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Archive for Surveillance

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Thursday 2nd September 2010

Government Online Surveillance and Your Bad Attitude

This great Dilbert cartoon perfectly captures how surveillance breeds distrust.
The feds are spying on us left and right, and yet politicians whine that we don’t trust the government.
At least not everyone’s a damn fool on that regard. (No - this isn’t the cue to recite the Pledge of Allegiance….)

Wednesday 4th August 2010

My 2 Cents on WikiLeaks, the FBI, and Assorted Hokum - Antiwar.com Transcript

The good folks at Antiwar.com Radio added a transcript to the MP3 of last week’s interview. My comments on the Obama administration’s ploy to increase FBI surveillance power are excerpted here at the top. (The full text is below. My Kelly Girl past is now no longer secret).
Bovard:
National Security letters have [...]

Tuesday 3rd August 2010

New U.S. Government Motto: Controlling Us to Secure Us

“If you don’t have control of the population, you can’t secure the population,” according to Brig. Gen. Frederick Hodges, director of operations for the NATO regional command in southern Afghanistan.
The front-page Washington Post piece with the above quote deals with Kandahar.
But it is also the motto for the U.S. government’s approach to [...]

Saturday 31st July 2010

MP3 of My Interview with Scott Horton on the FBI, WikiLeaks, Etc.

Scott Horton of Antiwar.com Radio and I had fun tarring-and-feathering the usual federal outrages on Thursday. The MP3 is here.
Scott balked at the chance to reveal his deepest thoughts on Chelsea’s wedding. It could have been a great “Bill Hicks moment.”
Here’s Scott’s thumbnail of the interview:
James Bovard, author of Attention Deficit Democracy, [...]

Wednesday 21st July 2010

The Media’s Attitude Towards Government Surveillance

This 1990 New Yorker cartoon perfectly captures the usual media attitude towards government surveillance in the post-9/11 world.
Happily, today’s Washington Post blockbuster does not show the same complacency.

Monday 19th July 2010

Best Comical Response to Wash. Post “Top Secret America” Series?

The Washington Post series on “Top Secret America” by Dana Priest and Bill Arkin is off to a great start.
I am shocked to learn that the federal government has little or no idea what the hell it is doing.
I expect some conservatives will want to indict the Post reporters and editors for treason….
What are [...]

Friday 9th July 2010

“Freedom & the War on Terrorism” - my Pennslyvania speech…

Now online here: the video of my “Freedom and the War on Terrorism” speech last month in Bernville, Pennsylvania. I want to thank Bob Bowers, who organized this libertarian supper club, for inviting Jacob Hornberger and I to talk there. The audience was excellent - lots of hardliners full of fire-and-brimstone. [...]

Thursday 27th May 2010

The Worldwide Downfall of Democracy

From the July issue of the American Conservative - my review of a fine new book -
Global Undemocratic Revolution

Freedom for Sale: Why the World Is Trading Democracy for Security, John Kampfner, Basic Books, 294 pages
By James Bovard
Freedom for Sale is the best synopsis of the recent collapse of restraints on government [...]

Wednesday 28th April 2010

Make All Politicians Wear Microphones All the Time

9:31 pm | Democracy | Surveillance | Uncategorized | Comments: 0

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was wearing a microphone for a TV station as he went out and talked to the common people. But he ran into one elderly ingrate who didn’t burnish his boots.
After he got back into his chauffeured car, he groused that the woman was a “bigot” and wanted to [...]

Tuesday 20th April 2010

The Slippery Definition of Extremism

The Future of Freedom Foundation is shotgunning out this op-ed today….

The Slippery Definition of Extremism
by James Bovard
Americans are once again hearing of the perils of extremism. But the definition of this offense is slippier than a politicianâ€™s campaign promise. The definition of extremism has continually been amended to permit government policies that few sober people [...]

Thursday 15th April 2010

Podcast of Census-Bashing Interview on Free Talk Live

Mark Edge of Free Talk Live interviewed me yesterday on the Census, government surveillance, and other perils of our times.
The podcast is here. My interview is the final 20 minutes of the 2+ hour program.
I did not see the interview listed as a separate downloadable file. If I missed something [...]

Friday 2nd April 2010

My CPAC Interview with Bill Jasper, Liberty News Network

When I visited the Conservative Political Action Conference earlier this year, I talked with Bill Jasper about the state of the Republic.

I was relieved to see that, according to the logo on that page, the interview was rated “G.”

Extremist Blogs Could be Next!!!!

From today’s Washington Post website -
“FBI warns extremist letters may encourage violence”
By EILEEN SULLIVAN and DEVLIN BARRETT
The Associated Press
Friday, April 2, 2010; 9:34 AM
….
The article ominously notes: ” In the past year, federal agents have seen an increase in “chatter” from an array of domestic extremist groups, which can include radical self-styled militias, white separatists [...]

Wednesday 31st March 2010

Federal Judge: Bush Administration Was Criminal Conspiracy

Federal judge Vaughn Walker ruled today that the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program was illegal.
This has been obvious ever since the New York Times blew the lid off of the National Security Administration’s massive surveillance operation in late 2005. It is amazing that the issue is still open to dispute.
Unfortunately, there is not a [...]

Tuesday 30th March 2010

New York Times: My Two Cents on How to Respond to the Census

9:33 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Census | Surveillance | Comments: 0

The New York Times on Wednesday has a piece on the controversy over the Census. It includes my two cents on how to respond to the feds:
â€œThe census has become a lightning rod, and itâ€™s drawing peopleâ€™s attention to the danger of federal surveillance,â€ said James Bovard, an author and former census taker who [...]

Wednesday 24th March 2010

How Germans Fought & Beat an Intrusive Census

1:32 pm | Surveillance | Comments: 2

This article ran in the Detroit News, the Washington Times (which ran a great cartoon with the piece), and a few other places.
DATELINE: HAMBURG, WEST GERMANY @ June 1987
[...]

Christian Science Monitor: The Census is Untrustworthy

10:05 am | Attention Deficit Democracy | Obama | Surveillance | Comments: 5

posted today (and in their national weekly print edition) by the Christian Science Monitor -
My 2 favorite lines from this piece - *A surplus of lies naturally produces a deficit of trust.
*Citizens are not obliged to pave the data highway for Leviathanâ€™s next intrusion into their lives.
*******
The 2010 Census: Will Your Answers Stay [...]

Wednesday 17th March 2010

Is the FBI Your Friend on Facebook?

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has released internal federal documents detailing how FBI agents are creating false or deceptive profiles online to gather more personal information on Americans.
From the Associated Press story:

U.S. law enforcement agents are following the rest of the Internet world into popular social-networking services, going undercover with false online profiles to communicate [...]

Friday 5th March 2010

FBI Bankrolling Bloggers Advocating Murder?

9:17 pm | FBI | Surveillance | wool | Comments: 8

The Associated Press story on the New Jersey guy who advocating killing federal judges reveals that the bloodthirsty blogger was apparently a paid FBI informant.
A right-wing New Jersey blogger charged with threatening federal judges told a
jury Thursday that his racist Internet rants were an FBI-sanctioned ruse to “flush out” dangerous neo-Nazi and white supremacist [...]

Thursday 4th February 2010

My Early Optimism on the War on Terror & Civil Liberties

I had forgotten about the following riff until stumbling across it a few days ago.
In late September 2001, Reason magazine asked a handful of folks “to discuss which civil lliberties they thought were most at risk in what has been called America’s first 21st century war.” They published the responses in an article entitled, [...]

Thursday 22nd October 2009

On Fox News “Freedom Watch” Friday (10/23) at @ 12:15 pm

Fox News’ Judge Napolitano interviewed me today regarding how the Patriot Act allows the feds to plunder the cash of innocent Americans. This is a damned outrage that Congress is definitely not fixing with the current Patriot Act “reform” legislation.
You can watch the program online here tomorrow (Friday). It airs between [...]

Thursday 24th September 2009

Antiwar Interview on Ashcroft, Tyranny, etc. now online

Scott Horton and I had a rollicking good chat earlier this week on the post 9/11 roundup of innocent terrorist suspects, why John Ashcroft should receive “justice” (and hard), the outrage of sovereign immunity, and the bisexual congresswoman entrapped by a lesbian foreign agent.
You can hear it here.
[If that link doesn't work, hit this [...]

Tuesday 16th June 2009

Are You a “Low-Level Terrorist”?

The Pentagon is teaching soldiers and bureaucrats that people who attend public protests are guilty of “low-level terrorism.”
As a California political blog notes, “Among the multiple-choice questions included in its Level 1 Antiterrorism Awareness training course â€“ an annual training requirement for all DoD personnel that is fulfilled through web-based instruction â€“ the DoD [...]

Tuesday 21st April 2009

Pity for a Constitution Stomper?

Congresswoman Jane Harman is indignant. A National Security Agency wiretap reportedly picked up her conversation seeking favors from a suspected Israeli agent in return for Harman lobbying the Justice Department to drop the lawsuit against AIPAC’s former top officials.
Harman denies the charge and swears that her good name has been defiled. (Har!). Harman sent [...]

Thursday 16th April 2009

On Katherine Albrecht Radio Show Today (4/16) at 5 pm Eastern

1:37 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | Surveillance | Comments: 0

I will be interviewed on Internet radio today at 5 pm by Katherine Albrecht, the author of the influential expose Spychips and a leading anti-surveillance activist.
You can listen live here [click on Stream 2]
The show will also be available for 24 hours here. [click on 0416092.mp3 ]

Friday 12th December 2008

Are Democrats Better on Surveillance?

The Future of Freedom Foundation posted online today my article from their September Freedom Daily on the forgotten sordid history of the Clinton administration and the Democratic Party on surveillance.
Are Democrats Better on Privacy and Surveillance?
by James Bovard
The Bush administration has probably illegally violated Americansâ€™ privacy more than any presidency in at least a generation. [...]

Wednesday 24th October 2007

Drunk Driving Checkpoints vs. Freedom

The Future of Freedom Foundation posted online a piece I wrote for their Freedom Daily on the scourge of drunk driving checkpoints.
DRUNK DRIVING CHECKPOINTS: EVERY DRIVER GUILTY
by James Bovard
Tens of thousands of innocent Americans are stopped each month at police checkpoints that treat every driver as a criminal. These checkpoints, supposedly started to target drunk [...]

Wednesday 29th August 2007

The “Terrorist” Batting Average

The Future of Freedom Foundation today posted online my article from the June 2007 Freedom Daily on the Bush administration’sÂ endlessly inaccurate terrorist accusations. Â The title of the piece is about as close to baseball as I have gotten in the last decade or so.
The â€œTerroristâ€ Batting Average
by James Bovard
For almost six years, the Bush administration [...]

Saturday 16th June 2007

Finally! My Northwest Territory Breakthrough!

I’ll be on in Yellowknife at 7:35 a.m. Monday.
Maybe even better, I’ll be on in Gander at 7:20 a.m. and in Whitehorse at 8:30 a.m.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation will be doing a series of 6 minute interviews with me Monday morn.Â Canada is adapting a U.S.-style “No Fly List.”Â The CBC wants me to offer some [...]

Tuesday 24th October 2006

Great Cartoon Bashing NSA Wiretaps on Americans

Newsday’s Walt Handelsman, aided by Roy Furchgott, has a wonderful animated cartoon featuring singing spies.Â The cartoon is here.
This makes the National Security Agency wiretap issue so simple even a congressman might be able to get the point.Â PerhapsÂ congressmen will respond by merely adding an amendment to a “spying legalization” billÂ to prohibit the feds from [...]

Friday 21st July 2006

Boston Globe: The ‘Terrorist’ Batting Average

The Boston Globe ran my piece today on how the Bush administration almost always strikes out when it accuses people of being terrorists.Â Here’s the text:
The ‘terrorist’ batting average
By James BovardÂ |Â July 21, 2006Â Â Â Boston Globe
AFTER THE US Supreme Court’s recent decision limiting military tribunals, Congress is scrambling to pass a law regarding trials [...]

Friday 30th June 2006

Wall Street Journal replies to my hit on Bush’s illegal financial surveillance

2:34 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | Surveillance | Comments: 4

from today’s lead Wall Street Journal editorial:
Â ”Since the Treasury story broke, as it happens, no one but Congressman Ed Markey and a few cranks have even objected to the program, much less claimed illegality.”
I look forward to the Journal editorial page’s updates on this subject as news leaks out about how this surveillance program ran [...]

Wednesday 28th June 2006

My hit on Bush’s Illegal Financial Surveillance

From the Baltimore Sun
Surveillance of financial transactions goes too far
By James Bovard
June 28, 2006
The Bush administration admitted that it was conducting warrantless surveillance of the financial transactions of Americans and others only after newspapers exposed the program. According to some Republicans, the solution is to imprison journalists who blow the whistle on government wrongdoing.
Shortly after [...]

Monday 26th June 2006

On New York / New Jersey TV tonight (Monday, 6 26)

12:21 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Bovard | Surveillance | Comments: 0

I will be interviewed on the Richard French show this evening on Regional Network News.Â This news network covers NY, NJ, Conn., and is also available on Direct TV and the Dish Network. Channel infoÂ is here.
The 15 minute interview will deal with the Bush administration’s vacuuming up of Americans’ financial records, as well as [...]

Friday 23rd June 2006

On Fox News Hannity & Colmes tonight 9:30 (friday)

Just finished an interview/debate on MSNBC on the New York Times’ illegal surveillance.
I will be onÂ Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes tonight atÂ 9:30 debating the same program. Â
Should be a barrel of monkeys.
LATER:
***POST-SHOW POSTSCRIPT: OK, so much for the barrel forecast.Â Major snafu (this blog aspires to family friendly language, except for fan mail) with the [...]

FFF Posts my hit on Bush’s Wiretap Crimes

The Future of Freedom Foundation today posted my hit on “Bush’s Wiretap Crimes & the FISA Farce.”
It is amazing howÂ so many commentators haveÂ preserved perfect ignorance regarding the laws that the Bush administration is trampling.

Tuesday 13th June 2006

My NSA Bash - “Reach out & Tap Someone”

The American Conservative today placed online my piece on NSA wiretapping here.
June 19, 2006 The American Conservative
Reach Out and Tap Someone
The NSAâ€™s surveillance program undermines the rule of law without producing real gains in security.
By James Bovard
The National Security Agency has been tracking the calls of millions of Americans and constructing the â€œlargest database ever [...]

Monday 8th May 2006

Perjury as a Job Qualification for Bush Administration

Michael Hayden, the former chief of the National Security Agency, was nominated today by President Bush to be the new chief of the CIA.
Thus far, there have been no reports linking Hayden to hookers & poker games at the Watergate.
While serving as NSA chief, Hayden deceived Congress in October 17, 2002 testimony regarding the Foreign [...]

Tuesday 21st March 2006

My Cheney Tribute is now online

The American Conservative has posted my piece on Cheney’sÂ revelation that he is exempt from federal law regarding national security secrets. Here are a few paragraphs from the piece:
The â€œmy wish is the lawâ€™s commandâ€? attitude towards disclosure and secrecy has permeated the Bush administration. From shortly after 9/11, the Bush team sought to drop an [...]

Sunday 12th March 2006

American Conservative prints my hit on Lawless Dick Cheney

The new issue of American Conservative (3/27/06) contains my hit on Cheney’s latest lawlessness.Â Â Here is the first paragraph:
“The biggest surprise from the shooting of Harry Worthington was Dick Cheneyâ€™s announcement that he is entitled to declassify national security secrets. Such declassifications raise the question of whether the president and vice president possess unlimited discretion to [...]

Wednesday 8th March 2006

National Security Agency spying piece now online + Update

9:40 am | Congress | Surveillance | Wiretapping | Comments: 2

My review on James Risen’s A State of War is now online at American Conservative.
The spying scandal continues to show Washington at its best. Yesterday, Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee agreed to support a legislative reform to the FISA law to legalize Bush’s actions.
One key change:Â Â Feds would be allowed to wiretap Americans’ phones [...]

Monday 27th February 2006

FFF Launches my Op-ed on Surveillance; early hate mail

10:53 pm | Attention Deficit Democracy | Surveillance | Comments: 8

The Future of Freedom Foundation posted & sent out today my op-ed on how the current NSA wiretapping scandal paves the way to repeat police state atrocities of the 1960s.Â Here are a couple paragraphs from the piece:
Many Americans have shrugged off the recent controversy over illegal wiretaps because they assume that the government would [...]

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