From CounterCurrents:
Dear Friend,
If you think the content of this news letter is critical for
the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please
forward it to your friends and spread the word. It's time for humanity to come
together as one family! You can subscribe to our news letter here http://www.countercurrents.org/subscribe.htm. You can also
follow us on twitter, http://twitter.com/countercurrents and on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/countercurrents
In
Solidarity
Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org
'Today We Fight Back': Global Action Against Mass Surveillance
By Jon Queally
http://www.countercurrents.org/queally10214.htm
Today—Tuesday,
February 11th, 2014—is the day the people across the world are "fighting back"
against mass, unwarranted surveillance. With an online campaign designed to
galvanize supporters of privacy and the open internet against the troublesome
trend of government spying, more than 600 hundred organizations from around the
globe are participating by posting banners on their websites and urging their
members to endorse a set of 13 Principles for privacy protections
A
Faux “Humanitarian Pause” In Homs?
By Franklin Lamb
http://www.countercurrents.org/lamb110214.htm
As two
delegations, one representing the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic, led by
Bashar Assad, and the other claiming to represent the popular opposition which
is seeking its overthrow, arrived in Switzerland this morning to continue with
Round Two of Geneva II, there is uncertainty over the agenda and whether to
extend this weekend’s 36 hour “Humanitarian pause” to allow aid into the Old
City of Homs. Such a deal, which could come at any time, would bolster
confidence ahead of the Round Two of the peace talks
Is A Policy A
Law? Is Murder Murder?
By David Swanson
http://www.countercurrents.org/swanson110214.htm
Associated
Press reports, "An American citizen who is a member of al-Qaida is actively
planning attacks against Americans overseas, U.S. officials say, and the Obama
administration is wrestling with whether to kill him with a drone strike and how
to do so legally under its new stricter targeting policy issued last year."
Stay Hydrated, Challenge Corporate Power, Defend All Earthlings
By Mickey Z.
http://www.countercurrents.org/mickeyz110214.htm
The
time is perfect -- right here, right now -- for us to: 1. Fight to save the
children dying as a result of poor sanitation. 2. Reject an animal-based diet
that’s threatening all life on the planet. 3. Unite to bring down the dominant
corporate culture. 4. Occupy our inner doorperson and break open the gates to a
more compassionate, equitable, and sustainable future
Logic In The
Face Of Sea Level Rise
By Brent Blackwelder
http://www.countercurrents.org/blackwelder110214.htm
Relocating
people, especially in the wake of a disaster, is a difficult thing to do. But
what is more humane? Finding a different but safe home for families or setting
them up over and over again directly in the path of catastrophe? A true-cost
economy would provide a much kinder response by assisting victims of weather
disasters and avoiding the repetition of past mistakes
BDS Needs To
Counterattack
By John Spritzler
http://www.countercurrents.org/spritzler110214.htm
There
should not be a Jewish state: it is bad for ALL ordinary people, gentiles and
Jews alike; it is only good for the privileged ruling elites who take advantage
of the anger between Jews and gentiles, that a Jewish state foments, to keep
elite rulers in power over ordinary people. Until we make this argument
aggressively and proudly, Zionists such as Roger Cohen will be able to persuade
good Americans to side with Israel and its ethnic cleansing projects. Let's not
let them get away with it!
Swami Aseemanand And Art Of ‘Statement
Withdrawal’
By Ram Puniyani
http://www.countercurrents.org/puniyani110214.htm
Now
the whole thing will lapse in the quagmire of the authenticity of the interview,
the forensic test of the tapes and what not. If Swami could retract the
statement given to the Magistrate, disowning the interview is no big game. This
aspect of alleged RSS related activities need to be thoroughly and
professionally investigated irrespective of the stature of those directly or
indirectly involved in the acts of terror
Showing posts with label individual privacy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label individual privacy. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Saturday, January 18, 2014
This and that.....
The meaning of life..
Rabble's photo.
Convicted of being disagreeable.
79-year-old Irish peace activist Margaretta D'Arcy was taken from her home yesterday and sent to Limerick prison to serve a three month sentence. Her crime? ...Peaceful civil disobedience in Shannon Airport to draw attention to the Irish state's complicity in the death and destruction caused abroad by the US war machine. Opposition to war should not be a crime. #FreeMargaretta
I have introduced the The Big Brother is Not Watching You Act, HR 3883.
Stop Telling Lies About Liberals And We'll Stop Telling The Truth About You's photo.
(chs) They aren't human brings, they are vultures getting fat on the carrion. They see a meal ticket, a way to wealth. Not all, mind you, but way too many thes...e days. Be careful who you vote for for ANY office. Their endgame might be career politician and the attendant gravy train. Don't let them get on your City Council or Mayor or even school board without finding out their character. Somehow.
Governments all around the world have raised the “safe” levels of radiation exposure, but many argue his is based on political maneuvering and not actual science.
Business Insider Says That I’m the Most Productive Member of the House.
94/7 Alternative Portland's photo.
Boom!!
"It's not just that the water went out. It's that the water was poisoned." --> http://sc.org/WVpoison
Occupy Democrats's photo.
WELFARE PRIORITIZED FOR THE RICH & BILLIONAIRES
As there are ongoing "austerity" cuts to food for the hungry (SNAP), cuts to long term unemployment benefits, attacks on defined benefit pensions (which Rand Paul says he wants to make "illegal" for private & public workers), cuts to veterans benefits as bloated military war machine budget expands. I support the Mortgage Deduction , #6 on list, which should be preserved ,but I think focus of scrutiny on this was on the 77 percent of the benefit going to the wealthy.
As there are ongoing "austerity" cuts to food for the hungry (SNAP), cuts to long term unemployment benefits, attacks on defined benefit pensions (which Rand Paul says he wants to make "illegal" for private & public workers), cuts to veterans benefits as bloated military war machine budget expands. I support the Mortgage Deduction , #6 on list, which should be preserved ,but I think focus of scrutiny on this was on the 77 percent of the benefit going to the wealthy.
We've definitely had enough. Have you? Image by Occupy Democrats.
The 900,000 poorest working families in North Carolina just got another tax hike from the conservatives who swept state legislature elections in 2010.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Corporate Espionage Undermines Democracy
Pretty horrifying if we tolerate it!
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader. (photo: Meet the Press)
t's not just the NSA that has been caught spying on Americans. Some of our nation's largest corporations have been conducting espionage as well, against civic groups.
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader. (photo: Meet the Press)
Corporate Espionage Undermines Democracy
27 November 13
t's not just the NSA that has been caught spying on Americans. Some of our nation's largest corporations have been conducting espionage as well, against civic groups.
For these big companies with pliable ethics, if they don't win political conflicts with campaign donations or lobbying power, then they play dirty. Very dirty.
That's the lesson of a new report on corporate espionage against nonprofit organizations, by my colleagues at Essential Information. The title of the report is Spooky Business, and it is apt.
Spooky Business is like a Canterbury Tales of corporate snoopery. The spy narratives in the report are lurid and gripping. Hiring investigators to pose as volunteers and journalists. Hacking. Wiretapping. Information warfare. Physical intrusion. Investigating the private lives of nonprofit leaders. Dumpster diving using an active duty police officer to gain access to trash receptacles. Electronic surveillance. On and on. What won't corporations do in service of profit and power?
Many different types of nonprofit civic organizations have been targeted by corporate spies: environmental, public interest, consumer, food safety, animal rights, pesticide reform, nursing home reform, gun control and social justice.
A diverse constellation of corporations has planned or executed corporate espionage against these nonprofit civic organizations. Food companies like Kraft, Coca-Cola, Burger King, McDonald's and Monsanto. Oil companies like Shell, BP and Chevron. Chemical companies like Dow and Sasol. Also involved are the retailers (Wal-Mart), banks (Bank of America), and, of course, the nation's most powerful trade association: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Plenty of mercenary spooks have joined up to abet them, including former officials at the FBI, CIA, NSA, Secret Service and U.S. military. Sometimes even government contractors are part of the snooping.
In effect, big corporations have been able to hire portions of the national security apparatus, and train their tools of spycraft on the citizens groups of our nation.
This does not bode well for our democracy.
Our democracy is only as strong as the civic groups that work to preserve and protect it every day. To function effectively, these groups must be able to keep their inner workings secure from the prying eyes and snooping noses of the spies-for-hire.
Corporate espionage is a threat to individual privacy, too. As citizens, we do not relinquish our rights to privacy when we disagree with the ideas or actions of a corporation. It is especially galling that corporations should employ such unethical or illegal tactics to deprive Americans of their fundamental rights.
This is a subject with which I have some familiarity. In 1966, when I was working on auto safety, an enterprising young journalist at the New Republic wrote a story about private investigators tasked by General Motors to find "dirt" using false pretenses to interview my friends and teachers and by following me around the country. A Senate Committee, chaired by Senator Abraham Ribicoff, conducted a celebrated hearing confirming in detail General Motors' unsavory tactics to try to silence my criticisms of unsafely designed automobiles. The uproar helped to pass the auto and highway safety laws in 1966.
The journalist's name is James Ridgeway, and he kept at it. More than forty years later, he broke another important story - this time for Mother Jones - about Dow Chemical's massive corporate espionage operation against Greenpeace, and other espionage activities by a private investigation firm called Beckett Brown International.
Ridgeway's more recent articles, and the work of other journalists, make it clear that the self-regulation of private investigative and intelligence firms is a complete failure.
It's time for law enforcement to focus some attention on such corporate spies and their flagrant invasion of privacy.
Where is the Justice Department? In France, when Électricité de France was caught spying on Greenpeace, there was an investigation and prosecutions. In Britain, Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World newspaper was ensnared in a telephone hacking scandal involving British public officials and celebrities. The Guardian newspaper excavated the story relentlessly, government investigations followed, with prosecutions ongoing. Here in the United States, the Justice Department has been silent.
How about Congress? Corporate espionage against nonprofits is an obvious topic for a congressional investigation and hearings. But, alas, Congress too has been somnolent.
How much corporate espionage against nonprofits is taking place? Without investigations, subpoenas and hearings, no one really knows. But it is likely that there is more corporate espionage than we know about, because the snooping corporations and their private investigators toil mightily to hide their dirty tricks - which are designed to intimidate and deter people from speaking out and standing up against corporate crimes, frauds and abuses. Is the little we know merely the tip of the iceberg?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
