James Bamford on Section 702 Extension

Longtime NSA-watcher James Bamford has a long article on the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act FISA...

The Next US President Will Have Troubling New Surveillance Powers

Over the weekend, President Joe Biden signed legislation not only reauthorizing a major FISA spy program but expanding it in ways that could have major implications for privacy rights in the US...

US Congress Report Calls for Privacy Reforms After FBI Surveillance 'Abuses'

A new report by an oversight committee in the US House of Representatives says the FBI has routinely violated rules governing FISA’s Section 702 surveillance program and must be reined in...

The US Is Spying on the UN Secretary General

The Washington Post is reporting that the US is spying on the UN Secretary General. The reports on Guterres appear to contain the secretary generals personal conversations with aides regarding diplomatic encounters. They indicate that the United States relied on spying powers granted under the...

Chinese Supply-Chain Attack on Computer Systems

Bloomberg News has a major story about the Chinese hacking computer motherboards made by Supermicro, Levono, and others. Its been going on since at least 2008. The US government has known about it for almost as long, and has tried to keep the attack secret: Chinas exploitation of products made by...

Newly Declassified Study Demonstrates Uselessness of NSA's Phone Metadata Program

The New York Times is reporting on the NSA's phone metadata program, which the NSA shut down last year: A National Security Agency system that analyzed logs of Americans' domestic phone calls and text messages cost $100 million from 2015 to 2019, but yielded only a single significant investigatio...

New Bill Proposes NSA Surveillance Reforms

A newly-introduced bill is proposing sweeping privacy reforms to a controversial government surveillance program, which has been previously used by the National Security Agency NSA to vacuum up the call records of millions of Americans. The “Safeguarding Americans’ Private Records Act” was...

After Section 702 Reauthorization

For over a decade, civil libertarians have been fighting government mass surveillance of innocent Americans over the Internet. We've just lost an important battle. On January 18, President Trump signed the renewal of Section 702, domestic mass surveillance became effectively a permanent part of U...

Opponents Vow to Continue the Fight after Trump Reauthorizes Domestic Spying Law

A controversial U.S. legal framework concerning domestic surveillance is poised to live on for another six years, but opponents say they plan to continue the fight. In a widely expected move, President Donald Trump signed the bill one day after the Senate approved it in a 65-34 vote. At issue is...

January 19, 2018 – Morning Cyber Coffee Headlines – “Puppies” Edition

Good morning! Sit with Carbon Black this morning over a cup of coffee or tea and browse a few industry headlines to get the day started. We’ve got just enough information below to get you through that first cup…enjoy! January 19, 2018 - Headlines The Five Laws Of Cybersecurity - Forbes 3 things y...

House Votes to Reauthorize Controversial Spy Provision, Section 702

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Thursday to renew the National Security Agency’s spy powers to collect internet communications under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act of 2008. The vote 256-to-164 in favor of the legislation ends a yearlong debate over...

Yahoo Asks DNI to De-Classify Email Scanning Order

Yahoo continues to seek high ground with regard to public reports that last year it scanned user email messages in compliance with a classified government order. General counsel Ron Bell yesterday sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper asking the government to confirm...

Google Handles Record Number of Government Requests for Data

Google fielded a record number of government requests for user data during the first half of 2016, according to its updated Transparency Report. It was also able to report that it received at least one National Security Letter during the six months between July and December 2015. “Pursuant to the...

Yahoo Slams Email Surveillance Story: Experts Demand Details

Bombshell revelations that Yahoo conducted mass email surveillance is raising hackles among legal, civil liberties and security experts that demand Yahoo and the U.S. government come clean. Meanwhile Yahoo challenged the accuracy of Tuesday’s report by Reuters. “The article is misleading. We...

Amazon Transparency Report Shows Few Requests For User Data

Amazon has released its first transparency report, and for a company as large as Amazon, there is surprisingly little in the way of detail or explanation in the report. The company reported that it received 813 subpoenas, 25 search warrants, and 0-249 national security requests. Of the 813...

Sunset of Section 215 Means All Eyes on USA FREEDOM Act

The sun may have set at midnight on Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, putting a temporary halt to the NSA’s bulk collection of phone call metadata, but privacy champions and legal experts point to May 7 as the day the lights dimmed on that facet of the government’s surveillance efforts. On that...

US House Votes to End NSA Phone Records Collection

The U.S. House of Representatives’ resounding vote on Wednesday to end the National Security Agency’s collection of phone metadata and business records shifts the Senate focus squarely onto the shoulders of Kentucky Republican Senator, Mitch McConnell. McConnell is a staunch defender of the...

New Coalition Launches Fight Against Patriot Act Section 215

A broad group of civil-rights, technology and political groups from across the spectrum has developed a new initiative to advocate for the repeal of Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, the part that provides the authority for the bulk collection of phone metadata and other information. The new...

Lame Duck Senate to Vote on NSA Reforming USA FREEDOM Act

The United States Senate will move to vote on the USA FREEDOM Act before the current congressional session closes at the end of the year, a move that pleases digital rights groups. In its current form, the bill would ban the bulk collection of Americans’ private records while granting the...

AOL Releases Transparency Report Lobbies for USA FREEDOM Act

Noting that Saturday was the 13th anniversary of the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act, the Web giant AOL this week released its latest transparency report, detailing estimations of how many Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act FISA orders and National Security Letters NSLs it’s received in the las...