Obama Admin asks secret FISA court to re-start dragnet. Source article from The Guardian This post sponsored by RecipeSchmecipe.com The Backdrop By Susan Modaress @SusanModaress After weeks of political showdown, infighting and drama, the Senate finally passed the USA Freedom Act, a bill to reform provisions of one of the National Security Agency’s most controversial surveillance programs, The US Patriot Act, …
Government Data Breach
Millions of federal employees’ personal info stolen. Source article on CNN.com Create your own user feedback survey US officials say nearly every government agency was hacked. Personal information of 4 million federal employees was stolen. Investigators say the breach was traced to China. Officials claim China is building a database of Americans’ info. The breach didn’t affect uniformed military personnel. …
Patriot Act Expires
3 critical sections in Patriot Act expired June 1. Source article on CNN.com (opens in new tab) Create your own user feedback survey The Patriot Act was passed into law in 2001 after 9/11. 3 key provisions in it allow the NSA to record your phone calls. Those 3 key provisions expired June 1 at midnight. This means the NSA …
Soccer’s Day of Reckoning
USA & Swiss officials lead probes into FIFA. Source article on CNN.com (opens in new tab) FIFA is the international governing body for soccer. FIFA has been suspected of corruption for decades. FIFA awarded the 2018 World Cup to Russia & 2022 to Qatar. Many suspected the selection process was, again, corrupt. In 2014, FIFA conducted its own investigation & …
NSA Patriot Act Ruling
Appeals court says NSA’s meta data collection illegal. NSA collects MOST of our texts, calls, emails, & web traffic. All of that is completely legal, in part, thanks to the Patriot Act. Part of the data they collect is called “meta data.” Meta data is info about calls: the numbers and length of call. After Snowden revelations, the ACLU (and …
NSA Hacks SIM Cards
NSA/GCHQ stole millions of SIM cards’ encryption keys. The GCHQ is Britain’s NSA. Your phone’s SIM card contains a secret encryption key. Your carrier/provider also has that same encryption key. To connect, your SIM and provider check that they keys match. If they do, all communication between them is encrypted. Carriers like Verizon, AT&T do not make their own SIM …