Fire Walk With Me
Fire Walk With Me's JournalHow America's Top Tech Companies Created the Surveillance State
http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/how-america-s-top-tech-companies-created-the-surveillance-state-20130725With Edward Snowden on the run in Russia and reportedly threatening to unveil the entire “blueprint” for National Security Agency surveillance, there’s probably as much terror in Silicon Valley as in Washington about what he might expose. The reaction so far from private industry about the part it has played in helping the government spy on Americans has ranged from outraged denial to total silence. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, he of the teen-nerd hoodie, said he’d never even heard of the kind of data-mining that the NSA leaker described—then fell quiet. Google cofounder Larry Page declared almost exactly the same thing; then he shut up, too. Especially for the libertarian geniuses of Silicon Valley, who take pride in their distance (both physically and philosophically) from Washington, the image-curdling idea that they might be secretly in bed with government spooks induced an even greater reluctance to talk, perhaps, than the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which conveniently forbids executives from revealing government requests for information.
But the sounds of silence from the tech and telecom sectors are drowning out a larger truth, one that some of Snowden’s documents might well supply in much greater detail. For nearly 20 years, many of these companies—indeed most of America’s biggest corporate sectors, from energy to finance to telecom to computers—have been doing the intelligence community’s bidding, as America’s spy and homeland-security agencies have bored their way into the nation’s privately run digital and electronic infrastructure. Sometimes this has happened after initial resistance, and occasionally under penalty of law, but more often with willing and even eager cooperation. Indeed, the private tech sector effectively built the NSA’s surveillance system, and got rich doing it.
Books have been written about President Eisenhower’s famous farewell warning in 1961 about the “military-industrial complex,” and what he described as its “unwarranted influence.” But an even greater leviathan today, one that the public knows little about, is the “intelligence-industrial complex.”
The saga of the private sector’s involvement in the NSA’s scheme for permanent mass surveillance is long, complex, and sometimes contentious. Often, in ways that appeared to apply indirect pressure on industry, the NSA has demanded, and received, approval authority—veto power, basically—over telecom mergers and the lifting of export controls on software. The tech industry, in more than a decade of working-group meetings, has hashed out an understanding with the intelligence community over greater NSA access to their systems, including the nation’s major servers (although it is not yet clear to what degree the agency had direct access). “I never saw [the NSA] come and say, ‘We’ll do this if you do that,’ ” says Rebecca Gould, the former vice president for public policy at Dell. “But the National Security Agency always reached out to companies, bringing them in. There are working groups going on as we speak.”
(More at the link. Cross-posted from Occupy Underground.)
How America's Top Tech Companies Created the Surveillance State
http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/how-america-s-top-tech-companies-created-the-surveillance-state-20130725With Edward Snowden on the run in Russia and reportedly threatening to unveil the entire “blueprint” for National Security Agency surveillance, there’s probably as much terror in Silicon Valley as in Washington about what he might expose. The reaction so far from private industry about the part it has played in helping the government spy on Americans has ranged from outraged denial to total silence. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, he of the teen-nerd hoodie, said he’d never even heard of the kind of data-mining that the NSA leaker described—then fell quiet. Google cofounder Larry Page declared almost exactly the same thing; then he shut up, too. Especially for the libertarian geniuses of Silicon Valley, who take pride in their distance (both physically and philosophically) from Washington, the image-curdling idea that they might be secretly in bed with government spooks induced an even greater reluctance to talk, perhaps, than the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which conveniently forbids executives from revealing government requests for information.
But the sounds of silence from the tech and telecom sectors are drowning out a larger truth, one that some of Snowden’s documents might well supply in much greater detail. For nearly 20 years, many of these companies—indeed most of America’s biggest corporate sectors, from energy to finance to telecom to computers—have been doing the intelligence community’s bidding, as America’s spy and homeland-security agencies have bored their way into the nation’s privately run digital and electronic infrastructure. Sometimes this has happened after initial resistance, and occasionally under penalty of law, but more often with willing and even eager cooperation. Indeed, the private tech sector effectively built the NSA’s surveillance system, and got rich doing it.
Books have been written about President Eisenhower’s famous farewell warning in 1961 about the “military-industrial complex,” and what he described as its “unwarranted influence.” But an even greater leviathan today, one that the public knows little about, is the “intelligence-industrial complex.”
The saga of the private sector’s involvement in the NSA’s scheme for permanent mass surveillance is long, complex, and sometimes contentious. Often, in ways that appeared to apply indirect pressure on industry, the NSA has demanded, and received, approval authority—veto power, basically—over telecom mergers and the lifting of export controls on software. The tech industry, in more than a decade of working-group meetings, has hashed out an understanding with the intelligence community over greater NSA access to their systems, including the nation’s major servers (although it is not yet clear to what degree the agency had direct access). “I never saw [the NSA] come and say, ‘We’ll do this if you do that,’ ” says Rebecca Gould, the former vice president for public policy at Dell. “But the National Security Agency always reached out to companies, bringing them in. There are working groups going on as we speak.”
(More at the link.)
The "fiscal cliff" scam involved making permanent some aspects of the Bush tax cuts to the rich.
It's news to me, apologies if it's old to everyone else:
-Retains the 10 percent, 15 percent, 25 percent, and 28 percent income tax brackets from the Bush tax cuts permanently
-Retains the 33 percent and 35 percent income tax brackets from the Bush tax cuts for taxable income under $400,000 (single), $425,000 (head of household), and $450,000 (joint filers). Imposes 39.6 percent tax rate on income above this level.
Details of the Fiscal Cliff Tax Deal
http://taxfoundation.org/blog/details-fiscal-cliff-tax-deal
Your computer may already be hacked.
http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/your-computer-may-already-be-hacked.html/?ref=YF"...the National Security Agency already had pre-encryption stage access to email on Outlook.” Say what?? They can see the plaintext on my computer before I encrypt it? That defeats any/all encryption methods. How could they do that?
(More at the link.)
Links to:
How Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/11/microsoft-nsa-collaboration-user-data
• Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the agency would be unable to intercept web chats on the new Outlook.com portal;
• The agency already had pre-encryption stage access to email on Outlook.com, including Hotmail;
• The company worked with the FBI this year to allow the NSA easier access via Prism to its cloud storage service SkyDrive, which now has more than 250 million users worldwide
(More at the link. Cross-posted from Occupy Underground.)
Your Computer May Already Be Hacked
http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/your-computer-may-already-be-hacked.html/?ref=YF"...the National Security Agency already had pre-encryption stage access to email on Outlook.” Say what?? They can see the plaintext on my computer before I encrypt it? That defeats any/all encryption methods. How could they do that?
(More at the link.)
Links to:
How Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/11/microsoft-nsa-collaboration-user-data
• Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the agency would be unable to intercept web chats on the new Outlook.com portal;
• The agency already had pre-encryption stage access to email on Outlook.com, including Hotmail;
• The company worked with the FBI this year to allow the NSA easier access via Prism to its cloud storage service SkyDrive, which now has more than 250 million users worldwide
(More at the link.)
Define: Liberal
Google:
lib·er·al
/ˈlibərəl/
Adjective
Open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values.
Noun
A person of liberal views.
Synonyms
generous - bounteous - lavish - bountiful - free
---
Wikipedia:
Liberalism (from the Latin liberalis)[1] is a political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of liberty and equality.[2][3] Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally they support ideas such as free and fair elections, civil rights, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free trade, and private property.[4][5][6][7][8]
Liberalism first became a distinct political movement during the Age of Enlightenment, when it became popular among philosophers and economists in the Western world. Liberalism rejected the notions, common at the time, of hereditary privilege, state religion, absolute monarchy, and the Divine Right of Kings. The 17th century philosopher John Locke is often credited with founding liberalism as a distinct philosophical tradition. Locke argued that each man has a natural right to life, liberty and property[9] and according to the social contract, governments must not violate these rights. Liberals opposed traditional conservatism and sought to replace absolutism in government with democracy and/or republicanism and the rule of law.
The revolutionaries of the American Revolution, segments of the French Revolution, and other liberal revolutionaries from that time used liberal philosophy to justify the armed overthrow of what they saw as tyrannical rule. The nineteenth century saw liberal governments established in nations across Europe, Spanish America, and North America.[10] In this period, the dominant ideological opponent of liberalism was classical conservatism.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism
Hey look. The guy Obama wants to head the Fed
was part of the elimination of Glass-Steagall, was a Wall Street deregulator, and now works for Citigroup, home of the Plutonomy memos. Why not give him a job at the agency which printed trillions of dollars for the banksters?
The death of Glass-Steagall is what is said to have provided for banks using the housing market as a gambling chip, forcing homeowners into foreclosure through such tactics as double-tracking (instantly foreclosing upon those taking the purposefully bad advice to miss a home payment in order to qualify for a loan modification).
It’s Not a Housing Boom. It’s a Land Grab
http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/05/the_dangerous_new_housing_boom.html
Many in the political and financial class are holding up this relatively positive new housing data as proof that the country has reached an economic oasis. And at first blush, the situation can be construed to be positive. The value of the U.S. housing market has climbed back to $16 trillion, exactly where it was before the economic crisis. Home prices and permits for new construction are up by double digits nationwide.
But rather than an oasis, these new gains might be an economic mirage. The reality of the current real estate renaissance is that the rich and those on Wall Street are raking in the cash while large segments of the population—especially historically marginalized communities—remain stuck in a downward, alternate housing reality.
Generally, housing recoveries are fueled by millions of Americans with new jobs, higher wages, available credit from banks and overall confidence that things will get better. But the real economy that most people live in day-to-day is too weak for all of that. Jobs are in short supply, wages are at historic lows and credit for middle and working class Americans is tight. With their economic ladder into homeownership taken away, many Americans can no longer participate in the housing market.
snip
Just in the last 12 months, Wall Street’s Blackstone Group has raised $8 billlion to buy up homes on Main Street. Following suit, according to The New Republic, JP Morgan Chase—the nation’s largest bank—has organized a fund to purchase 5,000 single-family homes in states with some of the most depressed real estate prices. As I wrote last year, a former Morgan Stanley housing strategist left that bank, organized a billion dollars, and is purchasing up to 10,000 homes with these new resources.
--
Also, the "Fed" or federal reserve is the culprit which printed trillions of dollars to bail out banks and wall street, none of which we shall ever again see. Putting another bailout boy in that position will DUH result in more malfeasance at the expense of the US taxpayer.
It's theft, not a bailout!
Edit: A Politics 2013 forum post reveals Summers IS a flat-out Plutonomist shill:
Citigroup Says Summers Working as Consultant Since at Least 2012
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-26/citigroup-says-summers-working-as-consultant-since-at-least-2012.html
What's a Plutonomy, you ask?
FIRST REPORT: “Plutonomy: Buying Luxury, Explaining Global Imbalances”
SECOND REPORT: “Revisiting Plutonomy: The Rich Getting Richer”
THIRD REPORT: "The Plutonomy Symposium: Rising Tides Lifting Yachts"
http://our99angrypercent.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/download-citigroup-plutonomy-memos/
Roll call for representatives with financial investment in the tarsands and TransCanada's KeystoneXL
Follow the money.
"Hailing her longtime role as a 'trusted adviser,' President Barack Obama formally named U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice as his next national security adviser on Wednesday."
http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/05/18772869-obama-appoints-susan-rice-as-national-security-adviser?lite
"Potential Secretary of State candidate Susan Rice holds as much as $600,000 of shares in TransCanada, the company seeking State Department approval to build the Keystone XL pipeline."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/84355.html
The SEC Mulls An Investigation Calls Grow For John Boehner To Resign
http://www.politicususa.com/2012/01/28/john-boehner-resign.html
Speaker Boehner owns shares in seven different Canadian tar sand companies
https://www.facebook.com/OMCorg/posts/184196495016974
Congressmembers Implicated in Insider Stock Trading on TransCanada, Keystone XL Pipeline
http://www.desmogblog.com/congressmembers-implicated-insider-stock-trading-transcanada-keystone-xl-pipeline
The GOP’s Senate Oil Whores Get $22.3 Million From Keystone XL Backers
http://www.politicususa.com/2012/02/02/senate-keystone-xl.html
Roll call for representatives with financial investment in the tarsands and TransCanada's KeystoneXL
Follow the money.
"Hailing her longtime role as a 'trusted adviser,' President Barack Obama formally named U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice as his next national security adviser on Wednesday."
http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/05/18772869-obama-appoints-susan-rice-as-national-security-adviser?lite
"Potential Secretary of State candidate Susan Rice holds as much as $600,000 of shares in TransCanada, the company seeking State Department approval to build the Keystone XL pipeline."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/84355.html
The SEC Mulls An Investigation Calls Grow For John Boehner To Resign
http://www.politicususa.com/2012/01/28/john-boehner-resign.html
Speaker Boehner owns shares in seven different Canadian tar sand companies
https://www.facebook.com/OMCorg/posts/184196495016974
Congressmembers Implicated in Insider Stock Trading on TransCanada, Keystone XL Pipeline
http://www.desmogblog.com/congressmembers-implicated-insider-stock-trading-transcanada-keystone-xl-pipeline
The GOP’s Senate Oil Whores Get $22.3 Million From Keystone XL Backers
http://www.politicususa.com/2012/02/02/senate-keystone-xl.html
Biased extra reading:
‘Every Plant And Tree Died’: Huge Alberta Pipeline Spill Raises Safety Questions As Keystone Decision Looms
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/06/18/2167151/every-plant-and-tree-died-huge-alberta-pipeline-spill-raises-safety-questions-as-keystone-decision-looms/?mobile=wt
Police Trained to Treat Keystone XL Protesters as 'Terrorists' (View TransCanada's PowerPoints)
http://www.alternet.org/environment/transcanada-trains-police-arrest-keystone-xl-activists-anti-terrorist-statues
It’s Not a Housing Boom. It’s a Land Grab
http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/05/the_dangerous_new_housing_boom.htmlMany in the political and financial class are holding up this relatively positive new housing data as proof that the country has reached an economic oasis. And at first blush, the situation can be construed to be positive. The value of the U.S. housing market has climbed back to $16 trillion, exactly where it was before the economic crisis. Home prices and permits for new construction are up by double digits nationwide.
But rather than an oasis, these new gains might be an economic mirage. The reality of the current real estate renaissance is that the rich and those on Wall Street are raking in the cash while large segments of the population—especially historically marginalized communities—remain stuck in a downward, alternate housing reality.
Generally, housing recoveries are fueled by millions of Americans with new jobs, higher wages, available credit from banks and overall confidence that things will get better. But the real economy that most people live in day-to-day is too weak for all of that. Jobs are in short supply, wages are at historic lows and credit for middle and working class Americans is tight. With their economic ladder into homeownership taken away, many Americans can no longer participate in the housing market.
snip
Just in the last 12 months, Wall Street’s Blackstone Group has raised $8 billlion to buy up homes on Main Street. Following suit, according to The New Republic, JP Morgan Chase—the nation’s largest bank—has organized a fund to purchase 5,000 single-family homes in states with some of the most depressed real estate prices. As I wrote last year, a former Morgan Stanley housing strategist left that bank, organized a billion dollars, and is purchasing up to 10,000 homes with these new resources.
(More at the link. Via Occupy Fights Foreclosures. Cross-posted from Occupy Underground.)
(One of the three leaked Citigroup Plutonomy memos, "The Plutonomy Symposium: Rising Tides Lifting Yachts", stated that the main asset of the bottom 80% of income earners in America is their home.)
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Member since: Sat Apr 9, 2005, 09:20 PM
Number of posts: 38,893
