~HOT STUFF AHEAD!!

---

LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER

Search engines spy for gov't: 'It would blow people's minds'

'Law-abiding citizens' may have private searches stored for up to 2 years

---

Posted: June 28, 2010
9:08 pm Eastern

© 2010 WorldNetDaily

The European Parliament has adopted a proposal to collect citizens' private search queries and store them for up to two years, framing the controversial plan as a measure to crack down on pedophiles.

Under Written Declaration 29, law-enforcement authorities may store all search-engine queries for possible analysis.

Critics are warning that Written Declaration 29 will undermine the privacy of more than 500 million law-abiding EU citizens.

Alex Hanff of Privacy International, an advocacy group that is launching a campaign against the measure, said the broad measure would allow government access to political, medical, professional and personal data on virtually every person in Europe rather than restricting the surveillance to suspected offenders.

"Sex offenders exchange files through underground networks. They don't find this stuff through search engines," Hanff said in a press release. "I spent eight years helping law enforcement track down online sex offenders, and never once did we see a case where search-engine data was useful."

Administrators of Ixquick, a private search engine that deletes user information, have joined Privacy International in opposition to Written Declaration 29. They want to prevent it from becoming law.

"Privacy is a fundamental right and the basis of a free society. The phenomenal success of Ixquick and Startpage proves that people don't want to be watched by their governments," said Ixquick CEO Robert Beens. "Spying on law-abiding citizens is not the way forward, and we will stand by our principles to protect the public's ability to search in privacy."

Beens said he believes the measure unfairly targets private search engines like Ixquick.

"Since Google, Yahoo and Bing already retain users' search data, this proposal is clearly aimed at Ixquick and our English-language subsidiary Startpage," he said. "We have worked hard to create a privacy-friendly search engine that embodies the spirit of EU Privacy Protections, in line with the strict recommendations of the EU Article 29 Data Protection Working Party. This declaration is evidence that the left hand of the EU does not know what the right hand is doing."

As WND reported, Katherine Albrecht, radio talk-show host and spokeswoman for Startpage, the American version of Ixquick, warned, "It would blow people's minds if they knew how much information the big search engines have on the public. In fact, their dossiers are so detailed they would probably be the envy of the KGB."

It happens every day, Albrecht explained. When an unfamiliar topic crosses people's minds, they often go straight to Google, Yahoo or Bing and enter key terms into those search engines. Every day, more than a billion searches for information are performed on Google alone.

"If you get a rash between your toes, you go into Google," she said. "If you have a miscarriage, you go into Google. If you are having marital difficulties, you look for a counselor on Google. If you lose your job, you look for unemployment-benefit information on Google."

Albrecht said Internet surfers unwittingly share their most private thoughts with search engines, serving up snippets of deeply personal information about their lives, habits, troubles, health concerns, preferences and political leanings.

"We're essentially telling them our entire life stories – stuff you wouldn't even tell your mother – because you are in a private room with a computer," she said. "We tend to think of that as a completely private circumstance. But the reality is that they make a record of every single search you do."

The search engines have sophisticated algorithms to mine data from searches and create very detailed profiles about users. She said those profiles are stored on servers and could fall into the wrong hands.

Albrecht said the government may also subpoena citizens' private information after it has been stored by Google, Yahoo and Bing. In a December 2009 interview with CNBC, Google CEO Eric Schmidt divulged that search engines may turn over citizens' private information to the U.S. government.

"If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place," Schmidt said. "But if you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines, including Google, do retain this information for some time. And it's important, for example, that we are all subject to the United States Patriot Act. It is possible that information could be made available to the authorities."

"My jaw hit the floor when I heard that," Albrecht said. "Now they are just coming right out and telling us that they will turn our data over to the feds. Based on what I know about how much information they have on us, it's really terrifying."

Startpage and Ixquick visit the selected website, retrieve the information and show it to users in a privacy-protected window. A private user's browser never interacts directly with the external website so the websites cannot capture or record personal data or load malware onto a private computer. The search engines never record personal information, search data or IP addresses.

Tiziano Motti, Italian member of the European Parliament and author of Written Declaration 29, issued an "important clarification" to all members of the European Parliament stating that the goal of the measure is to seek out Internet users who upload content, images and videos portraying abuse of children.

"There is no intention to extend this directive to the same search engines for Internet users looking for any other kind of topic," he wrote.

However, Stuart Corner of ExchangeDaily, a telecommunications news publication, wrote, "Well that's as clear as mud! So we can rest assured that, even though all our search records will be retained the powers that be will only ever go sniffing through them in search of child-porn-related searches? Or is it supposed to mean something else?"

He added, "I'm not sure which is more appalling: the idea of this Big Brother surveillance, or the EU's ineptitude in communicating its intentions!"

While a declaration is not a legal document, it is a statement of the parliament's formal opinion, and the European Commission may act upon it. More than 100 organizations from 23 European countries have urged for the repeal of the EU requirements for data retention in favor of more targeted collection of traffic data.

Florian Altherr of the Working Group wrote, "According to a German survey, about 70 percent of citizens are opposed to a recording of their contacts and location in the absence of any suspicion. They want to be sure their private and business contacts to marital-crisis lines, lawyers, journalists and others cannot fall into the wrong hands or erroneously make them a suspect in the eyes of law-enforcement authorities."

############################################

LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER

Obama: Every move you make, I'll be watching you online

Planned lifting of ban on 'cookies' called '1984'-style spying effort

---

Posted: August 17, 2009
1:10 am Eastern

© 2010 WorldNetDaily

WASHINGTON – The Barack Obama administration has announced plans to lift a government ban on tracking visitors to government websites, and potentially, collect their personal data through the use of "cookies" – an effort some suspect may already be in place on White House sites.

A ban on such tracking by the federal government on Internet users has been in place since 2000, however, the White House Office of Management and Budget now wants to lift the ban citing a "compelling need."

In fact, according to the Electronic Privacy and Information Center, federal agencies have already negotiated agreements and contracts with social networking sites like Google, YouTube, SlideShare, Facebook, AddThis, Blist, Flickr and VIMEO to collect information on visitors for federal web sites. All of these private companies are known to have agreements with federal agencies, but the public has never seen them.

In public comments submitted to the Office of Management and Budget, EPIC notes it has obtained documents that show federal agencies have negotiated these contracts with the private sector in violation of "existing statutory privacy rights." Those agencies include: Department of Defense, Department of the Treasury, and the National Security Agency.

There are suspicions the White House is already involved.

When White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was recently asked by Fox News reporter Major Garrett why Americans who had not signed up to receive any e-mails from the White House, were now receiving e-mails from White House adviser David Axelrod promoting President Obama's health care plan, Gibbs refused to answer the question.

"The Obama administration's favorite book seems to be '1984' by George Orwell," said Brad O’Leary, publisher of The O'Leary Report monthly newsletter and author of "Shut Up, America: The End of Free Speech." "Only they don't see '1984' as a warning, but rather a blueprint for spying on every American who visits a government website – something that has been banned for nearly a decade."

According to Obama "technology czar" Vivek Kundra, the "compelling need" driving this major policy reversal is the administration's desire to create "more open" government and to "enhance citizen participation in government."

O'Leary finds serious fault with Kundra's rationale.

"According to the new technology czar, there is a 'compelling need' to do this," said O'Leary. "The only compelling need I can think of is for a failing Obama administration to compile an enemy list of gun owners, pro-lifers, tea-party participants, those opposed to illegal immigration, and anyone opposed to the Obama-Pelosi agenda of government control over Americans' lives."

Spy cookies can do more than merely recall the user names and passwords of visitors who return to their favorite web sites. They can also track, retrieve and report selected movements someone makes on the Internet. Through the use of cookies, the federal government could have the power to create an individual profile of anyone who visits a government website – right down to a person's recent online purchases, or even race, gender and income level.

"No matter what the Obama administration says, a 'cookie' is a spy device," said O’Leary. "No matter how inoffensive the administration says their spy devices will be, once you open the door to the federal government spying on every American who visits a government website, it can't be closed – it can only be expanded."

According to O'Leary, if the Obama administration is successful in lifting this ban on federal privacy invasion, the lives of many Americans could become open books for bureaucrats.

"What if a harmless trip to the State Department's travel website or the White House's health care site, the Census Bureau's web site results in the Obama administration's discovery that you are someone who recently visited Cabela's, Smith and Wesson, or a tea party or pro-life web site?" asked O'Leary. "Is this all mundane information that political animals in government don't care about? Of course not. You might sooner expect a visit from Obama's IRS or Homeland Security than a pat on the back for 'participating' in government."

O'Leary says that it is time for Congress to step in and pass legislation to protect the privacy rights of Americans who could fall victim to White House spy cookies.

"Because of the lack of transparency from the Obama White House, we are filing FOIA requests to determine exactly how these agencies are using spy cookies," said O'Leary.

#########################################

LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER Yahoo is spying on you Allegedly acting as proxy for law enforcement, intel agencies Posted: December 21, 2009 9:18 pm Eastern By Michael Carl © 2010 WorldNetDaily Yahoo.com is allegedly spying on its customers and acting as a proxy for U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies. According to Wired.com, Yahoo also charges the agencies for the information. That means U.S. citizens' tax dollars are being used by federal agencies to pay for information gathered in Yahoo's spying. A Yahoo customer who asked not to be identified became suspicious of Yahoo's operations when the image below appeared on his screen while downloading his e-mail. John Young, who runs the website Cryptome.org, believes the Internet giant is gathering data from customer e-mails for possible disclosure to U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Young says Yahoo has a standard operating procedure for e-mail data mining spelled out in the Yahoo Law Enforcement Compliance Manual. Young has posted a copy of Yahoo's manual on his Cryptome.com website. Yahoo and its Washington, D.C.-based legal counsel, Steptoe and Johnson, have not responded to WND requests for comment.

The manual says Yahoo records the IP address of any computer involved in a Yahoo e-mail exchange.

"Every message sent by a Yahoo! mail user contains the originating IP address in the header," the Yahoo manual says. "That is, Yahoo! records the IP address of the computer that was used to send the email, and Yahoo! inserts that IP address in the header of the message. Accordingly, if law enforcement is seeking to determine the IP address from which a Yahoo! e-mail was sent, Yahoo! will have no additional information other than what is visible in the message itself."

The manual continues.

"The relevant line from the header will generally look like this: Received: from [65.207.97.120] by web41705.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Fri, 05 Sep 2003 07:30:05 PDT

"In this example, the IP address in brackets corresponds to the computer from which the message was sent," the manual states.

Section V of the Yahoo compliance guide says:

"Yahoo! generally will accept service of court orders, search warrants, and criminal grand-jury or administrative subpoenas for the production of documents by fax from government entities."

Then there's this paragraph a few lines later in the same section:

"Yahoo! will ask law enforcement to certify that the prior- or delayed-notice provisions have been satisfied if contents are sought with legal process other than a Search Warrant."

"…with legal process other than a Search Warrant."

An intelligence analyst and private-terrorism investigator, who asked not to be named, believes this phrase is key in Yahoo's willingness to turn over e-mail contents to U.S. intelligence agencies.

Young stands by his actions and what he has written about Yahoo's surveillance. He believes the public material may be a diversion for deeper surveillance.

"What remains unclear is what are other arrangements between Yahoo and law enforcement and intelligence agencies that are not covered by publicly available material. It is more than probable that the publicly available material diverts attention from these other shenanigans," Young observes.

He adds that other Internet providers are also involved in surveillance.

"Yahoo is not alone in these customer transgressions, the deceptive practices are widespread among telecommunications and IP providers," Young asserts.

A story on Mathaba.net states, "Cox Communications, SBC, Cingular, Nextel, GTE and other telecoms and Internet service providers" are involved in federally sanctioned data collection.

Young also believes media haven't done a good job reporting the abuses.

"There's an abysmal neglect of what the ISPs, (operating system) producers, network operators, data farmers and search engines are up to with customer data displayed on the computer screen."

Yahoo's legal counsel, Steptoe and Johnson, has contacted Young, acknowledging the compliance guide's existence and how it facilitates Yahoo's participation in intelligence and law-enforcement investigations.

The letter posted on Cryptome.org reads.

The letter concludes with a threat of legal action.

The series of letters is posted on the Cryptome.org website.

#######################################

Big Brother Wants To Know What Websites You Visit

Sep 20th, 2010 | By Andrew

In the computer age, the idea of personal privacy is a thing of the past. With modern technology that allows unprecedented spying opportunities and the rollback of our constitutional right to privacy, Big Brother truly is watching. Nowadays, it’s a given that whatever you do online is being monitored.

The main culprits are corporations that spy on your web surfing habits for marketing purposes. Seems harmless enough, but you don’t even know what third parties they’re giving the information to. And don’t expect the government to protect you; new laws enacted since 9-11 (including the ironically named “Patriot” Act) have given the feds a blank check to tap into your web surfing data.

Some folks would argue that, as long as you’re not doing something wrong, who cares if somebody’s watching? The answer is that all of us care. Would you allow a camera to be placed in your house? You’re not doing anything wrong, right?

If you’re looking at golf tips online, and some website is remembering you and storing your data, who cares? Maybe they’ll offer you a deal on golf goods. But if you’re looking at something more controversial, like grassroots political activism or handgun training, you may not want everybody knowing. Let’s be honest; there is a growing concern in this country with freedom and independence from government. We don’t agree with the ways the bloated federal government is interfering with our lives, and we want to change things. It might not be a good idea to broadcast this to law enforcement personnel or the FBI. What we ordinary folks consider common sense grassroots democracy, they might consider something “radical.” It sounds crazy, but this is the situation we face today.

The real point is that privacy is a fundamental right that is guaranteed by the United States Constitution. If we allow governments and corporations unlimited power to monitor us, our lives turn into the dark future foretold in George Orwell’s “1984.” And it’s already happening.

Arm Yourself and Protect Your Privacy

Instead of boycotting the internet, there are things you can do. First, let’s look at exactly how your private data is stored and collected.

Wherever you go on the internet, each click is stored on the hard disc of your computer. Even the questions you type into search engines are kept permanently. All of your personal information is stored on the hard disc, and unless you know how to erase it, it stays there permanently.

New technology on the internet includes tracking devices. If you know a little bit about internet privacy, you’re probably aware of “cookies.” Even erasing cookies doesn’t get rid of this stored data. These newer tracking devices are called “beacons.”

If you watch a video, it stores the data on the website permanently. One program that does this is Adobe Flash Player. When you want to watch a video online, it will often tell you that you need to download Adobe Flash Player. This program allows you to watch video, listen to music or enjoy other media. It also stores the data and sends it out to advertisers and marketers.

The beacon technology is also what got Facebook in trouble a few years ago. Facebook began taking personal information from users and sending it to companies for advertising. It raised privacy concerns and forced Facebook to stop using this system in 2009.

Tracking devices like these can’t be removed manually, but they can be removed with software add-on programs for your browser. One of the most highly recommended of these is the “Better Privacy” add-on for the browser Firefox. Every time you shut down your computer, Better Privacy erases tracking devices from your computer.

You can also limit these devices by adjusting your computer’s privacy settings or, in the case of Adobe, adjust the privacy settings on its “virtual control panel.”

You probably realize that there’s a tiny camera and microphone attached to your computer. This chillingly recalls Orwell’s “1984,” where each home is equipped with a camera that broadcasts everything in the house to a shadowy Ministry of Information. We’re not there yet; you can still protect your personal information and web surfing data with your computer’s privacy settings, or an add-on like “Better Privacy.” No matter what you’re doing online, it’s something worth looking into.

############################################

Hello friends! -I'm just trying to keep you up to date on different things I've found.

Some might be old news, some not. Anyway, I hope you can use the info.

Have a good day! -Blessings!-Missygirl*