Government – Page 506 – Public Intelligence Blog

Privacy Board Urges New Criteria for Secrecy

The public controversy that erupted over NSA bulk collection of Americans’ telephone records was a clear sign, if one were needed, that the boundaries of government secrecy had been drawn incorrectly, and that the public had been wrongly denied an opportunity to grant or withhold its consent in such cases.

To remedy this systemic problem, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board said in a new report yesterday that the government needs to develop new criteria for secrecy and openness.

Continue reading “Stephen Aftergood: Privacy Board Urges New Criteria for (Reduced) Secrecy”

2014/01/24

SchwartzReport: CITIZENS UNITED Treason Playing Out at State Level Now

Commerce, Corruption, Government

Citizens United is perhaps the the worst Supreme Court decision since Dred Scott v. Sandford. One resulted in a Civil War, the other is destroying democracy. I am astonished how little citizen outcry there is about this. The pernicious effects have extended into the State level, which is even more vulnerable to influence and money. Having met a considerable number of them over the years I would observe State legislators, as a rule, are not very sophisticated in governance. Everything is more naked. And if there are term limits its even worse. The real power comes to reside in a permanent civil service that become tightly interlinked with special interests. And the effect on a state elective judiciary is proving to be devastating.

Four Years After Citizens United: Is Campaign Cash Buying Justice in State Courts?
MIKE LUDWIG – Truthout

2014/01/23

Owl: Ralph Nader on Internet Wrongful Secrecy, Snares and Delusions

Commerce, Corruption, Government, IO Impotency

Expect to Get “Mice Print” or Little or Nothing When Looking for Public Information

Ralph Nader debunks a major myth about the Internet: the assumption that government and important public information is accessible or easily so. As he shows, in many cases, not so at all:

“Information technology (IT), now the supplier of millions of jobs, does not have its own value-based imperative. The power structure is very selective about what this technology can access so as to keep the power in its concentrating corporate and governmental hands. For an example, you need only look to how franticly government agencies react when whistleblowers like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden tear aside the curtains and reveal widespread mischief or criminal activity.

Consider a sample of what a selective information age keeps away from our fingertips, away from the Cloud, and away from your smartphones:

Continue reading “Owl: Ralph Nader on Internet Wrongful Secrecy, Snares and Delusions”

2014/01/23

Jean Lievens: Peru Providing Solar Electricity to the Poor Via National Program

01 Poverty, 05 Energy, Ethics, Government

From blog.p2pfoundation.net – January 22, 7:57 PM

Peru, where currently only some 66% of the population has access to electricity, will install solar panels in a National Photovoltaic Household Electrification Program for 500,000 of the poorest households.

The project, which was kicked off recently in Contumaza province with the installation of some 1600 solar panels, will eventually provide electricity to many Peruvians who now lack it.

It is estimated that by the end of 2016, 95% of the population will have at least basic electricity from a solar panel installed on their house.

Continue reading “Jean Lievens: Peru Providing Solar Electricity to the Poor Via National Program”

2014/01/22

Jean Lievins: YouTube (4:20) Positive Money – 3 Changes to Banking Fix the Economy, Eliminate Debt

Commerce, Corruption, Government

Jan 16, 2014

If someone told you that a mountain of personal debt could be cleared via 3 simple changes to the way that money and banking works, would you like to know how? Would you like to see a more stable economy, with more jobs, less personal and government debt? Would you like to see money created free of debt and going into the real economy and support businesses, instead of getting trapped in financial and property markets?
This video explains how 3 simple changes to the way that money and banking works would make all this (and much more) possible.

Positive Money is a not-for-profit research and campaign group. They work to raise awareness of the connections between our current monetary and banking system and the serious social, economic and ecological problems that face the UK and the world today. In particular they focus on the role of banks in creating the nation's money supply through the accounting process they use when they make loans – an aspect of banking which is poorly understood. Positive Money believe these fundamental flaws are at the root of – or a major contributor to – problems of poverty, excessive debt, growing inequality and environmental degradation. For more information, please visit: http://www.positivemoney.org/
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Animation by Henry Edmonds – http://www.heanimation.com
Voiceover thanks to Dr Bramwell – http://www.drbramwell.com/showreels/

2014/01/212014/01/21

Steven Aftergood: US Secret Intelligence [PBI: Three Strikes and Out]

Corruption, Government, Ineptitude, Military

DEFENSE SCIENCE BOARD URGES EXPANDED GLOBAL MONITORING [OF NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION]

GAO TO ISSUE REPORT ON INTELLIGENCE CONTRACTORS

SEN. MCCAIN BLASTS SECRET LEGISLATION ON DRONE POLICY

Continue reading “Steven Aftergood: US Secret Intelligence [PBI: Three Strikes and Out]”

2014/01/212014/01/21

Sarah Harrison, Jacob Appelbaum & Julian Assange — YouTube Call to Resistance, SysAdmins Unite

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government

Sysadmins of the world, unite! a call to resistance

Finally, the world is aware of the threat of mass surveillance and control, but we still have a fight on our hands, and that fight is both technical and political. Global democracy is not going to protect itself. There has never been a higher demand for a politically-engaged hackerdom. Jacob Appelbaum and Julian Assange discuss what needs to be done if we are going to win. The first part of this talk will discuss the WHAT? and the WHY?: the historical challenge we face, and how we are called to resistance. We are living in a defining historical moment.

Phi Beta Iota: Activist organizations have grown by 30% — we are at the end of the second era of national “intelligence” as covert action and sustained idiocy. We are at the beginning of ethical citizen activism empowered by digital access superior to that of the retarded industrial-era governments and corporations. Below is 31:38 – a primer on how this generation of digital literati is thinking about non-violent revolution.

More information below the line.

Continue reading “Sarah Harrison, Jacob Appelbaum & Julian Assange — YouTube Call to Resistance, SysAdmins Unite”