Reading Time: 4 minutes Opinion: Millions of Americans are voting on hackable machines with no paper trail. Cyber systems are wide open to attack. It’s time for election officials to take their security and privacy responsibilities seriously.
Reading Time: 3 minutes A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the Americans for Prosperity Foundation must disclose its largest givers to authorities in the state of California.
Reading Time: 17 minutes The technology of surveillance has outpaced the law and oversight. How far will it go? And what can we do about it?
Reading Time: 1 minute What is the individual’s right to privacy and how much should be sacrificed in the name of “security?” Edward Snowden, Noam Chomsky, and Glenn Greenwald discuss these and other questions.
Reading Time: 2 minutes In a wide-ranging interview, Edward Snowden talks about the Apple vs. FBI encryption lawsuit, why he has not endorsed a presidential candidate and how a member of the WhoWhatWhy Editorial Advisory Council changed his views on what it would take to return to the US.
Reading Time: 1 minute Sounding a somewhat conciliatory note, FBI Director James Comey said the key to resolving the encryption debate would be negotiations involving all stakeholders.
Reading Time: 1 minute The leaked Snowden files revealed the scope of the NSA’s mass surveillance of Americans. Since then, tech companies have boosted encrypted protection. A court order issued this week to Apple constitutes the biggest test to date over whether to permit government-mandated backdoors to encrypted devices.
Reading Time: 1 minute Loud voices are calling for US tech companies to install “backdoors” to encryption software. They would allow law enforcement to access information. But is that feasible — and would it stop terrorism?
Reading Time: 1 minute Soon, critical decisions will be taken about how best to monitor bad guys — while not intruding into the online lives of the rest of us. Here’s a primer on what it is all about. It’s a chance to learn and to weigh in — while there’s still time.
Reading Time: 4 minutes “Big Brother” is getting even bigger in China. In a development that the author of “1984” would surely have appreciated, China recently passed an “anti-terrorism law” that seems an excuse for a clampdown. It also eerily mirrors calls by US officials for access to encrypted communications.
Reading Time: 1 minute You know you give up privacy on Facebook. But what about when you go to the doctor, make a phone call, open a bank account or shop for groceries? Felicia King tells WhoWhatWhy’s Jeff Schechtman why everything short of using cash and an old passport for ID could be leaving yourself open to having your privacy invaded.
Reading Time: 3 minutes The FBI will be developing software to enable its agents to collect fingerprints and pictures of anyone they encounter. This personal material could then be compared to the Bureau’s massive biometrics database. What could possibly go wrong with this?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Is there anything you can still do on your computer without Facebook or Google or the NSA looking over your shoulder?
Reading Time: 6 minutes In his essay in this new collection, a law professor warns about the creep of the security state, from catching criminals to trying to anticipate who might commit a crime.
Reading Time: 2 minutes A federal judge ruled Monday that the government’s bulk collection of phone data probably violates the Constitution. His 68-page ruling has withering words about the NSA, calling the data collection “Orwellian.” You can read his full ruling here.
Reading Time: 1 minute Just for fun…..
Reading Time: 2 minutes Who says nobody listens to you?
Reading Time: 8 minutes If, as his supporters contend, Obama is a good, caring man whose instincts are right, why has he not taken any of these modest steps to rein in surveillance excesses? A checklist of options.
Reading Time: 5 minutes When a country is truly run by a handful, how can they ever let up on surveillance? They can’t, and won’t. But we can make them do it. However, not if we wait for instructions from the establishment.
Reading Time: 1 minute RT Television interviews WhoWhatWhy editor-in-chief about breaking news on NSA internet surveillance.