DHS lied to Congress about tracking Americans on social media

One of the nation’s leading electronic privacy groups claimed this week that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) misled members of Congress during a February 16th hearing on whether the Department is paying a defense contractor $11.4 million to keep tabs on protected free speech and dissent against government policies on the Internet. The Electronic […]

Insights to the Stop Online Piracy Act as proposed by US Congress

Internet censorship bills in the Senate and House could change the Internet by making it possible for big entertainment companies, the Chamber of Commerce, and their lobbyists to make our government shut down websites they don’t like! Read what Jonathan Zittrain of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Internet Society has to say: According to […]

Cyber security overload coming to a computer near you?

Imagine that President Obama could order the arrest of anyone who broke a promise on the Internet. So you could be jailed for lying about your age or weight on an Internet dating site. Fanciful, right? Think again. Congress is now poised to grant the Obama administration’s wishes in the name of “cybersecurity.” The little-known […]

Why is Internet freedom different for Julian Assange and WikiLeaks than protestors in Egypt?

In a major policy address, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton challenged autocratic regimes in the Middle East and elsewhere to embrace online freedom and the demands of cyber dissidents or risk being toppled by tides of unrest. Meanwhile, the US government’s legal hunt for Julian Assange the founder of WikiLeaks continues in a magistrates court […]

Kill Switch for the Internet alarms privacy experts

Hosni Mubarak’s Egyptian regime used an Internet “kill-switch” in recent weeks. It works and we saw the results live on television. Virtually every government in the world has the ability to silence the voice of their citizens by simply shutting off access to the Information Super Highway. It is mind-boggling. With a “kill-switch,” government can […]

Wael Ghonim on Revolution 2.0 in Egypt

Just prior to President Hosni Mubarak and his regime stepping down in Egypt, Wael Ghonim, head of marketing in the Middle East for Google, summed it up: “If you want to free a society, just give them internet access…this is revolution 2.0″ Wael Ghonim became a figurehead of the Egyptian revolution after being taken captive […]

All Web Surfing to be Tracked?

The US Justice Department wants Internet service providers and cell phone companies to be required to hold on to records for longer to help with criminal prosecutions. “Data retention is fundamental to the department’s work in investigating and prosecuting almost every type of crime,” US deputy assistant attorney general Jason Weinstein told a congressional subcommittee. […]

Media as a Branch of Government vs WikiLeaks

The complete phoniness of the toppling of Saddam’s statue was exposed by this web site and others when it occurred. Media broadcast a carefully-cropped image of a nearly empty square to give the impression that US soldiers were being greeted by the Iraqis as “liberators.” Who were these Iraqis? They were members of the Iraqi […]

America Land of the Free Surveillance

Political spying is nearly as bad now as it was during the Cold War. The ACLU reports that Americans are harrassed and under surveillance for exercising their First Amendment rights. One ACLU report, Policing Free Speech: Police Surveillance and Obstruction of First Amendment-Protected Activity (.pdf), reveals that, in recent years, Americans have been put under surveillance […]

The End of the Internet as we know it?

2006 Google declaration: “Today the Internet is an information highway where anybody – no matter how large or small, how traditional or unconventional – has equal access.” 2010: The Google and Verizon deal marks the beginning of the end of the Internet as we know it. Since its beginnings, the Net was a level playing […]