Big Brother Rules NSA Can Stay Silent on Google Ties

A US Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia, upheld a lower court decision, in EPIC v. NSA ruling that the NSA does not need to confirm nor deny (known as a “Glomar” response, a controversial legal claim that allows federal agencies to conceal the existence of records that might otherwise be subject to public disclosure) its collaborations with Google; how the two work together to spy on American citizens in the name of protecting the public from false flag “cyber-attacks”.

The ruling came in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the public interest group, EPIC, which stated the public has a right to know about the government spying on citizens.

"Any information pertaining to the relationship between Google and NSA would reveal protected information about NSA's implementation of its information assurance mission," Judge Janice Rogers Brown wrote in the appeals opinion.

Then, there is the NSA's "Perfect Citizen" - how Orwellian - program. According to the Wall Street Journal, the program "would rely on a set of sensors deployed in computer networks for critical infrastructure that would be triggered by unusual activity suggesting an impending cyber attack," although the agency has claimed that there "is no monitoring activity involved, and no sensors are employed in this endeavor" but has refused to release the details of the program.

Suffice to say, they have been tapping into domestic communications since the 1950s, if not before. However, the ever increasing technology combined with the current civil-liberty-eliminating legislation - starting with the Patriot Act - provides the perfect infrastructure for some Hitler/Stalin wannabe to take Nazi like control of your daily existence. 

The bottom line is "Perfect Citizen" and this growing convoluted web of bureaucracies to surveil and control the flow of information on the Internet has nothing to do with protecting critical infrastructure and utilities from being hacked, because all that is required to defend or guard against attack is to disconnect command and control systems for critical infrastructure from the Internet ...a dedicated line that is closed to the net. In other words, this is a ruse to expand the scope of government and domestic spying.

The incremental loss of liberty and privacy marches on as we frogs, distracted by bread and circus, slow-boil in our pots.

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New DHS Headquarters: Largest Federal Project Since Construction of the Pentagon.

US Dept of Homeland Security Headquarters, Washington DC, Phase 1

Since the creation of the Office of Homeland Security 11 days after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the Department Homeland Security (DHS) has more than 230,000 employees. The problem is they do not have an official home.

So, in an effort to consolidate the Department of Homeland Security's workforce, now scattered across 55 campuses, into a central headquarters, a huge construction project is underway, the largest one in the country.  Pictured above is phase 1 of the new DHS headquarters on the campus of  what used to be St. Elizabeths psychiatric hospital, the nation's first major federally run psychiatric institution founded in 1852. It is located in southeast section of Washington, DC.  This project is the largest federal project since the Pentagon.

Thankfully, this huge project has been pushed back 5-years:

Originally, the DHS headquarters plan carried a price tag of $3.45 billion and aimed to relocate 14,000 workers from more than 180 offices to the campus of the former St. Elizabeths Hospital in Southeast Washington by fiscal 2016. But, according to December projections, the project will cost at least $3.96 billion and won't be complete until the end of fiscal 2021, delaying the relocation of more than 10,000 workers by up to five years. Only the Coast Guard headquarters is expected to be completed on schedule in spring 2013.

Thankfully, because this is the same agency that has an $11 million contract with General Dynamics to monitor Web activity, social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and  news sites. The only reason we even know about this is that the Electronic Privacy Information Center obtained 300 documents through a Freedom of Information Act request which detailed how DHS had hired an outside contractor, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, to monitor social media outlets along with a list of websites, on a “24/7/365 basis,” in order to uncover “any media reports that reflect adversely on the U.S. Government and the Department of Homeland Security.” DHS has been surveying public online posts since as early as 2006.

The monitoring involves looking at “publicly available online forums, blogs, public websites and message boards, and disseminate information to "federal, state, local, and foreign government and private sector partners." - EPIC

Can you imagine the power DHS will have consolidated in an area that has the potential to house 60,000 employees?

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EPIC Lawsuit Demands Details About DHS Covert Social-Networking Surveillance

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), has filed suit in US District Court against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The grounds for the suit is a refusal by DHS to reply to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by EPIC in April of this year,  as well as to acknowledge EPIC as news media, and to pay EPIC’s legal bills for the suit.

EPIC is trying to force disclosure of the details in the DHS Social Media Monitoring Networking Program where they will monitor public postings on Twitter and Facebook.   DHS plans to create fictitious user accounts -  fake accounts on social networking sites - and scan posts of users for specific keywords, and then that user data will be stored and analyzed and then disseminated to federal, state, local, and foreign governments and private sector partners,” according to an EPIC court filing.

A few “key” words DHS plans to include are: “diseases” “bio weapons” “human to animal” “outbreak” “illegal immigrant”

DHS will use this information gathered without a warrant from online forums, blogs, public websites, and message boards to establish a system of records that can be easily accessed for whatever reason.

Links:

EPIC Submits Comments on FTC Facebook Privacy Settlement>

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