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
Tag: National Security Agency
Report: The CIA Is Directing Sabotage Attacks Inside Russia
The CIA has been using a European NATO country’s intelligence services to conduct sabotage attacks inside Russia since the February invasion of Ukraine, investigative journalist Jack Murphy reported on Saturday, citing unnamed former US intelligence and military officials.
Report: The CIA Is Directing Sabotage Attacks Inside Russia
Related:
The CIA is using a European NATO ally’s spy service to conduct a covert sabotage campaign inside Russia under the agency’s direction, according to former U.S. intelligence and military officials.
‘CIA behind spate of explosions in Russia’: US veteran claims CIA and NATO ally behind sabotage
The FBI Paid Twitter $3.4 Million for Processing Requests
The FBI Paid Twitter $3.4 Million for Processing Requests
There’s been ample insinuation that these agencies were politically motivated. But all of this was happening at a time when President Donald Trump was in power and his people were running DHS and the FBI. Rather than agencies intent on swaying the 2020 election for Biden, their actions seem like run-of-the-mill paranoia and attempts at control.
This brings us back to the money the FBI gave Twitter for “time spent processing requests.” In the last installment of the Twitter Files, Matt Taibbi reported on some of those requests, many of which were related to potential election misinformation. Twitter looked into the flagged tweets and accounts, sometimes complying with the FBI and sometimes not.
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Twitter’s “Guidelines for law enforcement” does state under a section titled “Cost reimbursement” that “Twitter may seek reimbursement for costs associated with information produced pursuant to legal process and as permitted by law (e.g., under 18 U.S.C. §2706).” But the fact that this garnered millions from the FBI was not, as far as I can tell, known until now.
Related:
No, The FBI Is NOT ‘Paying Twitter To Censor’
But this is a misreading/misunderstanding of how things work. This had nothing to do with any “influence campaign.” The law already says that if the FBI is legally requesting information for an investigation under a number of different legal authorities, the companies receiving those requests can be reimbursed for fulfilling them.
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I do think it remains a scandal the way that 2703(d) orders work, and the inability of users to push back on them. But that is the law. And it has literally nothing whatsoever to do with “censorship” requests. It is entirely about investigations by the FBI into Twitter users based on evidence of a crime. If you want, you can read the DOJ’s own guidelines regarding what they can request under 2703(d).
Under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, law enforcement must obtain a court order under 18 U.S.C. §2703(d) (2703(d) order) to compel a provider to disclose more detailed records about a customer’s or subscriber’s use of services, such as the following
The DEA Is Using Israeli Spyware
The market for commercial spyware — which allows governments to invade mobile phones and vacuum up data — is booming. Even the U.S. government is using it.
How the Global Spyware Industry Spiraled Out of Control
Leaked files: private spying firm targets global population with illegal spyware
A Washington DC-area Anomaly 6 firm is marketing illegal spy tech that can scrape an individual’s most sensitive personal data by tracking their smartphone. The British Ministry of Defence and GCHQ are potential buyers.
Leaked files: private spying firm targets global population with illegal spyware
The FBI and Zero-Click
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
Liz Truss’s message to the USA seconds after the Nord Stream attack: ‘It’s done’.
The former prime minister’s leaked iPhone messages convince Russia that British forces blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
Liz Truss’s message to the USA seconds after the Nord Stream attack: ‘It’s done’.
Video via Proletarian TV
Defying Pentagon Secrecy, Reporting Exposes Retired US Generals on Saudi Payroll
“The government fought us for two years to keep these records a secret,” said one Washington Post journalist. “We sued, and won.”
Defying Pentagon Secrecy, Reporting Exposes Retired US Generals on Saudi Payroll
WaPo article:
Retired US generals, admirals take top jobs with Saudi crown prince, other foreign governments (archived)
Hackers took down U.S. airport web sites, Department of Homeland Security confirms
Unknown hackers attacked and temporarily shut down the public-facing websites of at least several major US airports on Monday, a Department of Homeland Security official confirmed to.
Hackers took down U.S. airport web sites, Department of Homeland Security confirms
Related:
The economic crisis in Germany is the result of a deliberate provocation by the USA.
Berlin, Germany (World Express). War in Ukraine began on February 24. Since then, the sanctions imposed by EU countries against Russia have started to have a negative impact on European economies. The sanctions boomerang came as a surprise to the federal government, most politicians in the traffic light coalition and ordinary voters. However, as it recently turned out, these consequences of the anti-Russian sanctions were unexpected only for the Germans. The USA had calculated all the consequences in advance and, moreover, consciously decided to weaken the German economy.
The economic crisis in Germany is the result of a deliberate provocation by the USA. The Americans collapsed the German economy to destroy a competitor. (original)
WHCS = White House Chief of Staff, Ron Klain. ANSA = Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, Jake Sullivan. CIA = Central Intelligence Agency. NSA = National Security Agency. DNC = Democratic National Committee/Democratic Party.
H/T: iEarlGrey
They’re counting on the collapse of the German economy to rescue the US economy—all to save the Democrats from losing in the midterm elections?! Interesting, if this document is authentic, considering that it was supposedly written in January. Germans are already protesting, demanding that the current government resign!
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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