First up, from Vocativ, no comment needed:
“Game of Thrones” Author George Martin: Dragons Could Destroy ISIS
He means nuclear weapons, but to Martin they’re the same thing
From the Japan Times, Bushian justification:
Bush-era memos show president had authority to wiretap Americans at all times
The U.S. Justice Department has released two memos detailing the Bush administration’s legal justification for monitoring the phone calls and email messages of Americans without a warrant.
The documents, released late Friday, relate to a secret program dubbed Stellar Wind that began after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. It allowed the National Security Agency to obtain communications data within the United States when at least one party was a suspected al-Qaida or al-Qaida affiliate member, and at least one party in the communication was located overseas.
“Even in peacetime, absent congressional action, the president has inherent constitutional authority . . . to order warrantless foreign intelligence surveillance,” then-assistant Attorney General Jack Goldsmith said in a heavily redacted 108-page memo dated May 6, 2004.
Cryptome has posted the documents here [PDF]:
From Ars Technica, outsourcing at its worst:
When NSA and FBI call for surveillance takeout, these companies deliver
“Trusted third party companies” serve up ISPs’ subeona’d and FISA warrant data.
Not every Internet provider can handle the demands of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant or law enforcement subpoena for data. For those companies, Zack Whittaker reports on ZDNet, the answer is to turn to a shadowy class of companies known as “trusted third parties” to do the black bag work of complying with the demands of the feds.
Under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), phone companies and Internet providers can charge back the government for their efforts in responding to warrants. AT&T charges the CIA more than $10 million per year for access to its phone call metadata. But smaller ISPs who aren’t frequently hit with warrants can’t afford to keep the infrastructure or manpower on-hand to respond to requests—so they sign up with a “trusted third party” capable of doing the work as an insurance policy against such requests.
Companies such as Neustar, Yaana Technologies, and Subsentio contract with smaller providers and reap the profits from charging federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies for the data. Neustar and Yaana are also essentially private intelligence companies, providing large-scale data capture and analytics (though probably not on the scale of NSA’s Xkeyscore.) Neustar is also in the phone number portability business, and owns a number of the new top level domains approved by ICANN.
Al Jazeera America sees a profit:
Immigration seen as bonanza for slumping global defense industry
Technologies built for wars abroad are repurposed along the US-Mexico boundary and other international frontiers
A desolate patch of terrain in southern Arizona — crossed mostly by coyotes, jackrabbits and Border Patrol agents — is one of the planned sites for a 120-foot-tall lattice-steel tower. Located two miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, the tower will be outfitted with sensors to allow Customs and Border Patrol to detect and record the movement of migrants and smugglers up to 7.5 miles away.
The simple structure will contain advanced technology that has been already used halfway across the globe in Israel, where its makers, Israeli defense company Elbit Systems Ltd., have deployed their border security products for more than a decade.
The towers being erected in Arizona shed light on the fierce and ongoing debate over U.S. border strategy where they symbolize efforts to adopt a more militaristic policy. At the same time the presence of a foreign company at the heart of such a project also highlights a booming niche in the global defense industry: one where hefty profits can be made by fortifying international frontiers.
From Boing Boing, a major source of domestic insecurity:
NYPD arrest human rights lawyer waiting outside restaurant while kids used bathroom
Chaumtoli Huq, former general counsel for NYC Public Advocate Tish James, attended a rally in Times Square with her family, and afterwards, waited on the sidewalk outside of a Ruby Tuesday restaurant while her husband took their children (10 and 6) to the bathroom.
NYPD Officer Ryan Lathrop and another cop told Huq that she had to move along. She stated that she had the right to stand on the sidewalk and asked what the problem was. She was then spun around, roughly pinned against the wall and cuffed, and then taken away without being allowed to tell her family what had happened to her.
When Huq’s husband figured out — eventually — what had happened and went to the precinct house, the officers on duty questioned him as to why he had a different surname to his wife. One then told Huq that “In America wives take the names of their husbands.”
Here’s hoping, via PandoDaily:
New York, Washington DC, and other cities hope body cameras will keep police officers honest
Members of several New York Police Department precincts in each of the city’s five boroughs and a public housing area will soon be outfitted with body cameras, the police commissioner announced Thursday, to see if the devices can improve relations between police and the public.
If ever there were relations that need to be improved, it’s between police officers and the people they’re supposed to serve. The NYPD itself has been caught up in scandal after scandal, whether it was the racial profiling encouraged by stop-and-frisk laws or the murder of an unarmed black man who repeatedly told officers that he couldn’t breathe before he was killed during an arrest.
The NYPD isn’t the only police department that needs to learn how to better serve the public. Perhaps the most prominent example of the strained relationship between officers and civilians comes courtesy of Ferguson, the St. Louis suburb where a police officer killed unarmed Michael Brown in August, prompting numerous protests and drawing attention to the militarization of police.
And it’s not just U.S. police who are jumping on the militarization bandwagon. From China’s CCTV America:
Militarization of Mexico’s police forces
Program note:
The Mexican government is conducting a new experiment with a military unit that will be used as a police force, despite the fact that this has been shown to lead to more violence. Laura Carlsen answers questions about all sides of this issue from Mexico City.
From Ars Technica, Goggle this!:
Google silent on support for group opposing net neutrality and muni broadband
Nonprofit that Google is part of also supports Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger
Common Cause and more than 50 other advocacy groups this week called on Google to end its affiliation with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a group that has pushed state laws limiting the rights of cities and towns to create community-owned broadband networks. ALEC also opposes network neutrality rules that Google used to be a staunch supporter of and last month urged the FCC to quickly approve Comcast’s purchase of Time Warner Cable without imposing any regulatory conditions on the merger.
In a letter to Google’s top executives, Common Cause et al wrote that “Over the last year, hundreds of thousands of Americans have signed petitions asking Google to end its ALEC membership because of their concerns about the harmful role ALEC has played in our democratic process… The public knows that the ALEC operation—which brings state legislators and corporate lobbyists behind closed doors to discuss proposed legislation and share lavish dinners—threatens our democracy. The public is asking Google to stop participating in this scheme.”
Common Cause also complained about ALEC’s nonprofit status to the IRS in 2012, saying the group “massively underreports” lobbying it does on behalf of corporate members.
And then there’s this from MIT Technology Review, donning our own personal lie detectors for Big Brother?:
Google Glass Can Now Track Your Stress Level
A new way to track heart and breathing data, demonstrated with Google Glass, could heighten interest in wearable sensors
Besides projecting directions and e-mails in front of your face, Google Glass can also measure biological signs like heart and breathing rates, according to new research. The work suggests a new way for wearable devices to track a person’s stress level and provide instant fitness feedback.
Researchers from MIT’s Media Lab and the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Interactive Computing say that they can accurately ferret out this data by monitoring a Glass wearer’s head movements with the gyroscope, accelerometer, and camera built into Google Glass. A paper on the research will be presented at the MobiHealth conference in Athens, Greece, in November.
The project, called BioGlass, could lead to biometric-tracking apps for Google Glass. Looking beyond the controversial head-worn computer, researchers hope their work leads to less obtrusive sensors for self-monitoring via wearable devices.
From Nextgov, a cloudy security horizon:
Senator Demands Answers About iCloud Security Measures
A top Senate Democrat is demanding more information from Apple after hackers obtained nude photos of several celebrities.
In a statement, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller said he wants the company to brief his staff on the “security protocols in place for its cloud databases.”
“Apple is expected to introduce a new version of its iPhone that will enable, if not encourage, users to store more information with its cloud services, and I want to learn whether these focused, targeted attacks are symptomatic of wider, systemic vulnerabilities,” the West Virginia Democrat said.
Apple is expected to unveil the new iPhone 6 next week.
Nextgov again,, with more security overcast:
How Do Agencies Feel About iCloud?
Cracking open iCloud accounts — though the exact nature of the hack is still unknown — has proven to be not impossible, as evidenced by the explicit images of Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence now floating around the Internet.
Some agencies, such as the General Services Administration, remotely ban iCloud use on personal — commonly called Bring-Your-Own-Device — phones. GSA relies on a “mobile device management” system that links with each iPhone to deactivate the service.
NASA is in the process of installing mobile management software that would do the same for its employees, Alexander said.
She added, “We are always concerned with the protection of government information, whether via iCloud or other storage sites, and stress that importance through ongoing IT security awareness training, continuous monitoring and other assessments.”
The London Daily Mail drones on:
Attack of the drones: Hollywood celebrities are besieged by paparazzi spies in the sky. Worried? You should be… because they’ll soon be a regular fixture over YOUR home
Camera-wielding aircraft terrorise celebrities by flying over their homes
Stars fear photographers could use devices to track and follow them
Divorce lawyers hope to use devices to keep tabs on cheating spouses
American legislators are scrambling to extend privacy to include drones
Controlled from miles away, many fear pilots will be impossible to track down
From the New Zealand Herald, another kind of online security threat?:
NZ pupils struggling to speak
Use of gadgets and parents too busy to talk suspected of hindering children’s language development
Fewer children starting school can speak in sentences, prompting an investigation by education chiefs.
Primary schools around the country have noted a decline in the spoken-language abilities of new entrants and the Ministry of Education will look into the reports.
School leaders and a specialist in linguistics suspect the problem could be caused by factors including children using gadgets too often and parents not talking to them enough.
The ability of youngsters to express themselves in the classroom is essential to their cognitive development and future learning.
From the Guardian, signing up for the Internot [apologies to Ignacio Chapela]:
Vermont cafe finds a ban on laptops and tablets earns better business
Owners of the August First bakery shut down their Wi-Fi as behemoths like Starbucks take a mixed line on wireless devices
While being glued to a mobile device has become a dangerously common part of 2014 life, a couple in Vermont has reaped financial rewards by rejecting 21st-century technology at their bakery, August First.
Wife-and-husband team Jodi Whalen and Phil Merrick banned laptops and tablets from their Burlington-based bakery earlier this year, after determining that laptop patrons spent much more time, and much less money, at the eatery than the average customer.
The pair decided to do away with tech as they faced more and more customers glued to their screens. Whalen said when they envisioned creating August First, they didn’t plan on it being a place where people settled for hours to do work.
After the jump, on to the Game of Zones, including a Russian move on the oil-rich Arctic, where both East and West are staking claims, more tension in the Koreas, a little Russo/Sino angst, a Chinese spooky mystery, Japanese diplomacy hits the road, and Tokyo aims for a security council, with a little Bengali help, with an agenda in hand. . .
First up, from RT:
Russian Navy sends flotilla to Arctic to start permanent service at military base
Six vessels fom the Russian North fleet have left their base in Severomorsk in the Barents Sea and set off for the New Siberian Islands, where a military base under reconstruction will start functioning later this year.
“The major goal of the latest expedition of the North fleet ships to the Arctic is to deliver personnel, equipment and property of the North fleet’s tactical group, which starting this year is going to fulfill military service at the New Siberian Islands on a permanent basis,” said the North fleet commander, admiral Vladimir Korolyov.
The six vessels currently on their way to the Arctic are submarine chaser “Admiral Levchenko”, two large landing ships – “St George” and “Kondopoga”, the tanker “Sergey Osipov”, rescue tug “Pamir” and the lifting-and-mooring vessel “Aleksandr Pushkin”.
Next, more Korean tension from Want China Times:
S Korea may accept THAAD deployment despite China’s objections
Despite opposition from China, an official from the South Korean defense ministry has told overseas Chinese news outlet Duowei that there is no reason for Seoul to reject the deployment of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system to the Republic of Korea.
The weapons system is being deployed to defend US forces stationed in South Korea, but the official said that it does not mean that Seoul will become a member of the US theater missile defense program in East Asia. The official said, however, that coordination between the US and South Korean air defense systems will be able to defend the nation from a potential North Korean missile attack.
During the visit of Chinese president Xi Jinping to Seoul in July, he urged his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye to reconsider joining the theater missile defense program. Xi also urged Park to distance her administration from the United States. Sources from the South Korean military told the media outlet, run by overseas Chinese, that the US military had already dispatched its representatives to inspect the locations where the THAAD missile system may be deployed.
Still more from the Yomiuri Shimbun:
Seoul: DPRK again fires short-range projectiles
North Korea on Saturday continued its string of rocket and missile firings, launching three short-range projectiles into the waters off its east coast ahead of a major holiday celebrated by both Koreas, a South Korean defense official said.
The projectiles flew about 210 kilometers before landing in the water, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of office rules. It wasn’t immediately clear what sort of projectiles they were.
North Korea routinely test-fires missiles and rockets, but it has conducted an unusually large number of weapons tests this year, including the launch of a short-range projectile on Monday.
From Want China Times, tension between erstwhile allies:
Russia unhappy about China’s production of J-16 fighter
After a satellite image revealed that Shenyang Aircraft Corporation has already produced eight J-16 multirole fighters, drawing complaints from the Russian aviation industry that its aircraft have been copied without permission, according to the Kanwa Defense Review published by Andrei Chang, a Canadian military analyst also known as Pinkov.
As the eight J-16 fighters in the image were all painted in yellow markings, the article said it remains unknown whether the aircraft will be turned over to the PLA Air Force or Navy. However, it is certain that J-16 multirole fighters will replace J-11B fighters designed for aerial combat.
China slowed down the production of fighters such as J-15, J-16 and J-11B because Russia refuses to sell more AL31F engines to Beijing, and this is the technology that China had been unable to reverse engineer. Without enough Russian-built engines, the PLA Air Force and Navy Air Force is unable to field such advanced fighters in large numbers. However, China has finally able to put its domestic Taihang engines into J-16 fighters since 2013. The reliability of the Taihang engine will be put to the ultimate test after the J-16 enters service.
From South China Morning Post, a spooky mystery:
Chinese diplomat formerly in Japan missing, amid reports of probe
Tang Benyuan reportedly being questioned over the passing of sensitive information to Tokyo
A former diplomat at the Chinese embassy in Tokyo who returned home in the second half of last year is reportedly being questioned over the disclosure of sensitive information to contacts in Japan.
The diplomat has been identified as Tang Benyuan. While in Tokyo he was tasked with developing contacts with senior members of Japan’s political parties.
Japanese media reported yesterday that following his return to China, Tang, 54, took a position at the Central Party School, where Communist Party cadres are trained.
The Japan Times gets peripatetic:
Abe steals a march on China with South Asia tour
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe flew to Bangladesh on Saturday for a two-stop tour of South Asia as the globe-trotting leader asserts Tokyo’s interest in a region where it has ceded influence to China.
Abe becomes the first Japanese prime minister to visit Bangladesh in 14 years and on Sunday will be the first to travel to Sri Lanka in nearly a quarter of a century.
“I came here with 22 top leaders of business, ranging from infrastructure to safe water, with a strong hope of doing business in Bangladesh,” Abe told a forum in Dhaka attended by more than 100 executives from both countries.
Asian great-power diplomacy has stirred to life since the rise to power of Indian nationalist Narendra Modi, who announced his intent to play an active role on the world stage by inviting regional leaders to his inauguration in May.
From Jiji Press, high hopes in Tokyo:
Japan Likely to Get Security Council Nonpermanent Seat
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on Saturday that her country will withdraw its candidacy for a nonpermanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, making the seat likely to go to Japan.
Hasina said in a meeting with Abe in Dhaka that Bangladesh supports Japan’s bid for the seat for two years from 2016. Japan had urged Bangladesh to drop its bid, aiming to push for Security Council reform within the important panel and win permanent membership along with Germany, Brazil and India through the reform.
As reasons for the withdrawal, she cited Japan’s support since Bangladesh’s independence war. She also said the decision is for solidarity and unity of the Asia group in the international body. Abe expressed gratitude to her.
And from Kyodo News, a helping hand:
Bangladesh withdraws to back Japan’s bid for nonpermanent UNSC seat
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Saturday that Bangladesh will abandon its bid for a nonpermanent seat on the U.N. Security Council for the 2016-2017 term and support Japan’s candidacy.
Hasina announced the change after meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who arrived in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka earlier in the day at the start of a three-day trip to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Japan and Bangladesh had both vied for a seat for the Asia-Pacific region in an election to be held in October 2015. But Hasina hinted during her visit to Tokyo in May that Bangladesh would drop its bid in view of Japan’s attempt.
And for our final item, the Japan Times sets the agenda:
Japan set to redouble its efforts toward Security Council reforms
Japan will redouble its efforts to realize United Nations Security Council reforms going into 2015, which marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations, officials say.
To achieve “tangible progress” at the U.N. General Assembly in autumn 2015, Japan will work closely with the other so-called Group of Four countries seeking to become permanent UNSC members, namely, Germany, Brazil and India.
Through close cooperation with its G-4 partners, Japan will strive to win support from other U.N. members in Africa, Latin America and elsewhere for Security Council reforms that will better reflect the reality of the 21st century, according to the officials.
