2024 election
The PATRIOT Act Turns 23: Constitutional Subversion Begets Political Repression
In the hands of an authoritarian president, the PATRIOT Act could be wielded as an instrument of domestic terror and political repression at scale.
privacy
FBI
COINTELPRO: The Legacy
It was a secret, and unconstitutional, assault on the First Amendment protected activities of the persons and entities involved, a state-sponsored form of "divide and conquer" aimed not at the Soviet Union, but a segment of the far left public in America.
political repression
American Big Brother: A Century of Surveillance
Sometimes, it's helpful to look at a phenomenon over time to understand how pervasive it is in reality. That's especially true of surveillance-enabled political repression.
Al Qaeda
Memorial Day Birthday: No-Such-Agency Turns 65
One day before Memorial Day and with little fanfare, on May 29, 1959, President Eisenhower signed into law the National Security Agency Act. It's been spying on foreigners, and Americans, ever since. Thirty-three days after my 18th birthday, I raised my right hand and took an oath to
air travel
No Scan, No Fly: The Future of Domestic Air Travel?
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is determined to force passengers guilty of no crime to submit to facial recognition scanning in order to board their flight. Some in Congress are fighting the move.