Lillie Coney, – EPIC Associate Director HERE
Rights Working Group
San Francisco, CA
December 1-2, 2011

Challenging Law Enforcement Surveillance – Federal and Local Initiatives
Speakers: John Crew, ACLU of Northern California and Mike German, ACLU Washington Legislative Office

Immigration Enforcement 101 for Privacy Rights Advocates
Speakers: Carl Bergquist, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles; Sameera Hafiz, Rights
Working Group; Jennie Pasquarella, ACLU of Southern California and Jazmin Segura, Services, Immigrants

Rights and Education Network
Privacy in Perspective: Implications of Government Surveillance on Human Rights and Civil Liberties
Speakers: Jamil Dakwar, ACLU; Summer Hararah, Asian Law Caucus; Shirin Sinnar, Stanford Law School and
Margaret Huang, Rights Working Group (Moderator)

FOIA Case Studies: Using the Freedom of Information Act to Push for Policy Change
Speakers: Julia H. Mass, ACLU of Northern California; Mark Rumold, Electronic Frontier Foundation and
Nura Maznavi, Muslim Advocates (Moderator)

…more

Open-source intelligence
by Steve Ragan – Nov 7 2011, Tech Herald

The Associated Press (AP) recently visited a plain-looking building in Virginia, which is used by the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and staffed by a team of “vengeful librarians” to sort massive amounts of OSINT, or Open Source Intelligence. The CIA calls this location an Open Source Center.

OSINT, believe it or not, is often a key source of information that leads to actionable intelligence. It’s all around you, because OSINT is anything and everything publically available. Today, social media holds a wealth of OSINT sources, thanks to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, countless blogs and news websites, as well as video channels such as YouTube. OSINT also includes public records.

After the AP story ran, pundits expressed shock because the CIA was “spying” on people via social media. News headlines warning people to “be careful” with what they say on Twitter, because the CIA “may be watching”, made the rounds all weekend long.

It’s a needless worry, because most of what the CIA is doing is no different than what reporters do when following developing events. When a story breaks, journalists will follow breaking news on Twitter or, in some cases, Facebook, in order to amass immediate information and reaction.

So what is the CIA doing? As the AP report explains, it’s doing its job. Earlier this year, the CIA monitored the reaction on Twitter to the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed. It also monitored comments here stateside, but most of the aforementioned “vengeful librarians” watched the reactions in China and Pakistan. …more

The Social Network is Stalking You
ACLU – 16-November, 2011

A new web feature by USA Today details the ways that Facebook stalks you around the Internet – even when you’re not logged in. Facebook’s tracking methods – in the guise of the innocent seeming “Like” button – record every web site its 800 million-plus members have visited during the previous 90 days, even if you never click on that button, or don’t have a Facebook account.

We shouldn’t have to choose between browsing the Web and keeping Facebook from tracking everything we do online. That’s why we’ve asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to look into Facebook’s practice of tracking your web activity even if you never click on a Like button or log into Facebook at all, and why we encourage you to tell Congress to take steps to protect our privacy by creating a “Do Not Track” mechanism with legal force. And, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.), chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, has pledged to hold a hearing to investigate these reports.

Here’s what happens: when you visit any page on Facebook, it tacks “cookies” onto your browser, regardless of whether you have a Facebook account or are logged in. These cookies alert Facebook every time you visit a website that has a “Like” button or other Facebook social plug-ins. Given the number of sites that use “Like” buttons and other Facebook social plugins, Facebook has the ability to track a huge amount of your surfing habits. They know what you read, which videos you watch, what you buy, who your friends are and anything else you do online. Even if know this tracking is happening, you have no access to the information being compiled about you nor are you given the opportunity to correct any errors or clarify or delete anything misleading or just embarrassing. And while Facebook claims that it retains this information only to improve the effectiveness of its social plugins, profiles like these are a potential goldmine to online advertisers and can be irresistible to law enforcement, not to mention other third parties like insurance companies or divorce attorneys. …more

Farr, Grijalva, Harkin Sign Bahrain Arms Deal Resolutions
POMED – Novemebr 16, 2011

Two additional cosponsors have been added to H.J. Res. 80, which calls for “limiting the issuance of a letter of offer with respect to a certain proposed sale of defense articles and defense services to the Kingdom of Bahrain,” originally introduced by Rep. James McGovern (D-MA). The new cosponsors include Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) and Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ). Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) has also been signed onto H.J. Res. 80′s companion resolution in the Senate S.J. Res. 28, introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR).

The resolution limits the proposed arms sale, requiring the Secretary of State to “certify to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives” that the Government of Bahrain “is conducting good faith investigations and prosecutions of alleged perpetrators responsible for the killing, torture, arbitrary detention, and other human rights violations committed since February 2011,” among other measures ensuring the Government of Bahrain’s compliance with international human rights standards.

Meanwhile, Isabel Coles argues that “the future of U.S. military support for Bahrain, starting with a $53 million arms deal now on the line, hinges on the findings of a human rights investigation into the Gulf kingdom’s handling of popular protests earlier this year.” Some fear that while the BICI report, due on November 23, may serve as a “springboard for reform,” the report will not present a “strategic solution to the issue to prevent the recurrence of these problems” in the form of a renewed . …more

Bahrain: Sustained Opposition to Arms Sale
November 15, 2011 – POMED

In a Washington Post ”Letter to the Editor,” Sanjeev Bery, advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, writes that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “was quick to repeat the Bahraini government’s assurance that it will hold accountable “those who cross lines in responding to civil unrest” during her recent speech at the National Democratic Institute. Meanwhile, Bery points out that “no one in the Bahraini government has been prosecuted for the many shooting deaths of protesters, and no one is being held accountable for countless allegations of torture. While an investigation is underway, the real question is whether there will be accountability for those who pulled the trigger — and for those who may have given the orders to do so.”

A report entitled “Accessory to Murder? US Weapons in Bahrain and the Coming Arms Sale” examines visual footage of what author Bill Marczak claims are American weapons being used in the February crackdown by the Bahrain Defense Forces (BDF). Marczak offers suggestions for the U.S. government, the policy community, and the general public, including encouraging the Department of Defense to pursue an End-Use Monitoring (EUM) investigation into supplies sold by the U.S. to Bahrain. He also suggests that if the BICI report does not “adequately address” the topic of the BDF’s suppression of protests, the State Department should carry out its own investigation. Lastly, U.S. citizens should encourage their representatives to sign onto H.J. Res. 80 and S.J.Res. 28, joint resolutions in the House and Senate that limit a proposed arms sale to Bahrain. …source

Letter from Obama insults its recipients
By Zac Smith – The Oklahoma Daily – November 15, 2011

President Barack Obama:

I read your letter, published on Thursday in The Daily and other student papers, with great interest.

You express concern over the economic prospects of young Americans, and you preside over a country which, according to CIA surveys, suffers from a greater degree of class inequality than many developing African nations and former Soviet satellites. For most Americans born into the lower economic stratum of society, life outside of that stratum will be forever unattainable.

You criticize Wall Street organizations for their “failure to adapt,” precipitating the current financial crisis for which the American worker must foot the bill. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup were among the key Wall Street contributors to the crisis; as you’ll recall, they were also among your largest campaign contributors in 2008.

Goldman Sachs associates provided you with more than $1 million during the run-up to the election, according to records released by the Federal Election Commission and collated by the Center for Responsive Politics. Then, after you assumed office, you appointed former Goldman Sachs Co-Head of Finance Gary Gensler as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and former Goldman Sachs Vice Chairman Robert Hormats as Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs. Former Goldman Sachs Vice President Mark Patterson also became your administration’s treasury chief of staff.

Your discomfort with Wall Street’s failure to respond to public needs hasn’t prevented you either from accepting enormous sums of Wall Street money or appointing former Wall Street executives to high positions in your administration.

You emphasize that you are just like us, that you share our concerns about debt and the affordability of college. You are devoted to making certain that we all have a fair opportunity to obtain an education.

Oddly, this hasn’t stopped your administration from supporting regimes that deprive millions of people of education and other basic rights. Last year, your administration sold $60 billion worth of military aircraft to the Saudi Arabian government in what Al-Jazeera reported as the single largest U.S. arms sale in history. The dismal state of human rights under the Saudi monarchy is well-known; in 2010, the U.S. State Department admitted that the Saudi government subjected its citizens to “torture and physical abuse … arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention … [and] restrictions on civil liberties such as freedoms of speech.” Saudi women are subject to a level of officially-sanctioned dehumanization virtually unknown in similarly developed nations.

Though the Saudi state educational system is relatively well-funded, its curricula are packed with stultifying religious dogma and Saudi women are often compelled by government-sanctioned societal conventions to avoid pursuing higher education. Thirty percent of Saudi women are illiterate, according to CIA figures. ...more

Harper inconsistent on rights in the case of Bahrain
November 15, 2011 – Eva Sajoo – Troy Media

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper returned from the recent Commonwealth Summit in Perth, Australia, he cast human rights as the defining issue for member nations — even threatening to boycott the next meeting in Sri Lanka if the subject is not forthrightly discussed.

As he put it, “the most important part of the Commonwealth is that we are building on a common heritage and trying to push globally an agenda of freedom, democracy, and human rights.”
But despite Harper’s attempts to burnish his credentials as a champion of human rights, his government has shown a willingness to ignore them entirely in recent months.

The ongoing events of the Arab spring have tested Western commitments to human rights and democratic values. Popular demonstrations have faced repressive responses from governments that Canada is accustomed to doing business with. Bahrain, for example, as a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, was identified as a “priority market” for Canadian exports and investment, according to a government fact sheet on Canada-Bahrain relations. This may explain the resolute silence of our human rights champions in Ottawa after recent events.

In early August, Al-Jazeera’s English service aired a chilling documentary called “Shouting in the Dark”. It detailed the mass demonstrations for democracy in Bahrain that began in February, and the continuing trend of arbitrary arrest, torture, and detention of those suspected of participating in protests or sympathising with those who have. This was swiftly followed by an official protest from the Bahraini government, which succeeded in cancelling planned re-runs of the documentary. The U.S. proved unwilling to upset the Al Khalifa government which hosts its Fifth Fleet, and limited its comments to encouraging a “national dialogue” process.

While the Bahraini government has represented this as a measure of its good intentions, the torture and silencing of its citizens has continued, well documented by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The crackdown includes heavy prison sentences for human rights activists, doctors, and member of the political opposition. The government also requires signed oaths of political silence from university students as a condition of enrolment.

Canada, which lately has been faithfully mirroring the policies of its southern neighbour, has said nothing. Rather, the government fact sheet on our relations with Bahrain states that “Canada and Bahrain share common views on the importance of education.”

Now one of our fellow Canadian citizens, Nasser Al Raas, has been subjected to the same pattern of detention and torture that has terrorised Bahrainis. Al Raas visited the country in March, to see his fiancée and sisters. When he attempted to leave he was arrested, his passport and identification confiscated. After a month of torture, during which he was compelled to sign confessions while blindfolded, he has been charged with participating in protests and sentenced to five years in prison. He also suffers from a heart condition which requires medication – something he was denied in prison. His family has appealed to the Canadian government for help, but with little effect. …more

[cb editor: Clinton is either a psychopath or is completely out of touch of the reality of US foreign policy.]

Promoting Democracy Is In America’s Interest
11-13-2011 – VOA

“Americans believe that the desire for dignity and self-determination is universal.” “In the Middle East today, the greatest single source of instability is not the demand for change. It is the refusal to change.” — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

VOA – The United States is committed to promoting democracy in the Middle East and North Africa. “We are not simply acting in our self-interest,” said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “Americans believe that the desire for dignity and self-determination is universal.” Moreover, democratic governments tend to be more stable, peaceful, and prosperous.

Secretary Clinton continued by stating, “In the Middle East today, the greatest single source of instability is not the demand for change. It is the refusal to change. That is true in the case of Syria, where a crackdown on small, peaceful protests drove thousands into the streets and thousands more over the borders. It is true in Yemen, where President Saleh has reneged repeatedly on his promises to transition to democracy and suppressed his people’s rights and freedoms. And it is true in Egypt. . . .If, over time, the most powerful political force in Egypt remains a roomful of unelected officials, they will have planted the seeds for future unrest,” said Secretary Clinton, “and Egyptians will have missed a historic opportunity.”

In Bahrain, the U.S. intends to hold the government to its commitments to provide access to human rights groups, to allow peaceful protests, and to ensure that those who cross lines in responding to civil unrest are held accountable. Reform and equal treatment for all Bahrainis are in Bahrain’s interest, in the regions interest and in the United States’ interest.

A fundamental component of democracy is holding free and fair elections. Parties committed to democracy must reject violence; they must abide by the rule of law and respect the freedoms of speech, religion, association, and assembly; they must respect the rights of women and minorities; they must let go of power if defeated at the polls.

In order to promote the democratic process in North Africa and the Middle East, the U.S. is providing resources, capabilities and expertise to support those who seek peaceful, democratic reform.

The United States is committed to helping all people, men and women, in the region find justice and opportunity as full participants in new democratic societies. …more

Hizbollah Leader Hassan Nasrullah Warns US of dire consequences if Iran or Syria attacked.
November 12, 2011 – by jafrianews

JNN Nov.12th 2011:The Secretary General of the Shi’ ite armed group Hezbollah warned the United States on Friday that any attack against the party’s allies Iran and Syria would spread to the entire region.

“The U.S. should understand that a war against Iran and Syria will not remain in the Iranian and Syrian territories, but it will engulf the whole region…,” Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech to mark Hezbollah’s martyr’s day.

The Hezbollah leader said that the United States was currently attempting to compensate for losses in the region as a result of the unrest in Egypt and Tunisia and the imminent withdrawal of its troops from Iraq.

“These changes in the region are not in the interests of the United States, and as a result, the resistance is gaining momentum, ” he said.

Israel and Western powers have called for further sanctions on Iran following a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, suggesting the Islamic republic was working on designing an atomic bomb under the cover of a peaceful energy program.

“The United States wants to subjugate Iran and force it to have direct negotiations with it, and wants to subjugate Syria to accept what it has never accepted in the past,” Nasrallah said.

Meanwhile, Nasrallah said that Lebanon has become stronger and more capable of thwarting Israeli attacks given his party’s capability.

“It is unlikely that Israel would wage war against us … Lebanon is in a position where it can turn the tables on those who attack,” he said. …source

Arab League rejects a letter from the Bahraini opposition
Nov 16th, 2011 – Bahrain – By shiapost

Arab League refused to receive the message from the Bahraini opposition abroad, which asks the Arab League to send a Fact-finding committee to Bahrain and demands the inclusion of Bahrain’s case in its agenda.

The letter that the Bahraini opposition sent to the Secretary-General of the Arab League contains those demands: “sending a fact-finding committee to Bahrain, and including the reforming demands in Bahrain on the agenda of the League.”

When the Arab League refused to receive the letter, the opposition delegation protested in front of the Arab League Office in Cairo. The members of the protest carried Bahraini flags but were subjected to harassment by the Syrian dissidents who were present at the scene.

Dozens of members of the Bahraini community in Egypt demonstrated in front of the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, in protest against the double standards adopted by the League in dealing with events in some Arab countries.

The demonstrators raised Bahraini flags and said many slogans condemning the Arab League’s policy, accusing it of putting pressure on the government in Damascus at a time where it ignores the repression, tyranny and human rights violations made against the people of Bahrain.

The following is the text of the message the Bahraini opposition:
“There is no secret to Your Excellency the suffering that the Bahraini people are facing, including persecution, repression and flagrant violation that took place on February 14th, 2011 during our appeal”

The people of Bahrain had expected, in light of the achievements that were made by some of the Arab people in the “Arab Spring”, that the Arab League would seek to achieve the legitimate demands of the Bahraini people (Demands for freedom, justice and democracy), but the Arab League did not take these demands into consideration and did not have a clear position despite the horrible violations that people have suffered from. (Political activists, lawyers, doctors, journalists, teachers, intellectuals, students, and workers were all subjected to the violations).

We hope that the Arab League would do the following:
First: The inclusion of the legitimate demands of the Bahraini people for the political reformation in the deliberations of the Arab League at its regular emergency meetings.

Second: Sending a committee to investigate the events in Bahrain and the extent of violations of human rights. …more