We open today’s tales from the darkside with a qualified win with PCWorld:
House votes to outlaw NSA’s bulk collection of phone records
A U.S. House of Representatives committee has taken a major step toward outlawing the NSA’s controversial bulk collection of telephone and other business records generated by U.S. residents.
The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday voted 32-0 to approve an amended version of the USA Freedom Act, a bill that would require the National Security Agency to get case-by-case approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court before collecting the telephone or business records of a U.S. resident. The committee’s vote sends the bill to the House floor; a similar bill is awaiting action in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The bill would limit the controversial bulk collection program by allowing the FBI, asking on behalf of the NSA, to request U.S. phone records from carriers only if there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that the information sought pertains to a foreign power, an agent of a foreign power, or a person in contact with a foreign power.
From McClatchy Washington Bureau, job security:
Border Patrol rarely punishes agents accused of abuse, study shows
A new report by an immigration watchdog finds that the United States’ largest federal law enforcement agency rarely punishes its agents for their mistreatment of immigrants and American citizens.
The report by the American Immigration Council found that 97 percent of abuse complaints lodged against Border Patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection officers resulted in no disciplinary action once an investigation had been completed. Those included a complaint from a pregnant woman in El Paso, Texas, that she had miscarried after a Border Patrol agent kicked her in the stomach, and several complaints from women that they had been forced to bare their breasts while in custody.
The survey also found that many complaints against U.S. border agents take years to resolve. The council reviewed 809 complaints filed in the three years from January 2009 to January 2012. But of those, only 485 had been investigated and resolved. The remainder are still under investigation, including a nearly 5-year-old allegation of forced sexual intercourse lodged July 30, 2009, against a Border Patrol agent in El Centro, Calif.
From the Progressive, thug politics:
Obama Threatens Pulitzer Prize-Winner
James Risen, a Pulitzer Prize-winner at the New York Times, may face jail time on a federal contempt of court charge if he doesn’t release the identity of one of his confidential sources.
The Bush Administration’s Justice Department tried to pry the information out of him, but ultimately relented.
Now President Obama, who vowed to restore our civil liberties when he ran for the White House in 2000, is letting his Justice Department pursue Risen even more aggressively than Bush did.
The information concerns a source for a chapter in Risen’s terrific 2006 book, “State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration.” That chapter dealt with a scheme to give the Iranians faulty blueprints for a nuclear weapon.
Major mud-slinging from Reuters:
Snowden being manipulated by Russian intelligence: ex-NSA chief
Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who revealed the U.S. government’s data collection programs, is now likely under the control of Russian intelligence agencies, according to former NSA Director, General Keith Alexander.
Alexander, who retired on March 31, made the comments in an interview with The Australian Financial Review newspaper to be published on Thursday, a transcript of which was made available to Reuters ahead of publication.
Alexander, the longest-serving Director of the NSA, also spoke in favor of backing Japanese militarization to counter-balance China and warned that a lack of norms governing cyber-conflict could trigger a war between traditional foes like North and South Korea.
From Defense One, provoking the bear:
GOP: Speed Up Missile Interceptors to Poland
Senate Republicans are pushing for the U.S. military to speed up deployment of advanced interceptors in Poland to send a deterrent message to Russia.
A bill introduced last week by Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and 22 other GOP members of his chamber would require the Obama administration to provide a plan for how to achieve deployment of Phase 3 of the “Phased Adaptive Approach” for European missile defense by the end of 2016.
Antimissile assets under the third phase currently are not planned for fielding in Poland until late 2018, at the earliest.
BuzzFeed plays space invaders:
CNN Actually Asked People In A Scientific Poll If They Thought Space Aliens Abducted MH370
Welcome to Earth.
A CNN/ORC poll released Wednesday showed 80% of Americans think no one survived Malaysia Airlines flight 370.
In one portion of their write up of the poll CNN states Americans think aliens might have been involved in the disappearance: “…while 9% believe that space aliens or beings from another dimension were involved.”
From Channel NewsAsia Singapore, with friends like these. . .:
Israeli spying on US at alarming level: report
Israel spies on the United States more than any other ally does and these activities have reached an alarming level, Newsweek magazine reported on Tuesday.
The main targets are US industrial and technical secrets, the weekly said, quoting classified briefings on legislation that would make it easier for Israeli citizens to get visas to enter America.
Newsweek said a congressional staffer familiar with a briefing last January called the testimony “very sobering … alarming … even terrifying”, and quoted another as saying the behaviour was “damaging.”
“No other country close to the United States continues to cross the line on espionage like the Israelis do,” said a former congressional staffer who attended another classified briefing in late 2013, according to Newsweek.
Wired threat level builds up the hackable files:
Former NSA Chief Defends Stockpiling Software Flaws for Spying
The NSA has never said much about the open secret that it collects and sometimes even pays for information about hackable flaws in commonly used software. But in a rare statement following his retirement last month, former NSA chief Keith Alexander acknowledged and defended that practice. In doing so, he admitted the deeply contradictory responsibilities of an agency tasked with defending Americans’ security and simultaneously hoarding bugs in software they use every day.
“When the government asks NSA to collect intelligence on terrorist X, and he uses publicly available tools to encode his messages, it is not acceptable for a foreign intelligence agency like NSA to respond, ‘Sorry we cannot understand what he is saying’,” Alexander told the Australian Financial Review, which he inexplicably granted a 16,000-word interview. “To ask NSA not to look for weaknesses in the technology that we use, and to not seek to break the codes our adversaries employ to encrypt their messages is, I think, misguided. I would love to have all the terrorists just use that one little sandbox over there so that we could focus on them. But they don’t.”
The NSA has been widely criticized for using its knowledge of security flaws for spying, rather than working to patch those flaws and make internet users more secure. Alexander’s defense of the practice boils down to the notion that separating friend and foe when seeking to break codes has become a nearly impossible task.
From the Guardian, his career lives up to his name:
Ireland’s justice minister resigns over allegations by police whistleblower
Alan Shatter steps down after claims of corruption within the police force and political interference in policing
Ireland’s justice minister has resigned over a critical report concerning allegations by a police whistleblower.
Alan Shatter offered his resignation to the Irish premier, Enda Kenny.
In response to the report into the Garda whistleblower’s claims of corruption within the force and political interference in policing, Shatter sent a letter to the taoiseach stating: “I am anxious that any controversy that may arise on publication of the report does not distract from the important work of government or create any difficulties for the Fine Gael or Labour parties in the period leading into the … elections.”
The London Telegraph makes a claim:
Abu Hamza ‘secretly worked for MI5′ to ‘keep streets of London safe’
Radical Islamic preacher helped police and British intelligence ‘defuse tensions with the Muslim community’, his lawyer claims
Abu Hamza, the radical Islamic preacher notorious for his hate-filled sermons, was in reality working secretly with British intelligence “to keep the streets of London safe” by “cooling hotheads”, his lawyer claimed in a US court.
Holding up what he said were reports from Scotland Yard, Joshua Dratel described the cleric as an “intermediary” who cooperated with MI5 and the police to try to end foreign hostage-takings and defuse tensions with the Muslim community in Britain.
The extraordinary admission will fuel conspiracy theories that he was allowed to preach hatred without arrest for so long in the UK because he was working with the security authorities.
And from RT, a hack attack:
Over 1 million people hit as hackers attack France’s telecom Orange
Personal data of 1.3 million clients of the French telecommunications corporation Orange have been stolen. The hack includes mobile and land phone numbers, dates of birth and email addresses of the company’s clients.
Orange says the incident was detected over two weeks ago, on April 18. The company did not rush to announce the breach, in order to analyze the scale of the snatched data and work on the security gaps that allowed the information to be stolen.
“The data recovered could be used to contact those concerned by email, SMS or by phone, particularly for phishing purposes,” the group warns in a statement.
The Verge next, chhillin’ in Moscow:
Putin signs law forcing bloggers to register with Russian media office
President Vladimir Putin has signed a law tightening the Russian government’s already strong hold on the internet. Earlier this week, Putin officially passed what’s become known as the “bloggers law,” which requires popular internet writers to follow rules normally reserved for larger media outlets. Under it, any blogger with more than 3,000 readers is required to register with the Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media oversight agency. According to Reporters Without Borders, the law covers not only traditional blogs but microblogs and social networks. In addition to following existing laws, writers will be responsible for fact-checking any information they post and removing any inaccurate comments, and they’re forbidden from harming the reputation of a person or group or using their platform to “hide or falsify information of general interest.”
Aleksey Mitrofanov, head of the State Duma legislative body’s information policies committee, has denied that this law regulates bloggers as a kind of mass media. “Special legal regulation for bloggers is to be introduced,” he told the ITAR-TASS News Agency when the bill passed in April. “It is the other way around, bloggers who have been registered as an online publication are not subject to the operation of that law.” But it apparently strips away one of the most basic elements of blogging: anonymous or pseudonymous publishing. Popular writers will be required to publish their surname, initials, and email address, apparently in addition to registering with the Roskomnadzor. Reporters Without Borders has criticized the law’s wording as vague, and Global Voices notes that if a writer falls below 3,000 readers, they apparently bear the burden of proactively trying to get their name removed from the register. According to ITAR-TASS, individual violators will be fined between 10,000 and 30,000 rubles (roughly $280 to $850 at the current exchange rate), while “legal entities” will face fines of 300,000 rubles or $8,500.
New Europe adds another level of chill, and a HBO ban as well, we presume:
Putin bans F-Word, obscenity in mass culture
A new law signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin will put roubles in the country’s swear jar. The Kremlin chief signed a law on 5 May prohibiting swearing in public performances, including cinema, theater and other forms of art. The law will come into effect on 1 July, and afterwards swearing in films, plays and concerts will incur penalties.
Individuals caught using foul language face a fine of up to $70, while officials can be fined up to $40 and businesses nearly $1,400. They face a higher fine and a three-month suspension of business for repeated offenses. An independent examination will determine what counts as profane language, Itar-tass reported.
Any new film containing obscene language won’t be granted a distribution certificate, so there’s no chance of seeing it at the movie theater.
And copies of books, CDs or films containing swearing can only be distributed in a sealed package labeled “Contains obscene language,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
And from RT, the first of today’s drone stories:
All countries will have drone kill technology in 10 years – report
In just one decade, just about every country in the world will have the means to either build or buy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) capable of launching missiles at enemy targets, thus dramatically changing the face of warfare.
Despite a track record that is stained with the blood of innocent victims, drone technology is quickly becoming the weapon of choice for militaries around the globe, and it’s too late for the United States – presently the leader in UAV technologies – to stop the rush, according to Defense One, a site devoted to security issues.
Just a few countries now hold membership in the elite drone club, including the US, United Kingdom, Russia, Israel, Iran, Pakistan and China. Other countries, such as South Africa and India, are actively seeking to join. According to the RAND organization, however, another 23 countries “are developing or have developed” armed drones.
And from Defense One, a map featuring those countries in or getting into the armed drone business:
Want China Times sees a major new player:
China to lead global drone production in next decade: The Diplomat
China is likely to become the world’s main producer of unmanned aerial vehicles, according to Zachary Keck, the associate editor of the Tokyo-based Diplomat magazine, in an article entitled China to Lead World in Drone Production on May. 2.
A report published by Forecast International, a private market research firm, suggested that the global drone market will more than double in the next ten years. It will grow from US$942 million in 2014 to an annual US$2.3 billion in 2023. Expansion driven by increased costs rather than larger production. The report predicted that annual drone production will begin to decrease in 2017. This number is likely to drop from 1,000 systems this year to roughly 960 systems each year.
The report also stated that the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, a state-owned Chinese defense company will lead the world in UAV production. It said that China can produce about US$5.8 billion worth of UAVs through 2023. This is more than half of the UAVs by value that will be produced during this time period. All of which are likely to be sold to Chinese customers.
The Register covers a clampdown:
Spain clamps down on drones
There’s no law to cover them, therefore they’re banned
Spain’s Agencia Estatal de Seguridad Aérea (State Air Security Agency – AESA) has issued a declaration in which it reminds citizens that the commercial or professional use of “drones” is illegal, and that amateur UAV operation is restricted to “authorised areas”.
The document stresses that “the use of remote control aircraft for commercial or professional ends is not allowed, and never has been”.
This includes sending up vehicles for aerial photography, “intelligent agriculture” (examination of crops, etc), any kind of aerial report, checking high-tension power lines or railways, border control, detection of forest fires or reconnaissance over areas affected by natural disasters in order to direct rescue services”.
After the jump, the latest rounds in the game of military, trade and resource zones in Asia, plus a kicker at the end. . .
The Japan Times covers the cyberwar front:
New cybersecurity bill would require all ministries to report attacks
Japan is set to take another step toward bolstering its cybersecurity by creating a central government entity tasked with assessing the threat of online attacks and implementing measures to counter them.
Lawmakers from the ruling coalition will submit a related bill before the current Diet session ends on June 22, with the aim of launching a new cybersecurity policy headquarters, according to the Liberal Democratic Party and junior coalition partner New Komeito.
The envisioned body, which will be headed by the chief Cabinet secretary, will have legal authority to devise a unified cybersecurity strategy for the government and to implement measures across ministries.
While Want China Times finds a security breach:
Roadside stands selling sensitive PLA information: report
The internal publications of the People’s Liberation Army, including books and magazines containing previously classified information, can be easily purchased in bookstands in every major Chinese city, said Hu Wenlong, a military analyst, in an article for the Global Times, a newspaper published under the auspices of the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily.
The arrest and sentencing of a Chinese migrant worker to 10 years in prison for providing secret military information to a foreign intelligence agent is just one indication of the valuable resource internal PLA publications have become to foreign intelligence agencies in understanding China’s military development. They are willing to pay a high price to hire Chinese civilians to purchase the books and magazines.
Many of those publications provide not only information related to PLA policies, doctrines, weapon systems and management, but detail its military development as well. All PLA frontline units would be open to a direct attack by a potential enemy if the PLA’s deployment strategies were fully understood, said Hu. It is extremely easy for common Chinese citizens to access this information, he added.
Channel NewsAsia Singapore has an escalation of the newest front:
Vietnam says China fired water cannon, rammed ships near oil rig
Hanoi said Wednesday that Chinese ships protecting a deep-water drilling rig in disputed waters in the South China Sea had used water cannon to attack Vietnamese patrol vessels and repeatedly rammed them, causing injuries.
Tensions between the communist neighbours have risen sharply since Beijing unilaterally announced last week it would move the deep-water drilling rig into disputed waters — a move the United States has described as “provocative”.
Vietnam deployed patrol vessels after the China Maritime Safety Administration issued the unilateral navigational warning on its website saying it would be drilling in the South China Sea close to the Paracel Islands — which are controlled by China but claimed by Vietnam.
Vietnam said China’s decision was “illegal”, demanded the rig be withdrawn, and dispatched vessels to the area.
More form the Yomiuri Shimbun:
Vietnam: Chinese ships ram vessels near oil rig
Chinese ships have been ramming into and firing water cannons at Vietnamese vessels trying to stop Beijing from putting an oil rig in the South China Sea, according to officials and video footage Wednesday, in a dangerous escalation of tensions over waters considered a global flashpoint.
Several boats have been damaged and at least six Vietnamese on board them have been injured, officials said. The U.S. said it was strongly concerned by “dangerous conduct” in the area.
Elsewhere in the sea, the Philippines arrested 11 Chinese fishermen for catching endangering turtles, angering Beijing and further exposing regional strains.
From Want China Times, sea hunt:
PLA monitoring foreign submarines in South China Sea
After Vietnam received its first Kilo-class submarine in November, China has adopted an underwater strategy to monitor the activities of foreign submarines in the disputed South China Sea, writes US defense expert Harry Kazianis for the Tokyo-based Diplomat magazine.
Quoting an article written by Lyle Goldstein and Shannon Knight for the United States Naval Institute’s Proceedings magazine, Kazianis noted that China has deployed fixed ocean-floor acoustic arrays off its coastline, while research suggests that China is deploying the new system for anti-submarine warfare.
Kazianis praised the work of Goldstein and Knight, which cited several Chinese-language journals such as Shandong Science, China Science Daily, Naval and Merchant Ships and Ship Electronic Engineering. He added that their research has shown that China is now hard at work deploying ocean-floor surveillance systems in its proximate waters.
The Yomiuri Shimbun ramps it up:
Abe blasts China in NATO speech
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe criticized China’s military expansion and provocations in East Asia, calling them issues of concern for the international community.
“China’s foreign policy approach and its military developments have become issues of concern for the international community, including Japan,” Abe said.
Abe made the comments in a speech at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, the governing body of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in Brussels.
While NHK WORLD plays a diplomatic card:
Koumura briefs on meeting with top China official
The vice president of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party says his recent meeting with a senior Chinese official may lead to better ties with China.
Masahiko Koumura and other Japanese lawmakers met on Monday in Beijing with Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. Zhang is the 3rd-highest official in the Chinese Communist Party.
Koumura told Zhang that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hopes to hold a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Beijing in November.
From the Diplomat, signs of a thaw in unlikely places?:
An End to the “Lost Decade” in Japan-North Korea Relations?
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been taking steps to ease tensions between the two East Asian neighbors.
Shinzo Abe’s return to the post of prime minister was accompanied by growing tensions on the Korean peninsula. North Korea fired its long-range missile Unha-3 (for the alleged purpose of sending a satellite into orbit) in December 2012, and this was followed by a third test of a nuclear device only two months later. The renewed crisis these provocations triggered offered few prospects for progress in the stalled Japan-North Korea talks. Yet, while North Korea continued with its military tests, Abe tempered his hardline policy toward Pyongyang and moved toward resuming talks with the North Korean leadership. This has restored hope for progress in normalizing diplomatic relations between the two countries. What explains this change in Abe’s approach toward North Korea?
As an early advocate of the abduction issue, Abe’s rapid rise since the early 2000s is closely linked to the current deadlock in Japan-North Korea relations and indeed the framing of the North as Japan’s nemesis. Pyongyang’s official acknowledgment and apology for its campaign of kidnapping Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 1980s on the occasion of the 2002 landmark summit between former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and the late Kim Jong Il triggered an avalanche of public criticism in Japan. The abduction issue immediately superseded the initial objective of normalizing diplomatic relations as stated in the Pyongyang Declaration. Backed by an empowered political movement centered on the victims’ families (the Association of the Families of Victims Kidnapped by North Korea), their key society (the National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Abducted by North Korea) and parliamentary supporters (the Assembly Members Alliance for the Speedy Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea) the abduction lobby successfully hijacked Japan’s North Korea agenda and provided Abe Shinzo with a platform for establishing his profile as an advocate for a “strong Japan.”
Jiji Press mollifies the domestic audience:
Japan Not in Rush to Change Govt Interpretation of Constitution: Suga
The Japanese government is not in a rush to revise its interpretation of the constitution to enable the country to exercise its right to collective self-defense, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday.
“Our top priority is to win full understanding from the ruling camp,” Suga told a news conference. The government does not necessarily stick to the idea of making a cabinet decision on the change of the constitutional interpretation before the end of the current ordinary Diet session on June 22, he also said.
“We will make a cabinet decision only after giving a full explanations to and obtaining understanding from (the ruling bloc),” Suga said, thus indicating the government’s stance of patiently trying to persuade New Komeito, the junior coalition partner of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
While the Mainichi fans flames:
Japan keen to lift ban on collective self-defense, Abe tells NATO
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his resolve Tuesday to push for a change to the government’s current interpretation of the Constitution and lift a self-imposed ban on collective self-defense.
Abe indicated during a speech to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s decision-making body that there are limits to the activities of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces under the current interpretation of the country’s pacifist Constitution.
Based on the current interpretation, Japan cannot exercise the right to collective self-defense, or defend an ally under armed attack, given the constraints of Article 9 that forbids the use of force to settle international disputes.
And Jiji Press plays it cool:
Abe Sets No Deadline for Collective Self-Defense
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on his ruling coalition Wednesday to hold thorough discussions on whether to allow the country’s collective self-defense.
“There is no deadline,” Abe told a press conference in Brussels to sum up his six-nation European tour.
The comments suggest that Abe is ready to handle the matter carefully because New Komeito, the coalition partner of his Liberal Democratic Party, is cautious about such a change.
Then Kyodo News grows expansive:
Japan may allow SDF to support multinational forces in combat
Japan may expand the scope of activities by the Self-Defense Forces overseas so they can provide refueling and medical support to U.N.-endorsed multinational forces in combat, government and ruling party sources said Wednesday.
Such a major overhaul, if realized, would signify a clear break from the government’s long-held stance that SDF assistance should be restricted to “noncombat zones” due to Article 9 of the war-renouncing Constitution, and could require Tokyo to reinterpret the supreme law.
The New Komeito party, the junior coalition partner of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, will likely express strong opposition to the move that experts say could potentially increase the SDF’s overseas operations without clear limits.
While the Yomiuri Shimbun propose ground rules:
Panel to propose 6 conditions on the right to collective self-defense
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s private advisory panel on security will propose in its report six conditions to allow Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
In addition to previously reported five conditions, the panel’s report, according to sources, will include the sixth condition—the prime minister will make a decision on whether to allow the government to exercise the right based on careful discussions at the National Security Council from the viewpoints of “necessity” and “proportionality” of the assistance Japan would provide to a country under an armed attack.
The Advisory Panel on Reconstruction of the Legal Basis for Security will submit the report to Abe next week. Based on the report, the government plans to present its basic policy for discussions on revising the interpretation of the Constitution.
On response to all these contrary signals from the Mainichi:
Efforts spread to educate citizens about Japanese Constitution
As debates over the special secrets protection law and collective self-defense spark public interest in the Constitution, some groups are trying to shift the emphasis away from the traditional “pro-constitutional amendment vs. anti-constitutional amendment” binary to a more general effort to help people understand the Constitution.
At an Italian restaurant in the Kanagawa Prefecture city of Zama last month, 37-year-old attorney Keiko Ota of the Yokohama Bar Association posed a question to her approximately 50 lunch mates: “Citizens must follow the Constitution. True or false?”
The participants — all women in their 20s to 40s, some of whom had brought their children along — were split. The correct answer: false. “The Constitution stipulates rules that the state must observe,” Ota explained. “It comprises citizen’s demands of the state.”
For our final item, insecurity as the price of information security, via the Wire:
Two-Thirds of Americans Would Put Themselves in Danger to Retrieve a Stolen Phone
According to a new survey by phone security company Lookout, the majority of Americans would put themselves at risk to get their lost or stolen phones back. Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed cared more about their device and the data on it than the danger they were putting themselves in to retrieve it.
People were also willing to go to great financial lengths to get their phones back. Fifty percent of phone theft victims told Lookout they were likely to pay $500 (excluding the cost of the device) “to retrieve their stolen phone’s data, including all photos, videos, music, apps, and private information.” Some were willing to pay even more: one-third of victims said they would be willing to pay $1,000 for the data on their phone.
Alicia diVittorio, Lookout’s Director of Security Communications, to The Wire that the study determined “phones carry highly personal information from banking credentials to corporate email, making them extremely valuable to the owner, as well as thieves. For this reason, smartphone victims are willing to go to extreme lengths to recover their devices including putting themselves in danger and coughing up a great deal of money to keep their phones and the data they carry safe.” Considering one-in-ten smartphone owners has had their device stolen, there are a lot of Americans who feel this strongly about their mobile attachments.
