we have an activists' call-in at 8pm EST on July 5 at 650-285-1763 (no code needed)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Alex Marthews<rt4-na...@lists.riseup.net>
Date: On Tue, Jun 20, 2017 at 10:06 AM
Subject: Fwd: [rt4-national] RT4 update, June 20, 2017 - June 26, 2017
To: rt4-na...@lists.riseup.net <rt4-na...@lists.riseup.net>
CC:Hi everyoneThis is the weekly update email for Restore The Fourth, your volunteer-run campaign against unconstitutional mass government surveillance. To post to the listserv, email rt4-na...@lists.riseup.net; to unsubscribe, email rt4-na...@lists.riseup.net.We are beginning work on a new amicus brief, in the blockbuster Supreme Court case US v. Carpenter (see links below), which will consider whether a warrant is required for historical cell site location information (and by extension, to any metadata). If you're interested in getting involved, please contact our counsel Mahesha Subbaraman at m...@subblaw.com. Our congressional scorecard at https://www.decidethefuture.org has been updated; we have an activists' call-in at 8pm EST on July 5 at 650-285-1763 (no code needed); and there has been lots of activity around surveillance oversight ordinances, including the campaign in California to pass SB 21; if you'd like to fire up a campaign in your area, please email zma...@protonmail.com. Let us know any activities your chapters have been doing that you'd like us to publicize, by emailing fong...@protonmail.com. I'll be only intermittently available via email between now and July 7.Chapters active on social media this week: RT4-Boston, RT4-Los Angeles, RT4-Northern Nevada, RT4-NYC, RT4-RI (RI-Rights), RT4-SF Bay Area, RT4-Susquehanna Valley. On Reddit, the top story on the Restore The Fourth subreddit is the CIA hacking routers: http://www.zdnet.com/article/cia-has-been-hacking-into-wi-fi-routers-for-years-leaked-documents-show/.LINKSIn The StatesAZ: Providing medical care for border migrants now triggers massive surveillance: https://www.buzzfeed.com/johnstanton/border-patrol-arrests-immigrants-seeking-medical-careFL: Our colleagues at the Defending Rights and Dissent Foundation successfully blocked the use of "wide area surveillance " aerial cameras over Miami: https://rightsanddissent.org/news/won-no-spy-planes-miami/IL: In Chicago, their algorithmic "heatmapping " software is not as effective as law enforcement thinks: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/upshot/what-an-algorithm-reveals-about-life-on-chicagos-high-risk-list.htmlNY: A furious debate erupts about NYC's surveillance ordinance, after Fox and Friends decries it as "disclosing our tactics to terrorists ": http://gothamist.com/2017/06/14/post_act_nypd_surveillance.php, http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/checks-balances-nypd-article-1.3260627, http://nypost.com/2017/06/18/even-de-blasio-thinks-proposed-surveillance-bill-is-too-liberal/, http://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/analysis/Fact-Check-The-POST-Act-National-Security.pdf, https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/14/15795056/aclu-police-surveillance-curb-campaign-nationwideRI: Rhode Island students should be very careful about using school-issued laptops: http://boingboing.net/2017/06/16/no-expectation-of-privacy.htmlNationalSection 702 warrantless surveillance reform- Surveillance reformer Jake Laperruque evaluates how to deal with claims that section 702 warrantless surveillance is "effective ": https://www.lawfareblog.com/how-congress-should-evaluate-section-702s-security-value-when-debating-its-reauthorizationThe release of 18 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinions this week has led to some interesting new insights:- Back in 2010, FISC judge John Bates blocked an effort to use Section 702 warrantless surveillance directly against US persons: https://www.emptywheel.net/2017/06/19/in-2010-the-government-tried-to-use-section-702-against-us-persons/- The NSA turns out to have always known, however, that it has a massive problem with "incidental " collection on US persons: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170614/17570137592/2008-fisa-transcript-shows-nsa-already-knew-it-might-have-incidental-collection-problem.shtml- Somewhere, there is a US internet company that cared enough about user privacy to sue over 702: http://www.zdnet.com/article/new-details-releasedsection-702-disclosures-intelligence-lawsuit/Libertarian blog Reason covers the most important factor preventing a straight renewal of surveillance powers: Hardline Freedom Caucus Republicans don't like them. http://reason.com/blog/2017/06/16/freedom-caucus-conservatives-break-fromCourt rulings- A distressing Supreme Court ruling in Ziglar v. Abbasi limits the scope of Fourth Amendment "Bivens " claims for damages, in a case relating to Muslims detained after 9/11. http://www.scotusblog.com/2017/06/opinion-analysis-justices-throw-claims-federal-officials-post-september-11-case/- Fourth Amendment scholar Orin Kerr questions whether an originalist analysis can result in warrant protection for historic metadata, in the upcoming US v. Carpenter case: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/06/13/how-should-an-originalist-rule-in-the-fourth-amendment-cell-site-case/- A Ninth Circuit ruling prohibits sequential traffic stops as a way of evading constitutional limitations on stops: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/06/14/coordinated-traffic-stops-and-the-fourth-amendment/OtherCIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling is now into year 3 of his sentence: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cornel-west/jeffrey-sterling-completes-one-year-of-unjust-prison-sentence_b_10530598.htmlSurveillance databasing firm and SPECTRE wannabe "Palantir " is back worming its way into the government: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/11/palantir-defense-jim-mattis-inner-circle-239373Should we have such loose rules over prosecuting people for how they handle being investigated, rather than for the underlying crimes? http://www.nationalreview.com/article/448755/trump-investigation-shows-how-easy-it-feds-create-crimesInternationalJapan: The government has passed a repressive public safety bill that in the name of preventing terrorism, criminalizes sit-ins and unauthorized copying: http://www.france24.com/en/20170615-japan-anti-conspiracy-bill-terrorismUK: Through a Danish subsidiary, giant British defense contractor BAE Systems sold surveillance technologies to Middle Eastern governments connected with the disappearance of most Arab Spring activists: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-40276568