• Category Archives News and Politics

  • Apple patents tech to let cops switch off iPhone video, camera and wi-fi

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Apple insists that the affected sites are mostly cinemas, theatres, concert grounds and similar locations, but it does admit that it could be used in “covert police or government operations which may require complete ‘blackout’ conditions”.

    According to RT it could also be used to prevent whistleblowers like Edward Snowden from taking pictures and broadcasting them on the interent.

    Apple said that the wireless transmission of sensitive information to a remote source is one example of a threat to security.

    But it said that this sensitive information could be anything from classified government information to questions or answers to an examination administered in an academic setting.

    Apple patented the means to transmit an encoded signal to all wireless devices, commanding them to disable recording functions.

    via Apple patents tech to let cops switch off iPhone video, camera and wi-fi


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  • T.S.A. Expands Duties Beyond Airport Security

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    “The problem with T.S.A. stopping and searching people in public places outside the airport is that there are no real legal standards, or probable cause,” said Khaliah Barnes, administrative law counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. “It’s something that is easily abused because the reason that they are conducting the stops is shrouded in secrecy.”

    T.S.A. officials respond that the random searches are “special needs” or “administrative searches” that are exempt from probable cause because they further the government’s need to prevent terrorist attacks.

    via T.S.A. Expands Duties Beyond Airport Security


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  • Issa investigating alleged collusion between IRS and FEC

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) sent a letter to the Federal Election Committee (FEC) on Wednesday requesting documents he says are potentially related to “inappropriate coordination” between the independent regulatory agency and the IRS.

    “Documents recently produced to the Committee demonstrate that FEC personnel communicated with IRS personnel about tax-exempt groups engaged in political activities,” Issa wrote.

    The chairman of the House Oversight Committee cited emails between an FEC official and then-IRS Director of Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner, who earlier this year plead the fifth in testimony before Congress, in which the FEC official asked Lerner about tax-exempt applications pertaining to two conservative groups.

    Issa said the communications between the two groups “raise the prospect of inappropriate coordination between the IRS and the FEC about tax-exempt entities.” He’s requested documentation for all communication between FEC and IRS employees from Jan. 1, 2008, to the present.

    Full article: http://thehill.com/b … -between-irs-and-fec


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