipment and services to ensure that law enforcement and national security officials can monitor telephone and other communications whenever necessary.

"Over the years, through interpretation of the statute by the Federal Communications Commission, the reach of CALEA has been expanded to include facilities-based broadband internet access and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services that are fully inter-connected with the public switched telephone network," FBI General Counsel Valeria Caproni told the subcommittee.

"Although that expansion of coverage has been extremely helpful, CALEA does not cover popular Internet-based communications modalities such as webmail, social networking sites or peer-to-peer services."

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RELATED ARTICLE:
DHS Seizes Websites for Merely Linking to Infringed Content


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Does Joe Lieberman's Resignation Signal Imminent Collapse?

Eric Blair
Activist Post

Joe Lieberman is announcing his retirement today which would seem like a victory for the liberty movement. Throughout his career the Senator from Connecticut has been the consummate insider. From conceding victory before Gore did in the 2000 recount, to his full conversion to NeoCon status after 9/11, to introducing a barrage on freedom-smashing legislation; he seems to be the spearhead for ushering in the control grid over the opposition to tyranny.

His non-threatening monotone voice and easy manner made him appear as a gentle servant of the people, yet nothing could be further from the truth. He is certainly near the pinnacle of the elite control structure and his departure should be viewed as alarming. 

The establishment media will point to real political challenges Lieberman faces like the fact that anti-Lieberman activists have taken over his party created in 2006 called Connecticut for Lieberman. However, his resignation may have a deeper meaning, perhaps indicating that his inside job is complete and this ship is about to capsize.

Political insiders have known for some time that the collapse of America is imminent.  During a very rare closed session of Congress in March 2008, according to confirmed leaks the following are some of the warnings presented to lawmakers:

• the imminent collapse of the U.S. economy to occur by September 2008
• the imminent collapse of US federal government finances by February 2009
• the possibility of Civil War inside the USA as a result of the collapse
• advance round-ups of "insurgent U.S. citizens" likely to move against the government
• the possibility of retaliation against members of Congress for the collapses
• the location of "safe facilities" for members of Congress and their families to reside during expected massive civil unrest

Of course some of these events have not yet transpired, but are surely intended to.  The financial collapse of 2008 did indeed occur, which presented the opportunity for the banks to accomplish a final looting of the public. Perhaps their best social minds believed such a massive robbery of the American people would actually force them off their couch in protest.  Incidentally, the social engineers seemed to underestimate the level of inertia driven by the embedded slovenly consciousness created by the system itself.

Regardless, these collapse plans are underway, and Lieberman has been a primary architect of the Big Brother control grid currently under construction.  As the slow collapse unfolds, the government has been openly preparing the military for civil unrest due to the ever increasing desperation levels of the population and the mathematically-impossible-to-pay-off debt.  Lieberman has helped to create and promote the most draconian aspects for containing "insurgent U.S. citizens."

Lieberman has sponsored proposed legislation such as the Enemy Belligerent Act which gives the government the power to "indefinitely" detain and hold American citizens without Miranda rights simply for questioning the government and its policies; and the Protecting Cyberspace Act, which reportedly gives the Executive branch a "kill switch" for the Internet for purposes they deem an emergency.  This bill was slightly tweaked and re-introduced as an "anti-WikiLeaks" bill after the mainstream's feigned outrage over Cablegate.

Last February when the Congress passed the re-authorization of the Patriot Act, Lieberman, as the Chairman of the Senate's Homeland Security Committee, was quoted as saying "[There was] the growing concern about increase on the pace of attacks on the homeland . . . and frankly, I think the Patriot [Act] got a bad name under the Bush Administration."

He also firmly emphasized the importance of extending three blatantly anti-Bill of Rights provisions: 

1. Roving wiretaps that cover multiple phones or computers a suspect may use
2. Warrantless search and seizures
3. Surveillance of “lone wolf” non-U.S. citizens with no terror group affiliation

It seems very convenient that as Congress once again quietly prepares to re-authorize the Patriot Act, a "lone wolf" American gunman who was not affiliated with an organized terrorist organization shoots a member of Congress and kills several others.  The political rhetoric war started immediately following the Arizona shooting by the mainstream media and sufficiently divided-and-conquered even the alternative media outlets who normally denounce false left-right politics. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, all the politicians are preaching bipartisanship and singing Kumbaya after Obama's Oklahoma City moment.

Seemingly desperate to take away more freedoms as America implodes, we can expect the Patriot Act to be renewed with a new provision to openly monitor U.S.-citizen "lone wolves" on the Internet, and in person, who dare point out the criminal actions of the corporate government.  Once fully in place, these laws will finalize the infrastructure to commence the hard collapse -- perhaps by refusing to raise the debt ceiling.  In other words, get ready for the end game, Lieberman's job is finished and he can now retreat to his fallout bunker.

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How to Increase Your On-Line Privacy: Web Anonymity 101

Wiki Commons

Bill Rounds
Lew Rockwell

Hansel and Gretel wandered through the forest leaving tasty bread crumbs behind to find their way home. Unfortunately, the various little critters of the forest found those little bread crumbs irresistible and gobbled them up leaving Hansel and Gretel lost and hungry.

There is less anonymity on the internet than many people realize. When people surf the web they also leave behind bread crumbs, well their IP address is left behind. And, unfortunately, those crumbs are awfully tasty to many little creatures like search engines, snoopers, and cookie monsters. The wrong creatures getting a hold of those crumbs can leave you much more than lost and hungry if you are not careful. You may even incur tax liability of you do not properly guard your IP address. From building a user profile to viewing sensitive data, there are many opportunities for others to benefit from knowing your IP address. Fortunately there are ways of keeping your web surfing anonymous.

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BREAKING: WikiLeaks Being Used to Justify "Patriot Act" Legislation For Internet

Eric Blair
Activist Post

Senator Mitch McConnell called Assange a "high-tech terrorist" on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday and said, "if it‘s found that Assange hasn’t violated the law, then the law should be changed."

Over the weekend, an insightful article by Zen Gardner exposed how WikiLeaks resembles an establishment creation. The article correctly pointed out that the WikiLeaks storyline was conforming nicely to the elite's problem-reaction-solution method, with the solution of more tyranny for our safety.

WikiLeaks is being used to bring in the agenda on so many levels, but most importantly by setting the precedent of shutting down websites for politically "dangerous" content. Gardner writes:

After all, if information is now the enemy, we must carefully police any and every aspect of this dangerous medium -- all for the safety and protection of 'we the people.'

Oh, we’ll still have the Internet, just like you can still fly. You’ll just have to be on the 'approved' list, screened, stamped, zapped, mugged and molested if you want to get 'on the net.'  No biggie. Thanks Julian -- job well done.

 First, let's be clear, the 250,000 pages of cables amounted to some geopolitical Jerry Springer he-said-she-said nonsense to make countries look petty and stupid.  They revealed nothing new that wasn't already known or well suspected.  The information simply stoked existing flames by airing geopolitical dirty laundry, nothing more -- no secret weapons, no major arms deals, no tactical locations of troops, and no revealing the ID of secret agents, etc.

Yet, the government has used its corporate muscle to illegally limit access to WikiLeaks.  It was recently revealed that Amazon, the server host for WikiLeaks, caved to political pressure to drop the website.  Then, in dictatorial fashion, PayPal removed its service for donations to WikiLeaks, and now their bank account has been frozen.  And all this comes a week after the shutdown of 80-plus websites for "copyright infringement," apparently in preparation for passing the "Blacklist" bill.

Now, Gardner's weekend speculation and McConnell's call for action has turned into political reality. The Hill reports today that Senators unveil anti-WikiLeaks legislation, which seems to be a sort-of "Patriot Act" for the Internet.  It's astonishing how fast these guys can write legislation when major events occur. And again, it's tyranny-saurus rex, Joe Lieberman, leading the charge with scandal-ridden Ensign (R-Nev.) and empty-suit Scott Brown (R-Mass.).  Ensign was quoted:

WikiLeaks is not a whistleblower website and Assange is not a journalist.

That, we agree with.  Yet, therein lies the concern for establishing new Internet rules of what can and can't be discussed, and who qualifies as a "journalist."  Look, Assange is clearly either a kinda-smart "useful idiot" or a brilliant insider to the elite. He is certainly not a genuine whistleblower.  Admittedly, though, for those of us who hoped he was the real thing, the elite have used some savvy tactics to boost WikiLeaks' rogue credibility in order to confuse us.

The White House has sent down a warning to government agencies to restrict employee access to WikiLeaks in order to make Assange and crew appear dangerously off limits. Apparently, this warning has already trickled down to "potential" government employees as well.  It was revealed that the State Department warned Columbia University students who may apply for a Federal job:

DO NOT post links to these documents nor make comments on social media sites such as Facebook or through Twitter. 

In other words, the Thought Police are out in full force telling job-hungry students to not apply if they discuss current events if authorities label those events dangerous or harmful to America.  Soon, they'll most likely publicly fire a mid-level employee who went over the line to prove how serious they are. After all, they desperately need to keep the slaves on the plantation.

Furthermore, an Interpol arrest warrant has been issued for Julian Assange for shady rape charges, making him an internationally "wanted" man. 

And Assange is playing the clever but likable villain part so well, too, claiming to have an encrypted "insurance" file in case anyone kills him or terminates the website.  Assange is the perfect international man of mystery with the dark shades in press conferences; endless mainstream media interviews with his exotic accent and short temper; and his famous silver-blond locks. What a great show they're putting on for us.  I'm sure the movie industry is already clamoring for the rights to the script.

In the meantime, it has become the typical political game show. Only in America could Cablegate become such a divide-and-conquer partisan issue.  The Right have successfully defined WikiLeaks as a dangerous terrorist organization and desire the assassination of its leader, while the Left defends the public's right to knowledge, but disparages the damage the documents may cause, thus setting up the obvious bipartisan compromise: tighter control and surveillance of the Internet.

It will go down like this: the Right's extreme calls for Assange's execution will give the establishment the publicly defensible compromise to at least shut down their website by way of pressuring their service providers, etc. And the wimpy Left will compromise by letting it happen, while Assange will be allowed to remain alive and free.

It fits ever so perfectly for them to extend the definition of an "enemy combatant" to a website that publishes "anti-government" material.  Enter Attorney General Eric Holder, who has authorized "significant" action into the probe of WikiLeaks.  Can't you just smell the tyranny coming to the Internet?

Ron Paul said it best in his book Revolution: A Manifesto: "Truth is treason in an empire of lies." Paul reiterated this principle of transparency in a recent interview.  Paul said we need more WikiLeaks if we expect to live in a free society:

'In a free society we're supposed to know the truth,' Paul insisted.  'In a society where truth becomes treason, then we're in big trouble.'

Given the angry calls for action and today's developments of government proposals, not to mention the blight of Internet legislation already on the table, we will likely get the exact opposite of the free-flow of information that Paul is advocating.  In fact, if history is any indicator, get ready for nothing less than the Patriot Act for the Internet!

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