Tag: Department of Justice

The FBI and Zero-Click

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

During the Trump administration, the FBI paid $5 million to an Israeli software company for a license to use its “zero-click” surveillance software called Pegasus. Zero-click refers to software that can download the contents of a target’s computer or mobile device without the need for tricking the target into clicking on it. The FBI operated the software from a warehouse in New Jersey.

The FBI and Zero-Click

Related:

NSO Group Pitched Phone Hacking Tech to American Police

A former NSO employee told Motherboard that Phantom was “a brand name for U.S. territory,” but the “same Pegasus,” referring to NSO’s phone hacking tool that the company has sold to multiple countries including the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia for millions of dollars. Infamously, Saudi Arabia used the software to surveil associates of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Motherboard granted the source anonymity to protect them from retaliation from NSO

Source

If You Thought The FTC Was Going To Fuck Over Elon, Just Wait Until He Learns About The EU

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

We’ve already pointed out that the new Twitter under Elon Musk may be facing some big challenges from the FTC in the US. The company is under a consent decree, and it’s not clear that Musk is complying with the terms of the consent decree. And unlike SEC violations, violating an FTC consent decree can hurt. Between the FTC and the DOJ, they can make it hurt. The fact that basically all of the remaining Twitter execs whose necks were on the line for potentially violating the FTC consent decree quit at the same time should tell you something (I guarantee it told the FTC something).

If You Thought The FTC Was Going To Fuck Over Elon, Just Wait Until He Learns About The EU

America’s Neo-Nazi bedfellows in Ukraine are latest in long line of odious allies Washington has used against Russia

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

By Tony Cox, a US journalist who has written and edited for Bloomberg and several major daily newspapers.

From pogrom-mongers to Hitlerites to radical Islamists, the US has collaborated with repugnant partners for more than a century

America’s Neo-Nazi bedfellows in Ukraine are latest in long line of odious allies Washington has used against Russia (Alternative source)

A Bottomless Pinocchio for Biden — and other recent gaffes

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)2 Comments

President Biden is a self-described “gaffe machine.” That’s no excuse, of course, for a president making false or misleading statements. Readers have asked for fact checks of a variety of recent Biden statements, but none of them seemed big enough for a stand-alone fact check. So here’s a roundup of some of the president’s recent errors of fact, made as he has barnstormed the country boosting Democrats and raising contributions in advance of the midterm elections. We generally do not award Pinocchios for roundups like this — but for reasons that will become clear, we need to make an exception for the first one.

A Bottomless Pinocchio for Biden — and other recent gaffes (archived)

State Dept. gives law enforcement, intelligence agencies unrestricted access to Americans’ personal data

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The State Department is giving law enforcement and intelligence agencies unrestricted access to the personal data of more than 145 million Americans, through information from passport applications that is shared without legal process or any apparent oversight, according to a letter sent from Sen. Ron Wyden to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and obtained by Yahoo News.

State Dept. gives law enforcement, intelligence agencies unrestricted access to Americans’ personal data

Is the U.S. and NATO Running Another Operation Gladio in Europe?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Part Two of a Three-Part CAM Series on Mercenaries and Clandestine Operations in Ukraine

[In Part Two of this three-part series on foreign mercenary fighters in Ukraine, (see Part 1) the nexus between mercenaries with experience in Syria, Ukraine and U.S.-EU-NATO armed forces becomes more apparent. This second part of the investigation looks at Shaun Pinner, Alexander Tobiassen, John Harding, Sjoerd Heeger, Craig Lang and Ben Fischer.—Editors]

Is the U.S. and NATO Running Another Operation Gladio in Europe?

Archived (WordPress is now private): American YPG Fighter Complains About Group’s Lack of Medical Care

TRUTH COPS: Leaked Documents Outline DHS’s Plans to Police Disinformation

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY is quietly broadening its efforts to curb speech it considers dangerous, an investigation by The Intercept has found. Years of internal DHS memos, emails, and documents — obtained via leaks, Freedom of Information Act requests, and an ongoing lawsuit, as well as public reports — illustrate an expansive effort by the agency to influence tech platforms.

TRUTH COPS: Leaked Documents Outline DHS’s Plans to Police Disinformation

Related:

Disrupt The Cognitive Infrastructure

H/T: Unorthodox Truth

Voices: J. D. Vance wouldn’t know what to say to a real Appalachian like me. Ohio deserves better

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

I sometimes joke that J.D. Vance is my evil twin. Born a year and a half before me, Vance and I are both the grandchildren of Appalachian out-migrants. He is the first in his family to obtain a university degree, and so am I. He grew up about 30 miles from where I grew up in the decaying Rust Belt cities between Dayton and Cincinnati. Jackson, from where his grandmother hailed and from whence J.D. claims his Appalachian identity, is 45 miles from my grandmother’s home town — and where I spent much of my childhood and graduated high school — in Hyden.

Voices: J. D. Vance wouldn’t know what to say to a real Appalachian like me. Ohio deserves better

Related:

J.D. Vance’s First Attempt to Renew Ohio Crumbled Quickly

Video via More Perfect Union