This is the report that shows government information requests for personal user data and also shows which governments are shutting internet access down. Here is a breakdown on the U.S. of A. this quarter:
These 5950 requests are from United States law enforcement organizations. We know that google caved in to the chinese a couple of years ago, they may have shown a little backbone in refusing to comply with 7% of American requests, if so good for them. It may just be double, double, top secret stuff that they can't talk about. But the report speaks for itself. They are watching you.
From Google:
- We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove YouTube videos of police brutality, which we did not remove. Separately, we received requests from a different local law enforcement agency for removal of videos allegedly defaming law enforcement officials. We did not comply with those requests, which we have categorized in this Report as defamation requests.
- The number of content removal requests we received increased by 70% compared to the previous reporting period.
- The number of user data requests we received increased by 29% compared to the previous reporting period.
The police have not been really happy with people lately since they are posting so many alleged acts of police brutality online. YouTube is chock full of them and it is a little hard to sweep them all under the rug.
The United States is by far the most draconian player in this Orwellian data grab and censorship, the other industrialized countries fall far behind, even China. U.S. authorities made 113 requests for video content to be removed, with one request under the note of “showing government criticism”. Who would dare criticize their country and isn't there some sort of law against it?
The US demanded private information about more than 11,000 Google users between January and June this year, almost equal to the number of requests made by 25 other developed countries, including the UK and Russia.
Governments around the world requested private data on about 25,440 people in the first half of this year, with 11,057 of those people in the United States.
The government wants to know what you are viewing, who you are talking to and what you are searching for and most of the time, the internet providers are more than willing to dish out the information, all provided without any thing so pesky as a warrant or a court order.
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I read something someone wrote yesterday that I thought was spot on. We used to be worried about the government implanting some sort of chip or matrix like bug. We have made it much easier for them, all they really need is that smartphone that you are lugging around. They can get anything they want about you including your current gps location.
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Wired has an interesting article on its threat level page today. The Patriot Act turns ten today. Remember the act that was created to catch terrorist bad guys? Guess what, terrorist requests make up about 1% of its real function. What is it really being used for? That old war on drugs from the looks of things.
It was a perfect setup and many raised their voices but they could not be heard in the frightened din of 9/11 that made the power grab so successful. What a great recipe for a police state, create a never ending war on terror, suspend the rights to privacy and the need for warrants and probable cause, shitcan that unreasonable search and seizure stuff and the american citizens will certainly be too stupid to notice. And bingo, it worked like chalk.
Here are three provisions of the act that are getting extended.
The “roving wiretap” provision allows the FBI to obtain wiretaps from a secret intelligence court, known as the FISA court (under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), without identifying the target or what method of communication is to be tapped.
The “lone wolf” measure allows FISA court warrants for the electronic monitoring of a person for any reason — even without showing that the suspect is an agent of a foreign power or a terrorist. The government has said it has never invoked that provision, but the Obama administration said it wanted to retain the authority to do so.
The “business records” provision allows FISA court warrants for any type of record, from banking to library to medical, without the government having to declare that the information sought is connected to a terrorism or espionage investigation.
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Of course the President was, as a vaunted constitutional scholar, quite concerned with this Patriot Act business while on the campaign trail. From The War we need to win. "As president, Barack Obama would revisit the PATRIOT Act to ensure that there is real and robust oversight of tools like National Security Letters, sneak-and-peek searches, and the use of the material witness provision."
Another thing he has evidently forgotten about.
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The Obama Administration is seeking permission to lie to the courts regarding FOIA requests.
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Read Nicholas Merrill's chillingWaPo opinion piece on his own ten year battle with government censorship and gag orders.
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Hey you run a clean ship and you keep your nose clean. What do you care if the government is snooping over your shoulder?
Why Topsy beats Google on real time information gathering.
Here are three provisions of the act that are getting extended.
The “roving wiretap” provision allows the FBI to obtain wiretaps from a secret intelligence court, known as the FISA court (under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), without identifying the target or what method of communication is to be tapped.
The “lone wolf” measure allows FISA court warrants for the electronic monitoring of a person for any reason — even without showing that the suspect is an agent of a foreign power or a terrorist. The government has said it has never invoked that provision, but the Obama administration said it wanted to retain the authority to do so.
The “business records” provision allows FISA court warrants for any type of record, from banking to library to medical, without the government having to declare that the information sought is connected to a terrorism or espionage investigation.
*
Of course the President was, as a vaunted constitutional scholar, quite concerned with this Patriot Act business while on the campaign trail. From The War we need to win. "As president, Barack Obama would revisit the PATRIOT Act to ensure that there is real and robust oversight of tools like National Security Letters, sneak-and-peek searches, and the use of the material witness provision."
Another thing he has evidently forgotten about.
*
The Obama Administration is seeking permission to lie to the courts regarding FOIA requests.
*
Read Nicholas Merrill's chillingWaPo opinion piece on his own ten year battle with government censorship and gag orders.
*
Hey you run a clean ship and you keep your nose clean. What do you care if the government is snooping over your shoulder?
Why Topsy beats Google on real time information gathering.
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