Citizenfour

CITIZENFOUR is a Oscar winning real life thriller, unfolding by the minute, giving audiences unprecedented access to filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald’s encounters with Edward Snowden in Hong Kong, as he hands over classified documents providing evidence of mass indiscriminate and illegal invasions of privacy by the National Security Agency (NSA).

Poitras had already been working on a film about surveillance for two years when Snowden contacted her, using the name CITIZENFOUR,in January 2013. He reached out to her because he knew she had long been a target of government surveillance, stopped at airports numerous times, and had refused to be intimidated. When Snowden revealed he was a high-level analyst driven to expose the massive surveillance of Americans by the NSA, Poitras persuaded him to let her film.

CITIZENFOUR places you in the room with Poitras, Greenwald, and Snowden as they attempt to manage the media storm raging outside, forced to make quick decisions that will impact their lives and all of those around them

AnonSweden

Here’s How We Take Back the Internet

Here’s an extremely interesting, educational, and important video interview with Edward Snowden on the right to privacy. Appearing by telepresence robot, Edward Snowden speaks at TED2014 about surveillance and Internet freedom. The right to data privacy, he suggests, is not a partisan issue, but requires a fundamental rethink of the role of the internet in our lives — and the laws that protect it. “Your rights matter,” he say, “because you never know when you’re going to need them.”

HoweStreet.com

Edward Snowden's Christmas Message

Channel 4 UK/Praxis Films

Google Says You Have No "Reasonable Expectation" of Privacy

Gmail users have no “reasonable expectation” that their emails are confidential,  Google has said in a court filing. Consumer Watchdog, the advocacy group that uncovered the filing, called the revelation a “stunning admission.” It comes as Google and its peers are under pressure to explain their role in the National Security Agency’s (NSA) mass surveillance of US citizens and foreign nationals.

“Google has finally admitted they don’t respect privacy,” said John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s privacy project director. “People should take them at their word; if you care about your email correspondents’ privacy, don’t use Gmail.” Google set out its case last month in an attempt to dismiss a class action lawsuit that accuses the tech giant of breaking wire tap laws when it scans emails in order to target ads to Gmail users.

More on Alternet

Terms and Conditions May Apply

A documentary about what you're really agreeing to when you click "I accept".

Patriot Act allows US to spy worldwide, Europeans outraged

Information that Europeans keep stored online could be accessed by US law enforcement agencies. That's according to a report issued by one university in Amsterdam, which revealed the anti-terrorism Patriot Act gives Washington legal grounds to bypass Europe's privacy laws.

Why Privacy Matters

Privacy International asked lawyers, activists, researchers and hackers at Defcon 2012 about some of the debates that thrive at the intersection between law, technology and privacy. We also wanted to know why privacy matters to them, and what they thought the future of privacy looked like. This video is a result of those conversations.

‘Human barcode’ could make society more organized

Science fiction author Elizabeth Moon last week rekindled the debate on whether it's a good idea to "barcode" infants at birth in an interview on a BBC radio program. “I would insist on every individual having a unique ID permanently attached — a barcode if you will — an implanted chip to provide an easy, fast inexpensive way to identify individuals,” she said on The Forum, a weekly show that features "a global thinking" discussing a "radical, inspiring or controversial idea" for 60 seconds. Moon believes the tools most commonly used for surveillance and identification — like video cameras and DNA testing — are slow, costly and often ineffective. In her opinion, human barcoding would save a lot of time and money.

The proposal isn’t too far-fetched - it is already technically possible to "barcode" a human - but does it violate our rights to privacy? Opponents argue that giving up anonymity would cultivate an “Orwellian” society where all citizens can be tracked. “To have a record of everywhere you go and everything you do would be a frightening thing,” Stanley, senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union, told the Daily News. He warned of a “check-point society” where everyone carries an internal passport and has to show their papers at every turn, he said. “Once we let the government and businesses go down the road of nosing around in our lives...we’re going to quickly lose all our privacy,” said Stanley.

NY Daily News

Prostitution Ring in Madrid Tattooed 19-Year-Old Woman with Bar Code - ihrg.org and CNN

Google Faces New Privacy Probes

Regulators in the U.S. and European Union are investigating Google Inc. for bypassing the privacy settings of millions of users of Apple Inc.'s Safari Web browser, according to people familiar with the investigations. Google stopped the practice last month after being contacted by The Wall Street Journal.

The investigations—which span U.S. federal and state agencies, as well as a pan-European effort led by France—could embroil Google in years of legal battles and result in hefty fines for privacy violations. The Journal in February reported that Google was using special computer code to install tiny tracking files, or "cookies," on some people's computers, iPhones and iPads, even if the devices were set to block this kind of tracking.

WSJ.com

New Google Data Policy Raising Major Privacy Concerns

Google's new plan to link user data across its email, video, social-networking sites has come under fire from critics who say it's an invasion of privacy because of the sheer volume of information collected and the inability of users to opt out.

Under the plan, information collected about individuals will be integrated across 60 Google products including Gmail, YouTube and web search. Users will have to agree to a new privacy policy that will encompass data including location measurements collected on mobile devices. The result is that Google will soon know more about who users are and what they do on the web, allowing it to target search results and advertising. Users will not be allowed to opt out of the changes, which take effect March 1.

cbc.ca

'Privacy Is For Paedos'

Former News of the World reporter Paul McMullan has said phone hacking was a "school yard trick" and declared that "privacy is for paedos" in an explosive testimony before the Leveson inquiry.

"In 21 years of invading people's privacy I've never actually come across anyone who's been doing any good," he told the hearing in London on Tuesday. "Privacy is the space bad people need to do bad things in. Privacy is for paedos; fundamentally nobody else needs it."

huffingtonpost.co.uk

Euro Crisis, Neo-Liberalism and Undoing the Welfare State

German elite profited from the Euro Zone, now wants to use crisis to undo welfare state and privatize.

The Real News

US court verdict 'huge blow' to privacy, says former WikiLeaks aide

Icelandic MP and former WikiLeaks volunteer Birgitta Jonsdottir has slammed the decision by US courts to open her Twitter account to the US authorities and is taking her case to the Council of Europe.

On Thursday a US judge ruled Twitter must release the details of her account and those of Rop Gonggrijp and Jacob Appelbaum linked to WikiLeaks. Jonsdottir learned in January that her Twitter account was under scrutiny from the Justice Department because of her involvement last year with WikiLeaks' release of a video showing a US military helicopter shooting two Reuters reporters in Iraq. She believes the US authorities want to use her information to try and build a case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

"This is a huge blow for everybody that uses social media," said Jonsdottir. "We have to have the same civil rights online as we have offline. Imagine if the US authorities wanted to do a house search at my home, go through my private papers. There would be a hell of a fight. It's absolutely unacceptable."

More on The Guardian

Cashless payment bracelet allows access to medical records and personal information

Marketed as a simple and convenient way to carry identification, make payments, and furnish quick and easy access to medical records in the event of an emergency -- all with one single bracelet.

But the VITAband also has the potential to become a serious invasion of privacy as it allows third parties to access personal data and other information, all of which is linked to a users individual ID tag.
If the US government suspects you might be a "terrorist," it already has the ability to access and monitor, in real time, your credit and debit card transactions as they occur, as well as listen in on your landline and mobile phone calls. But if you tie your personal medical records and other information directly to your credit card use through VITAband, imagine just how much more exposed your personal information will be.
Back in July, US Bank announced that it had adopted the VITAband for its customers. The company first tested it on employees from multiple states earlier in the year, and eventually unveiled it for everyone. Each bracelet contains a special chip linked directly to a user's account, as well as a unique ID number that can be traced back to that user's personal and medical history.

Natural News

INDECT

INDECT aims at developing tools for enhancing security of citizens and protecting confidentiality of recorded and stored information. INDECT targets crimes both in virtual (e.g. Internet child pornography, promotion of totalitarian symbols, trafficking in human organs,spread of botnets, viruses, malware) and real environments (e.g. terrorism, hooliganism, thievery). Furthermore, INDECT targets also threat detection (e.g. fire, artificial crowd, abandoned luggage, and people on rails).

INDECT homepage

Use a search engine, walk near a bank, or purchase a magazine subscription and you’re going to be monitored. Private companies are data mining your online behavior, recording your actions near their property, and purchasing your marketable information every day. Where does all your junk mail come from? Why does my Yahoo search for ‘great holiday vacations’ yield a different result than your search? The truth is that the social concept of privacy is already decades out of date.

Singularity Hub

London 2012 Olympic mascots: All-Seeing Eye

They only have one pair of eyes between them and look like Sonic the Hedgehog crossed with a character from the Disney film Monsters Inc.

But you had better get used to these strange blob-like creatures because Wenlock and Mandeville, as they are known, are the mascots for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics respectively, and will be all over Britain for the next two years.

Following the ridicule over the £400,000 Olympic logo, their creators will be hoping that Wenlock and Mandeville get a more favourable reception - even though they too carry the much-mocked 2012 image.

Mail Online

Doesn’t it remind you of something? How more in your face do you want it?

ILLUMINIST ALL-SEEING EYE SYMBOLISM is popular in Britain.

Read why here: Pyramid and All-Seeing Eye – Their Occult Meaning and Use in Corporate Logos –The Vigilant Citizen

More about the all-seeing eye on crystalinks.com and theallseeingeye.tv

Australia’s 'Forgotten' children to get formal apology

The Australian Federal Government will formally say sorry to the hundreds of thousands of people who were abused and neglected as children after being placed in institutions or foster care.

The Government will by the end of the year formally acknowledge and apologise to generations of so-called ''Forgotten Australians'' and child migrants who suffered physical, emotional and sexual abuse while in the care of government institutions, foster care and church organisations.

Families Minister Jenny Macklin said the level of abuse and neglect had been unacceptable and it was now time to issue a formal apology.

''Many former child migrants and other children who were in institutions, their families and the wider community have suffered from a system that did not adequately provide for, or protect, children in its care,'' Ms Macklin said.

The planned apology, which will also involve consultation with the Opposition, follows a number of Senate inquiries, all of which recorded horrific abuse and neglect of children.

The 2004 Forgotten Australians Senate report estimated that at least 500,000 children had been placed in more than 500 orphanages, homes or other forms of care during the last century - many because they were born to single mothers or were the victims of family break-ups or poverty.

The inquiry found a ''litany of emotional, physical and sexual abuse, and often criminal physical and sexual assault'' with widespread deprivation of food, education and health care.

Thousands of children were also sent from Britain to work in Australia up until the late 1960s.

The Age

Fake Al Qaeda Actors EXPOSED! Adam Gadahn & Yousef al-Khattab

whatreallyhappened.com

Conspiracy fever: As rumours swell that the government staged 7/7, victims' relatives call for a proper inquiry

families of the dead victims and an increasing number of 7/7 survivors claim there are inconsistencies and basic mistakes in the official accounts that need explanation.

And they are demanding a full public inquiry to answer key questions about what the Intelligence Services and the police did and did not know before the bombings.

Meanwhile, the Government's determined refusal to meet their demands is having a very dangerous side-effect - fuelling myriad conspiracy theories about 7/7. Books, blogs and several video documentaries point to oddities in the official accounts.

The survivors are so intent on an independent inquiry that they are now taking legal action in the High Court to try to force the Home Secretary Alan Johnson to authorise it.

Central to the puzzle is which train the four Muslims caught from Luton to London on the morning of the bomb blasts - bearing in mind that the three separate Tube explosions at Edgware Road, Aldgate and King's Cross occurred together at exactly 8.50am, followed by the red bus an hour later near Tavistock Square.

The official reports said the bombers got on the 7.40am train from Luton which would have arrived at King's Cross in good time for them to board the Tube trains.

However, the 7.40am train never ran that morning. It was cancelled.

More on Daily Mail

Big brother is watching: The technologies that keep track of you

The furore around the Chinese government’s Green Dam software has raised the issue of the way modern technology is used to monitor our daily lives. Here, we list seven of the technologies that can be used to keep track of your movements.

CCTV

Closed-circuit television cameras were first used in Germany in 1942 to remotely monitor the launch of V2 rockets. Since then, CCTVs have become one of the most contentious pieces of technology in public use. The government and law enforcement agencies claim the use of video monitoring technology can help reduce crime and improve public safety; critics argue that the cameras serve only to displace crime to unmonitored areas, and do not act as a deterrent. With more than four million CCTV units in the UK, the network of cameras captures the average person around 25 times a day.

RFID tags

Radio frequency identification chips are already widely used in supermarkets and shops for the purpose of stock control, but some people fear their use could be widened to monitor the habits and behaviour of ordinary citizens. At the moment, these tags, which are little bigger than a grain of sand, are embedded into pints of milk and library books. When paired with an RFID reader, the tags can help to provide detailed information about items, such as their location, or how many there are. Although most people are happy for RFID tags to be used in stores to monitor stock levels, they’re less happy about the idea of the chips still sending out a signal once they leave the shop. On a benign level, such tracking capabilities would mean a store would know that people in Hertfordshire prefer blue cashmere jumpers, while those in Aberdeen favour the brown versions. But on a more sinister level, it could also enable them to glean an unprecedented insight into our personal lives, and target their brands to us accordingly. To those people who fear a “surveillance culture”, the ability to tag and track everything from our food to our clothes would be the next step on an already slippery slope.

More of the technologies that keep track of you on the Telegraph website