These are the 2013 stories that rose to the top from this humble blog, thanks to your interest and support. They appear in chronological order, starting in January 2013 and running through December. Happy New Year!

1. Spooky Surveillance Tech: The DOJ is funding research and development for face recognition-enabled binocluars. (Oh and DARPA is working on contact lenses, of course.)

 

2. Watch what happens when ubiquitous video surveillance is turned on the police. Spoiler alert: You see cops doing bad things.

^{_{Please note that by playing this clip YouTube and Google will place a long term cookie on your computer.}}

 

3. President Obama put on a secret "Alice in Wonderland" themed Halloween party in 2009. Down the rabbit hole we go…

 

4. A history lesson: The FBI, COINTELPRO, and the most important robbery you've never heard of.

 

5. Private spy companies shop their wares to government agencies, and if you're a Twitter radical, you're likely in their sights. On social media spying, anarchists, and May Day.

 

6. Some people say, "If you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to fear" from mass surveillance. If you hear someone repeat that dangerous myth, show them this.

Photo credit: Essam Sharaf

 

7. Who are the watchers? A government report found that at least 5,000 of them are alleged child pornographers. Feel safer yet?

 

8. UK authorities began a harassment campaign directed against Glenn Greenwald's partner David Miranda, and then the press accused the journalist of seeking revenge. But who is really enacting vengeance here?

 

9. NSA calls the iPhone using public 'zombies' who pay for their own surveillance. Nice.

 

10. Is Facebook going to let cops block you from posting information about protests? (Maybe.)

 

11. Whistleblower Dan Ellsberg reportedly robbed of two suitcases near EFF offices in San Francisco.

 

12. NSA malware turns your iPhone into a spy device, obliterating your privacy. (Don't forget: Put a piece of tape over that camera! Someone might be watching.)