As we wait to hear Obama's plan to reform the NSA, spare a thought for the poor rubberstamping judges of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, who are charged with the solemn duty of granting permission for pretty much every stupid, overreaching surveillance plan America's spooks bring before it in its secretive, unaccountable chambers. These hardworking civil servants have sounded the alarm that any burden on them to actually pay attention to whether surveillance is proportional, necessary and legal would put an undue strain on them: "Even if additional financial, personnel, and physical resources were provided, any substantial increase in workload could nonetheless prove disruptive to the Courts' ability to perform their duties." Oh, diddums.
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2:00 pm Thu
Jan 16, 2014
Rubberstamping FISA court can't be expected to actually oversee surveillance
Trump WH urges Supreme Court to kill Alphabet's appeal vs Oracle on same day Trump attends Larry Ellison's re-election fundraiser
Sure, this absolutely passes the corruption smell test. Everything is fine. Trump and his klepto-regime are (of course) supporting Oracle’s Larry Ellison in his Supreme Court fight with Google. The same day the same Larry Ellison hosted a massive fundraiser for Trump in California. From reporting by Malathi Nayak at Bloomberg News: The Trump administration […]
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Roger Stone sentenced to 40 months (3 years + 4 months) in prison
Roger Stone, political operative and longtime confidant of President Trump, is sentenced to 40 months in prison by a federal judge who condemned his lies to Congress, witness tampering, and obstruction.
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IRS sues Facebook for $9bn
The IRS is suing Facebook for $9bn over unpaid taxes, reports Reuters, targeting its licensing of “intellectual property” to its own Irish subsidiary to shift profits to that lower-taxed jurisdiction. Under the arrangement, Facebook’s subsidiaries pay royalties to the U.S.-based parent for access to its trademark, users and platform technologies. From 2010 to 2016, Facebook […]
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The Food Guard kicks plastic wrap to the curb and solves your missing lid problem forever
It may not rank up there with climate change or personal debt, but confess…isn’t it the worst when you’re trying to put a food container in the fridge, but can’t find the right lid to fit? Hey, not everything has to be a global crisis to be irritating to the core. But still…it’s even more […]
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The AXIS Gear turns your regular window shades into smart coverings
Assembling a truly autonomous smart home is getting closer and closer to reality every day. But for every new smart bulb, thermostat, home security system and appliance we set loose within our walls, there are still probably a half dozen “dumb” items we’d still love to replace. But whether they’re too costly or too big […]
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These earbuds created by Beats by Dre engineers are just as awesome and cost a whole lot less
With so many manufacturers out there these days, it’s tough to know who to trust in the ultra-competitive wireless earbuds market. If you’ve never heard of LinearFlux, you may soon. That’s because it’s a company with a stellar pedigree whose co-founders were two of the engineers behind the original success of two audio houses you […]
