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Software Meant to Fight Crime Is Used to Spy on Dissidents
Morgan Marquis-Boire, left, and Bill Marczak have been looking at the use of computer espionage software by governments.
SAN FRANCISCO — Morgan Marquis-Boire works as a Google engineer and Bill Marczak is earning a Ph.D. in computer science. But this summer, the two men have been moonlighting as detectives, chasing an elusive surveillance tool from Bahrain across five continents.
What they found was the widespread use of sophisticated, off-the-shelf computer espionage software by governments with questionable records on human rights. While the software is supposedly sold for use only in criminal investigations, the two came across evidence that it was being used to target political dissidents.
The software proved to be the stuff of a spy film: it can grab images of computer screens, record Skype chats, turn on cameras and microphones and log keystrokes. The two men said they discovered mobile versions of the spyware customized for all major mobile phones.
But what made the software especially sophisticated was how well it avoided detection. Its creators specifically engineered it to elude antivirus software made by Kaspersky Lab, Symantec, F-Secure and others.
The software has been identified as FinSpy, one of the more elusive spyware tools sold in the growing market of off-the-shelf computer surveillance technologies that give governments a sophisticated plug-in monitoring operation. Research now links it to servers in more than a dozen countries, including Turkmenistan, Brunei and Bahrain, although no government acknowledges using the software for surveillance purposes.
The market for such technologies has grown to $5 billion a year from “nothing 10 years ago,” said Jerry Lucas, president of TeleStrategies, the company behind ISS World, an annual surveillance show where law enforcement agents view the latest computer spyware.
FinSpy is made by the Gamma Group, a British company that says it sells monitoring software to governments solely for criminal investigations.
“This is dual-use equipment,” said Eva Galperin, of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an Internet civil liberties group. “If you sell it to a country that obeys the rule of law, they may use it for law enforcement. If you sell it to a country where the rule of law is not so strong, it will be used to monitor journalists and dissidents.”
Until Mr. Marquis-Boire and Mr. Marczak stumbled upon FinSpy last May, security researchers had tried, unsuccessfully, for a year to track it down. FinSpy gained notoriety in March 2011 after protesters raided Egypt’s state security headquarters and discovered a document that appeared to be a proposal by the Gamma Group to sell FinSpy to the government of President Hosni Mubarak for $353,000. It is unclear whether that transaction was ever completed.
Finish reading HERE>
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Bet you will never hear this song on any liberal station like msnbc, cbs, etc.
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We taxpayers do pay for every damn trip our president takes to any college or university, so that he can pander for votes.
President Obama and his administration officials have made 435 taxpayer-funded visits to college campuses or other events targeting students since March 2011 , including 164 trips to battleground states, a new study shows.
“The travel is not tied to trying to pass a specific piece of legislation,” Paul Conway, president of the influential youth group, Generation Opportunity, told The Washington Examiner. “It’s all travel specifically targeted to a demographic. And when you think about how important a role young voters play in [Obama's] coalition, then it’s not just by happenstance.”
According to the study, which surveyed administration announcements and media reports,Virginia students have received 34 visits – more than any other state — from Obama or his representatives. That number is doubtless inflated by the convenience of traveling a relatively short distance for events, but the state also plays a crucial role in his re-election efforts.
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Aerial view of USS ARIZONA on the East River in New York City near the Brooklyn Bridge on its way to sea trials. 1918.
U.S. Navy Photograph
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Billboard regarding terror-linked CAIR in Tampa schools going up Sep 3
An update on Tampa: $1000 reward for tips about terror-linked CAIR in school via floridafamily.org
CAIR is using bullying tactics across the United States to intimidate patriotic minded people out of their First Amendment right to oppose Islamization of America. We need to counter that intimidation. Your gift will help us do that.
Billboard regarding CAIR in Tampa schools is going up the week of September 3, 2012.
Florida Family Association sent out an email alert on August 21, 2012 which announced: Florida Family Association hopes to raise $4,072 for a billboard aimed at the only school district in Florida and perhaps the nation that knowingly permits CAIR officials to instruct students about Islam and Sharia. That email alert is posted below.
Thanks to the generosity of many supporters approximately $6,105 has been donated toward the billboard campaign. Adding $4,072 for the billboard and $3,000 for the reward means that a total of $7,072 is needed for the full campaign. We anticipate that a recent direct mail request will bring in the balance needed.
Here is the final version of the billboard which was created by our outdoor advertising company.
The outdoor advertising company has scheduled the ad copy to be placed on the billboard during the week of September 3, 2012. The outdoor advertising company is not able to guarantee an exact day because they have many billboards that were removed in preparation for Hurricane Isaac which must be restored.
The proposal, contract and location of the billboard will be provided in another email alert once the ad copy is on the billboard.
Florida Family Association is planning more campaigns like this one. If the reward is not collected we will post rewards for other situations regarding Islamization in America.
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The Hillsborough County School Board in Tampa Florida appears to be the only school district in Florida and perhaps the nation which will knowingly allows Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) officials to instruct students regarding Islam and Sharia law. Tragically, board members have no problem with CAIR officials giving their biased version of “Sharia”, “Human Rights and Islam” and “Women and Islam in different countries” to hundreds of students at Steinbrenner High School funded by taxpayer dollars. A condensed history of this issue is posted at the end of this article.
Florida Family Association, whose public records request provided the credibility to first break the story, is preparing a billboard campaign aimed at confronting the situation head on. All funds raised through this request will be used exclusively for this campaign. The billboard campaign will:
- Be seen by 104,000 vehicles daily according to DOT traffic counts.
- Be hard to miss since it is the only major billboard for miles.
- Be located on the primary route to Steinbrenner High School.
- Significantly increase the likelihood that Florida Family Association will learn if and when teachers invite CAIR officials to address students.
- Educate thousands of people who visit WelcometoTampaFL.org regarding this issue, the Sharia threat to America public policy and the Islamization taking place in Tampa.
- Hopefully significantly decrease the likelihood of pro-Sharia groups having access to students.
If Florida Family Association learns and verifies that a teacher has invited a CAIR official or other Muslim Brotherhood front organization official to address students on taxpayer funded property Florida Family Association will:
- Organize a peaceful, educationally based protest in front of the school.
- Hand out educational fliers to parents dropping off their children for class.
- Rent the school auditorium for a special event to educate the community regarding the truth about Islam being mostly a political movement with a religious flavor.
Florida Family Association has submitted the billboard to an outdoor advertising company which approved the final content and reserved the requested location. To provide accountability as Florida Family Association does for all major designated fundraising requests a copy of the contract including the $3,400 rental, $672 art cost, location, traffic count and other information will be posted here after the ad copy has been placed on the billboard on September 4, 2012. Posting this information online prior to September 4, 2012 may cause unnecessary pressure by pro-Sharia groups directed at the outdoor advertising company. The billboard will initially stay up for 4 weeks.
CAIR is using bullying tactics across the United States to intimidate patriotic minded people out of their First Amendment right to oppose Islamization of America. We need to counter that intimidation.
To read more or join the fight against Hamas-linked CAIR go to the Full Article.
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Those on the left remind me of the guy on this commercial I watched this morning. About ball park franks. Forget the question the guy on the right asked, but the guy in the middle answered it and when asked how sure he was of his answer, he said 99.9% sure. The guy on the left (must of been a leftist) then says, so you really don’t know the answer? Guy in the middle says well I am 99.99999% sure I am right. Guy on left says again, you don’t know the answer do you?
See, that is how the left thinks and how they speak against anyone that opposes them. Even if you get the facts 100% right they will still call you a liar.
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1933 Anti-Prohibition protest. Early on in the process people began to turn against the prohibition law. Not only by breaking it, also by forming groups that were dedicated to its destruction. Groups such as the “Crusaders” and others formed larger coalitions, just as religious groups had previously to get Prohibition enacted into law. After the government poisoning program was enacted in 1926, which forced companies who produced industrial alcohols such as grain alcohol and rubbing alcohol to poison their products. In the following 7 year period, over 10,000 Americans would be poisoned by their government. These events an the bloodshed that people witnessed in every American city for control of this illegal market, convinced many that Prohibition was a mistake. The world did not follow our example as previously thought. Instead countries like Canada, Mexico, Great Britain and others profited from our mistake.
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Forget the Video – READ the Transcript. Eastwood’s Speech is Devastating to the Left
Emphasis Mine
EASTWOOD: Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Save a little for Mitt.
I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, what’s a movie tradesman doing out here? You know they are all left wingers out there, left of Lenin. At least that is what people think. That is not really the case. There are a lot of conservative people, a lot of moderate people, Republicans, Democrats, in Hollywood. It is just that the conservative people by the nature of the word itself play closer to the vest. They do not go around hotdogging it.
So — but they are there, believe me, they are there. I just think, in fact, some of them around town, I saw Jon Voight, a lot of people around.
Jon’s here, an academy award winner. A terrific guy. These people are all like-minded, like all of us.
So I’ve got Mr. Obama sitting here. And he’s — I was going to ask him a couple of questions. But, you know about three and a half years ago, when Mr. Obama won the election.? And though I was not a big supporter, I was watching that night when he was having that thing and they were talking about hope and change and they were talking about, yes we can, and it was dark outdoors, and it was nice, and people were lighting candles.
They were saying, I just thought, this was great. Everybody is crying, Oprah was crying.
I was even crying. And then finally — and I haven’t cried that hard since I found out that there is 23 million unemployed people in this country.
Now that is something to cry for because that is a disgrace, a national disgrace, and we haven’t done enough, obviously — this administration hasn’t done enough to cure that. Whatever interest they have is not strong enough, and I think possibly know it may be time for somebody else to come along and solve the problem.
So, Mr. President, how do you handle promises that you have made when you were running for election, and how did you handle them?
Read it all HERE>
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From HERE. GO and see all the other cartoons there.
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Wow….our president has now decided that he will visit the areas devastated by hurricane Isaac. Romney is probably down there now, but obama will not show up until next week! Anyone remember how the liberal press castigated Bush for not visiting the Katrina hit areas until like 3 days later? Wonder why they are so damn silent about obama going a week later? And notice in this, obama had not plans to visit!
POLITICO – President Obama will visit Louisiana after all.
Obama campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki told POLITICO earlier Friday that the president had no plans yet to visit the Gulf state and review damage from Hurricane Isaac, even though Mitt Romney announced plans to visit Friday.
But the White House announced a few hours later that he is now planning to go there.
“On Monday, September 3rd, President Obama will travel to Louisiana to meet with local officials and view ongoing response and recovery efforts to Hurricane Isaac,” the White House said in a release.
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