Tag Archives: NSA

The EFF Calls Gov Report Supporting Surveillance “Legally Flawed And Factually Incomplete”

 The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) isn’t enthused with a report from the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) concerning government surveillance under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The current report generally upheld the program, offering a few motes of potential reform as suggestions. The report was, I think it fair to…Read More…

  • By Alex Wilhelm
  • July 2, 2014
  • Posted in Software
  • Also tagged Crunch-gov, EFF, PCLOB,

Anti-NSA Blackphone arrived with a Bang and Sold Out

Blackphone is the result of collaboration between Silent Circle, an anti-NSA encryption powerhouse, and Geeksphone a company founded and owned by an ex tech prodigy. The phone is already being shipped around the world and the initial inventory reveals that it is “sold out.” Although security-conscious cell phones have always been in demand but the…Read More…

Senators Call On Obama For More Transparency In The Intelligence Community

 Two senators who scolded the intelligence community for failing to provide a sufficient transparency report are taking their complaints to the White House. Senators Al Franken and Dean Heller asked President Barack Obama “to support stronger transparency provisions” in a letter Tuesday. The senators urged Obama to endorse their bill that would require the intelligence…Read More…

  • By Cat Zakrzewski
  • July 2, 2014
  • Posted in Software
  • Also tagged Crunch-gov, FREEDOM Act, senate,

Microsoft Bolsters Encryption For OneDrive And Outlook.com

 Microsoft announced this morning that it has bolstered the security of several of its digital products, bringing stronger encryption tools to its OneDrive and Outlook.com services. In the wake of revelations that the United States government was tapping the core fiber cables of the Internet, snooping on traffic between the data centers of large technology…Read More…

FBI, CIA Join NSA In “Backdoor” Searches On Americans

 Thousands of Americans were targets of so-called “backdoor” warrantless surveillance by the NSA and other intelligence agencies last year, according to a letter sent to Senator Ron Wyden. The missive, written by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to the Senator in response to a question posed earlier this month, is plainspoken. The Office…Read More…

  • By Alex Wilhelm
  • July 1, 2014

Court Allowed NSA To Spy On All But 4 Countries

 A court permitted the National Security Agency to collect information about governments in 193 countries and foreign institutions like the World Bank, according to a secret document the Washington Post published Monday. The certification issued by a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2010 shows the NSA has the authority to “intercept through U.S. companies not…Read More…

Two Senators Upbraid The Intelligence Community For Insufficient Disclosure

 Consider Senators Al Franken and Dean Heller unimpressed. Today the two Senators, one a Democrat and the other a Republican, released statements disparaging a recent transparency report from the U.S. intelligence community that broke down its act…Read More…

  • By Alex Wilhelm
  • June 30, 2014
  • Posted in Software
  • Also tagged Crunch-gov, Senator Al Franken, Senator Dean Heller,

New, security-minded Blackphone is ready to ship, and it’s packing Nvidia hardware

The first reviews of the privacy-minded Blackphone are in, and the product is impressive. It’s also one of the first times we’ve seen Nvidia’s Tegra 4i in action. Does the company’s budget quad-core still have what it takes to compete in the modern mar…Read More…

Microsoft’s Top Lawyer Calls Supreme Court Cellphone-Warrant Case “Seminal”

 It’s been a busy week in the realm of policy and technology, with the Supreme court weighing in on a several issues impacting the industry, and the government releasing something akin to a transparency report regarding a portion of the NSA’s surveillance practices. The unanimous Supreme Court decision on Riley v. California caused a stir because it…Read More…

NSA harvested data on millions but spied on just 248 Americans

Since Snowden’s leaks regarding NSA’s surveillance act we are quite clear regarding the fact that NSA has been spying over masses. But, a recent transparency report has proved it all wrong. It states: NSA’s reach is too small; it esquires less than 30 percent of total Americans’ call records. Furthermore, NSA’s surveillance act only lasts over a mere…Read More…