MetaFilter posts tagged with surveillance

Decision on FISA delayed

joannemerriam — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:01:46 -0800

Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) delayed. Senator Dodd says, "This bill does not say, 'Trust the American people; Trust the courts and judges and juries to come to just decisions.' Retroactive immunity sends a message that is crystal clear: 'Trust me.'" Obama talks about why he supports the bill. Senate may vote after the Fourth of July recess. (previously)

Kiki and Bubu

homunculus — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 00:00:26 -0800

Kiki and Bubu! Austrian art collective monochrom presents the adventures of two sock puppets. Part One: Kiki and Bubu and The Shift. "Bubu wants to know why his dad is busy all the time. And Kiki explains him why... because of the neoliberal shift." Part Two: Kiki and Bubu and The Privilege. "Bubu ran into a bunch of liberals and they gave him a book. They said if he doesn't read it, they're going to beat him up. But Bubu can't read! And so Kiki helps..." [Via BB]

Cyber Command Über Alles

homunculus — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:55:24 -0800

Attention Geeks and Hackers: Uncle Sam's Cyber Force Wants You! Welcome to Cyberwar Country, USA

Main Core

homunculus — Tue, 20 May 2008 12:25:17 -0800

The Last Roundup. "Is the government compiling a secret list of citizens to detain under martial law?" [Via]

"It took 1.1 milliseconds!" Yao exclaims. "Yeah, that's me!"

The Card Cheat — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:18:04 -0800

China's All-Seeing Eye. Naomi Klein's piece in the May 29th edition of Rolling Stone details how China is building the prototype for a high-tech police state with the help of U.S. defense contractors. And it's a growth market!

We're all blue from projection tubes

whir — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:53:47 -0800

UK band The Get Out Clause made their newest video by performing in front of 80 of London's approximately 13 million CCTV cameras, and then requesting the footage via the Data Protection Act. The footage was then edited together into this music video. This technique was apparently prefigured by Irish band The Frames, who used a single camera in a post office to make a £2 video. via.

Woeser

homunculus — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:05:29 -0800

A Lone Tibetan Voice, Intent on Speaking Out. Woeser (previously mentioned here) is a Tibetan writer and poet living under house arrest in Beijing, from where she blogs about the recent unrest in Tibet (there are English translations of her posts at China Digital Times). Last year she was awarded the Norwegian Authors Union Freedom of Expression Prize, but she was not allowed to travel to Oslo to collect the prize.

Shred the banana peel

homunculus — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 09:35:25 -0800

State Secrets: A government misstep in a wiretapping case. A New Yorker article on the Kafkaesque case of Al Haramain v. Bush. [Via Threat Level.] Note that Threat Level disagrees with the New Yorker piece about the future of the case.

Mental Privacy

homunculus — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 10:15:07 -0800

The Government Is Trying to Wrap Its Mind Around Yours. Why the Next Civil Rights Battle Will Be Over the Mind.

Remember Total Information Awareness?

[expletive deleted] — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:35:14 -0800

Two years ago, then NSA-chief Gen. Michael Hayden said its domestic surveillance program was "not a driftnet over Lackawanna or Fremont or Dearborn, grabbing all communications and then sifting them out." Today, a story in the Wall Street Journal alleges this is precisely what is happening. Total Information Awareness seems to not have died, but to have just been quietly absorbed into the NSA's already extensive surveillance apparatus, all without the hassle of any kind of transparency or oversight.