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NSA Building Biggest Spy Center Yet

Mar 23

Get on your tin foil hats, folks, the NSA is building the biggest spy center in the country in the middle of mormon territory.

Just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah, the government is constructing a massive facility that will house and protect the servers, routers, etc., that allow the NSA to monitor cell phone calls, emails, texts, online transactions, Google searches, Facebook and Twitter accounts, and pretty much any other form of communication aside from carrier pigeons.

Several smaller versions of this compound exist in various places around the US and internationally, but this facility would act as a hub and upgrade their speed, efficiency, and ability to monitor significantly.

Is this a violation of the fourth amendment? That is yet to be determined – it’s too volatile a topic for most politicians to touch with a ten foot pole.

So what can you do, legally, to secure your internet access and minimize the amount of monitoring? One way is to use a VPN, which adds an extra layer of security between you and your ISP, who is almost certainly reporting to the government, or worse. Many ISPs bow to private organizations that seemingly try to maximize profits by threatening their customers with costly lawsuits. IPVanish VPN is only $10 a month and that seems like a worthwhile investment in the privacy and security of my business.

Full Article at Wired

MPAA Blog Attacks Ars Technica, Says They Help Pirates

Jan 12

In what Boing Boing reports as a “window to the MPAA’s soul,” the MPAA has published a blog post where they accuse Ars Technica of having a history of challenging efforts to curb content theft. For anyone who regularly reads Ars Technica, this might seem a little heavy-handed. If anything, Ars Technica is only guilty of investigative journalism. They don’t ONLY challenge efforts to curb content theft, they simply fact-check and report on relevant stories. Yes, they oppose unfettered censorship of the internet on behalf of the MPAA. Of course they do. Anyone with any stake in the tech industry does. So now instead of focusing on attacking grandparents and children for file-sharing, the MPAA is going after the media for calling them out.

Link to the MPAA Blog Post

Taxpayers and Private Sector to foot the bill for PROTECT IP Act

Aug 19

 

With a bill of about $10 million per year, the PROTECT IP Act will be paid for by taxpayers, but the burden on the private sector will be even worse with costs forecasted at around $150 million. Under the PROTECT IP Act, ISPs, search engines, and other parties are required to shut down websites that allegedly engaged in copyright infringement. As far as I know, it’s not that they’re convicted of copyright infringement and then ordered to be shut down. This applies to all sites accused of infringement, meaning that the government can force ANY website to shutdown based on an allegation. That seems like a violation of the first amendment.

Full Article

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