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Secret
- 
Alberto
R Gonzales - Civil
Liberties - 
Surveillance
- 
Law
- 
Phone
- 
Internet
- 
Finances
- 
Terrorism
- 
Intelligence
- 
Politics
- "Gonzales
Was Told of FBI Violations: After Bureau Sent Reports,
Attorney General Said He Knew of No Wrongdoing." ... "As he sought to renew
the USA Patriot Act two years ago, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales
assured lawmakers that the FBI had not abused its potent new terrorism-fighting
powers. "There has not been one verified case of civil liberties abuse,"
Gonzales told senators on April 27, 2005." ... "Six days earlier, the FBI
sent Gonzales a copy of a report that said its agents had obtained personal
information that they were not entitled to have. It was one of at least
half a dozen reports of legal or procedural violations that Gonzales received
in the three months before he made his statement to the Senate intelligence
committee, according to internal FBI documents released under the Freedom
of Information Act." ... "The acts recounted in the FBI reports included
unauthorized surveillance, an illegal property search and a case in which
an Internet firm improperly turned over a compact disc with data that the
FBI was not entitled to collect, the documents show. Gonzales was copied
on each report that said administrative rules or laws protecting civil
liberties and privacy had been violated." ... "The reports also alerted
Gonzales in 2005 to problems with the FBI's use of an anti-terrorism tool
known as a national security letter (NSL), well before the Justice Department's
inspector general brought widespread abuse of the letters in 2004 and 2005
to light in a stinging report this past March." ... "The report sent to
Gonzales on April 21, 2005, concerned a violation of the rules governing
NSLs, which allow agents in counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigations
to secretly gather Americans' phone, bank and Internet records without
a court order or a grand jury subpoena." (1, 2)
-By John Solomon -WashingtonPost
Secret
- 
US
- 
Foreign
- 
Government
- Intelligence
- Surveillance
- 
Journalists
- 
Academics
- Telephone
- Internet
- Civil
Liberties - Law
- Politics
- 
Michigan
- "Court
orders dismissal of U.S. wiretapping lawsuit: A divided
appeals court says plaintiffs weren't harmed by surveillance program."
... "A U.S. appeals court has ordered the dismissal of a lawsuit against
the U.S. National Security Agency for a wiretapping program because it
said the plaintiffs haven't been hurt by the agency's actions." ... "A
divided three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
ruled today that the lawsuit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union
and a group of journalists, lawyers and academics, be sent back to a district
court judge to be dismissed. In August 2006, Judge Anna Diggs Taylor of
the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ruled
the NSA program, which monitored telephone and Internet communications
without court-ordered warrants, was illegal." ... "Judge Ronald Lee Gilman
disagreed with the two-judge majority, arguing that the NSA program violates
FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court], which establishes wiretapping
procedures, including warrants. "When faced with the clear wording of FISA
... the conclusion becomes inescapable that [the program] was unlawful,"
he wrote." ... "The appeals court ruled that the plaintiffs could not sue
because they can't prove they were affected by the program, and at the
same time, ruled that details about the program, including who was targeted,
are state secrets." (1, 2)
-By Grant Gross
-Computerworld
Government
- Surveillance
- Phone
- 
EMail
- Internet
- Financial
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Law
- Politics
- "FBI
Finds It Frequently Overstepped in Collecting Data."
... "An internal FBI audit has found that the bureau potentially violated
the law or agency rules more than 1,000 times while collecting data about
domestic phone calls, e-mails and financial transactions in recent years,
far more than was documented in a Justice Department report in March that
ignited bipartisan congressional criticism." ... "The new audit covers
just 10 percent of the bureau's national security investigations since
2002, and so the mistakes in the FBI's domestic surveillance efforts probably
number several thousand, bureau officials said in interviews. The earlier
report found 22 violations in a much smaller sampling." ... "The vast majority
of the new violations were instances in which telephone companies and Internet
providers gave agents phone and e-mail records the agents did not request
and were not authorized to collect. The agents retained the information
anyway in their files, which mostly concerned suspected terrorist or espionage
activities." ... "But two dozen of the newly-discovered violations involved
agents' requests for information that U.S. law did not allow them to have,
according to the audit results provided to The Washington Post. Only two
such examples were identified earlier in the smaller sample." (1, 2)
-By John Solomon -WashingtonPost
Religious
- Terrorism
- Internet
- Free
Speech - Prison
- 
Police
- Politics
- 
Women's
- Abortion
- 
Health
- 
Georgia
- 
Alabama
- 
Colo-
"Extremist
taunts his victims from prison." ... "Victims of
Eric Rudolph, the anti-abortion extremist who pulled off a series of bombings
across the South, say he is taunting them from deep within the nation's
most secure federal prison, and authorities say there is little they can
do to stop him." ... "Rudolph, who was captured after a five-year manhunt
and pleaded guilty in deadly bombings at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta [Georgia]
and a Birmingham [Alabama] abortion clinic, is serving life in prison at
the "Supermax" penitentiary in Florence, Colo [Colorado]." ... "Housed
in the most secure part of the prison, he has no computer and little contact
with the outside world aside from writing letters." ... "But Rudolph's
long essays have been posted on the Internet by a supporter who maintains
an Army of God website. The Army of God is the same loose-knit group that
Rudolph claimed to represent in letters sent after the blasts." ... "Diane
Derzis, who owns the Birmingham clinic that was bombed, killing a police
officer, said someone should stop Rudolph." ... "Bureau of Prisons regulations
give wardens the right to reject correspondence by an inmate for "the protection
of the public, or if it might facilitate criminal activity." That includes
material "which may lead to the use of physical violence.""
-AP via -USATODAY
US
- Government
- 
Military
- 
Family
- Free
Speech - E-Mail
- Online
- Surveillance
- Politics
- Foreign
- Intelligence
- 
History
- "Army
Squeezes Soldier Blogs, Maybe to Death." ... "The
U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal
e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer,
Wired News has learned. The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest
restriction on troops' online activities since the start of the Iraq war.
And it could mean the end of military blogs, observers say." ... "Army
Regulation 530--1: Operations Security (OPSEC) (.pdf) restricts more
than just blogs, however. Previous editions of the rules asked Army personnel
to "consult with their immediate supervisor" before posting a document
"that might contain sensitive and/or critical information in a public forum."
The new version, in contrast, requires "an OPSEC review prior to publishing"
anything -- from "web log (blog) postings" to comments on internet message
boards, from resumes to letters home." ... "Active-duty troops aren't the
only ones affected by the new guidelines. Civilians working for the military,
Army contractors -- even soldiers' families -- are all subject to the directive
as well." ... "The U.S. military -- all militaries -- have long been concerned
about their personnel inadvertently letting sensitive information out.
Troops' mail was read and censored throughout World War II; back home,
government posters warned citizens "careless
talk kills."" ... "Military blogs, or milblogs, as they're known in
service-member circles, only make the potential for mischief worse. On
a website, anyone, including foreign intelligence agents, can stop by and
look for information." -Noah Shachtman
-Wired
Karl
Rove
- Government
- E-Mail
- Archive
- Politics
- History
- Internet
- 
Computer
- 
Science
- Investigation
- "White
House E-mails: Gone, But Not Forgotten?" ... "The
White House set off a miniature firestorm Wednesday when it revealed that
years of e-mails belonging to White House political aides were deleted,
apparently in violation of federal law requiring presidential documents
to be preserved." ... "In an 80-minute conference call with a select group
of print reporters yesterday, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said
that e-mails from 2004 and earlier sent and received by 22 White House
employees, including chief political aide Karl Rove, had been deleted."
... "Without knowing the technical details of how the e-mails were deleted,
computer forensics expert Rob Lee said he couldn't say with certainty if
any of the communications are recoverable. But from his experience
working with the FBI and other criminal investigators, he knows one thing:
Unless the hard drives containing the e-mails were physically destroyed
or lost, "the only way someone could claim something has been destroyed
is if the e-mails themselves have been wiped" from a hard drive or tape
backup, he said, "overwriting every piece of data." That requires special
software designed explicitly to cover any trace of deleted information."
... "The Presidential Records Act of 1978 requires all White House documents
be preserved if they "relate to or have and effect upon the carrying out
of the constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties
of the President."" -By Justin Rood
-ABCNEWS.com
Karl
Rove
- Government
- E-Mail
- Law
- US
Attorneys - Politics
- Internet
- Archive
- 
VT
- "Leahy
Says Bush Aides Lied About E-Mails." ... "[Republican]
President Bush's aides are lying about White House e-mails sent on a Republican
account that might have been lost, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman
Patrick Leahy [Vermont Democratic Senator] said Thursday, vowing to subpoena
those documents if the administration fails to cough them up." ... ""They
say they have not been preserved. I don't believe that!" Leahy shouted
from the Senate floor." ... ""You can't erase e-mails, not today. They've
gone through too many servers," said Leahy, D-Vt. "Those e-mails are there,
they just don't want to produce them. We'll subpoena them if necessary.""
... "Democrats say the firings might have been improper, but that probe
yielded a weightier question: Whether White House officials such as political
adviser Karl Rove are purposely conducting sensitive official presidential
business via non-governmental accounts to evade a law [the Hatch Act] requiring
preservation — and eventual disclosure — of presidential records." ...
""E-mails don't get lost," Leahy insisted. "These are just e-mails they
don't want to bring forward."" ... "The revelation about the e-mails escalates
a standoff between the Democrat-controlled Congress and the White House
over the prosecutor firings." -By Laurie Kellman
-AP via -SFGate.com
Newspaper
- 
TV
- Consumer
- Internet- Ads
- 
Illinois
- Sports
- "Tribune
takes Zell's $8.2B buyout offer." ... "Tribune Co.
spent six months searching for the best way to boost its lagging stock
price." ... "In the end, the solution was barely a mile from the media
company's Gothic headquarters on the Chicago River [Chicago, Illinois]."
... "After a board meeting that lasted until almost midnight, Tribune announced
Monday morning that it would go private, selling itself for $8.2 billion,
excluding debt, to Chicago real estate mogul Sam Zell." ... "Zell, who
earned a reputation for reviving undervalued properties, is now charged
with turning around the fortunes of the nation's second-largest newspaper
company, which like much of the industry is losing readers and advertisers
to the Internet." ... "Among his first acts? Sell the storied Chicago Cubs
baseball team and use the proceeds to pay down debt." ... "Opponents of
media consolidation predicted a staunch fight with regulators in Washington,
especially regarding Tribune's cross-ownership of TV stations and newspapers
in the same media market." -By Ashley M. Heher with
contributions by Dave Carpenter and Wiley Hall -AP
via -BusinessWeek
Consumer
- Database
- Hackers
- Corporate
- Computer
- Net
- Crime
- "TJX
discloses largest data theft: 45.7M customers." ...
"The theft of millions of customer credit and debit card numbers from the
parent of T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and other retail chains underscores the
rising sophistication of cybercriminals." ... "TJX said late Wednesday
that hackers swiped account numbers for 45.7 million customers over a two-year
period — the biggest publicly disclosed data theft." ... "One way hackers
break into corporate databases is by infecting laptops used by employees
and suppliers who are permitted access to the company's intranet via a
virtual private network, or VPN." -By Byron Acohido
and Jon Swartz -USATODAY
Secret
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Surveillance
- Law
- Enforcement
- Politics
- Phone
- E-Mail
- Internet
- Companies
- "FBI
Provided Inaccurate Data for Surveillance Warrants."
... "FBI agents repeatedly provided inaccurate information to win secret
court approval of surveillance warrants in terrorism and espionage cases,
prompting officials to tighten controls on the way the bureau uses that
powerful anti-terrorism tool, according to Justice Department and FBI officials."
... "The errors were pervasive enough that the chief judge of the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, wrote the Justice
Department in December 2005 to complain. She raised the possibility of
requiring counterterrorism agents to swear in her courtroom that the information
they were providing was accurate, a procedure that could have slowed such
investigations drastically." ... "The department's acknowledgment of the
problems with the FISA court applications comes nearly two weeks after
a blistering inspector general's report revealed widespread violations
of the use of "national security" and "exigent circumstances" letters,
which allow FBI agents to collect phone, e-mail and Internet records from
telecommunications companies without review by a judge. The problems included
failing to document relevant evidence, claiming emergencies that did not
exist and failing to show that phone records requests were connected to
authorized investigations." (1, 2)
-By John Solomon -WashingtonPost
TV
- Media
- Terrorism
- Business
- 2008
Election - Online
- Illinois
- 
Nevada
- "Nevada
Democrats cancel candidate debate co-hosted by Fox News."
... "The Nevada Democratic Party has canceled an August debate that was
to be co-hosted by Fox News Channel, citing comments by the network's president
rather than an online protest launched by activists and bloggers who believe
the channel is biased." ... ""Comments made last night by Fox News President
Roger Ailes in reference to one of our presidential candidates went too
far. We cannot, as good Democrats, put our party in a position to defend
such comments," state Democratic Party Chairman Tom Collins and Nevada
Sen. Harry Reid wrote in a letter sent Friday to Fox News." ... "Ailes
reportedly made a comment playing on the similarity of Illinois Sen. Barack
Obama's name to Osama Bin Laden." ... "MoveOn.org Civic Action, a network
of liberal activists, called on the state Democratic Party to drop partnership
with Fox, which the group calls "a mouthpiece for the Republican party,"
two weeks ago." ... ""We hope this sets a precedent for all Democrats,
that Fox should be treated as a right-wing misinformation network, not
legitimized as a neutral source of news," Eli Pariser, executive director
of MoveOn.org Civic Action, said in a statement." -By
Kathleen Hennessey -AP
via -LasVegasSun.com
Secret
- US
- 
Iraq
- 
Nuclear
- Government
- Military
- Intelligence
- Internet
- Archive
- History
- Hoekstra
- Michigan
- Roberts
- 
Kansas
- Legislation
- Politics
- "U.S.
Web Archive Is Said to Reveal a Nuclear Primer."
... "Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public
a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration
did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who had said they
hoped to “leverage the Internet” to find new evidence of the prewar dangers
posed by Saddam Hussein." ... "But in recent weeks, the site has posted
some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed
accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf
war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building
an atom bomb." ... "Last night, the government shut down the Web site after
The New York Times asked about complaints from weapons experts and arms-control
officials. A spokesman for the director of national intelligence said access
to the site had been suspended “pending a review to ensure its content
is appropriate for public viewing.”" ... "Officials of the International
Atomic Energy Agency, fearing that the information could help states like
Iran develop nuclear arms, had privately protested last week to the American
ambassador to the agency, according to European diplomats who spoke on
condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity. One diplomat
said the agency’s technical experts “were shocked” at the public disclosures."
... "The documents, roughly a dozen in number, contain charts, diagrams,
equations and lengthy narratives about bomb building that nuclear experts
who have viewed them say go beyond what is available elsewhere on the Internet
and in other public forums. For instance, the papers give detailed information
on how to build nuclear firing circuits and triggering explosives, as well
as the radioactive cores of atom bombs." ... "The director of national
intelligence, John D. Negroponte, had resisted setting up the Web site,
which some intelligence officials felt implicitly raised questions about
the competence and judgment of government analysts. But President Bush
approved the site’s creation after Congressional Republicans proposed legislation
to force the documents’ release." ... "The campaign for the Web site was
led by the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative
Peter Hoekstra [Republican] of Michigan. Last November, he and his Senate
counterpart, Pat Roberts [Republican] of Kansas, wrote to Mr. Negroponte,
asking him to post the Iraqi material." (1, 2,
3)
-By William J. Broad with contributions by Scott Shane
-NYTimes
Foley
- 
Hastert
- 
Shimkus
- 
Alexander
- 
Fla
- Ill
- 
La
- 
Ariz
- Gay
- Lawmaker
- Internet
- E-Mail
- Communication
- Messages
- "Lawmaker
Saw Foley Messages In 2000: Page Notified GOP Rep.
Kolbe." ... "A Republican congressman knew of disgraced former representative
Mark Foley's inappropriate Internet exchanges as far back as 2000 and personally
confronted Foley about his communications." ... "A spokeswoman for Rep.
Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz. [Republican-Arizona]) confirmed yesterday that a former
page showed the congressman Internet messages that had made the youth feel
uncomfortable with the direction Foley (R-Fla. [Republican-Florida]) was
taking their e-mail relationship. Last week, when the Foley matter erupted,
a Kolbe staff member suggested to the former page that he take the matter
to the clerk of the House, Karen Haas, said Kolbe's press secretary, Korenna
Cline." ... "The revelation pushes back by at least five years the date
when a member of Congress has acknowledged learning of Foley's behavior
with former pages. A timeline issued by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert
(R-Ill. [Republican-Illinois]) suggested that the first lawmakers to know,
Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill. [Republican-Illinois]), the chairman of the
House Page Board, and Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La. [Republican-Louisiana]),
became aware of "over-friendly" e-mails only last fall. It also expands
the universe of players in the drama beyond members, either in leadership
or on the page board." ... "A source with direct knowledge of Kolbe's involvement
said the messages shared with Kolbe were sexually explicit, and he read
the contents to The Washington Post under the condition that they not be
reprinted." ... "Kolbe, the only openly gay Republican in Congress, is
retiring at the end of the year." -By Jonathan Weisman
with contributions by James V. Grimaldi -WashingtonPost
Foley
- Internet
- Communications
- E-Mail
- Messages
- Florida
- "Three
More Former Pages Accuse Foley of Online Sexual Approaches."
... "Three more former congressional pages have come forward to reveal
what they call "sexual approaches" over the Internet from former [Florida
Republican] Congressman Mark Foley." ... "The pages served in the classes
of 1998, 2000 and 2002. They independently approached ABC News after the
Foley resignation through the Brian
Ross & the Investigative Team's tip line on ABCNews.com. None
wanted their names used because of the sensitive nature of the communications."
... "All three pages described similar instant message and e-mail patterns,
with remarkably similar escalations of provocative questions." ... ""This
was no prank," said one of the three former pages who talked to ABC News
today about his experience with the congressman." -By
Brian Ross, Rhonda Schwartz, and Maddy Sauer
-ABCNEWS.com
Mark
Foley - Computer
- E-Mail
- Messages
- Laws
- Children
- Politics
- Dennis
Hastert - Illinois
- Florida
- Nevada
- 
California
- Louisiana
- "FBI
looking into Foley computer exchanges." ... "The
FBI is looking at whether former Florida [Republican] Rep. Mark Foley's
computer exchanges with underage House pages broke any laws, an FBI spokesman
said late Sunday." ... "Under fire from Democrats, House Speaker Dennis
Hastert [Illinois Republican] also asked Sunday that [Republican] U.S.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales - and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
- look into the case." ... "Foley, a Florida Republican, gave no reason
for leaving but said he was "deeply sorry" and resigned Friday after the
subsequent, sexually explicit instant messages were disclosed by ABC News."
... "Earlier Sunday, Democrats in both chambers, Senate Democratic leader
Harry Reid of Nevada and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California,
called for investigations." ... "Hastert's office said Saturday his office
was contacted last fall by a staff member in the office of Louisiana Republican
Rep. Rodney Alexander, where the page once worked. The boy said in an e-mail
to Alexander's office that the computer exchange with Foley "freaked him
out" and was "sick..sick..sick."" -By Lesley Clark
-McClatchy via
-MercuryNews
Secret
- Mark
Foley - Internet
- Messages
- Florida
- Lawmaker
- "Foley's
Behavior No Secret on Capitol Hill: A GOP staff member
told congressional pages to watch out for former Congressman Foley." ...
"It turns out Foley's obsession with 16- and 17-year-old male pages has
been known to Republicans on Capitol Hill for at least five years." ...
"But other than issue a warning, little else seems to have been done about
the congressman." ... "A former page has come forward to tell ABC News
warnings were issued about Foley to the pages in 2001." ... "ABC News has
obtained Internet messages sent by Foley to three different pages after
that warning." ... "Two of them were sent to pages in the 2001-2002 class,
with sexually explicit messages, most too graphic to be broadcast, from
Foley using the screen name Maf54." ... "Former pages tell ABC News the
pages involved with Foley were afraid to offend the powerful Republican
congressman." -By Brian Ross
-ABCNEWS.com
School
- Children
- Internet
- Messaging
- Law
- Politics
- Foley
- Florida-
"FBI
Opens "Preliminary Investigation" of Foley." ...
"The FBI has opened a "preliminary investigation" of disgraced former [Florida
Republican] Congressman Mark Foley over the sexually explicit Internet
messages he sent to congressional pages, all male high school students
under the age of 18." ... "It's possible Foley could be prosecuted under
laws he helped to enact, as the co-chairman of the House Caucus on Missing
and Exploited Children." -By Brian Ross
-ABCNEWS.com
Mark
Foley - Internet
- Messages
- Children
- Mental
Health - Enforcement
- Politics
- Fla
- "Exclusive:
The Sexually Explicit Internet Messages That Led to [Republican] Fla. Rep.
Foley's Resignation." ... "Florida Rep. Mark Foley's
resignation came just hours after ABC News questioned the congressman about
a series of sexually explicit instant messages involving congressional
pages, high school students who are under 18 years of age." ... "In Congress,
Rep. Foley (R-FL) was part of the Republican leadership and the chairman
of the House caucus on missing and exploited children." ... "He crusaded
for tough laws against those who used the Internet for sexual exploitation
of children." ... ""They're sick people; they need mental health counseling,"
Foley said." ... "But, according to several former congressional pages,
the congressman used the Internet to engage in sexually explicit exchanges."
... "They say he used the screen name Maf54 on these messages provided
to ABC News."Another
message:
Maf54:
What
ya wearing?
Teen:
tshirt
and shorts
Maf54:
Love
to slip them off of you.
And
this one:
Maf54:
Do
I make you a little horny?
Teen:
A little.
Maf54:
Cool.
Hackers
- Web
- Telecommunications
- Consumer
- Business
- "Hackers
hit AT&T, steal users' info." ... "AT&T Inc.
said hackers compromised its Web site last weekend, obtaining records and
credit card information of up to 19,000 customers." ... "The country's
largest telecommunications operator said Tuesday that hackers targeted
a store on the company's Web site where customers purchased DSL equipment.
The attack was discovered "within hours," the company said, prompting a
shutdown of the store that was still in effect Tuesday." ... ""We are committed
to both protecting our customers' privacy and to weeding out and punishing
the violators," said Priscilla Hill-Ardoin, chief privacy officer at AT&T."
-By Ryan Kim -SFGate.com
Secret
- US
- International
- Government
- Terrorism- Intelligence
- Law
- Free
Speech - Privacy
- Telephone
- Internet
- Civil
Righs - Journalists
- Educators
- Michigan
- "NSA
eavesdropping program ruled unconstitutional: Justice
Department says it will appeal judge's decision." ... "A federal judge
on Thursday ruled that the U.S. government's domestic eavesdropping program
is unconstitutional and ordered it ended immediately." ... "The Justice
Department said it would appeal the ruling, saying the program was "a critical
tool that ensures we have in place an early warning system to detect and
prevent a terrorist attack."" ... "In a 44-page memorandum and order, U.S.
District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, -- who is based in Detroit, Michigan
-- struck down the National Security Agency's program, which she said violates
the rights to free speech and privacy. (Read
the complete ruling -- PDF)" ... "The defendants "are permanently enjoined
from directly or indirectly utilizing the Terrorist Surveillance Program
(TSP) in any way, including, but not limited to, conducting warrantless
wiretaps of telephone and Internet communications, in contravention of
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Title III," she wrote." ...
"She further declared that the program "violates the separation of powers
doctrine, the Administrative Procedures Act, the First and Fourth amendments
to the United States Constitution, the FISA and Title III."" ... "She went
on to say that "the president of the United States ... has undisputedly
violated the Fourth in failing to procure judicial orders."" ... "The lawsuit,
filed January 17 by civil rights organizations, lawyers, journalists and
educators, "challenges the constitutionality of a secret government program
to intercept vast quantities of the international telephone and Internet
communications of innocent Americans without court approval."" -With
contributions by Bill Mears and Andrea Koppel
-CNN
Connecticut
- Internet
- Election
2006 - Politics
- "Internet,
activists help topple prominent US Democrat." ...
"Fueled by opposition to the Iraq war and anger at President Bush, liberal
grass-roots and Internet activists on Wednesday claimed their most significant
political victory -- the defeat of Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman." ...
"The three-term senator from Connecticut was repudiated on Tuesday by voters
from his own party who chose Ned Lamont -- a relative unknown with a fierce
anti-war message -- to represent Democrats in the November election." ...
""The winner is people-powered politics," declared the Daily Kos Web site,
a sentiment that echoed throughout the liberal blogosphere." -By
Patricia Wilson -Reuters
via -WashingtonPost
DCI
- Marketing
- 
Oil
- Corporation
- Politics
- Global
- 
Climate
- Internet
- Computer- 
Entertainment
-
- 
Environment
- 
Al
Gore - "Al
Gore YouTube Spoof Not So Amateurish: Republican
PR [public relations] Firm Said to Be Behind 'Inconvenient Truth' Spoof."
... "A tiny little movie making fun of Al Gore, supposedly made by an amateur
filmmaker, recently appeared on the popular Web site YouTube.com." ...
"At first blush, the spoof seemed like a scrappy little homemade film poking
fun at Gore and his anti-global warming crusade." ... "The film actually
came from a slick Republican public relations firm called DCI, which just
happens to have oil giant Exxon as a client." ... "Public relations firms
have long used computer technology to create bogus grassroots campaigns,
which are called "Astroturf."" ... "Now these firms are being hired to
push illusions on the Internet to create the false impression of real people
blogging, e-mailing and making films. " (1, 2)
-By Jake Tapper and Max Culhane
-ABCNEWS.com
DCI
- Marketing
- 
Psychology
- Oil
- Corporation
- Politics
- Opinion
- Internet
- Video
- California
- Entertainment
- Media
- 
Search
Engine - Computer
- Communications
- EMail
- Environmental
- Science
- Global
- Climate
- Al
Gore - "Where
did that video spoofing Gore's film come from?" ...
"Everyone knows Al Gore stars in the global warming documentary "An Inconvenient
Truth." But who created "Al Gore's Penguin Army," a two-minute video now
playing on YouTube.com?" ... "Like other videos on the popular YouTube
site, it has a home-made, humorous quality. The video's maker is listed
as "Toutsmith," a 29-year-old who identifies himself as being from Beverly
Hills [California] in an Internet profile." ... "In an email exchange with
The Wall Street Journal, Toutsmith didn't answer when asked who he was
or why he made the video, which has just over 59,000 views on YouTube.
However, computer routing information contained in an email sent from Toutsmith's
Yahoo account indicate it didn't come from an amateur working out of his
basement." ... "Instead, the email originated from a computer registered
to DCI Group, a Washington, D.C., public relations and lobbying firm whose
clients include oil company Exxon Mobil Corp [Corporation]." ... "The anti-Gore
video represents a less well-known side of YouTube. As its popularity has
exploded, the public video-sharing site has drawn marketers looking to
build buzz for new music releases and summer blockbusters. Now, it's being
tapped by political operatives, public relations experts and ad agencies
to sway opinions." ... "DCI is no stranger to the debate over global warming.
Partly through Tech Central Station, an opinion Web site it operates, DCI
has sought to raise doubts about the science of global warming and about
Mr. Gore's film, placing skeptical scientists on talk-radio shows and paying
them to write editorials." ... "Internet videos could prove particularly
potent, because they may influence watchers in ways they don't realize.
Nancy Snow, a communications professor at California State University,
Fullerton, viewed the penguin video and calls it a lesson in "Propaganda
101." It contains no factual information, but presents a highly negative
image of the former vice president, she says. The purpose of such images
is to harden the views of those who already view Mr. Gore negatively, Dr.
Snow says." ... "Traffic to the penguin video, first posted on YouTube.com
in May, got a boost from prominently placed sponsored links that appeared
on the Google search engine when users typed in "Al Gore" or "Global Warming."
The ads, which didn't indicate who had paid for them, were removed shortly
after The Wall Street Journal contacted DCI Group on Tuesday." -By
Antonio Regalado and Dionne Searcey with contributions by Jeffrey Ball
-WSJ.com via -Post-Gazette.com
Free
Speech - Terrorism
- Internet
- Media
- Privacy
- Politics
- "The
thug and intimidation tactics of the Far Right go mainstream."
... "One of the favorite tactics used by such groups is to find the home
address and telephone number of the latest enemy and then publish
it on the Internet, accompanied by impassioned condemnations of that
person as a Grave Enemy, a race traitor, someone who threatens all that
is good in the world. A handful of the most extremist pro-life groups have
used the same tactic. It has happened in the past that those who were
the target of these sorts of demonization campaigns that included publication
of their home address were attacked and even killed." ... "But these intimidation
tactics work even when nothing happens. Indeed, these groups often publish
the enemy's home address along with some cursory caveat that they are not
encouraging violence. The real objective is the same one shared by all
terrorists -- to place the person in paralyzing fear. The goal is to force
the individual, as they lay in bed at night, to be preoccupied with worry
that there is some deranged individual who read one of the websites identifying
them as the enemy and which provided their address and who believes that
they can strike some blow for their Just Cause by visiting their home and
harming or killing them. The fear that they are vulnerable in their own
home lurks so prominently and relentlessly in a person's mind that it can
be as effective as a physical attack in punishing someone or intimidating
them." ... "This thuggish tactic of intimidation -- publicly railing against
someone's grave crimes and then publishing their home address -- has been
creeping out of the most extremist precincts on the Right and is becoming
increasingly common among mainstream right-wing individuals and organizations."
US
- Iraq
- Terrorism
- Religion
- Internet
- Military
- Politics
- "Agencies:
Homegrown Radicals Inside U.S.." ... "U.S. counterterrorism
officials say they are uncovering homegrown Islamic radicals inside the
United States who lack formal ties to al-Qaida and operate independently."
... "Those independent qualities - combined with the radicals' ability
to organize and plot on the Internet - make them particularly difficult
to disrupt, retired Vice Adm. John Scott Redd, director of the National
Counterterrorism Center, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday."
... "The hearing came less than a week after the U.S. military and intelligence
agencies killed one of the world's top terror leaders in an airstrike,
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former leader of al-Qaida in Iraq." ... "Redd
said the merger between al-Zarqawi's group and al-Qaida's central organization
gives terror leaders a more diverse pool of "battle-hardened" operatives
from which to draw. Intelligence officials, he said, are also seeing signs
that al-Zarqawi's group was hatching plots outside Iraq. But he did not
elaborate." -By Katherine Shrader
-AP via -Forbes
Internet
- Phone
- Privacy
- Politics
-