emptywheel

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September 21, 2017

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Little noticed in Facebook's promise to keep investigating what happened in last year's election is a suggestion they'll also look at what the campaigns did.

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[Photo: National Security Agency, Ft. Meade, MD via Wikimedia]

FISA

A Better Example of Article III FISA Oversight: Reaz Qadir Khan

2 Comments

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September 21, 2017

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emptywheel

NSA's General Counsel said some funny things in a speech about judicial oversight of FISA's Section 702. Here are some corrections.

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emptywheel, Mueller Probe

One Thing Not Mentioned in Mueller Requests from the White House: The Putin Phone Call

16 Comments

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September 21, 2017

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emptywheel

One thing is not explicitly on the three versions of lists of things that Robert Mueller has requested from the White House: details of the January 28 phone call with Vladimir Putin.

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2016 Presidential Election, Blogs Internet and New Media

Facebook Troll Account Events Happen in Wake of Guccifer 2.0 Released Targeting Data

8 Comments

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September 20, 2017

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emptywheel

The first events Facebook troll promoted events that might legitimately have had an effect on the election -- a set of rallies in Florida on August 20 -- came in the wake of Guccifer 2.0 releasing congressional targeting data for FL.

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2016 Presidential Election, Russian hacks

Why Did Guccifer 2.0 Keep Harping on VAN?

16 Comments

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September 19, 2017

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emptywheel

Why did Guccifer 2.0 keep harping on VAN? Was it meant as a warning to Democrats?

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2016 Presidential Election, Mueller Probe, Russian hacks

Why Was Manafort FISA Tapped Rather than Criminal Tapped?

11 Comments

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September 19, 2017

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emptywheel

Some thoughts on the news that Paul Manafort was targeted under FISA.

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2016 Presidential Election, Leak Investigations, Mueller Probe

SSCI Plays Hardball with Michael Cohen's Attempt to Distract from Trump Tower Deal

3 Comments

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September 19, 2017

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emptywheel

As he did with HPSCI, Michael Cohen tried to manipulate the press to present a narrative suggesting his testimony to Congress pertains exclusively to the Steele dosser. Richard Burr and Mark Warner were having none of that.

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Blogs Internet and New Media, Cybersecurity, emptywheel, EO 12333, Mueller Probe

Can Congress -- or Robert Mueller -- Order Facebook to Direct Its Machine Learning?

7 Comments

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September 19, 2017

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emptywheel

Congressional demands for more data from Facebook are actually far more complex than let on.

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FISA

USA Freedom Act Scofflaw Rosemary Collyer Claims She Can't Find a Tech Expert

6 Comments

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September 18, 2017

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emptywheel

Rosemary Collyer claims she can't find a tech expert who can help her avoid the errors she made in this year's 702 reauthorization. That's unconvincing.

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Cybersecurity, emptywheel

The Domestic Communications NSA Won't Reveal Are Almost Certainly Obscured Location Communications

3 Comments

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September 17, 2017

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emptywheel

Reading the documents released since Ron Wyden and Dan Coats started fighting about how NSA collects on Americans using Section 702 strongly suggests this is about collecting from location obscuring servers.

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Culture, emptywheel, Football, Trash Talk, Trump Administration

Jemele Hill Is Right, Trump Is A Racist Bigot, Trash Talk

22 Comments

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September 17, 2017

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bmaz

The biggest sports story of the week, unless you are a legal freak in the Zeke Elliot weeds, is more politics than sports. The classy and wonderful Jemele Hill of ESPN let fly some hard truth about Trump on his favorite medium, Twitter. And…

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2016 Presidential Election, Blogs Internet and New Media, Cybersecurity, Mueller Probe, Russian hacks

The (Thus Far) Flimsy Case for Republican Cooperation on Russian Targeting

27 Comments

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September 16, 2017

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emptywheel

We already know of cases where Russian related targeting assistance was provided in last year's election. But it was provided by Russians to Republicans, not the other way around.

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emptywheel, Health Policy

Financing Medicare For All

16 Comments

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September 16, 2017

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Ed Walker

If you only read mainstream media you’d think Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All bill was terrifyingly expensive. An opinion piece behind the paywall in the Wall Street Journal cites a couple of studies with huge headline numbers like $2.5…

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FISA, Mueller Probe

Facebook Doesn't Need a Probable Cause Search Warrant to Turn Over Ad Data to Robert Mueller

6 Comments

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September 16, 2017

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emptywheel

Everyone is in a froth because two articles assume, based on faulty assumptions, that Robert Mueller got a probable cause search warrant to obtain information from Facebook. Short of having a confirming source, there's no reason to believe that's the case.

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Cybersecurity, emptywheel, Leak Investigations, WikiLeaks

Shadow Brokers and the "Second Source"

3 Comments

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September 15, 2017

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emptywheel

While I doubt that Shadow Brokers is the Second Source of NSA files shared with Jacob Appelbaum and WikiLeaks, I think he may have a mutual shared source with them.

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Torture, WikiLeaks

Mike Morell Resigns Out of Conscience because of [Leaks about] Torture

22 Comments

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September 14, 2017

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emptywheel

Mike Morell has discovered a conscience he apparently didn't have when his CIA was torturing people.

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emptywheel, Internet infrastructure, worse than that

Software is a Long Con

38 Comments

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September 14, 2017

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Quinn Norton

Computer systems are poorly built, badly maintained, and often locked in a maze of vendor contracts and outdated spaghetti code that amounts to a death spiral. This is true of nothing else we buy.

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FISA

Coats v. Wyden, the Orwellian Reclassification Edition

10 Comments

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September 14, 2017

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emptywheel

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats has all but admitted that the NSA knowingly collects, but does not knowingly target, entirely domestic communications. But he won't explain how that happens.

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Cybersecurity

Companies Victimized by Repurposed NSA Tools Don't Share Those Details with Government

6 Comments

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September 13, 2017

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emptywheel

It turns out that private sector companies victimized by repurposed NSA hacking tools are not all that forthcoming with the US government about being victims of those tools.

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Mueller Probe

The Jared Firing Line

30 Comments

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September 11, 2017

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emptywheel

If Steve Bannon is behind the story that Jared Kushner almost got fired in July, then one reason he would have been fired is to blame him for the Comey firing.

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Amid Promises to Share Ads with Congress, Some Other Interesting Promises

A Better Example of Article III FISA Oversight: Reaz Qadir Khan

One Thing Not Mentioned in Mueller Requests from the White House: The Putin Phone Call

Facebook Troll Account Events Happen in Wake of Guccifer 2.0 Released Targeting Data

Why Did Guccifer 2.0 Keep Harping on VAN?

Amid Promises to Share Ads with Congress, Some Other Interesting Promises

A Better Example of Article III FISA Oversight: Reaz Qadir Khan

One Thing Not Mentioned in Mueller Requests from the White House: The Putin Phone Call

Facebook Troll Account Events Happen in Wake of Guccifer 2.0 Released Targeting Data

Why Did Guccifer 2.0 Keep Harping on VAN?

Why Was Manafort FISA Tapped Rather than Criminal Tapped?

SSCI Plays Hardball with Michael Cohen's Attempt to Distract from Trump Tower Deal

Can Congress -- or Robert Mueller -- Order Facebook to Direct Its Machine Learning?

USA Freedom Act Scofflaw Rosemary Collyer Claims She Can't Find a Tech Expert

The Domestic Communications NSA Won't Reveal Are Almost Certainly Obscured Location Communications

Jemele Hill Is Right, Trump Is A Racist Bigot, Trash Talk

The (Thus Far) Flimsy Case for Republican Cooperation on Russian Targeting

Financing Medicare For All

Facebook Doesn't Need a Probable Cause Search Warrant to Turn Over Ad Data to Robert Mueller

Shadow Brokers and the "Second Source"

Mike Morell Resigns Out of Conscience because of [Leaks about] Torture

Software is a Long Con

Coats v. Wyden, the Orwellian Reclassification Edition

Companies Victimized by Repurposed NSA Tools Don't Share Those Details with Government

The Jared Firing Line

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