Monday, February 6, 2006

Independent And Autonomous Local Access To The Communication Infrastructure: Which Roads Ahead? - Robin Good's Latest News Will internet access be controlled and monopolized by a handful of global internet access providers? Can governments prevent access to certain sites? Perhaps there is an alternative in the making. Hundreds of municipalities are recognizing that facilitating internet access is part of their responsibility towards citizens, and they are planning to bypass traditional internet access providers, opening access to the net in a more direct way. According to an article of DMeurope.com, over 400 cities world wide are currently planning to deploy broadband networks in their areas, and 2006 should see a doubling of the numbers. Rome, along with New York, San Francisco and Paris, is among the major cities planning to provide citizens and visitors with widespread internet access, choosing between fibre or wireless broadband networks using wi-fi hotspots, mesh networks or pre-WiMAX technology. 12:49:46 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Surveillance Net Yields Few Suspects (Washington Post) Intelligence officers who eavesdropped on thousands of Americans in overseas calls under authority from President Bush have dismissed nearly all of them as potential suspects after hearing nothing pertinent to a terrorist threat, according to accounts from current and former government officials and private-sector sources with knowledge of the technologies in use. Bush has recently described the warrantless operation as "terrorist surveillance" and summed it up by declaring that "if you're talking to a member of al Qaeda, we want to know why." But officials conversant with the program said a far more common question for eavesdroppers is whether, not why, a terrorist plotter is on either end of the call. The answer, they said, is usually no. Fewer than 10 U.S. citizens or residents a year, according to an authoritative account, have aroused enough suspicion during warrantless eavesdropping to justify interception of their domestic calls, as well. That step still requires a warrant from a federal judge, for which the government must supply evidence of probable cause. The Bush administration refuses to say -- in public or in closed session of Congress -- how many Americans in the past four years have had their conversations recorded or their e-mails read by intelligence analysts without court authority. Two knowledgeable sources placed that number in the thousands; one of them, more specific, said about 5,000. 12:34:15 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

For Some, Spying Controversy Recalls a Past Drama - New York Times WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 -- As the Senate prepares to hold hearings on Monday on domestic eavesdropping by the National Security Agency, old Washington hands see a striking similarity to a drama that unfolded three decades ago in the capital. In 1975, a Senate committee led by Senator Frank Church of Idaho revealed that the N.S.A. had intercepted the phone calls and telegrams of Americans. Then, as now, intelligence officials insisted that only international communications of people linked to dangerous activities were the targets, and that the spying was authorized under the president's constitutional powers. Then, as now, some Republicans complained that the government's most sensitive secrets were being splashed on the front pages of newspapers, while Democrats emphasized the danger to civil liberties. Both in 1975 and today, officials defending the N.S.A. operation said it had prevented terrorist attacks. And Dick Cheney, who as vice president has overseen secret briefings for selected members of Congress on the N.S.A. program, was in the White House then, too, serving as a deputy to President Gerald R. Ford before succeeding Donald H. Rumsfeld as chief of staff. The recent debate about the security agency "does bring back a lot of memories," said Walter F. Mondale, the former vice president, who served on the Church Committee as a Democratic senator from Minnesota. "For those of us who went through it all back then, there's disappointment and even anger that we're back where we started from." Later, after becoming vice president under Jimmy Carter, Mr. Mondale helped usher a into law a major committee recommendation -- that no eavesdropping on American soil take place without a warrant. That became the basis of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, the law that critics say is being violated by President Bush's decision to authorize eavesdropping without court warrants on people in the United States linked to Al Qaeda. Bush administration officials deny that they have violated the 1978 statute, noting that apart from the special eavesdropping program, they are going to the FISA court for warrants more often than any previous administration. 12:30:46 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

USATODAY.com - "Eavesdropping" hearing today; new reports shed light The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to meet at 9:30 a.m. ET to begin looking into the "eavesdropping" program that has allowed the National Security Agency to monitor some communications between suspected terrorists overseas and persons within the USA. The post-9/11 program is controversial because the NSA has been eavesdropping without first getting court warrants. Many critics, including some Republicans, believe the law requires NSA get warrants prior to spying on Americans inside the USA. President Bush and his aides have defended the program's legality. Before the hearing gets started, there are some new reports that are worth examining: - There's USA TODAY's front-page story today that made this news: Seven telecommunications executives say the NSA has "secured the cooperation of large telecommunications companies, including AT& T, MCI and Sprint," for the program. - Sunday, there was The Washington Post front-page report that said very little of the information gathered by the NSA has been of much value to intelligence agents. According to the Post, "current and former government officials and private-sector sources with knowledge of the technologies in use" say "nearly all" of the people in the USA who the agency has eavesdropped on have been dismissed "as suspects" because the wiretaps did not show any connection to terrorists. That's important in part, according to the Post, because if nearly all of those who've been the target of eavesdropping have been dismissed as potential suspects that may give critics a reason to challenge the program's legality. The Post reported that the high "failure rate" could give opponents a chance to argue that the government had neither "probable cause" nor a "reasonable basis" for authorizing warrantless wiretaps. 12:26:02 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

USATODAY.com - Telecoms let NSA spy on calls The National Security Agency has secured the cooperation of large telecommunications companies, including AT&T, MCI and Sprint, in its efforts to eavesdrop without warrants on international calls by suspected terrorists, according to seven telecommunications executives. The executives asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the program. AT&T, MCI and Sprint had no official comment. The Senate Judiciary Committee begins hearings today on the government's program of monitoring international calls and e-mails of a domestic target without first obtaining court orders. At issue: whether the surveillance is legal, as President Bush insists, or an illegal intrusion into the lives of Americans, as lawsuits by civil libertarians contend. In domestic investigations, phone companies routinely require court orders before cooperating. A majority of international calls are handled by long-distance carriers AT&T, MCI and Sprint. All three own "gateway" switches capable of routing calls to points around the globe. AT&T was recently acquired by SBC Communications, which has since adopted the AT&T name as its corporate moniker. MCI, formerly known as WorldCom, was recently acquired by Verizon. Sprint recently merged with Nextel. 12:22:25 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

USATODAY.com - Gonzales defense challenged by Senate Judiciary chairman WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales insisted Monday that President Bush is fully empowered to eavesdrop on Americans without warrants as part of the war on terror. He exhorted Congress not to end or tinker with the program. (Related story: Telecoms let NSA spy on calls) Gonzales' strong defense of Bush's program was challenged by Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and committee Democrats during sometimes contentious questioning. Specter told Gonzales that even the Supreme Court had ruled that "the president does not have a blank check." Specter suggested that the program's legality be reviewed by a special federal court set up by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. "There are a lot of people who think you're wrong. What do you have to lose if you're right?" Specter, R-Pa., asked Gonzales. 12:17:30 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []