Jan 02 2014
NSA Hacks iPhones, Sabotages New Devices with Malware
While you may have thought news about the extent of NSA spying could not get more shocking, new information released by German newspaper Der Spiegel may have you astounded. On top of tapping into phone lines and monitoring online metadata, a division of the National Security Agency called Tailored Access Operations or TAO is also intercepting online purchases of computers, laptops and other electronic devices, installing malware into them and then repackaging and sending the sabotaged products onto their recipients. And despite the fact that Apple computer denies any cooperation with the NSA, the agency has been installing malware into iPhones since 2008 allowing them total access to all communications according to the documents obtained by Der Spiegel.
In other news related to mass surveillance, on Monday the ACLU filed a sweeping lawsuit in a US District Court in New York against the NSA, CIA, Defense Department, Justice Department and The State Department centering around little known Executive Order 12,333. That order was apparently signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 to strengthen the surveillance powers of federal agencies and is being used by government agencies today to justify mass spying.
This new ACLU lawsuit comes on the heels of two disparate federal court decisions on NSA spying. While US District Judge Richard Leon last month found NSA spying to be unconstitutional, Judge William Pauley just over ten days later ruled the NSA program lawful and not in violation of American’s Fourth Amendment rights to privacy. On Tuesday another federal judge ruled that it is constitutional for the government to search the phones and computers of people travelling internationally, including US citizens.
Meanwhile the New York Times Editorial Board released an unexpected statement this week defending NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and calling for the US to give him clemency.
GUEST: Shahid Buttar, Executive Director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee and a frequent guest on Uprising
Visit www.bordc.org for more information.
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