POLITICS: Internet Patriot Act: was gov't surveillance like we've never seen before

[Guest guest]

Are You Ready for the e-PATRIOT Act?

If you've ever wondered how Congress could possible enact legislation

as complex as the USA PATRIOT Act less than 30 days after the events

of Sept. 11, 2001, you're not alone.

The answer, though, isn't that mysterious. The proposals that

eventually became the PATRIOT Act weren't new. They had been

previously introduced numerous times, but never enacted. Only after

the tragic events of 9/11/01 did Congress act.

[ note: The very first article I ever had published was on the

9/11 tragedy. You can read it here:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig2/miles1.html]

And that's what leads me to make a prediction: within a few years,

perhaps much sooner, there will be an information security " meltdown "

event that is too big to ignore. Perhaps terrorists will steal launch

codes to nuclear missiles and initiate an attack on Israel. Maybe

hackers will infiltrate NSA computers and shut down its network of

more than 50 surveillance satellites. Whatever the event, whatever

administration is in power—Democrat or Republican—will demand an

immediate congressional response: a PATRIOT Act for the Internet.

What's more, much of such an e-PATRIOT Act already exists. According

to Stanford University law professor Larry Lessig, who founded the

university's Center for Internet and Society, the Justice Department

is waiting for an Internet security meltdown before introducing a

cyber equivalent of the PATRIOT Act.

What will the e-PATRIOT Act include? The Justice Department isn't

talking, but it's safe to assume that it will include provisions

previously introduced, but rejected due to civil liberties concerns.

These include:

* Mandatory disclosure of encryption keys and passphrases after a

court order or some lesser legal process

* Prohibition of anonymous e-mail accounts

* Mandatory retention of e-mail logs and Web surfing logs by

Internet Service Providers

* Mandatory use of " Internet ID cards " to access the Internet

And that's just for starters. The Justice Department no doubt has

many other initiatives in mind, waiting for an expedient time for

introduction.

As bad as an e-PATRIOT Act would be, it's not the end of the world.

One suggestion I've seen on several blogs for communicating without

the Internet is short-wave radio. And there's always postal mail,

which, despite being derided as " snail mail, " can't be routinely

monitored as easily as e-mail.

While the timing of the e-PATRIOT Act is unknown, its eventual arrival

is a near-certainty. Be prepared!

Mark Nestmann

http://nestmannblog.sovereignsociety.com/2008/08/are-you-ready-f.html

_______

I suggest everyone use an encrypted email account for most

communications. Something like this works well: http://neomailbox.com/

It also allows for anonymous email surfing.

In addition to the above, you can also use an email service that

bypasses your ISP (ISP's copy and store every email you send) and

takes your email directly from your computer to the recipients

computer.

http://www.softstack.com/advsmtp.html

Those of you opposed to NAIS and buying raw milk better be careful :-)

And the beat goes on....

--

" If you're not on somebody's watch list, you're not doing your job " -

Dave Von Kleist

[Guest guest]

was talking about this issue most of last week and is running an

Internet Censorship video contest until Aug 19. http://www.infowars.com/

Link to contest rules and to view video submissions, there's a big icon on

the right of his homepage. One contest ended the other day but there are

several more.

He has video footage of that same prof from Stanford talking about the

" i-patriot act " . The prof calls it " I " patriot rather than " e " patriot, but

it's all the same thing of course.

Apparently the UK started banning AJ's websites last week as well as a

left-leaning free press site that recently aired a video of Pulitzer- Prise

winning journalist Sy Hersch saying that Cheney and associates recently

considered 12 different ways to stage a false flag attack on Iran, including

dressing up our own Navy Seals as Iranians, building an Iranian ship in our

own shipyards, and having them attack American ships near Iran.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/31/cheney-proposal-for-iran-war/

Funny how such outrageous, criminal activity by the second (or first?) most

powerful politician in America gets no mention from the corporate-controlled

media. Even Sy Hersch didn't deem it worthy of printing.

Meanwhile back at the farm most Americans are living in la la land droning

out to the latest " reality " t.v. show while downing their fake foods and

popping their pharmaceuticals.

Reality seems to be the *last* thing Americans want, ironically.

Suze

[Guest guest]

Suze,

> Apparently the UK started banning AJ's websites last week as well as a

> left-leaning free press site that recently aired a video of Pulitzer- Prise

> winning journalist Sy Hersch saying that Cheney and associates recently

> considered 12 different ways to stage a false flag attack on Iran, including

> dressing up our own Navy Seals as Iranians, building an Iranian ship in our

> own shipyards, and having them attack American ships near Iran.

>

> http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/31/cheney-proposal-for-iran-war/

>

> Funny how such outrageous, criminal activity by the second (or first?) most

> powerful politician in America gets no mention from the corporate-controlled

> media. Even Sy Hersch didn't deem it worthy of printing.

It is a common tactic used by the US to start other wars dating back

to the 19th century:

Remember the Maine!

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/sardi1.html

--

" If you're not on somebody's watch list, you're not doing your job " -

Dave Von Kleist

[Guest guest]

> I suggest everyone use an encrypted email account for most

> communications. Something like this works well: http://neomailbox.com/

>

> It also allows for anonymous email surfing.

LOL! That should be anonymous **web** surfing, meaning hiding your IP

address and thus your location.

> In addition to the above, you can also use an email service that

> bypasses your ISP (ISP's copy and store every email you send) and

> takes your email directly from your computer to the recipients

> computer.

>

> http://www.softstack.com/advsmtp.html

>

> Those of you opposed to NAIS and buying raw milk better be careful :-)

I should have mentioned hushmail.com as an easy way of sending and

receiving encrypted email. Just make sure you download and send from

your desktop so that everything is encrypted on your side before being

sent.

For phone calls I like Skype. Great voice quality, great video calls,

and the price is right, ***free*** if you are talking to someone else

who has Skype no matter where in the world they are located, very

inexpensive otherwise. And it is very cool to be watching the person

you are talking to while talking with them.

Plus you can get a Skype phone that looks and works like a regular

phone so you don't have to be at your computer when talking.

But the nice feature is that all calls are encrypted. Unfortunately

Skype, now owned by ebay, appears to have allowed the US gov't to

install a backdoor in their system, getting around the encryption.

Ugh! www.skype.com

Phil Zimmerman, the maker of PGP (pretty good privacy), THE encryption

standard, has created Z-fone:

http://zfoneproject.com/prod_zfone.html

which will encrypt any computer based call and even tell you if there

is someone else between you and the person you are calling. Its very

cool actually. The above link is wordy but if you go to the FAQ's and

check out the first part of the demo you will see how easy it is to

use.

The downside is that you need a softphone account (software that lets

you makes calls from your computer- about $10 a month)) in order to

use it, and then bundle it with something like Gizmo5, which takes the

place of the now unreliable Skype.

http://gizmo5.com/pc/products/features/?PHPSESSID=60edfce3321670009d761a9f5ba162\

68

So overall not as user friendly as Skype but still fairly simple to set up.

--

" If you're not on somebody's watchlist, you're not doing your job " -

Dave Von Kleist

Life is too short to wake up with regrets.

Love the people who treat you right.

Forget about the ones who don't.

Believe everything happens for a reason.

If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands.

If it changes your life, let it.

Nobody said life would be easy.

They just promised it would be worth it.

[Guest guest]

>> http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/31/cheney-proposal-for-iran-war/

>>

>> Funny how such outrageous, criminal activity by the second (or first?) most

>> powerful politician in America gets no mention from the corporate-controlled

>> media. Even Sy Hersch didn't deem it worthy of printing.

>

> It is a common tactic used by the US to start other wars dating back

> to the 19th century:

>

> Remember the Maine!

> http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/sardi1.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsEHYjA6JlU & feature=related

The above is short interview on the BBC that includes and 5

other folks ganging up on him <weg>. The host is shocked...just

shocked...when he hears for the first time about the Gulf of Tonkin

incident and the USS Liberty, which is mentioned in the article I link

to above:

" August 5, 1964: President orders the US to take retaliatory

action against Vietnam after " renewed attacks against American

destroyers in the Gulf on Tonkin " (Vietnam). There were no new attacks

against American ships.

" The news media reported a lie, leading over 50,000 Americans to their

death and millions of casualties. "

Of course he asks the logical question that comes to most folks mind,

" if the gov't can stage something like this, what can't/wont they do?

Very good question.

--

" If you're not on somebody's watchlist, you're not doing your job " -

Dave Von Kleist

Life is too short to wake up with regrets.

Love the people who treat you right.

Forget about the ones who don't.

Believe everything happens for a reason.

If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands.

If it changes your life, let it.

Nobody said life would be easy.

They just promised it would be worth it.

[Guest guest]

,

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsEHYjA6JlU & feature=related

>

> The above is short interview on the BBC that includes and 5

> other folks ganging up on him <weg>. The host is shocked...just

> shocked...when he hears for the first time about the Gulf of Tonkin

> incident and the USS Liberty, which is mentioned in the article I link

> to above:

The irony of this guy's argument is absolutely astonishing. He says

yes, the US government has indeed staged terror attacks in the past as

a pretext for war, and yes this is admitted and declassified and

proven, but there's no evidence anyone died. Thus, to attribute 9/11

to the US gov't requires one to believe they did something far worse,

and staged a terror attack in which US citizens actually died for

real.

ROTFLMAO!!!!

Is this guy for real??????????

So maybe noone died in the Gulf of Tonkin, but did not tens of

thousands of US citizens die in the Vietnam War?

Is there actually any significant difference whatsoever between

staging an attack in which no one *really* dies as a pretext for

getting tens of thousands of US citizens killed in a war, on the one

hand, and staging an attack in which a few thousand US citizens die

directly?

His argument is basically: yes, it's proven that they stage fabricated

attacks on Americans as a pretext for war and robbing civil liberties,

but no, there is no way they are immoral enough to let Americans die.

That's fascinating.

Chris

[Guest guest]

>

> The irony of this guy's argument is absolutely astonishing. He says

> yes, the US government has indeed staged terror attacks in the past as

> a pretext for war, and yes this is admitted and declassified and

> proven, but there's no evidence anyone died. Thus, to attribute 9/11

> to the US gov't requires one to believe they did something far worse,

> and staged a terror attack in which US citizens actually died for

> real.

>

> ROTFLMAO!!!!

>

> Is this guy for real??????????

I listened to it too. Pretty amazing mental gymnastics there, eh?

Suze

[Guest guest]

Suze,

>> Is this guy for real??????????

>

> I listened to it too. Pretty amazing mental gymnastics there, eh?

>

> Suze

Yes, although I left out of my post that apparently 30 people did die

on the boat. Still, it's fascinating that one could conclude that the

staging of the event was relatively harmless since noone died, when it

was used as the pretext for a war that killed tens of thousands of

Americans, in addition to the Vietnamese that the government had no

right to kill either.

Chris