Cyber bills legislate for mass surveillance; Former Cybersecurity Czar calls for Homeland Security data “customs inspections”.

In a New York Times editorial, former government cybersecurity czar Richard A. Clarke has called for the creation of customs checks on all data leaving and entering US cyberspace.

Clarke makes the call in relation to Chinese hackers stealing information and intellectual property from US firms.

“If given the proper authorization, the United States government could stop files in the process of being stolen from getting to the Chinese hackers.” Clarke writes.

“If government agencies were authorized to create a major program to grab stolen data leaving the country, they could drastically reduce today’s wholesale theft of American corporate secrets.”

While Clarke may well be coming at this subject well intentioned, the fact that government has a long history of attempting to crackdown on internet freedom and control the web will mean his words are a cause of concern for many.

“Under Customs authority, the Department of Homeland Security could inspect what enters and exits the United States in cyberspace…” Clarke continues.

CONTINUED at Prison Planet. Written by Steve Watson.

Told security worker to “stop using the n-word” in the terminal.

A TSA screener working at JFK Airport in New York was arrested after launching a cup of hot coffee into the face of an airline pilot who asked her to stop swearing in the terminal.

Off duty pilot Steven Trivett was leaving terminal 8 at JFK early in the morning last week when he encountered a group of TSA workers engaged in what was described as a “profanity- laced conversation”.

Concerned that passengers, including young children could hear the screeners, Mr Trivett asked them to tone down the exchange.

Mr Trivett advised the screeners that they should “conduct themselves more professionally in uniform and not use profanity or the n-word,” Port Authority police sources said.

The sources then described how one of the screeners reacted to Trivett, telling him to “mind his own business” and cursing him out.

Mr Trivett then attempted to get a closer look at the screener’s ID tags, presumably in order to report the incident. The screener, 30 year old Lateisha El, then reportedly shoved the pilot and hurled a full cup of hot coffee at his face.

CONTINUED at Prison Planet. Written by Steve Watson.

Senator blocks sanctions bill saying it could be used as a means to go to war.

Rand Paul has effectively single handedly blocked a bi-partisan bill to place yet more crippling economic sanctions on Iran, by demanding an amendment to prevent the White House using the legislation as an authorization to attack the country.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) wanted to immediately pass the sanctions bill by unanimous consent Tuesday. However, Paul intervened and blocked it, in order to ensure that unauthorized use of military force against Iran does not transpire.

Paul’s one sentence amendment reads: “To clarify that nothing in the Act shall be construed as a declaration of war or an authorization of the use of force against Iran or Syria.”

“Our Founding Fathers were quite concerned about giving the power declare war to the Executive,” Paul said on the Senate floor. “They were quite concerned that the Executive could become like a king.”

“Before sending our young men and women into combat, we should have a mature and thoughtful debate over the ramifications of and over the authorization of war and over the motives of the war,” he added.

Paul noted that in the lead up to the NATO led conflict in Libya, several Senators, including John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), were beating the war drums. The Kentucky Senator warned that the same rhetoric is now being used in relation to Iran and Syria.

“Many in this body cannot get boots on ground fast enough in a variety of places, from Syria to Libya to Iran,” said Paul. “[I] urge that we not begin a new war without a full debate, without a vote, without careful consideration of the ramifications of a third or even a fourth war in this past decade.”

Watch Rand Paul address the Senate:

The bill, S. 2101, aims to level broad sanctions at Iran and any persons and firms who supply Iran with technologies. Under the legislation, firms traded on the US stock exchanges must disclose any Iran-related activities and could have their assets frozen.

The legislation passed through the Senate banking committee in February, and was also passed in the House.

Reid said he opposed Paul’s request for the amendment, claiming that the sanctions bill had nothing to do with war and could even help prevent conflict by “preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, threatening Israel and further terrorizing other parts of the world.”

“I really am terribly disappointed,” said Reid. “There is nothing in the resolution that talks about war, in fact it’s to the contrary. This is not a declaration of war or anything in the neighborhood of that.”

Reid now has to formally decide whether to cut a deal by allowing Paul’s amendment to be considered, or to attempt to defeat the senator’s objection by obtaining 60 votes in his favor.

—————————————————————-

Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.net, andPrisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.

Source: Prison Planet.

Lawmakers slam agency for treating Americans like “prisoners” and “cattle”.

The TSA ensured that a leading security expert, who has been vocally critical of the agency’s screening methods, was barred from speaking before a Congressional hearing yesterday.

The hearing, before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, was held Monday in an effort to evaluate the agency’s performance and address concerns raised by lawmakers, experts in the field, and members of the public.

Bruce Schneier, an internationally renowned security technologist and author, was scheduled to testify regarding the TSA’s security screening initiatives, but was “formally uninvited” at the last minute following a complaint by the agency.

“On Friday, at the request of the TSA, I was removed from the witness list,” Schneier wrote on his blog Monday.

“The excuse was that I am involved in a lawsuit against the TSA, trying to get them to suspend their full-body scanner programme. But it’s pretty clear that the TSA is afraid of public testimony on the topic, and especially of being challenged in front of Congress. They want to control the story, and it’s easier for them to do that if I’m not sitting next to them pointing out all the holes in their position. Unfortunately, the committee went along with them.” he added.

Schneier’s name appears on the official page for the hearing, but it has been crossed out.

CONTINUED at Prison Planet. Written by Steve Watson.

Hawaii Senators this week passed a resolution for a “Traveler’s Bill of Rights”, aimed at making the TSA more accountable and putting a stop to over reach and abuses.

Minority Leader Sam Slom, R-Hawaii, authored the legislation based on Congressman Ron Paul’sAmerican Traveler Dignity Act, at the federal level.

Much like Paul’s bill, the resolution declares that no employee of the federal agency is immune from the law when it comes to pat-downs and the use of potentially harmful radiation scanners on Americans.

Other specific issues include constitutional rights, invasion of privacy and civil rights, child protection and fiscal issues.

Senators on the Hawaii Transportation and Public Safety/Military Affairs committees, unanimously passed the legislation, states the Hawaii Reporter.

Senator Slom is a member of a national, bipartisan legislative caucus, known as the “United States for Travel Freedom” caucus, formed one year ago specifically to oppose TSA intrusions. Slom has also introduced legislation to altogether prohibit the use of non-consensual body scanners.

CONTINUED at Prison Planet. Written by Steve Watson.

Media claims Paul’s events, attended by thousands, are not newsworthy.

It is now official. The mainstream media is no longer covering Ron Paul’s presidential campaign.

A few weeks ago Dylan Byers of Politico reported that NBC News was the only media organization that still had a reporter covering Ron Paul full-time.

Now Byers has filed an update revealing that Anthony Terrell of NBC News has also been reassigned.

“Ron Paul is officially embedless.” writes Byers, adding that NBC has refused to comment on the decision.

Byers also reveals that other mainstream organizations, including Fox News, have no intention of putting a reporter back out full-time.

“Paul doesn’t have as many events right now as the other candidates in the race,” Hunter Ryan, the politics editor at Fox News Channel, told Byers.

“He is focusing on certain states. I am planning on covering him… [and] a combination of embed and bureau resources will be used to cover Paul going forward.”

“For most political reporters, he is all but irrelevant to the future of the GOP contest.” Byers adds.

CONTINUED at Prison Planet. Written by Steve Watson.

Court hearing scheduled for next week in ongoing effort by privacy group to expose details of working relationship.

The Department of Justice will ask a federal court to uphold the secrecy that surrounds the working relationship between Google and the National Security Agency in a hearing that is scheduled for next week.

Privacy watchdog group The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is returning to court once again in an effort to disclose more information regarding the widely publicized partnership between the spy agency and the search engine giant.

EPIC is suing to obtain documents that detail the relationship, and will appeal against the NSA’s so-called “Glomar” response, claiming it “could neither confirm nor deny” the existence of any information about its relations with Google, because “such a response would reveal information about NSA’s functions and activities.”

The NSA’s response stated that the agency “works with a broad range of commercial partners and research associations” in order to oversee the security of important information systems, but did not provide any further detail.

The issue rose to prominencein January 2010 following a highly sophisticated and targeted cyber attack on the corporate infrastructure of Google and some twenty other large US companies.

The attack was blamed on the Chinese government, prompting Google to embrace a collaborationwith the federal agency in charge of global electronic surveillance.

Anonymous sources informed The Washington Post at the time that “the alliance is being designed to allow the two organizations to share critical information”, adding that the agreement will not allow the NSA access to users’ search details or e-mails.

The DOJ is backing NSA’s Glomar response, as The Legal Times reports:

CONTINUED at Prison Planet. Written by Steve Watson.

Agency spokesperson “strongly cautioned” journalists to back off.

Two mainstream media reporters have revealed that the TSA has “strongly cautioned” them not to cover the story of an engineer revealing major flaws in the agency’s $1 billion dollar body scanner program.

As we reported earlier this week, Engineer Jon Corbett of the popular blog TSA Out of Our Pants! posted a video that demonstrates how the TSA’s radiation firing scanners can easily be bypassed, when carrying metal objects.

Despite YouTube initially restricting the video for no discernable reason, the story went viral and theTSA was forced to respond, albeit in a way that only made the subject more pressing.

Now Corbett, who was the first person in the country to sue the TSA over the body scanners, says that two mainstream media journalists have contacted him to make it known that the TSA warned them off the story.

“I’ve been on the phone all day for the last 2 days with reporters and journalists of all kinds,” writes Corbett.

CONTINUED at Infowars. Written by Steve Watson.

Man walked through radiation firing machines with metal objects knowing he would not be stopped.

Google/YouTube has placed restrictions on yet another video that exposes the fraudulent claims of the TSA and highlights how the federal agency’s security theatre is part of a wider social manipulation agenda.

Engineer Jon Corbett of the popular blog TSA Out of Our Pants! posted a video yesterday that demonstrates how the TSA’s radiation firing body scanners can easily be bypassed.

The video shows Corbett carrying a metal case through the scanner, away from his body in his side pocket. Corbett explains that because metallic objects appear as black on the image the scanners produce, the machines do not pick up such objects if they are obscured by the background, which is also black.

Watch the video:

CONTINUED at Prison Planet. Written by Steve Watson.

Mitt “just doesn’t understand the constitution like Ron Paul.”

No less than six relatives of Presidential candidate Mitt Romney have joined the campaign trail in the race for the GOP nomination, but they’re not supporting the former Massachusetts governor, they’re campaigning for Texas Congressman Ron Paul.

Three of Romney’s relatives will even speak at Idaho caucus sites, declaring their support for Paul in a story that is sure to create a buzz around Paul’s campaign as he looks to pick up his first caucus win on Super Tuesday.

The Paul campaign issued a press release Monday introducing five Romney relatives, then issued another release shortly afterwards noting a sixth.

Travis Romney, Troy Romney and Chad Romney, all cousins of Mitt Romney, will speak before Ron Paul crowds in Idaho today. Ty Romney and Jared Romney, whose grandfathers are cousins of former Michigan Governor George Romney, the father of Mitt Romney, have also declared their support for Paul.

“I don’t dislike Mitt at all,” Chad Romney (pictured above) said. “He seems like a nice guy. He just doesn’t understand the constitution like Ron Paul.”

“It’s Ron Paul or bust,” Chad Romney added, “Now, a lot of people will ask me if I’m related,” he said. “And I always say: ‘Yes, I’m related, but I vote for Ron Paul.’ ”

CONTINUED at Prison Planet. Written by Steve Watson.