WikiLeaks: Information Suppression, Compliant Corporate Media - Evidence - Afghanistan

ꕤ Media Bullsh*t Corporate-Serving Corporate Media In Service of Aggressive Neoliberal Foreign Policy |  Manufacturing Consent Bias.  Censorship.  Disinformation.  Compliance. censorship & disinformation is denial of informed consent COMPLIANT CORPORATE & 'ALTERNATE' CORPORATE MEDIA Why We Need WikiLeaks EVIDENCE USA's spy agency, NSA, conducted mass surveillance on entire country (actually, more than one country ... but let's focus on Afghanistan) James Clapper says: 'untold damage'  Well, he would say that to justify US mass surveillance of entire countries in the free world & mass surveillance of free Americans.  Duh! Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper: #Snowden killed ‘important’ program in #Afghanistan / unnamed 'Intercept' country = Afghanistan http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=272816 UPDATE It was the WikiLeaks follow-up identification of Afghanistan as country being surveilled that led to surveillance program closure/rejection by Afghanistan: In March 2014, The Washington Post, citing documents provided by Snowden, reported on a program called MYSTIC, under which the NSA was collecting “every single” phone conversation in a foreign country. The Post, following requests by U.S. officials, withheld the country’s name. Two months later, the Intercept news site published a similar story about the NSA’s “secretly intercepting, recording, and archiving the audio of virtually every cell phone conversation” in two nations. The site named the Bahamas as one country. It refrained from naming the other, citing concerns that doing so “could lead to increased violence.” Several days later, the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks reported that the country was Afghanistan. Soon after, “the program was shut down by the government of Afghanistan,” said Clapper, speaking at the Intelligence and National Security Summit in Washington. SOURCE https://archive.is/94N16 ---------------------- ꕤ  ---------------------- NO words for the suppression of truth by the corporate and 'alternate' corporate press: Washington Post The Intercept  It's anger provoking to see information denial and abuse of state power, in black and white. WikiLeaks was the only publisher that gave the world:  the truth. PS It's just occurred to me that the US spies on Japanese leaders, and European politicians and corporations, as well as entire countries. So if the public is told that a surveillance program has been rejected by a vanquished state, does anyone really believe there's genuinely been follow-through from the US-appointed Afghan government or from USA? On consideration, I really don't buy that they're done spying on Afghanistan. ꕤ

Suppressive Police State - USA

SOURCE http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2015-09-04/apd-tracks-social-media/ APD Tracks Social Media Local social media monitoring software company met with shady digital spying group By John Anderson, Fri., Sept. 4, 2015 Snaptrends software can assign a geographical digital boundary which allows the user "to see conversation clusters and activity heat maps" within the defined area, according to Snap Trends' Matthew Hammer. As the world increasingly becomes glued to social media, it comes as little surprise that law enforcement would join in. But what some Facebook users or Twitter followers may not be aware of is how local law enforcement is using software to monitor their posts and tweets. Founded in 2012 as a private company and located just off Capital of Texas High­way, Snap Trends develops software that aggregates public information collected from social media. The company's website claims their software "builds a clear view of social conversations when and where they occur, the influencers driving them, and why." A Feb. 13 letter from Snap Trends Director of Sales Ken Ross to APD Sgt. Jeff Greenwalt, discovered in a Chron­icle open records request to APD and DPS, asserts that Snap Trends "developed its software intelligence system to serve public safety organization [sic] and national intelligence agencies in the United States." Ross further explained the "system uses advance [sic] algorithms and processes to procure this high density social data footprint." Other documents reveal that both APD and DPS have current subscriptions to Snaptrends software, spending $6,370 and $24,200 respectively in the past year. APD Public Information Specialist Jenni­fer Herber informed the Chronicle that APD began using Snaptrends software on March 1, 2013. DPS began using it one month later, according to DPS Public Information Officer Tom Vinger. DPS currently has 13 employees licensed to use the software, while APD has 25 officers with access. Emails obtained from APD demonstrate the Snaptrends software "makes it easy to share profiles, groups and persons-of-interests" and "can even integrate custom Facebook accounts." But its main feature is using geolocation to narrow a search using a "Poly Tool" which, according to a Snap Trends email, allows law enforcement "to gather pertinent information from social media platforms over specific areas without drawing in irrelevant content from unwanted areas .... This allows you to monitor precise locations such as parade routes, major highways or areas where protests are occurring." When asked if APD purchased the software for such events, Herber explained: "Real­-time analysis of open sources such as social media has been used to predict crimes and to help law enforcement respond more quickly as needed including, for example, stopping active shooters, tracking gang activity, and anticipating public protests that could escalate into violence." Additionally, she said the mission of the Austin Regional Intelligence Center (ARIC), where the software is used, "is to maximize the region's ability to detect, prevent, apprehend, and respond to criminal/terrorist activity." Other documents show Snap Trends partnered with a private company called Esri, which develops mapping software called ArcGIS and has also been used by APD in the past. According to internal emails obtained via open records request, APD Senior Crime Analyst Tess Sherman used the Esri software to monitor Occupy Austin's first demonstration at City Hall in October 2011. Sherman pointed out the mapping function "would be neat-o to try. Although it may just end up as a bunch of dots downtown since a lot of it is real-time comments from the scene." Despite receiving tech support from the company, APD Police Planner Nora Evans replied to Sherman, "I don't know a lot about Twitter so maybe you can figure it out." But Snap Trends' emails indicate the company offered to provide tech support for its own software to at least 16 APD employees. What were the police looking for? In one email, Snap Trends Account Manager Mark Klasson sent APD a document titled "Keywords." Assist­ant City Attorney Cary Grace has asked the Texas Attorney General's office to exempt that document and others from public disclosure. As of press time, the AG's office has not made a decision regarding the exemption. Expanded surveillance remains a possibility, and a hack in July of the Italian surveillance software company Hacking Team gave hints of what could be on the horizon. The hack shed light on some of the darker sides of digital spying, including conversations between Hacking Team and Snap Trends that revolved around a potential partnership. Instead of monitoring public information, Hacking Team's Remote Control Sys­tem software infects remote computers and mobile phones, allowing control over them. Reporters Without Borders has called Hacking Team "digital mercenaries" and "corporate enemies of the Internet." According to the hacked emails, available on the Wikileaks website, in March, Snap Trends CEO Eric Klasson met in Dubai for the "first exploratory meeting" with members of Hacking Team. Emails show the Dubai meeting was also attended by Snap Trends' partner Chenega, which resells Snap Trends' software internationally. After the meeting, Hacking Team's Philippe Vinci summarized: "The combination of each parties [sic] capabilities, Massive Social Media monitoring and Tactical Targets' Device interception, could bring a lot of value to customers and prospective customers of each party." Replying to that email, Klasson wrote, "I agree that a joint effort to sort this is something the market will respond to favorably (and quickly)." The three companies kept up their contact through at least early June, including a meeting in Prague, but the emails lack specific details about the collaboration. Asked by the Chronicle to describe Snap Trends' relationship with Hacking Team, however, Snap­ Trends Marketing Director Matthew Ham­mer wrote via email that "Snap Trends knows of the Hacking Team, but has no relationship with them, and we don't plan on doing any business with them in the future." Open records requests did not yield documents indicating that APD or DPS have purchased Hacking Team's software; nor is there is any evidence that Snaptrends software currently operates as malware. A LexisNexis 2014 "Social Media Use in Law Enforcement" report (available on the Snap Trends' website) which surveyed "federal, state and local law enforcement professionals" found that 81% "actively use social media as a tool in investigations," and 78% of current users plan "to use it even more in the coming year." Snap Trends' Hammer claims "hundreds" of U.S. law enforcement departments or agencies have bought their software. But raising questions about the effectiveness and accountability of this type of monitoring, the LexisNexis study also concluded that "52% of agencies still don't have a formal process for using social media for investigations." SOURCE http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2015-09-04/apd-tracks-social-media/ ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT APD = Austin Police Dept DPS = Dept of Public Safety (I'm guessing) Check out the policing techniques at work in totalitarian, surveillance & militarised police-state, USA:  straight out of the Czarist-Russia style suppression tools manual -- with a modern, digital technology, mapping & harnessing social media data, twist. The power to grossly violate the civil liberties of ordinary Americans is at the disposal of Texas police (and has been exercised since 2013).  But it is not limited to Texas:  many other US law enforcement agencies have adopted these same practices.  It's primarily for maintenance of plutocratic power, although law enforcement representatives will, of course, argue otherwise ... while they make application, seeking to hide their violations of freedom and democracy. Note, particularly, the intention to keep this secret police monitoring from public knowledge. So much for what is supposed to be accountability and democratic government transparency -- which is intended to also extend to government agencies, such as the police.  Abuses of civil liberties such as this go a long way towards explaining why resistant activists, hacktivists, whistleblowers, and whistleblower journalists and publishers, such as WikiLeaks, are so vital. I Imagine that this information would be relevant to protesters, activists, unionists, political groups, students, and all and any other persons exercising rightful political freedoms, in what is supposed to be democratic society. PS In case you think this is limited to USA and doesn't apply to you, think again ... and maybe do some Freedom of Information applications.  lol ꕤ

CANADA - Secret Saudi Arabia Arms Deal

SOURCE http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/harper-assured-details-of-saudi-arms-deal-would-stay-under-wraps/article26105853/ Harper assured Saudi Arabia details of arms deal would stay under wraps STEVEN CHASE OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail Published Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015 3:00AM EDT Last updated Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015 6:26AM EDT Ottawa is contractually obliged to keep secret the details of a controversial $15-billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia – a transaction that Stephen Harper personally assured the country’s monarch will be guaranteed by the Canadian government, documents say. Foreign Affairs e-mails obtained by The Globe and Mail under access-to-information law indicate the Saudis have made excess publicity about the sale of armoured fighting vehicles a deal-breaker. Officials were scrambling behind the scenes in January, after media coverage of the arms deal, to determine the consequences of publicly releasing the terms of the Saudi contract. Aliya Mawani, a Canadian diplomat based in Riyadh, the capital, told Foreign Affairs colleagues on Jan. 21 that “we [the government] would be breaking the terms of the contract” with Saudi Arabia if details were made public. “The contract is under a Canadian government guarantee in terms of fulfilment,” Ms. Mawani wrote in a Jan. 21 exchange with colleagues on why Ottawa couldn’t make the terms public. “This was confirmed in writing by our Prime Minister in his letters to the King,” she said, speaking of Mr. Harper and the late Saudi King Abdullah. A cloak of secrecy surrounds this agreement, first announced in 2014, with Ottawa refusing to divulge any substantial information on the vehicles Canada is selling to the Saudi regime – or how it justifies the sale to a nation known for human-rights abuses. A federal agency responsible for sales to foreign military, Canadian Commercial Corporation, is actually the “prime contractor” for the transaction even though it is General Dynamics Land Systems Canada in London that manufacturers the vehicles. Records obtained by The Globe offer a great deal of insight into Ottawa’s role in brokering the transaction, which supports more than 3,000 jobs in Canada. In another government e-mail exchange in January of 2015, Brigette Walenius, deputy director with Foreign Affairs' Middle East-Maghreb Commercial Unit, cited General Dynamics officials who spoke of a “confidentiality clause in their contract with the Saudis” and how Riyadh “could terminate [the] contract if too much info is released.” Nonetheless, senior Canadian officials were delighted at the deal behind the scenes, e-mails show. Mr. MacDonald, Canada’s envoy in Riyadh, gave Ottawa early notice that the deal was coming together as far back as 2012. In an October, 2012, e-mail with the subject line “GDLS lands the Big One,” Mr. MacDonald informed Foreign Affairs staffers, referring to General Dynamic Land Systems. The Canadian ambassador ends this e-mail with a jubilant expression “Gotta LOV the LAV!” but not before sketching out some bare-bones details. He wrote that General Dynamics “have been chasing” the contract since 2009 and it’s a boon for the plant in London, Ont., because the company’s work on LAVs for Canada’s mission in Afghanistan was wrapping up as the Canadian combat mission ended in 2011. These new orders will “replace the decline from Canada’s Afghanistan withdrawal,” Mr. MacDonald said in his e-mail. The ambassador wrote that the LAVs “are going to be ‘fully loaded,’” that they would be the “most advanced ever made” and that delivery would start 38 months after the contract was signed and last another 108 months, or nine years. A separate January 21, 2015, e-mail from an official in Foreign Affairs’s export-control division said documentation received from General Dynamics to date suggests the vehicles could possibly include turreted LAVs “equipped with automatic firearms.” The Canadian government is nevertheless taking care to play down the Saudi connection. In one case, Foreign Affairs appeared to have struck references to Saudi Arabia from speaking notes prepared for a cabinet minister’s media event at the request of the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), which is handling the LAV deal. An official from the government agency previewed speaking notes for Minister of State Lynne Yelich before a January 9 media event to celebrate a Saskatchewan-based company’s role as a sub-contractor in the LAV sale. “Thanks for letting me know what the speaking notes are,” Lina Seto, then a CCC official, wrote Foreign Affairs. She asked for “the removal of one of the mentions of the buyer country,” adding this was “important to the supplier,” meaning General Dynamics. “We are sensitive to the Saudi Arabia references, due to confidentiality,” Ms. Seto explained in an e-mail to Foreign Affairs on January 7, 2015. A final version of these speaking notes obtained by The Globe under access-to-information law contains no reference to Saudi Arabia as the buyer. Several years ago, the Conservative government in Ottawa refocused international relations to make “economic diplomacy” in service of private industry the centrepiece of Canadian foreign policy. SOURCE http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/harper-assured-details-of-saudi-arms-deal-would-stay-under-wraps/article26105853/ ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Canada has dispensed with democracy, transparency, and accountability, in favour of "economic diplomacy" IN THE SERVICE OF PRIVATE INDUSTRY. Wow. This is huge. Canada is a corporate dictatorship. This article illustrates why the press generally, why whistleblowers, and why whilstleblower publishers/journalists like WikiLeaks, are so important to keeping government open, accountable, representative and therefore closer to democratic than government would otherwise be, were those in government permitted to run their own show, without question. ꕤ