Tag: federal agencies

A Potentially Huge Supreme Court Case Has a Hidden Conservative Backer

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The case, to be argued by lawyers linked to the petrochemicals billionaire Charles Koch, could sharply curtail the government’s regulatory authority.

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The Cause of Action Institute has disclosed little of its funding*: A year before it was created, the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling had enabled billions of dollars in spending by groups that don’t disclose their donors.

A Potentially Huge Supreme Court Case Has a Hidden Conservative Backer

Guess the author doesn’t know how to ‘Google’! 🙄

Related:

*Cause of Action @ SourceWatch (includes tax filings)

Funding

Cause of Action Institute is not required to disclose its funders but major foundation supporters can be found through their IRS filings. Here are some known contributors:

Atlas Network (PDF updated 11-30-23:

AtlasNetworkRoughDraft.pdfDownload

DOJ eyeing Americans ‘like ATMs,’ spending over $6 billion to aid civil asset forfeitures, watchdog says

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Department of Justice is shelling out more than $6 billion to private companies to manage its asset forfeiture investigations, raising alarm from one nonprofit law firm that accuses police of “treating ordinary Americans like ATMs” and seizing their cash.

DOJ eyeing Americans ‘like ATMs,’ spending over $6 billion to aid civil asset forfeitures, watchdog says

H/T: Steve Lehto

US And EU Nations Request The Most User Data From Tech Companies, Obtain It More Than Two-Thirds Of The Time

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

from the may-as-well-just-be-government-contractors dept

Most tech companies handling data requests from governments now publish transparency reports. As everything moves towards always-online status (including, you know, your fridge), social media platforms and other online services have become the favored targets of government data requests. It just makes sense to look there first rather than out there in the real world, where people (and their communications) are that much more difficult to locate.

US And EU Nations Request The Most User Data From Tech Companies, Obtain It More Than Two-Thirds Of The Time

More Mass Surveillance: FOIA Docs Reveal Illegal Snooping On US Residents’ Financial Transactions

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

If it can conceivably be considered a “third party record,” the government is going to seek warrantless access to it. The Third Party Doctrine — ushered into existence by the Supreme Court in 1979 — says there’s no expectation of privacy in information shared with third parties. That case dealt with phone records. People may prefer the government stay out of their personal conversations, but the Smith v. Maryland ruling said that if people shared this info with phone companies (an involuntary “sharing” since this information was needed to connect calls and bill phone users), the government could obtain this information without a warrant.

More Mass Surveillance: FOIA Docs Reveal Illegal Snooping On US Residents’ Financial Transactions