Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Wednesday, 12 February 2014

The European Union Times


Posted: 11 Feb 2014 02:49 PM PST

More than 6,000 websites, including Reddit, Tumblr, Mozilla, are taking part in an online protest against government surveillance. The action marks two years since website blackouts against SOPA and PIPA and commemorates Aaron Swartz’s death.
The February 11 online protest, going by the title ‘The Day We Fight Back’, is supposed to see around 6, 200 websites each host a large banner at the top reading “Dear internet, we’re sick of complaining about the NSA. We want new laws that curtail online surveillance.”
The banner enables US internet users to contact members of Congress directly via email or a computer telephone call link using Twilio Voice. They would then be able to ask legislators to oppose the FISA Improvements Act, which would strengthen the NSA surveillance legality and to support the USA Freedom Act, that would, conversely, curb the domestic surveillance power of intelligence agencies.
As for website visitors from outside US, they are urged to sign a petition in support of the principles against mass surveillance. The petition has already been signed by more than 100,000 people.
In addition, everyone is encouraged to change their social networks’ profile pictures, adding a #STOPTHENSA tag to them.
“Together we will push back against powers that seek to observe, collect, and analyze our every digital action,” states the movement’s website. “Together, we will make it clear that such behavior is not compatible with democratic governance. Together, if we persist, we will win this fight.”
The protests are not confined to the instantaneous, infinite and easily accessible realm of cyberspace. Over a dozen protest events are taking place worldwide from Denmark, Costa Rica and Serbia to Stockholm, with street theater taking place in some US cities. San Francisco is seeing masses of people aiding in the projection of an anti-surveillance image onto the side of an AT&T building as a speech is given by one of its former technicians, whistleblower Mark Klein.
More than 130,000 emails have been sent to Congress to protest the NSA’s mass surveillance, the organizers claim, while activists gather on Capitol Hill demanding a halt to the spying.
Electronic Frontier Foundation gave instructions on how to reach out to Congress with the text of the message. The campaigners say that Congress is getting over 7,000 calls an hour.
The Executive Director of Demand Progress, David Segal said, “Today the greatest threat to a free internet, and broader free society, is the National Security Agency’s mass spying regime.
“If Aaron were alive today he’d be on the front line, fighting back against these practices that undermine our ability to engage with each other as genuinely free human beings,” International Business Times reports.
“I’d like you to work to prevent the NSA from undermining encryption standards and to protect the privacy rights of non-Americans,” the script reads.
The day of online protest is “in celebration of the win against SOPA and PIPA two years ago.” Back then thousands of websites, including Wikipedia, Reddit and Flickr, went ‘dark’ to protest the bills, which were supposedly written to protect copyrighted material and which many believed would cripple the freedom of the internet.
The Day We Fight Back is also in memory of Aaron Swartz, a 26 year-old information transparency activist, who took his own life just over a year ago, having faced a standoff with the government.

When he was just 14, tech prodigy Swartz helped launch the first RSS feeds. By the time he turned 19, his company had merged with Reddit, which would become one of the most popular websites in the world.
But instead of living a happy life of a Silicon Valley genius, Swartz went on to champion a free internet, becoming a political activist calling for others to join.
“This isn’t something playing out on stage somewhere where big giants fight each other and you’ve got to sit and munch popcorn,” Swartz said in one of his interviews. “This is a fight you can join in. So if you go to domain progress.org and sign up, we’ve got actions every week. There are bills that are coming up that could crack down on internet freedom, companies trying to abuse their power. And it’s up to all of us to stop them.”
Aaron Swartz drew the FBI’s attention in 2008, when he downloaded and released about 2.7 million federal court documents from a restricted service. The government did not press charges because the documents were, in fact, public.
He was arrested in 2011, for downloading academic articles from a subscription-based research website at his university – with the intention of making them available to the public. Although, none of what he downloaded was classified, prosecutors wanted to put him in jail for 35 years.
Aaron Swartz
Friend and Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig, later described how the persecution had driven Swartz to the edge.
“When he saw all of his wealth gone and he recognized his parents were going to have to mortgage their house, so he can afford a lawyer to fight a government that treated him as if he were a 9/11 terrorist, as if what he was doing was threatening the infrastructure of the United States. When he saw that and he recognized how incredibly difficult that fight was going to be, of course he was depressed.”
Civil liberties advocates are now pushing for Congress to reform the anti-hacking law the government used to pursue Swartz .
Parker Higgins from the Electronic Frontier Foundation believes there’s still a lot to be done before politicians realize such relentless persecution is unacceptable.
“Unfortunately the government hasn’t changed its perception here,” Higgins told RT. “There was a proposal last year in the US legislature called ‘Aaron’s law’ that would address some of the biggest concerns that we have. But Aaron’s law still hasn’t advanced to the point where it’s passed or can be signed. In fact we’ve seen proposals to make our computer crime laws even harsher. And that’s something we need to keep working on until politicians who don’t have a great grasp of how technology works understand that this kind of persecution is unacceptable.”
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Posted: 11 Feb 2014 02:32 PM PST

The UK coalition government is facing mounting criticism for failing to do enough to prevent flooding, which has crippled parts of the country since almost two months ago.
The government’s response to the crisis was described as “very disorganized” by angry residents of English Thameside village of Datchet in Berkshire, who woke on Tuesday morning to witness their houses surrounded by water.
As water levels on the River Thames continued to rise, local people said they were waiting for the government to offer some help at least, but to no avail.
Frustrated residents in the southwest slammed the government authorities for failing to react quickly enough to help those affected by the devastation. Instead, volunteers are seen giving hand to people to come out of the water coming from the swollen River Thames.
The floods first hit southwest England around seven weeks ago, but they are now creeping eastwards towards London with several homes and businesses inundated.
Prime Minister David Cameron has visited the West Country in an attempt to personally oversee tackling the flooding, which has plunged the government into a bout of ministerial infighting over the handling of the situation.
On Monday, dramatic scenes could be seen in the commuter belt to the west of London with parts of towns such as Staines, Windsor and Datchet submerged by flooding from the River Thames.
This is while with more rain forecast, hundreds more homes face flooding and rail lines are set to suffer widespread disruption in affected areas.
All these come as the country’s Environment Agency has had to endure “massive” cuts to its budget since the Cameron government came to power.
Chris Smith, the agency’s chairman, said on Monday that he had warned the cabinet at the time that the budget cuts would undermine the agency’s ability to defend the country against flooding.
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Posted: 11 Feb 2014 02:17 PM PST


President Obama is mulling options in a case allegedly involving a phantom American terrorist operating form an unidentified country overseas.
U.S. officials say guidelines issued by the White House tie Obama’s hands despite the supposed threat posed by the terrorist living in a country that refuses to allow drone strikes against targets singled out by the Pentagon. The strikes were previously carried out by the CIA.
The unnamed American terrorist is described as an “al-Qaeda facilitator” responsible for attacks against American citizens abroad. According to U.S. officials the terrorist plans to engage in attacks with improvised explosive devices. The officials said the suspect is well guarded in a remote location and any attempt by the U.S. military to capture or kill him would be risky and more politically precarious than a drone strike.
The Justice Department is currently working with the Obama administration to make a case for attacking the unidentified American. A memo released by the Justice Department claims the government “has the right to kill US citizens if they pose an imminent threat.”
The government’s drone policy is unconstitutional. The Fifth Amendment states that “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process.” Accordingly, the federal government, under no circumstances, can deny any person’s individual rights without due process of law.
The dubious legal procedure that will likely be used in a targeted killing of the unnamed individual will undoubtedly resemble the one used to kill American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki. The attack in Yemen in 2011 also reportedly killed Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, Anwar’s sixteen year old son. Obama was “surprised and upset and wanted an explanation,” according to journalist Jeremy Scahill. Despite Obama’s alleged response, the government’s drone policy continued.
In December a U.S. drone strike killed fifteen people in Yemen who were on t heir way to a wedding. “An air strike missed its target and hit a wedding car convoy, ten people were killed immediately and another five who were injured died after being admitted to the hospital,” asecurity official said.
A number of nations, including Brazil, China and Venezuela, condemned the drones strikes at the United Nations last October. A delegation from the United States told a plenary meeting of the general assembly Obama has taken steps to introduce new standard and explain the international rationale for drone strikes. Drones are used primarily by the United States, the UK and Israel in military operations.
Amnesty International and other groups claim the strikes are war crimes. “Amnesty International has serious concerns that this attack violated the prohibition of the arbitrary deprivation of life and may constitute war crimes or extrajudicial executions,” a report issued by the group said. It called for those responsible to stand trial.
The new threat announced on Monday comes less than a week after Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican from Michigan who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, said Americans are in danger as a result of a reported limit on drone strikes.
“The President’s May 2013 policy changes for U.S. targeted strikes are an utter and complete failure and they leave Americans’ lives at risk,” Rogers said last week. “It’s been a very, very effective tool in disrupting the leadership of al Qaeda. I would be cautious about trying to shift around key assets in the government.”
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Posted: 11 Feb 2014 02:09 PM PST

A senior political analyst has suggested British Prime Minister David Cameron should resign if he really plans to retain Scotland in the UK.
In an interview with Press TV on Saturday, Ian Williams, Foreign Policy in Focus, London said Cameron’s resignation “would do wonders to get pro-union sentiment in the north.”
“The best thing he could do would be to resign and call another election and I think that another government in Westminster might well do a better job of persuading the Scots to stay in. If he thinks it’s that important he should make the sacrifice,” Williams stated.
He also noted that the British conservative leader is right to claim that the UK is going to fall apart if Scotland was to break away from it.
“Cameron … is one of the reasons why a lot of Scots are actually actively considering separating from the rest of the country because in England they’ve been returning conservative governments for a long time. In Scotland there isn’t a single conservative member in their local assembly,” he said.
The remarks came a day after the UK premier warned that the Scottish independence will jeopardize UK’s stability and damage its international reputation.
This is while, a recent poll showed a surge in support for a Yes vote in Scotland’s independence referendum.
According to the ICM poll, commissioned by Scotland on Sunday newspaper, support for independence has risen by 5 percent to 37 percent from 32 percent recorded in September 2013.
The survey of more than 1,000 over-16s between January 21 and 24 also found that support for a No vote in an independence referendum has dropped by 5 percent over the same period from 49 percent to 44 percent currently.
Scottish Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced in November last year that Scotland will have its independence day on 24 March 2016 if Scottish people vote to break away from the UK in a referendum on 18 September, 2014.
The independence referendum could result in Scotland’s break-up from the UK after more than 300 years of political union.
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Posted: 11 Feb 2014 02:00 PM PST

Less than two weeks after a rare winter storm paralyzed Georgia and wreaked havoc on the state’s roads and residents, Gov. Nathan Deal has declared a state of emergency as more snowfall is expected this week.
Gov. Nathan announced that 14 counties in central and northern Georgia are under a state of emergency due to the upcoming winter storm warning issued by the National Weather Service.
The move comes after Deal was criticized for a lackluster response to Georgia’s last winter storm on January 28, which dropped about 2.6 inches of snow in Atlanta and other areas. Thousands of drivers were left stranded on roads as a result, sparking comparisons to apocalyptic “end of the world” scenarios seen in popular culture such as “The Walking Dead” TV show.
Hoping to avoid a repeat of that event, Deal announced that emergency response crews have been put on alert and are preparing for the storm’s arrival.
“I have directed the State Patrol, Department of Transportation and Department of Natural Resources to begin moving assets toward areas where the snow and ice are expected, and I have issued a ‘warning order’ for the National Guard — an advance notice to personnel of the possibility of a ‘call up’ for a state mission,” Deal said, according to Atlanta’s local WSB-TV news outlet.
“At the moment, local meteorologists are advising us to expect a ‘major storm’ that could bring significant levels of snow and ice. We have passed along this latest weather information to school superintendents and local emergency management agencies.”
According to the National Weather Service, the storm is expected to drop between one and three inches of snow in 14 Georgia counties – Banks, Cherokee, Dawson, Fannin, Forsyth, Gilmer, Hall, Jackson, Lumpkin, Murray, Pickens, Towns, Union, and White. Between two and four additional inches of snow could also fall between Tuesday night and early Thursday morning.
“Rain Monday night will mix with and possibly change over to snow or a snow/sleet mix by sunrise Tuesday morning,” the Weather Service told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Precipitation will likely change back over to rain before transitioning again back to a mix of rain, sleet and snow Tuesday evening. By Wednesday morning, expect a mix of sleet and freezing rain, finally transitioning back to snow by Thursday morning.”
Along with the accumulation of snow comes the possibility that the storm could cause thick layers of ice to form, downing trees and power lines and leaving residents without heat or electricity. According to Deal, he has accounted for this possibility as well.
“We’ve included health officials and power companies in our preparations because heavy downfalls of ice can knock out power supply,” Deal said. “I want to make sure we’re reaching out to health care facilities so they can have backup plans in place.”
As for the driving conditions that caused such a media stir during the last storm, Deal is encouraging all motorists to be off the roads by early Monday evening so that crews can treat them for incoming snowfall.
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Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 21:55