Tag Archives: surveillance culture

Guilty until proven innocent in the age of ubiquitous electronic surveillance

By Mark | June 6, 2013

Upon taking office, President Obama issued a memorandum on the subject of transparency: “My Administration,” he said, “is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged 9/11, 9/11 changed everything, Al Gore, AOL, Apple, Bernie Sanders, Bradley Manning, Bush, Constitution, Dianne Feinstein, domestic spying, EFF, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Facebook, FBI, FISA, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, Glenn Greenwald, Google, Microsoft, national security, National Security Agency, NSA, Obama, PalTalk, Patriot Act, PRISM, privacy, Protect America Act, Russ Feingold, Russell Tice, Skype, surveillance, Surveillance State, telecommunications, threats to Democracy, Verizon, war on drugs, War on Terror, whistle blower, Yahoo, YouTube | 35 Comments

I heard someone today say, “We know that he did it. We’ve seen the video. We don’t need a trial.”

By Mark | April 21, 2013

I should preface what I’m about to say by noting that I’m not a conspiracy theorist… at least when it comes to last week’s bombing in Boston. I suspect it’s probably the case, given what I’ve read thus far, that Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev carried out the attack that cost three individuals, one of whom […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, Uncategorized | Also tagged bombs, Boston, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, innocent until proven guilty, putting innocent men to death, surveillance, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, terrorism, Timothy McVeigh | 54 Comments

UC Davis Chancellor escorted from her office as hundreds of students line her path, staring in deafening silence

By Mark | November 20, 2011

By now, you’ve probably seen the the footage of the UC Davis students being pepper sprayed. It’s disgusting stuff. The students are sitting down in a line, across a sidewalk, protesting recent tuition hires, and, ironically enough, episodes of police brutality elsewhere in the University of California system. They are peaceful. No one is yelling. […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, Other, Uncategorized | Also tagged bullying, Celeste Langan, coughing up blood, Eastern Michigan University, Geoffrey O’Brien, Glen Greenwald, higher education, Joe Paterno, John Pike, kids today, Linda Katehi, Linda P.B. Katehi, Nathan Brown, non-violence, Penn State, pepper spray, police brutality, police state, Robert Hass, shame, solidarity, student activism, students today aren't worth a damn, surveilance, Surveillance State, tuition protests, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, University of California, University of Michigan, violence vs non-violence, walk of shame | 22 Comments

Juan Cole on the spread of democracy in the Muslim world, and the anti-democratic legacy of 9/11 at home

By Mark | September 11, 2011

As reluctant as I am to jump on the “Let’s Milk the 10th Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks for Ratings and Ad Revenue” bandwagon, I just read a very thoughtful piece by U-M history professor Juan Cole, and felt as though it deserved to be passed along. Here’s a clip. I’d encourage you, however, to […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, History, Politics | Also tagged 9/11, Abu Ghraib, al Qaeda, Arab Spring, Bush, Bush administration, CIA, democracy, democracy protests, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, Juan Cole, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, Qaddafi, Tahrir Square, terrorism, threats to Democracy, Tunisia, two state solution, war for oil, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali | 14 Comments

FBI reads Reddit, tracks Redditor without warrant

By Mark | October 10, 2010

Last week, a guy on Reddit posted a photo of a weird device that was found strapped beneath his roommate’s car. (A mechanic had found it while working on the car.) Well, it turned out to be a tracking device, and the FBI has since asked for the unit back. It would seem that the […]