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Digital rights advocates asked the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday to review the case of an American convicted with evidence gathered under FISA Section 702 warrantless National Security Agency surveillance authority meant to spy on foreign nationals.

Privacy and digital rights groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a petition Thursday with the nations highest court seeking review of the case ofMohammed Mohamud, an American citizen who was charged in 2012 with planning to car-bomb a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, Oregon. Information used to prosecute Mohamud was gathered using Section 702 of the 2008 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act.

Section 702 authorizes NSA to tap the physical infrastructure of internet service providers, like fiber connections, to intercept foreign emails, instant messages, and other communications belonging to foreign nationals as they exit and enter the U.S. But according to NSA, the program also incidentally sweeps up the communications of Americans corresponding with, and until recently, merely even mentioning foreign targets.

NSA is legally barred from searching through Americans communications without a warrant, but that wasnt the case with Mohamud. His emails were intercepted specifically by a program dubbed PRISM, the existence of which was leaked to the press by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013. PRISMgives NSA access to communications transmitted over internet edge services like Google, Yahoo, or Facebook.

Mohamud learned after his conviction that his emails were gathered under Section 702 and sought to suppress the evidence, arguing its gathering violated his Fourth Amendment rights against search and seizure without a warrant. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit noted the governments conduct was quite aggressive at times but upheld the search, a move EFF, the Center for Democracy and Technology and New Americas Open Technology Institute call dangerous and unprecedented.

The ruling provides an end-run around the Fourth Amendment, converting sweeping warrantless surveillance directed at foreigners into a tool for spying on Americans, Mark Rumold, a staff attorney for EFF, said Thursday. Section 702 is unlike any surveillance law in our countrys history, it is unconstitutional, and the Supreme Court should take this case to put a stop to this surveillance.

The groups add weight to a Supreme Court petition filed by Mohamuds attorneys in July, and join a long list of battles from the courts to Congress over the legality of Section 702. Wikimedia and the ACLU are suing the government over the use of Section 702 in theFourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and Congress has held several hearings this year to debate the laws renewal ahead of its expiration at the end of December.

Section 702 is at the heart of a dispute between Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, the nations top spy chief. Wyden has pressed Coats and his predecessor to provide an estimate of the number of Americans incidentally swept up in Section 702 that both claim is impossible to produce. The senator has further suggested the authority could be used to warrantlessly target Americans directly.

Congresss concerns over Section 702 have become a point of rare bipartisanship for some. Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul has fought alongside Wyden to peel back the curtain on Section 702. South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham is grilling intelligence officials for information about what Section 702 gathers on lawmakers and other members of government, and if those intercepts can and are used to politically target government officials like former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

In testimony to Congress intelligence chiefs including NSA Director Mike Rogers have admitted Section 702 programs have a history of compliance issues, some highlighted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which approves more than 99 percent of the governments secret surveillance requests.

The typically intel-friendly court chastised the government for an institutional lack of candor on a very serious Fourth Amendment issue. One such opinion said NSA has engaged in significant overcollection . . . including the content of communications of non-target U.S. persons and persons in the U.S.

As a result, NSA in April suspended a Section 702 practice known as about collection when NSA sweeps up American emails and text messages exchanged with overseas users that simply mention search terms like an email address belonging to a target but isnt to or from a target.

The agency recently told Congress its working on a technical solution to reengage about collection.

All of the pushback comes as intelligence leaders pressure Congress not just to renew Section 702 but implement it permanently. Top Republicans and Democrats have endorsed the idea, including Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas and Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein of California.

In a recent interview, Snowden said using Section 702 to surveil Americans requires the agency to engage in little more than word games. Privacy advocates suspect the loophole created by Section 702 likelyamounts to millions or even hundreds of millions of warrantless interceptionsbelonging to Americans.

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Supreme Court Asked to Look at Warrantless NSA Spying Powers - InsideSources

Weve reported for months on the frightening Obama Administration unmasking scandal and other Obama deep state efforts to sabotage the new Administration and undermine the Constitution and what we are doing about it.

The momentum is starting to shift.

Recent reports show that President Obamas National Security Advisor Susan Rice is being implicated in the unmasking scandal and leaking disgrace which is being exposed for what it is. We sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the National Security Agency (NSA). They ignored it, so we took them to federal court our second federal lawsuit against the NSA in the past few months.

Reports just this month reveal that Samantha Power President Obamas Representative to the United Nations is believed to have requested hundreds of so-called unmaskings of United States persons.

You read that right, President Obamas U.N. Representative is believed to have made hundreds of unmasking requests.

According to the Washington Free Beacon:

Former United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power is believed to have made hundreds of unmasking requests to identify individuals named in classified intelligence community reports related to Trump and his presidential transition team, according to multiple sources who said the behavior is unprecedented for an official in her position. . . .

Efforts by the former Obama administration to obtain the names of Trump allies included in raw intelligence reports have fueled speculation that subsequent leaks to the press were orchestrated by the former administration and its allies in a bid to damage the current White House and smear Trumps most senior confidantes.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, in a recent letter to Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, expressed the Committees findings, and alarm, that senior government officials offered remarkably few individualized justifications for access to this U.S. person information.

He went on:

For example, this Committee has learned that one official, whose position had no apparent intelligence-related function, made hundreds of unmasking requests during the final year of the Obama Administration. Of those requests, only one offered a justification that was not boilerplate and articulated why that specific official required the U.S. person information for the performance of his or her official duties.

That person, the one whose position had no apparent intelligence-related function, is believed to be Obama U.N. Representative, Samantha Power.

This is outrageous and despicable.

Interestingly, her attorney denied that she committed any of the leaks, but did not deny that she was the one implicated in the Washington Free Beacon report and Chairman Nunes letter.

Sometimes whats not said is more important than what is.

In the midst of misinformation and doublespeak, the ACLJ is pressing forward to get to the bottom of this latest shocking and embarrassing story, and to keep the pressure on to hold this lawless behavior accountable.

Today we took our next big step.

We sent what is now our third FOIA request to the NSA, seeking:

records pertaining to any and all requests former United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power made to National Security Agency (NSA) officials or personnel regarding the unmasking of the names and/or any other personal identifying information of then candidate and/or President-elect Donald J. Trump, his family, staff, transition team members, and/or advisors who were incidentally caught up in U.S. electronic surveillance.

We laid out several specific requests to make sure we cover all possible angles. Heres one example:

All records, communications or briefings created, generated, forwarded, transmitted, sent, shared, saved, received, or reviewed by any NSA official or employee, where one communicant was former United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power, including any communications, queries or requests made under an alias or pseudonym, and another communicant was the Director of the National Security Agency, the Chief of the Central Security Service, SIGINT production organization personnel, the Signals Intelligence Director, Deputy Signals Intelligence Director, or the Chief/Deputy/Senior Operations Officers of the National Security Operations Center, or any other NSA official or employee, referencing, connected to, or regarding in any way communication, request, query, submission, direction, instruction, or order, whereby Samantha Power sought access to or attempted to access SIGINT reports or other intelligence products or reports containing the name(s) or any personal identifying information related to [various individuals connected to President Trump] whether incidentally collected or otherwise . . . .

In the mean time, Attorney General Sessions recently announced that his Department of Justice is stepping up the investigations into illegal leaking. This is something weve been calling for and we applaud his announcement.

The momentum continues to build, and the ACLJ will stay at the forefront of the battle to protect the Constitution, defend our national security, fight government corruption, and demand accountability. We must preserve the integrity of our nations intelligence and national security apparatus. If we fail, the consequences would be devastating. Join us. Sign our Petition today.

Link:
You read that right, President Obama's UN Representative is believed to have made hundreds of unmasking requests. - American Center for Law and...

Story and images by Aaron and Melissa Dykes

Hi everyone. This piece is a bit more personal. While driving through the South, we happened upon an odd AT&T building in downtown Birmingham, Alabama when we stopped for lunch. After seeing a creepy and very serious security/surveillance man waiting at the parking garage, watching us with some sort of long telephoto lens, it struck us that this was no ordinary building.

Just like the TitanPointe "long-lines building" in New York - an AT&T front where the NSA monitors huge volumes of communications that was exposed by The Intercept and a team of bloggers they worked with - this building in Birmingham, and similar ones in major cities anywhere and everywhere across the country, was not just there to reach out and touch someone.

No, you can get goosebumps just from being near it

Read the rest here:
Covert NSA Listening Stations in Every Major City? - Telepresence Options

College isn't cheap, and we're not just talking about tuition. Between the cost of books, living expenses, food, and going out, your budgets probably pretty tight. Good news, though: All you need is your school-provided .edu email address to take advantage of plenty of sweet student discounts. We hunted down the best deals for you to study (or party) on. Use all that extra cash to treat yourself to something nice, like beer.

Even if you're an old-fashioned pen and paper kind of student, you're going to need a laptop. Apples back to school deals offer up to $300 off most Macs and now the iPad Pro , and theyll throw in a pair of Beats headphones to keep the tunes playing between classes. If youd rather work on a Windows machine, Lenovo gives students 10 percent off and Dell offers students $150 off qualifying laptops.

Want a more traditional desktop setup in your dorm? Invest in a good keyboard. Das Keyboard gives students a 20 percent discount on their keyboards. Just make sure you dont keep your roommates up with your clicking and clacking.

Getting a degree takes a lot of work. Make it easier with a good set of productivity tools. Microsoft will give you a freetotally free!subscription to Office 365 if you have a .edu email address, so you can tackle the bulk of your work in Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and OneNote. Should your .edu address use Gmail, its probably through Google for Education , which entitles you to unlimited cloud storage for all your essays, projects, selfies, whatever.

If your studies involve 3-D modeling or animation, try the free three-year license to Autodesks software suite . That includes Maya, software for 3-D animation, and AutoCAD, software for 3-D modeling. Adobe gives students its Creative Cloud subscription, which includes Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere, and more for $20 per month. And if you're on the computer science track or just want to add coding to your list of skills, Githubs Student Developer Pack gives students a suite of text editors and web hosting credits to get you started on your coding journey.

No matter what you're studying, youll probably be writing a lot of papers. Endnote can alleviate some stress from your last-minute essay writing by helping you find scholarly articles and format your citations. Normally the software costs $250, but students can pick it up for $114. A good alternative is Papers $80 normally, $50 for studentswhich has a built-in reader to let you dive into your research from inside the app. Get the iOS app and you can sync across devices for on-the-go research.

On top of all the knowledge your professors will drop on you, its important to stay informed on whats going on in the world. Take advantage of your university email address by getting a discounted subscription to The New York Times ($6 per month for students), The Wall Street Journal (15 weeks for $15, or $50 per year), or The Economist (12 weeks for $12, or $115 per year). Those rates are on par with introductory offers but can last you all through school. Don't have a few dollars to spend on news? The Washington Post offers digital subscriptions to students totally gratis.

Of course, you're not going to spend all four years with your nose in a newspaper. Socializing is important too! Create the soundtrack to your college days or a playlist for your next party with a subscription to either Spotify Premium or Apple Music for $5 per month. And when you need to stock up on Solo cups for your next party, cut down on shopping time with Amazon Prime . Students get a six-month free trial, which gets you free shipping and access to its video streaming service. After your trial is up, you can hold onto your yearly subscription for $50.

Whether youre heading home for the holidays or just need a weekend getaway, AMTRAK offers 15 percent off tickets year-round as long as you have a valid student ID. You might find cheaper fares through Greyhound , which gives students a 10 percent discount; Zipcar also gives students $10 off membership fees. When it's time to move out, use FedEx's 20 percent discount to trim down shipping costswhether you're starting your first job or moving back in with your parents.

Continue reading here:
How to Nab Deals with Your Student Email Address - WIRED

Standing on deck seeing children, women and men up to their waist in seawater because their boat is slowly deflating, world politics suddenly seem very far away. We are the only ones here, in international waters. No other vessels around for miles, and about 140 people on the verge of dying. The roaring engines of our RHIBS carry the sound of survival for the people in the sinking boat.

If an hour earlier the Italian coast guard hadn't directed us to this location, these people would have died. Pushed out from Libyan shores hours before without an NGO vessel - or any other vessel - close by. Pushed out to sea by smugglers, but also by violence, detention, persecution, corruption or the simple fact that they saw no future in the place where they were.

When we dock in Catania a few days later, British journalist Katie Hopkins and members of the anti-immigrant movement Defend Europe are there, saying that we did the wrong thing. We shrug, restock, get our engine fixed and set out again.

A week later, I see what could have happened if we wouldn't have been on time. The NGO ProActiva Open Arms have rescued more than 160 people from a deflating rubber boat, but during an earlier panic on the dinghy at least 13 people died, drowned, trampled on, suffocated, burned by the chemical mix of seawater and fuel.

We board Open Arms' vessel to collect the bodies, as we have a morgue on board and they don't. Never have I witnessed such a horrific scene. We put the bodies in new body bags and photograph them - the photos will be used by the Italian police in case of a criminal investigation into the causes of death.

We're in the heart of the migration and refugee crisis, the big story of our era. Worldwide, more than 65million people have fled their homes. Most of them find refuge in their own countries or region, some try and make it to Europe through the dangerous crossing to Italy, a route on which this year roughly one in 43 people dies. And Italy has been bearing that brunt on its own for years.

Europe's answer however is quite simple: let's keep the migrants out. But surely, Europe can do better than that?

Let's acknowledge the fact that the rescue vessels on the Mediterranean are not the solution for this crisis - although they are a life-or-death solution for the people on the flimsy boats.

But let's also acknowledge the fact that people always will find ways to flee, as they have been doing for centuries. NGOs are in the eye of a political storm right now, as they are considered a pull-factor by some. Yet far more important for people to leave their homes are the push factors mentioned above; conflict, persecution, corruption, abuse, the lack of a future.

The truth is, there is no quick fix for this issue. Ban the export of rubber boats to Libya? Sure. A Code of Conduct? We're always willing to constructively search for solutions as long as they don't go against human rights and our humanitarian mandate.

But they are not solutions for the people in the heart of this crisis, to those who aim to cross and who will keep on finding ways to get to a place where they hope to build a future for their children and families.

In the short term, Europe must install safe and legal routes for people to come to Europe. Among the 577 people we recently brought to Italy were 66 Syrians; families with young children. Many of them fled war in their country years ago and were now fleeing the violence in Libya. It's almost certain they'll get their asylum status, so why are we forcing them, families with children, to get on a flimsy boat? The same goes for Eritreans, of whom we brought more than 250 to safety last week; they'll get their status, so why can't they come to Europe legally?

The long term solution lies in tackling the root causes of mass migration. People flee violence, torture, slavery, poverty, the lack of opportunities. If we can take those causes away, people would no longer have a reason to leave their homes.

That, however, would take a different way of political thinking. It's about time the EU looked at those alternatives, instead of choosing borders over people. If it doesn't, people will keep looking for dangerous ways to come to Europe. And that will mean more lives being lost.

Read the original post:
Face It: There Is No Quick Fix In This Migrant Crisis | HuffPost UK - HuffPost UK