News and Commentary

By Jeffrey Sterling: ProgressiveHub.net Much like prison visiting rules, use of the Espionage Act is arbitrary and punitive. Justice or security have nothing to do with it.

Congressional Progressive Caucus Center Spying has been a practice of the U.S. government since its inception. Gathering intelligence is justified because it helps uncover malicious actions that could endanger the safety of Americans and people around the world. However, in many instances intelligence is gathered unlawfully on individuals who have no harmful intentions and in violation of Americans’ Fourth Amendment right to privacy. This explainer breaks down the various illegal spying practices the U.S. conducts and the reforms needed to ensure constitutional integrity.

DavidSwanson.org This week on Talk World Radio, we’re discussing whistleblowers and Julian Assange and Iran and Palestine with RootsAction Whistleblower Advocate Jeffrey Sterling.

UMass.edu Journalist, author and antiwar organizer Norman Solomon presented the second annual Ellsberg Lecture, titled “The Madness of Militarism: Nothing can be Changed Until it is Faced,” on Nov. 15 in the Integrative Learning Center, room N151 and via Zoom.

Wired.com A WIRED analysis of leaked police documents verifies that a secretive government program is allowing federal, state, and local law enforcement to access phone records of Americans who are not suspected of a crime.

By Tim Cushing: TechDirt.com After years of continuous, unrepentant abuse of surveillance powers, the FBI is facing the real possibility of seeing Section 702 curtailed, if not scuttled entirely.

By Joseph Cox: 404 Media In a bombshell report, an oversight body for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Enforcement (CBP), and the Secret Service all broke the law while using location data harvested from ordinary apps installed on smartphones. In one instance, a CBP official also inappropriately used the technology to track the location of coworkers with no investigative purpose.

By Daniel Hurst in Canberra: The Guardian More than 60 Australian federal politicians have explicitly called on the US to drop the prosecution of Julian Assange, warning of “a sharp and sustained outcry in Australia” if the WikiLeaks founder is extradited. With a small cross-party delegation due to fly to Washington next week, the Guardian can reveal the lobbying trip has won the open support of 63 members of Australia’s House of Representatives and Senate.

By Chip Gibbons: The Dissenter Americans have repeatedly been told to keep the United States safe they must surrender their core civil liberties to a vast national security apparatus. Yet when this apparatus fails at this supposed objective, the response is to further expand its surveillance powers. Rarely is the exercise of these powers seriously explored. Instead, the national discussion centers on a baseless notion that a shortage of surveillance powers is the root cause of intelligence failures.

By Pitasanna Shanmugathas: Jurist.org To readers of JURIST who may not be aware, tell us, who is Julian Assange, and what are some of the key revelations that his organization, Wikileaks, is responsible for bringing to public attention?