Wear Nice Underwear

You need to start paying more attention to your underwear

Giving Transportation Security Administration agents a peek under your clothes may soon be a practice that goes well beyond airport checkpoints. Newly uncovered documents show that as early as 2006, the Department of Homeland Security has been planning pilot programs to deploy mobile scanning units that can be set up at public events and in train stations, along with mobile x-ray vans capable of scanning pedestrians on city streets.

The non-profit Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) on Wednesday published documents it obtained from the Department of Homeland Security showing that from 2006 to 2008 the agency planned a study of of new anti-terrorism technologies that EPIC believes raise serious privacy concerns. The projects range from what the DHS describes as “a walk through x-ray screening system that could be deployed at entrances to special events or other points of interest” to “covert inspection of moving subjects” employing the same backscatter imaging technology currently used in American airports.

Rethinking the Escape

I've considered the UK a potential alternative to staying in the states after the meltdown but with some of the latest developments in 'big brother' I might have to rethink that whole scenario. The thought of spy drones circling over the Cotswold's or the Peaks just doesn't seem proper.

Police in the UK are planning to use unmanned spy drones, controversially deployed in Afghanistan, for the ­"routine" monitoring of antisocial motorists, ­protesters, agricultural thieves and fly-tippers,¹ in a significant expansion of covert state surveillance.
The arms manufacturer BAE Systems, which produces a range of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for war zones, is adapting the military-style planes for a consortium of government agencies led by Kent police.
....Five other police forces have signed up to the scheme, which is considered a pilot preceding the countrywide adoption of the technology for "surveillance, monitoring and evidence gathering". The partnership's stated mission is to introduce drones "into the routine work of the police, border authorities and other government agencies" across the UK.

¹British slang for people who illegally dump trash anywhere other than an authorized landfill.

Your Papers Citizen

It's only a matter of time before it's "Your papers citizen?". Steve at YDD has the dope but let's just say the Department of Hopeless Insecurity has just lowered the bar one more time. Here is a snip but you really need to read the whole thing at Steve's.

Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.

[snip]

The policies state that officers may "detain" laptops "for a reasonable period of time" to "review and analyze information." This may take place "absent individualized suspicion."

The policies apply to any and everything that can store digital or analog information such as flash drives, IPods, cell phones, BlackBerry's you name it. Notice they have just brushed aside "probable cause" and "unreasonable search" with nary a sniffle for our lost rights.

Madam and I are heading across the pond on Tuesday and this little jewel made me decide to leave the laptop at home. The Fallenmonk will go dark for a couple of weeks unless someone wants to volunteer to play in my sandbox while I am away.

Don't Travel Internationally with Sensitive Data

Steve at YDD alerts us to the fact that U.S. Customs is seizing laptops, thumb drives and even digital camera storage media from people returning from overseas. The bottom line is that if you have any sensitive or personal information on you laptop or any other digital device then it is best to leave it at home. They worst part is that they are doing this without warrants or even probable cause. What a mess!

Rolled Again!

I'm about to hit the road again and head home to Atlanta. While I am driving (and trying to stay awake) the House will be having a sham debate and voting on George Bush and Steny Hoyer's disastrous and fatally flawed FISA bill. This bill is a complete cave in to the criminal George Bush and his equally criminal minions. It gives him and the telecoms everthing they want. I had mistakenly thought that the days of cowering before Bush were over but it looks like I was seriously wrong. I mean really, Bush's approval rating is 29%. But even though he is a complete lame duck he has somehow managed to roll the Democratic Majority Leadership one more time. Do you think Shrub has pictures of them doing disgusting things with animals or something? What other excuse could there be?

Last night on Keith Olbermann Keith's guest, legal scholar Jonathan Turley, called the new bill an "evisceration of the Fourth Amendment." He also stated "This bill has quite literally no public value for citizens or civil liberties."

This is not the way to start a weekend. If you can you might try calling your Congressman...I've emailed mine but he is a Shrub toady so it was a waste of time.

They'll Never Tell

Is this a great country or what? According the Supremes you can't sue over being secretly wiretapped by the government unless you can prove you were wiretapped and the only proof is in the government's hands and it is secret. You lose!We lose!

It begs the question of why there can't be a panel convened that has the proper clearance to review who was in fact wiretapped illegally and let them be notified. It might be, of course, that there were so many illegal actions that it is an impossible task. Even if it only applied to people that have made overseas calls the number would be huge. I know from experience that the government default action is to capture everything and then sort through it later. We'll never know. Well you might know when no one can explain why, all of a sudden, you are on the no fly list.

Is this a great country or what?

Christy over at Firedoglake has all the legal beagle stuff.

Where Did the Democrats Go?

From Firedoglake:

The US Constitution and the principle that no one is above the law suffered a numbing setback, Tuesday, when every Republican Senator, Independent Joe Lieberman and 18 faux Democrats voted to gut the Constitution's Fourth Amendment, one of the most important bulwarks again tyrannical government since 1789. The Senate voted 68 - 29 to ratify the President's massive illegal spying program and provide immunity for the telecoms who invaded the privacy of millions of innocent Americans.

The Fourth Amendment has been handed down to us unchanged for over two centuries:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

[snip]

Not one of the 49 Senate Republicans stood up for the Fourth Amendment. And there are nearly 20 weak Democrats who simply cannot be relied upon to stand against the Republicans when fundamental rights are at stake.

These Democratic Senators will forever be remembered as having failed their oaths to preserve and protect the Constitution on one or more key votes. Bayh, Inouye, Johnson, Landrieu, McCaskill, Ben Nelson, Bill Nelson, Stabenow, Feinstein, Kohl, Pryor, Rockefeller, Salazar, Carper, Mikulski, Conrad, Webb, and Lincoln. Whitehouse voted to mitigate the worst provisions, but ultimately voted for the Bill; Feinstein voted against stripping immunity but then voted for the bill.

[snip]

As Jane said yesterday, it's up to the House to stop this disgraceful bill. Sign the petition to tell them not to cave like the Senate did.

More from C&L, emptywheel, Glenn Greenwald, ACLU, and two Constitutional heroes, Feingold and Dodd

Read the whole thing and then sign the petition.

Hold Your Breath

One of my co-workers ( one of the few non-wingnut ones) alerted me to the following.

The Washington Post reports that U.S. Customs officers have been asking some travelers to open their laptops and hand over their passwords so that the data on the hard drives can be inspected.

As my coworker said, it is getting really hard to keep up with all the civil liberties lost in the name of homeland insecurity, but I'm pretty sure I would have remembered reading something about the dissolution of the 4th Amendment.

Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

What Do The Have On Reid?

Should be an interesting day in the Senate. Supposedly, Harry Reid will bring a FISA fix bill to the floor today, this is supposed to be a bill that corrects some of the worst problems with the Protect America Act. That's the bill that Congress rushed through last August just before recess because of some fake "threats" supposedly by al Qaeda.

Here is the deal. Yesterday, the Senate received a closed door briefing from DNI McConnell, and AG Mukasey. I can't imagine what kind of sunshine was pumped up kilts by McConnell and Mukasey in order to scare the Senators this time? What dire calamity will befall America if the Telcos don't get retroactive immunity? Maybe Osama will steal Christmas. The administration is dead set on granting retroactive immunity to the Telcos and I can imagine will do anything to keep the whole story on the back burner.

The show is all about Telco immunity this time and the choice is Harry Reid's. He has a choice of which of two bills he can bring to the floor. The Intelligence Committee reported out their "fix" of the bill which includes Telco amnesty. The Judiciary Committee reported one that doesn't include it.

Fourteen members of Reid's caucus, including all of the presidential candidates, are on record expressly asking Reid to to make the FISA bill passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) the base bill to be considered on the Senate floor. That's the one that doesn't include amnesty. Or he can bring the bill that the administration wants to the floor that will be more likely to keep the record of illegal spying by this administration hidden from the courts.

Word has it that Reid is going to reject the request of his fellow Democrats, and bring Telco amnesty to the floor in the form of the Intelligence Committee bill. I have absolutely no idea why he thinks this is a good idea. Remember that Chris Dodd has stated his intent to place a hold on any amnesty bill, and even mount a potential filibuster by his own caucus. Reid intends to offer the Judiciary bill as an amendment to Intelligence committee bill which pretty much means it will fail. You really have to ask yourself whose side Reid is on.

Here's what the NYT editorial page has to say:

Mr. Bush, of course, wants fewer, not more, restrictions and wants those powers to be made permanent. He also wants amnesty for telecommunications companies that gave Americans’ private data to the government for at least five years without a warrant.

Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, seems intent on doing the president’s bidding. He has indicated that instead of the Judiciary Committee’s bill, he may put on the floor a deeply flawed measure from the Senate Intelligence Committee that dangerously expands the government’s powers and gives undeserved amnesty to the telecommunications companies. The White House says amnesty is intended to ensure future cooperation but seems truly aimed at making sure the public never learns the extent of the companies’ involvement in illegal wiretapping.

That will leave Democratic senators like Christopher Dodd and Russ Feingold in the absurd position of having to stage filibusters against their own party’s leadership to try to forestall more harm to civil liberties.

If Reid does go this way he will not only be going against Feingold and Dodd but also be going against Senators Biden, Clinton, and Obama, all of whom promised to support Dodd's filibuster, if it became necessary.

I have a real fear that Reid is not going to stand up to Shrub on this and I would sure like to know why. We need some real leadership in the Senate and this would be a good place to start.

Thought Crimes are Next

Action alert from Jeralyn at Talk Left:

Contact your Senators today and urge them to refuse to pass the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. As I wrote a month ago, it’s a thought crimes bill aimed at preventing domestic terrorism by judging the thoughts, including those expressed on the Internet, of American citizens.

This is really a piece of work from a legislative point of view I cannot really understand how it passed with such a huge margin in the house. This is a very dangerous bill just on precedent and should be rejected completely. It is in direct conflict with both the first and fourth amendments. Hop over to Talk Left and see for yourself.

If You Are Not Guilty Then Why Do You Need Immunity?

Update: According to Christy Hardin Smith at Firedoglake via e-mail from Liz Rose of the ACLU on the draft Senate version of the FISA bill, which is not yet publicly available and not being widely shared for review either:

…the Senate bill (Committee draft) does contain immunity/amnesty for the telecom companies…Including retroactive immunity for anything they’ve done wrong in cooperating in illegal domestic spying for the past six years.

This is not acceptable. If you are available to make some phone calls Christy has all the numbers posted.
updated at 1205p 10/11/07

This is absolutely rich. George the Decider is now insisting that Congress give retroactive immunity to the telecom companies who helped him spy illegally on me and millions of other American citizens, and if they don't, he's going to, by God, veto the domestic spying bill.

From the AP:

President Bush said Wednesday that he will not sign a new eavesdropping bill if it does not grant retroactive immunity to U.S. telecommunications companies that helped conduct electronic surveillance without court orders.

I say fine. Let him veto the legislation he is insisting is desperately needed to keep the nation's virgins safe from being despoiled by hordes of brown terrorists who are, right this very second , poised on their camels and itching to ride through your neighborhood.

Bush and his shills have been been insisting for years that all the domestic spying he was doing was legal. Even AT&T told us that their spying was legal. Excuse me, but I have to ask if all this spying on their fellow Americans was legal then why do they need immunity? If everything they did and are doing is legal then why does Bush the Incompetent have his skivvies in such a knot over this?

All I have to say is that if the Democrats give into Bush on this it will be because they are on the take from the telecoms...can't be another reason. Bush is at 28% in the polls and that means he is charge only if you let him be. Let's let the courts decide if the telecoms and Bush spied on us illegally and not grant them immunity without America getting some answers and their day in court. It is not the job of Congress to decide guilt or innocence but that of the courts. Let's let the Constitution be the rule here for a change.