Privacy Matters

According to Alternet's Sarah Jaffe, Occupy is having a pretty serious impact on policing and security at the nation's major banking institutions. The people have the bankers scared, and perhaps unsurprisingly the bankers are turning to the security industrial complex for help. It appears that the 1% is mighty terrified of the wrath of the 99% visiting them in their fancy offices and homes.

All Massachusetts residents, but particularly activists, should be aware that the Commonwealth Fusion Center (CFC), the state's spy-hub founded with DHS cash, allows its undercover agents to do a whole range of unsavory things while investigating First Amendment protected activities. The following paragraph in the CFC's "Guidelines for Investigations Involving First Amendment Activity" spells out how undercovers are allowed to "adopt a false persona" and engage with the group as a purported member:

The Department of Justice released a CD containing a bunch of documents about so-called less than lethal munitions. The documents are worth reading. They are as follows:

It's another troubling week for freedom, y'all. Check the facts.

• Troubling news from the Senate. Senator Leahy (D-VT) has proposed that the FBI be granted broader access to stored communications records through the secretive National Security Letter regime. NSLs allow the FBI access to your private communications data without any court oversight. 

Just a skimming of this week's news thus far shows us we are in a very bad place when it comes to freedom and privacy in the United States today. A few examples:

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The New York Times' The Lede blog has a great round up of other videos, Twitter updates and photos displaying the carnage from last night.