Arizona passes state bill that would 'censor any offensive' remarks on the internet

A bill that passed in the Arizona state legislature could pose a major threat to freedom of speech in the state as it bans anything deemed ‘offensive’ that is published online.

Though it started as an attempt to curb online bullying, opponents see it as a major violation of the First Amendment.

The bill would ‘make unlawful any misuse of electronic or digital devices to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, annoy, or offend in the course of stalking.’

‘It is unlawful for any person, with intent to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, annoy or offend, to use any electronic or digital device and use any obscene, lewd or profane language or suggest any lewd or lascivious act, or threaten to inflict physical harm to the person or property of any person.

‘It is also unlawful to otherwise disturb by repeated anonymous electronic or digital communications the peace, quiet or right of privacy of any person at the place where the communications were received.’

The bill, known as House 2549, passed on March 29 and is bound next for the governor's office. Read More

Government's snoopers' will cost YOU £2bn: Huge price of plan to let state spy on websites, emails and texts

Big Brother plans to spy on all internet visits, emails and texts will cost the taxpayer £2billion.

The extraordinary bill was revealed amid revelations that Britain’s snooping watchdog has grave doubts about the mass surveillance project.

The Office of the Information Commissioner said the case had ‘not been made’ to justify the sweeping expansion in the power of the police and other public bodies to trawl through private communications, including visits to Facebook and eBay.

Internal ICO papers, marked restricted, say the Orwellian plan could lead to the innocent being wrongly identified as criminals or terrorists and barred from flying. Read More

The CIA wants to spy on you through your TV: Agency director says it will 'transform' surveillance

When people download a film from Netflix to a flatscreen, or turn on web radio, they could be alerting unwanted watchers to exactly what they are doing and where they are.

Spies will no longer have to plant bugs in your home - the rise of 'connected' gadgets controlled by apps will mean that people 'bug' their own homes, says CIA director David Petraeus.

The CIA claims it will be able to 'read' these devices via the internet - and perhaps even via radio waves from outside the home.

Everything from remote controls to clock radios can now be controlled via apps - and chip company ARM recently unveiled low-powered, cheaper chips which will be used in everything from fridges and ovens to doorbells.

The resultant chorus of 'connected' gadgets will be able to be read like a book - and even remote-controlled, according to CIA CIA Director David Petraeus, according to a recent report by Wired's 'Danger Room' blog. Read More

8 Creepy Spy Technologies That Can Be Hitched to Your Neighborhood Drones

America's cities may soon be swarming with surveillance drones equipped with high-tech snooping tools.

Last fall, the Montgomery County Sheriff's department got together for a photo op showing off a new unmanned surveillance craft. The $300,000 drone did not have an auspicious debut. Minutes after take-off, the UAV lost touch with the control console and plummeted to earth, crashing into the police officers assembled for the launch. No one was hurt, because police were hanging out in their armored car ("the Bearcat") another warzone weapon that has crept into the arsenals of local cops around the country (the Bearcat came out alright).

Civilians, however, don't ride around in armored vehicles Mad-Max-style, so the FAA has been charged by Congress to come up with safety regulations that would prevent drones from raining from the sky or colliding with airplanes. Read More

Russian Police Detain 55 Protesters Near Moscow's Red Square

Russian police say they detained 55 opposition supporters near Moscow's Red Square in order to prevent an unauthorized anti-government rally there.

Activists had called for supporters to walk around the square, located outside of the Kremlin, wearing white ribbons as a symbol of the protest movement.

But police closed the square and blocked off its access roads, preventing the gathering.

Russian opposition activists have criticized the government for violating their right to freedom of assembly.

Tens of thousands of activists have rallied in recent months against widespread fraud in the parliamentary election and against Vladimir Putin's election as president last month. source

China wrestles Mao's ghost after political storm

(Reuters) - Former Red Guard leader Tang Dahua says memories of the fanatical bloodshed that tore apart the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing return to him with startling clarity.

Decades after Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution made Chongqing a bloody ideological battleground, the riverside megacity, China's largest, is at the heart of a different political storm - one that has exposed rifts inside the ruling Communist Party after the ouster of the city's charismatic leader, Bo Xilai.

Tang was a prominent leader in the late 1960s battles between Red Guard factions in Chongqing that killed many hundreds in ferocious fighting, and he dismissed the idea that the violence that ravaged China then could return.

But Bo's downfall has exposed ideological fault lines in the government and the public that could trouble the party months before a delicate reshuffle of top leaders.

"I think the centre has a real problem on its hands," said Joseph Fewsmith, a professor of Chinese politics at Boston University, referring to central leaders' handling of Bo. Read More

Bo-supporting faction Arrested thousand Internet users to fight

National League for Democracy says party won 43 out of 44 parliamentary seats contested in Myanmar by-election

Details coming soon.

The Department Of Homeland Security Is Buying 450 Million New Bullets

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office is getting an "indefinite delivery" of an "indefinite quantity" of .40 caliber ammunition from defense contractor ATK.

U.S. agents will receive a maximum of 450 million rounds over five years, according to a press release on the deal.

The high performance HST bullets are designed for law enforcement and ATK says they offer "optimum penetration for terminal performance."

This refers to the the bullet's hollow-point tip that passes through barriers and expands for a bigger impact without the rest of the bullet getting warped out of shape: "this bullet holds its jacket in the toughest conditions." Read More

Congress urged to secure drone law

Allowing thousands of drones over U.S. skies raises serious privacy questions, advocacy group says.

A leading rights advocacy group this week called on Congress to add civil liberties protections to a recently passed law that opens U.S. airspace to unmanned aerial vehicles.

The Federal Aviation Administration Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, signed into law by President Barack Obama last month, requires the FAA to permit the use of drones by law enforcement agencies, commercial organizations and hobbyists.

The statute will initially let law enforcement authorities and emergency services use drones that weigh less than five pounds and fly at an altitude of less than 400 feet starting in May. The law requires that the FAA have rules in place permitting the use of all varieties of drones by law enforcement and private entities by the end of 2015.

Over the next few years, thousands of drones are likely to be in use for varied applications like fugitive tracking and traffic management by law enforcement agencies, crop monitoring, land management, news reporting and filmmaking.

The Center for Democracy and Technology contends that the legislation provides no privacy or civil liberties protections for ordinary citizens. Read More

Vint Cerf attacks "terrifying" European internet policy on planned regulation

Vint Cerf, one of the founders of the internet, has condemned a central plank of European proposals to regulate the internet as impractical to enforce and 'terrifying' in prospect.

Mr Cerf, often called the father of the internet, said that the so-called ‘right to be forgotten’ online was “not possible to achieve”. He told The Telegraph, “You can’t go out and remove content from everybody’s computer just because you want the world to forget about something. I don’t think it’s a practical proposition at all.”

European regulators have yet to clarify precisely what their “right to be forgotten” would mean, but European Commissioner Viviane Reding has said that she expects it to give web users new controls over information, such as posts or pictures on social networks, that appears about them online. It raises the prospect of Facebook or Google, where Mr Cerf now works, being forced to ensure images or posts that an individual objects to are no longer accessible on the web.

Britain's Deputy Information Commissioner David Smith recently told a seminar for lawyers that he had "difficulty in working out what the new rights are", saying the right to be forgotten contained "an element of political gesturing". Read More

Government will be able to monitor the calls, emails, texts and website visits of everyone in the UK under new legislation

The government will be able to monitor the calls, emails, texts and website visits of everyone in the UK under new legislation set to be announced soon.

Internet firms will be required to give intelligence agency GCHQ access to communications on demand, in real time.

The Home Office says the move is key to tackling crime and terrorism, but civil liberties groups have criticised it.

Attempts by the last Labour government to take similar steps failed after huge opposition, including from the Tories.

A new law - which may be announced in the forthcoming Queen's Speech in May - would not allow GCHQ to access the content of emails, calls or messages without a warrant.

But it would enable intelligence officers to identify who an individual or group is in contact with, how often and for how long.

'Unprecedented step'
In a statement, the Home Office said action was needed to "maintain the continued availability of communications data as technology changes".

"It is vital that police and security services are able to obtain communications data in certain circumstances to investigate serious crime and terrorism and to protect the public," a spokesman said. Read More

Chinese Lawyer Tells of Bo Xilai's Torture Methods

Mass Exodus from Mainland China?

Belarus Draws Further Condemnation from European Union

Wukan's Elected Officials Face Uphill Battle

CIA Secret Prisons Probe: Polish PM Urges "Discretion"

"Tibet in Flames" Conference Brings Self-Immolations to Fore in EU

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Lauren Jarrell: Tennessee Mother Faces Possible Jail Time For Baptizing Children

A Shelby County mother is facing contempt-of-court charges and possible jail time for baptizing her two children without the knowledge or consent of her ex-husband.

This week the Tennessee Court of Appeals said Lauren Jarrell must face a criminal contempt hearing for violating a court order that said major decisions regarding the religious upbringing of her two children should be made jointly with her-ex-husband.

The mother and her ex-husband, Blake Jarrell, are both Christian — he’s a Methodist and she’s a Presbyterian.

Court records say the father thought the children should be baptized once they are older. He has asked that his ex-wife be found in criminal contempt for baptizing the children without his knowledge or permission.

If convicted, she could face 20 days in jail and a $100 fine. more

Escape from Camp 14: How prisoner escaped North Korean jail

Journalist Blaine Harden chronicles the life of the only camp-born man known to escape a North Korean camp

(CNN) -- Shin Dong-hyuk is the only known person born in a North Korean prison camp that escaped and survived to tell the tale.

Journalist Blaine Harden first uncovered Shin's story in 2008 and has now turned it into the riveting new biography "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West."

North Korea has been splashed across world headlines in recent weeks over its threat to launch a long-range rocket, its suspected nuclear program and for its continued defiance of the West. If you want a singular perspective on what goes on inside the rogue regime, then you must read his story.

It's a harrowing tale of endurance and courage, at times grim but ultimately life-affirming. In the book, Harden offers an unnerving glimpse into one of the world's most repressive regimes. Until now, little was known about North Korea's labor camps, even though they've existed for decades. They're believed to hold between 150,000 and 200,000 prisoners and while they're plainly visible in satellite photos, the North Korean government claims they don't exist. Read More