Archives: Privacy

Israel-First McCarthyism: Cuomo’s vow to spy on, punish BDS Activists in long Tradition

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - After New York governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order directing the state to monitor and sanction activists in the Boycott, Sanctions and…

In defeat for Israel Lobbies, Professors’ Union censures U of Illinois Over Salaita Firing

By Lauren McCauley, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | - - Attorneys for Professor Steven Salaita called the move by leading academic group 'a serious blemish on the university’s record' The university rescinded…

Fighting for Privacy, Two Years After Snowden

By Richard Esguerra | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) | - - Two years ago today, Glenn Greenwald published in the Guardian a single document confirming a key piece of the NSA's surveillance program,…

Wins and Losses for Liberty and Privacy in USA Freedom Act

By Cindy Cohn and Mark Jaycox | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) | - The Senate passed the USA Freedom Act today by 67-32, marking the first time in over thirty years that both…

SlutWalk: Israeli Women March For Equal Rights In Jerusalem

AJ+ | (Video) | - "It's a city where women have been forced to sit at the back of buses. Now Israel's women are demanding equal rights in Jerusalem with a "SlutWalk"."…

Online Freedom of Speech under Siege even in “Democracies”

By Jillian York | (Electronic Frontier Foundation) In the midst of the global surveillance debate, talk of online censorship has often taken a backseat. Yet, all around the world, the inalienable right…

Iran: Rise In Youth just living together — Gov’t rails Against ‘White Marriage’

By Golnaz Esfandiari (RFL/RE) | -- Raana and Hamed have been living together for four years. They eat together. They both contribute to the household and share a savings account. They fight…

Americans’ Personal Freedom falls to 21 in World

The Young Turks | --- ""Americans' assessments of their personal freedom have significantly declined under President Obama, according to a new study from the Legatum Institute in London, and the United States…

Apple and Google Take on U.S. Government Over Encryption

" Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- While the newest Apple and Google smartphones will automatically encrypt data stored on them, that won’t keep U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies from obtaining evidence linked…

What the Hackers did to Celebs? The NSA has been Doing that to All of US instead of Predicting ISIL

By Juan Cole There has been a lot of justifiable outrage about the invasion of privacy of celebrities and the posting of their private, nude photos at 4Chan by hackers who apparently…

Victim of McCarthy-Era Witch Hunt calls on U-Illinois not to Fire Critic of Israeli Policies

Note by Juan Cole: In the early 1950s, under the influence of Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-WI), a national witch hunt was conducted for leftists. McCarthy claimed to have a list of 100…

Gov’t: Be Careful what you Say on Facebook: “Are you on the Terrorist Watchlist?”

AJ+ "One million people worldwide have been swept up by TIDE, the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment. It's a list of people suspected of being terrorists that's managed by the U.S. National Counterterrorism…

One Nation, under SWAT: The undemocratic Militarization of the Police

By Matthew Harwood via Tomdispatch.com Jason Westcott was afraid. One night last fall, he discovered via Facebook that a friend of a friend was planning with some co-conspirators to break in to…

Do you Think your Smartphone Location Data is Private? The Police Don’t

By Hanni Fakhoury via EFF The Fourth Amendment protects us from “unreasonable” government searches of our persons, houses, papers and effects. How courts should determine what is and isn’t reasonable in our…