Could This Happen Here?

If you don’t think privacy matters all that much, the unfolding British eavesdropping saga should make you think again. 

Thursday technology link round-up

• The recording and movie industries scored a major victory today. In agreements with major telecoms, they've made plans to disrupt the internet service of people who are suspected of sharing or downloading copyrighted material. Wired reports:

 

Suffragettes under surveillance!

The BBC reports that Scotland Yard's first camera was used to spy on the 'terrorists' of 1912: women fighting for their right to vote. (via BoingBoing)

“Secure Communities” a Gateway Drug to the FBI’s NGI?

DHS documents published by the "Uncover the Truth" coalition reveal that the FBI is using biometric data gleaned through the immigration program "Secure Communities" to beef-up its new mega-database of biometric information, the "Next Generation Identification" system. Read more and see the documents.

Paul Robeson: Enemy of the State?

According to J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, yes! Wales Online reports on a BBC 2 documentary that will be aired today in the UK describing how Robeson was the target of a cross-continental FBI and M15 investigation. Robeson apparently had the largest FBI file of any entertainer ever.

Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard selling surveillance equipment to China

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Chinese government has selected Cisco Systems Inc. to help it implement a vast surveillance regime in the Chongqing region. The project will involve up to 500,000 surveillance cameras.

2010 Wiretap report obscures vast surveillance regime

The 2010 US government wiretap report has been released, showing an increase of 34% from 2009 with 84% of wiretap cases involving drugs. But as many security experts have observed, the numbers in the official wiretap report are necessarily vastly understated.

DHS cameras: Cook County pulls the plug

Cook County, Illinois has spent about $45 million dollars in DHS funds to set up a vast surveillance camera network. But the project has been a miserable failure, and so the county is pulling the plug. I wonder what that $45 million could have been used for instead.

Obama admin closes final door on Bush-era torture prosecutions

Salon's Glenn Greenwald reports that the Obama administration has finished its investigation of lower-level CIA agents involved in the torture of prisoners, and has found all but two of the 101 cases brought before the DOJ aren't worthy of further investigation. The two cases Holder will investigate involve the brutal deaths of prisoners. 

Thursday technology link round-up

• New Haven, CT received a bunch of money to buy surveillance cameras from DHS two years ago. The town is about to install 21 cameras.
• The WSJ interviews a "senior cybersecurity" officer at DHS about what companies can do to protect their cyber assets.