Crapaganda.com

Civil liberties group the Electronic Frontier Foundation says it has unearthed upwards of 40,000 intelligence violations relating to investigations carried out by the FBI.

In a report released today the EFF says that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has “compromised the civil liberties of American citizens far more frequently, and to a greater extent, than was previously assumed.”

The revelations in the report were unearthed in documents obtained by the EFF using Freedom of Information Act Litigation and show that the Intelligence Oversight Board, which is supposed to protect the public from FBI abuses, takes on average two-and-a-half years to report violations.

The documents have also revealed cases of serious misconduct by Federal agents including perjury, using dodgy evidence to obtain grand jury subpoenas and illegally accessing password-protected files without a warrant.

In all, the documents expose as many as 40,000 possible violations between 2001 and 2008.

The report (PDF) is based on close to 2,500 FBI documents sent to the Intelligence Oversight Board, a supposedly independent civilian organisation which is charged with reporting abuses of intelligence powers directly to the President.

The EFF says the report underscores the need for “greater transparency and oversight in the intelligence community” and that it will be sending
Source: thinq.co.uk

An unexpected and unwanted text message from a wireless company prematurely exploded a would-be suicide bomber’s vest bomb in Russia New Year’s Eve, inadvertently thwarting a planned attack on revelers in Moscow, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The would-be suicide bomber was planning to detonate a suicide belt bomb near Red Square, a plan that was foiled when her wireless carrier sent her an SMS while she was still at a safe house, setting off the bomb and killing her. The message reportedly wished her a Happy New Years, according to the report, which sourced the info from security forces in Russia. Cell phones are often used as makeshift detonators by terrorist and insurgent groups.

If true, the SMS might be the only time that a wireless carrier’s SMS message has ever been useful.

The authorities suspect the female bomber was part of the same Jihadist group that is suspected of hitting Moscow’s airport on Monday with a suicide bomb attack that killed 35.

Via The Telegraph

AUSTRALIAN medical students are carrying out intrusive procedures on unconscious and anaesthetised patients without gaining the patient’s consent.

The unauthorised examinations include genital, rectal and breast exams, and raise serious questions about the ethics of up-and-coming doctors, Madison reports.

The research, soon to be published in international medical journal, Medical Education, describes – among others – a student with “no qualms” about performing an anal examination on a female patient because she didn’t think the woman’s consent was relevant.

Another case outlined in the research describes a man who was subjected to rectal examinations from a “queue” of medical students after he was anaesthetised for surgery.

“I was in theatre, the patient was under a spinal (anaesthetic) as well and there was a screen up and they just had a queue of medical students doing a rectal examination,” a student confessed.

“[H]e wasn’t consented but because … you’re in that situation, you don’t have the confidence to say ‘no’ you just do it.”

The author of the study, Professor Charlotte Rees, voiced concerns about senior medical staff ordering students to perform unauthorised procedures, leaving the students torn between the strong ethics of consent in society and the weak ethics of medical staff.

Of students who were put in this position during the research, 82 per cent obeyed orders.

“We think that it is weakness in the ethical climate of the clinical workplace that ultimately serves to legitimise and reinforce unethical practices in the context of students learning intimate examinations,” writes Prof Rees.

The study consists of 200 students across three unnamed medical schools in Britain and Australia. Not all participants agreed to carry out the intimate examinations without permission from the patient.

One student refused to take part in an examination of a woman who was “part spread-eagled on the bed and the nurse is (sic) pulling down her jeans at the same time and it was all very complicated and you could see her, she was about seventeen”.

Carol Bennett, the CEO of the Consumer Health Forum, said the report was a “poor reflection on these medical schools that they are setting these examples”.

“Most people would not be pleased about having medical procedures performed on them without it even being mentioned to them,” she told news.com.au.

“Patients should never be examined without consent, particularly by a third party.”

Comment is being sought from the Australian Medical Association.

Source: News.com.au

For all those conspiracy theorists out there, 2012 just got a little more ominous. As required by legislation passed this last summer, Russia will adopt a universal ID card starting next year. The Universal Electronic Card(UEC) is intended to eventually replace all local, regional, and national forms of ID, providing a central database through which Russians can access everything from medical insurance to ATMs. According to the official website, the UEC will be adopted by around 1000 national and regional services along with about 10,000 commercial enterprises. The mayor of Moscow has already declared it will be able to handle public transportation there, and we can expect similar adoptions throughout the nation. Will all Russians be carrying a single form of ID that is their only passport to all public and private services? Looks like it. A similar project has started in India, and there are experiments for related concepts in Mexico. Universal ID is starting to catch on around the globe. Where will it spread to next?

Ostensibly, the UEC is designed to push the Russian ID system into the 21st century. Not only is the card to provide a way for citizens to easily make electronic purchases (in person and online) it is supposed to cut down on fraud. While it doesn’t seem to include any biometrics, the card has other security measures. All information (whether for public or commercial use) will be stored in a database, not on the card. The UEC will have a number, a ‘passcode’, that points the user to the appropriate record in the database. It’s unclear what kind of readers (RF, magnetic strip, etc) will be able to access the UEC, but the site says that at least one (perhaps the only one ) will be contactless. For financial transactions users will be able to set predefined limits so that the card can only withdraw a restricted amount of funds over a period of time. Each use of the UEC will require the entry of a personal identification number, and get this, everyone will be granted a fake PIN as well! If someone is coercing you into using your UEC, then enter the fake PIN. Authorities will be notified surreptitiously while the transaction appears to be continuing regularly. I’m sure we can think of a dozen ways to get around that, but still, pretty cloak and dagger there, Russia.

Starting in 2012, Russians will be able to carry the UEC and start connecting it to their bank accounts, credit cards, bus passes, etc. Due to the legal mandate most of the businesses and all of the local/regional/national services will be required to accept it. Convenient, yes. Potentially disastrous? Maybe so, but Russia’s not going to be alone in this. India is adopting a universal ID for national identity, and is going to encourage public institutions and commercial enterprises to accept it. That UID, however, will contain some pretty thorough biometrics. Programs in Mexico (powered by a company in the US) will experiment with iris-based identification for public and commercial purposes, albeit on a smaller scale. Universal ID, especially those with advanced security features, seem to be a rising trend on the global stage.

There are some real benefits here. Convenience, certainly. Many Russians simply don’t have a way to make a secure purchase online, and their public system is a warren of overlapping ID cards that require an equally tangled bureaucracy. Properly set up, a UID tied into bank accounts could help you keep track of purchases and manage finances with greater accuracy. Security could also improve, but I think that any such system (even those that employ biometrics) are at best a short step ahead of criminal ingenuity.

I don’t think you have to be a conspiracy nut to notice the dangers either. With a single ID, agencies will be able to track personal activity more precisely. That could mean catching terrorists through financial detective work, but it could also mean a large scale invasion of privacy. Not sure if this is just old Cold War prejudice talking here, but I think Russia’s reputation makes that possibility seem likely.

In any case, whether or not Russia’s UEC proves to be a boon or bane to its citizens, it is certainly coming. And soon. The more often we see universal ID adoption, the more I believe that some form of that technology is going to spread to every industrialized nation around the world. Government or private issue, service or commercial orientated, biometrically enhanced or not – UID is on the rise. Whatever problems or advantages that may cause, we best prepare for them now.

Source: Singularity Hub

Egyptian activists have been circulating a kind of primer to Friday’s planned protest. We were sent the plan by two separate sources and have decided to publish excerpts here, with translations into English. Over Twitter, we connected with a translator, who translated the document with exceptional speed.

What follows are side-by-side translations of nine pages from the 26-page pamphlet. They were translated over the last hour and pasted up in Photoshop to give you an idea of what’s in the protest plan. While the plan itself contains specifics about what protesters might do, these excerpts show how one might equip oneself for clashes with riot police.

Source: The Atlantic

OpenLeaks is a project that aims at making whistleblowing safer and more widespread. This will be done by providing dedicated and generally free services to whistleblowers and organizations interested in transparency. We will also create a Knowledge Base aiming to provide a comprehensive reference to all areas surrounding whistleblowing.

Instead of publishing the documents, OpenLeaks will send the leaked documents to various news entities.

At the time of its announcement, WikiLeaks was facing a number of threats: founder Julian Assange had been arrested in connection with sexual assault charges; the site had issues finding safe DNS and web hosting; and many companies had blocked payment to the site. According to Domscheit-Berg’s initial statements, he expected OpenLeaks to bypass WikiLeaks problems by serving only as a safe conduit for whistleblowers to leak information, which would then be passed on to the press, instead of acting as a publisher itself. The organization also intends to be democratically governed, rather than being run by one person or a small group. ”Our long term goal is to build a strong, transparent platform to support whistleblowers—both in terms of technology and politics—while at the same time encouraging others to start similar projects,” says a colleague wishing to remain anonymous.

OpenLeaks 101 from openleaks on Vimeo.

A Texas man was cleared of rape charges Thursday after serving more than 24 years in jail, court officials said.

Larry Sims, 60, was convicted of rape in October 1986. But DNA evidence — which remained untested until recently — undermined the testimony of his accuser.

“We’ve officially put on the record that DNA has cleared him,” said LaMonica Littles, court coordinator for district Judge Gracie Lewis, who oversaw the case.

“Now we have to get clearance from the state penitentiary for them to say this was the only case they were holding him on and we can get him released from jail.”

The Dallas Morning News reported that Sims wrote the court in 2009 asking about DNA testing of the evidence while out of jail briefly on parole. He was sent back to prison for not meeting a curfew and problems with his leg monitor.

Public defender Michelle Moore told the paper that she would shortly file for an official exoneration, which could open the door to financial compensation.

Some 265 people in the United States who have been exonerated since 1989 as a result of the development of DNA testing of key evidence, according to the Innocence Project.

Source: Raw Story

A crop circle that appeared a few days ago in rural Indonesia has tens of thousands of people flocking to the site for a glimpse of the mystery.

Many strained to see or photograph the nearly 100-foot diameter pattern featuring circles and triangles. Some people fainted or prayed, considering it a sign from above. The country’s National Atomic Energy Agency was even called in to inspect the site, and declared it harmless and free of radiation, much to the relief of those selling souvenirs to the gathering crowds.

So what made the strange pattern?

Some believe that mysterious energy lines or supernatural vortices are to blame; still others attribute them to freak wind patterns.

Mr. Pringle Solves Crop Circle Mystery

One popular theory is that they are created by extraterrestrials who are trying to give us signs, warnings, or other information. The extraterrestrial explanation is of course very popular, as Lee Speigel of AOL News noted: “One resident, Cahyo Utomo, speculated that the odd piece of rice field artwork wasn’t man-made. ‘The circles were there since yesterday morning. I think they were left by an alien spaceship,’ he said.”

If this explanation is true, it seems very strange that aliens would go to the trouble of traveling across the universe to our pale blue dot just to press down some plants in various shapes and then leave. Surely if an alien civilization is advanced enough to master space travel, it can devise more effective ways of communicating with us.

There’s only one known source for crop circles: humans. (In fact, I have personally investigated and made several crop circles, as I discuss in my 2010 book “Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries.”) Many people believe that crop circles have been reported for centuries, mistakenly citing a folktale from 1678 in which an English farmer told a worker with whom he was feuding that he “would rather pay the Devil himself” to cut his oat field.

What are the Chances of “Anything Coming From Mars”?

In fact, crop circles only date back about 30 years. The mysterious patterns first appeared in the British countryside, and their origin remained a mystery until September 1991, when two men, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, confessed that they had created the patterns for decades as a prank. They never claimed to have made all the circles — many were copycat pranks done by others — but their hoax was responsible for launching the crop circle phenomena.

Clearly, something made the patterns. Whether aliens or hoaxers, they are probably enjoying the publicity, and the souvenir vendors are delighted.

Source: Discovery.com

Colorado State University has received and $8 million grant from the Department of Defense. They’ll use the money in hopes of growing plants to detect explosives in shopping malls or airports.

Researchers at CSU say they’re finding that plants are at least as good, maybe better, than dogs at sniffing out things like explosives and dangerous chemical weapons. Landscaping plants, for example, can look really nice, but also be programmed to change color when there’s danger in the air.

“If this plant would sense an explosive or an environmental pollutant, it would turn white,” CSU biology professor Dr. June Medford said. “It’s a little slow (right now).”

Medford says right now the plants take a couple hours to begin turning white, but she says with more research any kind of plant could be altered to change color in minutes or possibly seconds.

“You can do it for a lot of other plant species, but it’s not quite as simple as this,” CSU researcher Pete Bowerman said.

Researchers dunk the plants in custom-made bacteria that changes the plant genetically to make it sensitive to anything from TNT to radon.

“They can detect multiple substances and they can turn different colors,” Medford said.

Security at places like airports could well have an entirely different look if plants are doing the screening.

“Instead of that nasty line at DIA that can wind on forever and ever and ever, you would go through a beautiful garden area. Now in my garden area we would have a variety of plants that would detect a variety of those nasty things that a terrorist might take in,” Medford said.

Medford says cameras could detect the color changes automatically to alert security.

“We can then take the 10 people that happened to go by those plants at that time and those 10 people will be patted down, not the hundreds and thousands and everybody that has to have it done right now,” Medford said.

The next step in the research is to get the plants out of the controlled environment of the lab and perfect them so they don’t give false alarms when someone pours out their cup of coffee or walks by with the wrong perfume, for example.

Source: CBS

Citizens recording their public interactions with police sure seems like the kind of thing that would prevent corruption, harassment and bad behavior by cops. Just don’t do it in Illinois, where it’s punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Sixty-year-old Chicago artist Christopher Drew is currently facing an eavesdropping charge because he recorded his arrest for “selling art without a permit.” Eavesdropping—that is, recording conversations, either public or private, without universal consent—is a felony in Illinois, and Drew could face 15 years in prison.

So could Tiawanda Moore, a 20-year-old former stripper who recorded a conversation she had with two Internal Affairs officers about a third police officer whom she was accusing of harassment:

Ms. Moore said the investigators tried to talk her out of filing a complaint, saying the officer had a good record and that they could “guarantee” that he would not bother her again.

“They keep giving her the run-around, basically trying to discourage her from making a report,” [her lawyer Robert] Johnson said. “Finally, she decides to record them on her cellphone to show how they’re not helping her.”

The investigators discovered that she was recording them and she was arrested and charged with two counts of eavesdropping.

Police officers, meanwhile, are allowed to record civilians “in private or public.”

The ACLU filed a lawsuit over the eavesdropping law in the wake of “several” arrests of people who attempted to record conversations with police officers. It was dismissed by a federal judge earlier this month, but they plan to appeal.

The Fraternal Order of Police, meanwhile, fully supports this application of the eavesdropping law. Its president, Mark Donahue, told the Chicago News Cooperative that being recorded “can affect how an officer does his job on the street.” No duh, Mark.

Source: Gawker.com