Even while NSA defenders are bitching about Senator Ron Wyden hinting strongly about the NSA and the DOJ abusing various interpretations of the law to spy on Americans with the bulk collection of data, it seems that neither Wyden nor Senator Mark Udall… Continue reading →

With the latest reports of the feds (both the NSA and the FBI) trying to get tech companies to cough up master encryption keys, Matt Novak of the awesome PaleoFuture blog (now a part of Gizmodo) notes that the NSA has a long history of hating civilians… Continue reading →

I had a fun phone call with a reporter in Michigan earlier today who is apparently working on a story about Rep. Mike Rogers. In doing some research for the article, he spoke with staffers in Rogers’ office about some of the things I’ve written about R… Continue reading →

On Monday, the Senate overwhelmingly confirmed James Comey to be the new FBI director, despite significant concerns raised about his views on civil liberties and surveillance. Senator Rand Paul had blocked the vote for a while, claiming he wanted answe… Continue reading →

It’s taken some time, but the report that MIT’s President requested from professor Hal Abelson concerning MIT’s roles in the prosecution of Aaron Swartz has now been released. It’s quite detailed and well worth reading. The “bottom line” is that it arg… Continue reading →

You may recall a few years back that the state of Oregon claimed that its laws were covered by copyright and threatened to sue people who posted them online. Yes. Its laws. Other states have done the same at times, and each time they get mocked mercile… Continue reading →

So, the details aren’t out yet, but the headline message is: Bradley Manning has been found “not guilty” of “aiding the enemy” but has been convicted on other charges, including violating the Espionage Act — which seems a bit crazy, because what he wa… Continue reading →

This is fairly impressive. Some members of the “Restore the 4th” effort who organized the widespread protests on July 4th against NSA surveillance decided to hold something of a sit-in protest at the office of Rep. Gregory Meeks in New York, since he v… Continue reading →

It’s been pointed out here on multiple occasions that one pirated item does not equal one lost sale. It’s a fallacy various rights holders have used for years in order to exaggerate losses (helpful when asking the government to write legislation favor… Continue reading →

Remember back when HBO sent a DMCA takedown notice to Google that included links to HBO.com? Apparently, the various services, which do automated DMCA takedowns, haven’t gotten much better. TorrentFreak has the amusing story of how Microsoft apparently… Continue reading →