A long walk on the dark side today, with major developments afoot.
First, the day’s major breaking news story from the New York Times:
Obama Panel Recommends New Limits on N.S.A. Spying
A panel of presidential advisers who reviewed the National Security Agency’s surveillance practices urged President Obama on Wednesday to end the government’s systematic collection of logs of all Americans’ phone calls, and to keep those in private hands, “for queries and data mining” only by court order.
More from Reuters:
White House review panel proposes curbs on some NSA programs
A White House-appointed panel on Wednesday proposed curbs on some key National Security Agency surveillance operations, recommending limits on a program to collect records of billions of telephone calls and new tests before Washington spies on foreign leaders.
Among the panel’s proposals, made in the wake of revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the most contentious may be its recommendation that the eavesdropping agency halt collection of the phone call records, known as “metadata.”
Instead, it said, those records should be held by telecommunications providers or a private third party. In a further limitation, the U.S. government would need an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to search the data.
Still more from The Guardian:
Obama review panel: strip NSA of power to collect telephone data records
Government ‘should be banned from undermining encryption’
Recommends major telecoms companies hold data on NSA’s behalf
Forty-six recommendations in 300-page report released early
The Guardian has posted the full report here.
But California’s plutocratic senator hedges her bets, via Al Jazeera America:
Senate intel chair says NSA surveillance sweeps not ‘indispensable’
Dianne Feinstein’s comments come as tech firms call on Obama to ‘move aggressively’ on privacy reform
An influential senator who has doggedly backed the National Security Agency’s mass collection of private data indicated Tuesday that the program was not “indispensable,” but disagreed with the federal judge who said the program may be unconstitutional.
“I’m not saying it’s indispensable, but I am saying it is important,” Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who chairs the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee, told MSNBC.
From Deutsche Welle, celebration:
Vindicating Snowden, US judge rules NSA violates privacy, ACLU says
A US federal judge has ruled that the National Security Agency’s collection of telephone data violated a fundamental principle of the US Constitution. It’s a groundbreaking decision, says ACLU attorney Patrick Toomey.
Carlos Latuff offers his take on the issue of the day, with a cinematic twist:
From RT, an evocation of spooky days past:
NSA methods reminiscent of those used in USSR under Stalin – Lavrov
Russia’s Foreign Minister has compared the way NSA obtains permission for its surveillance with the way Soviet people received sentences in Stalin-era courts.
Sergey Lavrov said the judicial entities which gave permission for NSA surveillance reminded him of “troikas,” or extrajudicial bodies that existed in the Soviet Union during the Great Purge of 1937-38. They consisted of only three people who passed sentences very quickly, based on very scanty evidence.
Fox News quotes a latter-day Stalinist [or so he sounds]:
Ex-CIA director: Snowden should be ‘hanged’ if convicted for treason
Former CIA Director James Woolsey had harsh words Tuesday for anyone thinking about giving Edward Snowden amnesty, and argued the NSA leaker should be “hanged” if he’s ever tried and convicted of treason.
Woolsey, along with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Hugh Shelton, spoke Tuesday in Washington in an interview with Fox News. “I think giving him amnesty is idiotic,” Woolsey said. “He should be prosecuted for treason. If convicted by a jury of his peers, he should be hanged by his neck until he is dead.”
Another major event came today in New York reported by the Electronic Frontier Foundation:
One Small Step for Privacy, One Giant Leap Against Surveillance
Today, the 193 members of the United Nations General Assembly unanimously approved a UN privacy resolution entitled “The right to privacy in the digital age.” The resolution, which was introduced by Brazil and Germany and sponsored by more than 50 member states, is aimed at upholding the right to privacy for everyone at a time when the United States and the United Kingdom have been conducting sweeping mass surveillance on billions of innocent individuals around the world from domestic soil.
The resolution reaffirms a core principle of international human rights law: Individuals should not be denied human rights simply because they live in another country from the one that is surveilling them. We hope the resolution will make it harder for the US and its Five Eyes allies to justify their mass surveillance activities by claiming that their human rights obligations stop at their own borders.
Fox News covers a plea:
President of Brazilian Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee urges asylum for Snowden
The president of the Brazilian Senate’s Foreign Relations and Defense Committee says the country should grant political asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.
An aide to Senator Ricardo Ferraco says Wednesday the senator wants to meet with Foreign Minister Luiz Alberto Figueiredo to “request that Snowden be given asylum.” The aide did not give further details and declined to be identified because the person was not authorized to speak to the press.
And Techdirt makes us gag:
Hayden Says They Did Surveillance In A ‘Madisonian’ Way
from the floundering-father? dept
By now you probably know the name Michael Hayden. Former NSA and CIA Director Hayden now seems to focus all his time on pimping the security state to the American public. He steadfastly claims that all negative impact and lawlessness on the part of the spy agencies is fiction, and that state secrets and your privacy are ironically equal. He also enjoys the occasional wistful guffaw at the notion of assassinating Edward Snowden. When it comes to dealing honestly about the spying state of our nation, he’s the kind of man you could fit into briefcase if you gave him an enema.
The Guardian covers other spooks, other problems:
Senators clash with Justice Department lawyer over CIA intelligence memos
CIA nominee Caroline Krass angers intelligence committee by claiming legal opinions on torture are beyond its scope
Asked directly and repeatedly if the Senate panel was entitled to the memos, which several senators claimed were crucial for performing their oversight functions, Krass replied: “I do not think so, as a general matter.”
More from CNN:
Senator’s questions about CIA program may hold up nomination
A new congressional fight is brewing over the Central Intelligence Agency’s controversial use of harsh interrogations almost decade ago.
Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colorado, is threatening to block the nomination of President Barack Obama’s choice for CIA general counsel unless the agency provides an internal report that he says bolsters findings made by a congressional investigation of the interrogation program.
The Senate Intelligence Committee produced a 6,300-page report on the program, which used methods such as waterboarding on prisoners held by the CIA in the years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The Washington Post covers a spook who wasn’t:
EPA official, who pretended to work for CIA, sentenced to 32 months
A former high-level official at the Environmental Protection Agency, who pretended to work for the CIA to avoid the office, said he was motivated by a sense of excitement and the rush of getting away with something.
John C. Beale, a former EPA senior policy advisor, explained his motivations for the first time in a federal courtroom Wednesday before he was sentenced to more than 2 ½ years in prison for stealing nearly $900,000 in taxpayer funds.
With knickers twisted from EUobserver:
EU angst on US snooping is helping China to steal secrets, congressman says
The EU debate on US-led mass surveillance is helping China to rob Western companies, the head of the US congress’ intelligence oversight committee has said.
“Because of this confusion and of this muddling of the debate, it has allowed the Chinese to absolutely steal us blind when it comes to intellectual property for European and American companies,” Republican congressman Mike Rogers told MEPs and press in Brussels on Tuesday (17 December).
SecurityWeek competes:
NSA Seeks Best Cybersecurity Research Papers in New Competition
NSA Announces 2013 “Best Scientific Cybersecurity Paper” Competition
Despite being under fire for its highly controversial global surveillance programs, the National Security Agency (NSA) is calling upon the public to submit papers to help it make discoveries to support its intelligence initiatives.
The NSA announced on Monday that it is seeking nominations for its 2013 Annual Best Scientific Cybersecurity Paper Competition, and is looking for scientific papers that were published between October 1, 2012, and December 31, 2013, that show an outstanding contribution to cybersecurity science.
From CNN drones a-comin’?:
Senate confirms Jeh Johnson to lead homeland security
The Senate broke another Republican filibuster on Monday in confirming former top Pentagon lawyer Jeh Johnson to head the Homeland Security Department.
The vote to approve Johnson, a key architect of President Barack Obama’s anti-terrorism policies that have included stepped up drone use in terrorist hotspots, was 78-16
Channel NewsAsia Singapore covers the barely credible:
Egypt’s Morsi to stand trial for “espionage”
Egypt’s deposed president Mohamed Morsi and ex-aides will stand trial for “espionage” that helped a “terrorist” campaign involving the Palestinian militant group Hamas and jihadists, the prosecution said Wednesday.
If found guilty, they could face the death penalty.
German measures from TheLocal.de:
Parliament creates ‘internet committee’
Germany’s new government has confirmed it will set up a parliamentary committee for internet matters – six months after Chancellor Angela Merkel described the internet as “virgin territory”.
The idea was first put forward in November 2012, but took until now to materialize, and “internet and digital agenda” took centre stage in the Bundestag when it was announced on Tuesday.
From The Guardian, unaccountably:
Spy chiefs should not be accountable to parliament, says ex-GCHQ chief
Sir David Omand expresses view in debate on surveillance featuring Guardian editor and Wikipedia founder
After the jump, the Asian zonal crises continue, corporate spies, MSM hacks, and much, much more. . .
Off to Asia for our first headline in the zones and posturing dustup from People’s Daily:
China urges U.S. to be cautious on South China Sea issue
China on Wednesday rebuffed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s remarks on the South China Sea issue and urged the country to be cautious in its words and deeds.
“We have noticed his remarks,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a regular press briefing in response to Kerry, who said on Tuesday that the United States would speak out when China took unilateral actions that raised the potential for conflict.
The Mainichi discovers talking points:
LDP gave lawmakers documents rebutting media reports critical of state secrets law
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) created documents rebutting media reports critical of the state secrets law and distributed them to all party lawmakers, it has been learned.
The party began creating and distributing the documents on Dec. 13, when the controversial law was promulgated. It is believed the documents were to be used when explaining the legislation to voters.
The new law introduces heavy penalties for people who leak special government secrets. Some 80 percent of public opinion poll respondents had called for careful deliberation on the legislation, which the ruling coalition rammed through the Diet.
From JapanToday, blitzkrieg:
Abe to push security agenda next year with fresh urgency
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will likely push with fresh urgency next year a bid to ease legal limits on the Japanese military’s ability to fight shoulder to shoulder with allies overseas, a goal that eluded him in his first troubled term.
Lifting Japan’s self-imposed ban on exercising the right of collective self-defense would mark a major turning point for Japan’s post-war security policy and could increase tensions in the region, where a row over tiny uninhabited islands in the East China Sea encapsulates growing Sino-Japanese mistrust.
The Mainichi gets bellicose:
Behind ‘proactive pacifism’ lies Abe’s desire for right to collective self-defense
On Dec. 17, Japan’s National Security Council (NSC) and the Cabinet approved the latest National Defense Program Outline, the mid-term defense capability improvement plan, and the country’s first ever national security strategy.
All three documents obviously have China’s growing military power in mind, and lay out serious changes for the organization and capabilities of Japan’s Self-Defence Forces (SDF). However, the documents also have as their central premise “proactive pacifism,” a recent favorite phrase of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a concept that is, for him, inseparable from exercising the right to collective self-defense. However, a veil has been carefully drawn over the “exercising” part of that phrase, out of consideration for governing coalition partner New Komeito.
Jiji Press flips:
Abe Calls for Framework to Avoid Japan-China Clashes
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday called for a communication framework to avoid accidental clashes between the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the Chinese military in and over the East China Sea.
“To help prevent accidental clashes from happening, we need a mechanism enabling the Chinese military and the SDF to communicate with each other both at sea and in the air,” Abe said in a television program.
From China Daily, response:
Tokyo’s agenda meets with alarm
Revised strategy, more funding flouts pacifist Constitution, experts say.
The defense policy package that Japan’s Cabinet approved on Tuesday represents a comprehensive change in Japan’s military approach and is a major departure from the country’s pacifist stance since World War II, international media and Chinese experts said.
“Abe has used the timing of frozen ties with China to pass legal documents that enable the country to become a major military power,” said Ruan Zongze, vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, referring to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
And the Asahi Shimbun seeks the last refuge of scoundrels:
Abe pushes need for patriotism in new national security strategy
Like his grandfather half a century before, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe believes that patriotism is important in assuring Japan’s national security and wants the government to spread that sentiment.
The need for “promoting a feeling of love for one’s nation and hometown” was clearly spelled out in the national security strategy approved by the Abe Cabinet on Dec. 17.
NHK WORLD rearms:
F35 stealth fighters may replace aging JSDF planes
Japan’s Defense Ministry is considering the introduction of F35 stealth jets as the Air Self-Defense Force’s next mainstay fighter aircraft.
The move is based on the government’s new defense program guidelines, approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday.
The guidelines call for maintaining superior air-combat capability, possibly to defend remote islands in southwestern Japan, as China moves to increase its maritime presence in the area.
The Mainichi adds a qualification:
U.S. has no intention of revising SOFA with Japan: official
U.S. government spokeswoman Marie Harf said Dec. 17 that the U.S. has no intention of revising the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) as requested by Okinawa Prefecture.
“The U.S. has not agreed to and will not consider opening the SOFA to renegotiation,” Harf told reporters at a press briefing.
And South China Morning Post covers spinmeistership:
Propaganda officials to head top-tier Chinese journalism schools
Communist Party moves to tighten ideological control over university programmes amid concern journalists succumbing to Western thinking
Three people familiar with the plan said senior local propaganda officials would become heads or high-level officials of journalism programmes at 10 top-tier universities, in an attempt to ensure their teaching is in line with authorities’ directives.
The people said similar overhauls may be made at other journalism schools in the future.
Kim Han-sol gets cover from TheLocal.fr:
Kim Jong-un’s nephew ‘under guard’ in France
The nephew of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has reportedly been placed under police guard in France, where he is currently studying, amid fears he may be targeted by the regime. He has previously slated his uncle in TV interviews.
Concerns were raised after Kim-Jong-un’s uncle, believed to be the second most powerful man in the North Korean regime, was executed earlier this month along with several of his allies.
There are now fears that other members of the family could also be purged and French police are taking no chances with Kim Jong-un’s nephew.
From The Diplomat, escalatio:
US Prompt Global Strike Missiles Prompt Russian Rail-Mounted ICBMs
Russia will move ahead with an updated rail-mounted missile system for Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles.
A report submitted by the Russian Defense Ministry to the Kremlin confirms that Russia will move ahead with an updated rail-mounted missile system for Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles. Russia hasn’t had a rail-mounted ICBM system since it dismantled the last of its Soviet-era SS-24s in 2008.
RIA Novosti reported that Russia will “deploy rail-mounted nuclear missiles as a potential response to the United States’ Prompt Global Strike program.” The U.S. prompt global strike program is an ongoing effort to develop a capability to deliver a precise conventional weapon strike anywhere on Earth within one hour.
More along the same line from Aviation Week & Space Technology:
Pace Of Russian Rearmament Quickens
A massive modernization push is imminent for Russian aerospace defense: The air force alone could receive 4.5 trillion rubles ($136 billion) over 10 years, about one-quarter of the overall drive to upgrade Russia’s Soviet-era weaponry.
The money will help replace about 70% of the air force fleet by 2020 and position it to acquire the Sukhoi T-50—a fighter advanced enough to rival the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter—as well as a stealthy, long-range bomber, and to overhaul its surface-to-air missile stockpile. However, analysts caution that the plan’s financial scope may be unrealistic.
And here’s one more addition to the burgeoning Russian armamentarium via RIA Novosti:
Russia Plans to Build ‘UAV-Killers’ Based on Pantsir-S Systems
Russia is upgrading its short-range Pantsir-S air defense systems with an improved capability to intercept unmanned aerial vehicles, a Defense Ministry spokesman said Wednesday.
“The modernization of these unique systems aimed at increasing their effectiveness against UAVs has already started,” Col. Igor Klimov said.
Back at home, protecting another form of privacy with Salon:
Elizabeth Warren’s bold new crusade: Keep employers out of your credit history
Decrying a “rigged” system and the long overhang of the 2008 crash, Sen. Elizabeth Warren Tuesday introduced a bill to ban mandatory pre-employment credit checks. “This act is about basic fairness,” the Massachusetts Democrat told reporters on a Tuesday call. “Let people compete for jobs on the merits, not whether they already have enough money to pay all their bills.”
Warren’s bill, the Equal Employment for All Act, would make it illegal for employers (outside national security jobs) to require that job applicants disclose their credit history.
Sky News covers cover-up punishment:
Gulf Spill: Ex-BP Engineer Guilty Of Obstruction
A jury returns a guilty verdict in the first criminal trial produced by the Justice Department’s probe of the 2010 Gulf oil spill.
A former BP drilling engineer has been found gulity of deleting text messages to obstruct an investigation of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Kurt Mix faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for obstruction of justice in the Deepwater Horizon spill.
And Tico Times takes us back to the day of Iran-Contra with the evocation of a very familiar name::
Nicaragua’s Edén Pastora accuses Costa Rican officials of ‘bribing’ Interpol
“Comandante Cero” alleged that Costa Rica’s public security vice minister payed the international police organization to issue a red alert against him, a charge the Costa Rican official scoffed at.
Pastora did not mention specific names, but he did say the bribe “probably came from a former judge from Pococí [in Limón], who now is public security vice minister,” referring to Public Security Vice Minister Celso Gamboa.
Gamboa told the daily La Nación that Pastora’s accusations were “completely out of line.” Gamboa said that in 2010, he was responsible for issuing an arrest warrant in Costa Rica for Pastora, who dredged the San Juan River and likely was involved in the occupation by Nicaraguan troops of land that Costa Rica claims as its own.
From The Verge costly secrets spilled:
Report: Target suffers Black Friday hack at ‘nearly all’ stores, millions of credit cards at risk
One of America’s biggest retailers may have fallen to hackers
PCWorld covers an embarrassing hack, along with the day’s designated usual suspects:
Washington Post reports servers attacked, suspects Chinese hackers
The Washington Post’s servers were recently broken into by a group of unknown origin that gained access to the user names and passwords of its employees, the paper said on Wednesday.
The extent of the loss of company data was not immediately clear, though officials are planning to ask all employees to change their user names and passwords, the newspaper said in a report. The Post said the passwords were encrypted. However, hackers in some cases have been able to decode encrypted passwords.
And for our last item, the Washington Post peeps:
Research shows how MacBook Webcams can spy on their users without warning
Marcus Thomas, former assistant director of the FBI’s Operational Technology Division in Quantico, said in a recent story in The Washington Post that the FBI has been able to covertly activate a computer’s camera — without triggering the light that lets users know it is recording — for several years.
Now research from Johns Hopkins University provides the first public confirmation that it’s possible to do just that, and demonstrates how. While the research focused on MacBook and iMac models released before 2008, the authors say similar techniques could work on more recent computers from a wide variety of vendors. In other words, if a laptop has a built-in camera, it’s possible someone — whether the federal government or a malicious 19 year old — could access it to spy on the user at any time.
