Hope? Federal Appeals Court ruled Police need Warrant for cell phone location history

"For the first time, a federal appeals court has ruled that law enforcement must obtain a warrant to get people’s phone location histories from their cell service companies."

Source & full article at https://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/first-time-appeals-court-rules-warrant-required-cell-phone-location-tracking

PDF of the ruling itself at https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/q_davis_opinion_0.pdf

A little hope, my understanding is that this ruling would only apply to jurisdiction of the court that made the ruling, and I suspect governments (local/state/federal?) will appeal.

Snowden responds to email NSA released via ICON

I Blogged here about supposedly only email NSA could find where Snowden seemed to be following procedure for complaints, concerns, & whistle blowing.

I had more than one sad chuckle reading Snowden's response at The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/edward-snowden-responds-to-release-of-e-mail-by-us-officials/2014/05/29/95137e1c-e781-11e3-afc6-a1dd9407abcf_story.html

Like I speculated in my previous blog post, Snowden realized the official system wasn't designed to correct problems.

He states that in the article linked above.

But more telling, he mentions another specific correspondence that they certainly have:

"Today’s release is incomplete, and does not include my correspondence with the Signals Intelligence Directorate’s Office of Compliance, which believed that a classified executive order could take precedence over an act of Congress, contradicting what was just published. It also did not include concerns about how indefensible collection activities - such as breaking into the back-haul communications of major US internet companies - are sometimes concealed under E.O. 12333 to avoid Congressional reporting requirements and regulations."

Source for quote same as link at top http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/edward-snowden-responds-to-release-of-e-mail-by-us-officials/2014/05/29/95137e1c-e781-11e3-afc6-a1dd9407abcf_story.html

Sure sounds to me like Snowden's focus is to bring accountability to NSA & other agencies under the DNI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_National_Intelligence.

I'd also suggest reading http://www.emptywheel.net/2014/05/29/snowdens-emailed-question-addresses-one-abuse-revealed-by-his-leaks/

Nerd News: "Bruce Schneier: NSA Spying Is Making Us Less Safe"

Good interview/conversation with Bruce by David Talbot, chief correspondent of MIT Technology Review http://www.technologyreview.com/news/519336/bruce-schneier-nsa-spying-is-making-us-less-safe/

NSA News: "Declassified court documents highlight NSA violations"

Source:  http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/world/declassified-fisa-court-documents-on-intelligence-collection/447/

Story:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/declassified-court-documents-highlight-nsa-violations/2013/09/10/60b5822c-1a4b-11e3-a628-7e6dde8f889d_story.html

Snippet from story above:

"“The court finds that the government’s failure to ensure that responsible officials adequately understood the NSA’s alert list process, and to accurately report its implementation to the court, has prevented for more than two years both the government and the FISC from taking steps to remedy daily violations,” Walton wrote. "

Really disturbing, and shows how blatantly NSA officials, Senator Feinstein, and President Obama have been lying when they claim no serious or intentional violations.

Direct quote from President Obama:

"And if you look at the reports, even the disclosures that Mr. Snowden's put forward, all the stories that have been written, what you're not reading about is the government actually abusing these programs and, you know, listening in on people's phone calls or inappropriately reading people's emails." ~http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-president-obamas-august-9-2013-news-conference-at-the-white-house/2013/08/09/5a6c21e8-011c-11e3-9a3e-916de805f65d_story_4.html

Then consider this tweet, https://twitter.com/csoghoian/status/377440206284406785:

"Ex-FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni, fan of surveillance backdoors, confirmed by Senate to be federal judge in NY. http://www.mainjustice.com/2013/09/10/senate-confirms-former-fbi-general-counsel-for-seat-on-u-s-district-court/ … "

Note that Valerie Caproni was nominated by President Barack Obama, based on her excellent record in the FBI I assume, from Wikipedia

House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers, Jr's statement:  "Today’s hearing showed that the FBI broke the law on telephone records privacy and the General Counsel’s Office, headed by Valerie Caproni, sanctioned it and must face consequences.  I call upon FBI Director Mueller to take immediate action to punish those who violated the rules, including firing them from the agency. This must include the FBI Office of General Counsel, headed by Valerie Caproni, which the IG testified today had approved [the] continued use of exigent letters and provided legal advice that was inconsistent with federal law. Between 2003 and 2006, the FBI improperly obtained personal telephone record information from U.S. telephone companies for more than 5,500 phone numbers, including private details protected by federal law. "

I am seeing a pretty consistent pattern here, and it certainly isn't a positive one.


Sources & Additional information:

•  TRANSCRIPT: President Obama’s August 9, 2013, news conference at the White House  http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-president-obamas-august-9-2013-news-conference-at-the-white-house/2013/08/09/5a6c21e8-011c-11e3-9a3e-916de805f65d_story_4.html
•  Declassified FISA court documents on intelligence collection  http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/world/declassified-fisa-court-documents-on-intelligence-collection/447/
• NSA’s pipe dream: Weakening crypto will only help the “good guys” http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/09/nsas-pipe-dream-weakening-crypto-will-only-help-the-good-guys/
•  Ex-FBI lawyer linked to surveillance abuses poised for federal judge post  Valerie Caproni, up for judgeship in important terrorism court, likely to come under fresh scepticism in wake of NSA revelations http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/06/fbi-lawyer-surveillance-judge-valerie-caproni
• Wikipedia Valerie Caproni  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_E._Caproni
• Lawmakers Probe Willful Abuses of Power by NSA Analysts http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-23/nsa-analysts-intentionally-abused-spying-powers-multiple-times.html
• Loveint http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/08/23/nsa-officers-sometimes-spy-on-love-interests/

Nerd News: iPhone 5S Good, Bad, & Big Brother

Full details at Ars live blog of Apple's event http://live.arstechnica.com/apple-september-10-event/

Apple has updated their website as well, details about iPhone 5S at http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2013/09/10Apple-Announces-iPhone-5s-The-Most-Forward-Thinking-Smartphone-in-the-World.html and front splash page comparing all the iPhones http://www.apple.com/iphone/compare/

I like the fingerprint reader, I just hope it is executed securely!

Apple says fingerprint data stays on device, never leaves it.

They have added a chip that tracks all motion of the phone even when asleep though, "Every iPhone 5s includes the new M7 motion coprocessor that gathers data from the accelerometer, gyroscope and compass..." source

"The M7 motion coprocessor continuously measures your motion data, even when the device is asleep, and saves battery life for pedometer or other fitness apps that use the accelerometer all day."  source

Though Apple says that is for fitness apps & such, it makes me think of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_navigation_system.

Which would let them map your house, office, and everywhere else you hang out, if the sensors were accurate enough, and I bet that data does go to Apple's servers.

I know Google and Apple have both been working on mapping inside of buildings already.

See http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/77635.html for more on that.