FBI's all-seeing database project

“By refusing to answer even the most basic questions about this program, the Department of Justice has given us little choice. In fact, we’re only doing what they told us to do,” said Congressman Brad Miller in a statement. “The Department of Justice... said that if Congress didn’t like what they were doing, we could pull their funding. Well, that’s what we’ve done... Until an agency can provide reasonable explanations, and assurances that our citizens’ privacy won’t be violated, it would be irresponsible to give the Department of Justice this large increase in funds. ”

An FBI project, known as the National Security Analysis Center (NSAC), is supposed to bring together "hundreds of millions of electronic records created or collected by the FBI and other government agencies," ABC News notes. The idea is to use that "vast ocean of data to 'predict' who might be a potential terrorist, in the absence of intelligence linking the man or woman to any radical or extremist group."

sources:
the inquirer
wired

Sweden approved highly controversial wiretapping law

Many web sites report the wiretapping law passed in Sweden.

DSLreport:

The Parliament in Sweden has passed an extensive wiretapping law allowing the government to monitor all telephone and email contact that occurs within the country’s borders without requiring any sort of warrant. The controversial law raised protests from journalists, lawyers and liberal political parties. Sweden insists that the law, which will become active in January, is designed for the sole purpose of protecting national security and reducing the threat of terrorism. This has caused major companies like Google to say that the eavesdropping plan makes Sweden the European country most comparable to the U.S. in its allowance of the government to infringe upon citizen's privacy.

BBC News:

Sweden's parliament has approved controversial new laws allowing authorities to spy on cross-border e-mail and telephone traffic.
The country's intelligence bureau will be able to scan international calls, faxes and e-mails.
The measure was passed by a narrow majority after a heated debate in the Stockholm parliament.
Critics say it threatens civil liberties and represents Europe's most far-reaching eavesdropping plan.

Christopher Dodd’s 630-page Senate housing legislation hidden gem

I am simply copy-pasting Mr Mortgage's post here, as the news must get out there and what is happening in this non-democracy that is the US is just outrageous:

This just in, found by a TickerForum memeber… www.FreedomWorks.org says that “Senate Housing Bill Requires eBay, Amazon, Google, and all Credit Card companies to Report Transactions to the Government”.

“Washington, DC - Hidden deep in Senator Christopher Dodd’s 630-page Senate housing legislation is a sweeping provision that affects the privacy and operation of nearly all of America’s small businesses. The provision, which was added by the bill’s managers without debate this week, would require the nation’s payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the federal government.

FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey commented: “This is a provision with astonishing reach, and it was slipped into the bill just this week. Not only does it affect nearly every credit card transaction in America, such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express, but the bill specifically targets payment systems like eBay’s PayPal, Amazon, and Google Checkout that are used by many small online businesses. The privacy implications for America’s small businesses are breathtaking.”