Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Story highlights At 7:44 p.m. Sunday, the National Security Agency’s bulk data collection program ended The government loses authorities under three Patriot Act provisions The Senate entered a debate period late Sunday on the Patriot Act that pushed beyond the midnight deadline. With the debate ongoing, that effectively ends the National Security Agency’s bulk data…
The National Security Agency’s ability to collect the phone records of millions of Americans in bulk expired late Sunday after the Senate failed to strike a deal before the midnight deadline. However, that program, as well as several other post-9/11 counterterrorism measures, were likely to be revived in some form in the coming days after…
Is this the year Congress passes a bill to limit NSA spying? The House of Representatives certainly hopes so. But just how strong that reform will be remains to be seen. Minutes ago, the House of Representatives passed the USA Freedom Act overwhelmingly with 338 yes votes and 88 no votes. EFF is neutral on…
How roleplaying games and fantasy fiction confounded the FBI, confronted the law, and led to a more open web On January 17, 1980, FBI agents descended on a small business in Wisconsin to investigate a plot against the life of an American business executive in Beirut, Lebanon, named William Weatherby. The tip came to local…
The National Security Agency (NSA) faces a litany of lawsuits over its surveillance programs. A federal appeals court ruled May 7 that the NSA’s bulk surveillance of telephone records is unlawful. It found the NSA’s programs were not authorized by Congress in Section 215 of the Patriot Act. The ruling determined the American Civil Liberties…
The Sony email hack is making the rounds again—but not for the reason you might expect. After WikiLeaks republished the embattled company’s emails in their entirety last weekend, certain aspects of Sony’s very public embarrassment have once again been making headlines. Perhaps one of the strangest revelations to have gained traction is ex-Sony chief Amy…
Since the dawn of online piracy, media companies have been serving subpoenas on Internet service providers to try to compel them to match up IP addresses of alleged pirates with the names on the accounts tied to those IP addresses. Unless the ISPs put up a fight, courts frequently grant these subpoenas, but one federal judge…
Negative comments on your social-media posts might just be the work of standard Internet trolls. But it could actually be a bit more sinister. An article recently published by The Guardian details the Russian troll house, a government agency that hires people to post pro-Russian and anti-Western blogs and comments. Though it may be surprising…
<![endif][if gt IE 9]>><![endif][if IE 9]>< ![endif][if IE 8]>< ![endif][if gt IE 8]>><![endif][if lt IE 9]>< ![endif][if lt IE 9]>< ![endif] USA TODAY investigation revealed that a secret program collecting phone call data for international calls started in 1992. USA TODAY Starting in 1992, the Justice Department amassed logs of virtually all telephone calls from…
Earlier this month, in the middle of the night, a pair of Minnesota parents heard strange music coming from their baby’s room. When they investigated, they were horrified to find that the sound was coming from their Foscam baby camera. The camera had been hacked, and its live-feed of their baby’s crib had been posted…