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Google challenges U.S. gag order, citing First Amendment
- Google is petitioning the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to allow them to release information concerning data requests the court makes.
Whistleblower Edward Snowden answers questions in live Q&A session
- Whistleblower Edward Snowden, famous for leaking information about the U.S. government's PRISM internet surveillance program, sat down with The Guardian and its readers to do a live online question and answer session this weekend.
Weekend Open Forum: How do you protect your privacy online?
- News about PRISM, Verizon data collection, and other government surveillance has flooded media outlets for the last week, leaving U.S. citizens and members of the international community feeling uncomfortable with the volume and methods of data collection that have been…
Secret court makes refusing government data requests tricky for companies
- Sources in touch with the New York Times purport that Yahoo was one of the companies with enough brass to try to resist national security data requests before its indoctrination into PRISM. In a secretive court though, the company was…
NSA director says programs prevented dozens of attacks; public opinion on surveillance, Snowden mixed
- The recovery effort for the PRISM leak carries on as various members of the U.S. Government and National Security Agency continue attempts at justifying the program to Congress and the public. NSA director Keith Alexander told a senate committee on…
Top 10 countries requesting user data from tech companies
- Guess what. The United States is at the top of the charts among countries who make the most user data requests to tech companies. Surprising, right? Reuters compiled 2012 transparency report data from Google, Microsoft, Skype, and Twitter to find the top…
EU seeks clarity about PRISM amid rising international concern
- James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, has assured the American public that PRISM doesn’t collect data on U.S. citizens. Assuming it’s the truth, this may placate some of the concerns in the U.S., but what about members of the international…
PRISM declassified by NSA to mitigate misimpressions and inaccuracies
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Following the information released by whistleblower Edward Snowden, James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, decided it was necessary to declassify and release more information detailing the PRISM program in order to dispel "significant misimpressions" and inaccuracies...
U.S. government confirms PRISM surveillance program, tech companies deny involvement
- As public concern over government surveillance in the U.S. continues to grow following news that the NSA is collecting metadata from Verizon calls on a daily basis, information concerning other potentially affected companies has surfaced. The Washington Post is reporting that…
National Security Agency collecting data from Verizon calls on 'ongoing, daily basis' (update)
- The National Security Agency is secretly collecting telephone records from millions of Verizon customers in the U.S., reports The Guardian. A top-secret court order issued in April under the Patriot Act requires that Verizon give the NSA information on all…
German railway company to test anti-graffiti drones
- German national railway company Deutsche Bahn has come up with an ambitious plan to try and curb graffiti artists – drones. No, these aren’t the same drones that drop missiles or bombs. Instead, these stealth flying machines would be equipped…
India launches national surveillance system, monitors Internet, calls, texts
- Last month, India's government deployed what is known as the "Central Monitoring System". The several-million dollar surveillance initiative gives Indian government agencies unprecedented power to silently monitor communications, not the least of which include Internet activity, text messaging and phone…
Mozilla demands firm halt spyware masquerading as Firefox
- Gamma International, a British security firm with ostensibly few scruples, has been accused of developing surveillance software which intentionally masquerades as Firefox. The program's unauthorized similarities to Mozilla's well-known browser prompted the organization to issue a cease-and-desist notice in an…
Microsoft enables China to spy on Skype users via keyword triggers
- University of New Mexico student Jeffrey Knockel claims to have revealed an encrypted list of 1,100+ keywords within China's Skype client, TOM-Skype. This list, containing words like "BBC" and phrases like "Democratic Unionist Party", are suspected to be used for…
WikiLeaks reveals massive surveillance effort, crippled by DDoS attack
- Last week, Wikileaks released internal documents and emails obtained by hackers regarding TrapWire, a privately-owned surveillance technology utilized by various private and public agencies. It appears TrapWire works by collecting surveillance data from participating private and public sources (CCTV cameras,…
SOPA is dead, but CISPA may give Internet citizens a new cause
- Although the demise of SOPA is behind us, citizens of the Internet may have new cause for concern. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) has been gaining momentum and while it is distinctly different than SOPA, some argue…
Cop's attempt at parental control led to hacked German police system
- Last July, a computer server used by German authorities for GPS surveillance was compromised by hackers and subsequently shut down. Although details were limited at the time, it is now being reported that the events leading to the break-in could…
Wikileaks exposes surveillance industry with 'The Spy Files'
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Julian Assange, creator of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, announced the latest project for his website today. Dubbed the Spyfiles, the project centers around the publication of files that allegedly prove how Western and Eastern high-tech companies compete against each other...
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