dkf
dkf's JournalChina stocks pare gains in volatile trade after spiking over 5% (fat finger?)
China's benchmark index fell below 2,100 points in afternoon trade after rallying over 5 percent to its highest levels since June 16.
Traders attributed several factors to the sudden gains, including a possible cash reserve ratio cut for banks, futures-related trades ahead of the settlement of August contracts and erroneous trading orders from brokerage Everbright Securities, whose shares have now been suspended pending an announcement.
"Talk of an RMB 7 billion fat finger surfaced, while there was also talk of some very bullish news due to be released on the banks, which in theory would make sense why the volume in some of the mainland banks was extreme. There was also talk of a near-term RRR (reserve ratio requirement) wrongly placed ETF order, however one thing is for sure; it caught a lot of traders by surprise and whatever the outcome, these sorts of moves do not help confidence," wrote Chris Weston, market strategist at IG in a note.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100966769
WAPO reporter Barton Gellman appearing on today show for NSA segment.
@bartongellman: Pre-taped an interview for a @TodayShow #NSA segment in the morning. 30 Rock is still hopping at 3 am.
Author of this article.
NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023469108
Not only did DiFi not have a copy of the audit, didn't even know it existed. Snowden=Whistleblower
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the first she heard of the report was when the Post contacted her for comment.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/317345-report-new-snowden-documents-show-consistent-nsa-overreach?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter#ixzz2c73d7v3D
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook
When you’re in a Fourth Estate situation
As things stand today, the Fourth Estate is a state of mind. Some in the press have it, some don’t. Some who have it are part of the institutional press. Some, like Ladar Levison and Edward Snowden, are not.
“I think if the American public knew what our government was doing, they wouldn’t be allowed to do it anymore.” These are the poignant words of Ladar Levison, founder of Lavabit, a secure email service that he voluntarily shut down when faced with some sort of demand from the U.S. government to reveal user information. The precise nature of that demand he cannot talk about for fear of being thrown in jail, perhaps the best example we have for how the surveillance state undoes the First Amendment. But we know that Lavabit was used by Edward Snowden to communicate with the outside world when he was stuck in the Moscow airport. So use your imagination!
If the public knew what the government was doing, the government wouldn’t be allowed to do it anymore is a perfect description of a “Fourth Estate situation.” That’s when we need a journalist to bring the hidden facts to light and put public opinion into play, which then changes the equation for people in power. If it doesn’t happen, then an illegitimate state action will persist. “My hope is that, you know, the media can uncover what’s going on, without my assistance,” Levison said. He’s like a whistleblower who will go to jail if he actually uses his whistle. All he can do is give truncated interviews that stop short of describing the pressure he is under.
At least one thing is clear: Snowden’s determination “to embolden others to step forward,” which I wrote about in my last post, is starting to work. Ladar Levison is proof.
Whoever can speak to the whole nation becomes a power. It used to be that the only way to “speak to the whole nation” was through the major media channels that reached everyone. The Fourth Estate became the editors and reporters who worked in Big Media newsrooms. But as Peter Maass pointed out, Poitras and Greenwald don’t operate that way. They make alliances with the press establishment to get their stories out. If necessary, they will go it alone.
More at link...
http://pressthink.org/2013/08/when-youre-in-a-fourth-estate-situation/
NSA gives $60M to North Carolina State to fund "data analysis" lab, security clearance required
@declanm: National Security Agency gives $60M to North Carolina State to fund "data analysis" lab, security clearance required: http://t.co/SpVrdnW7K2
@declanm: .@NCState tries to distance itself from NSA spying flap, says top secret lab won't "be involved" in surveillance: http://t.co/ThzAEE2K7A
RALEIGH — As the field of “big data” continues to grow in importance, N.C. State University has landed a big coup – a major lab for the study of data analysis, funded by the National Security Agency.
A $60.75 million grant from the NSA is the largest research grant in NCSU’s history – three times bigger than any previous award.
The Laboratory for Analytic Sciences will be launched in a Centennial Campus building that will be renovated with money from the federal agency, but details about the facility are top secret. Those who work in the lab will be required to have security clearance from the U.S. government.
NCSU officials say the endeavor is expected to bring 100 new jobs to the Triangle during the next several years. The university, already a leader in data science, won the NSA contract through a competitive process.
NCSU university already has strengths in computer science, applied mathematics and statistics and a collaborative project with the NSA on cybersecurity. The university also is in the process of hiring four faculty members for its new data-driven science cluster, adding to its expertise.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/08/15/3109412/nc-state-teams-up-with-nsa-on.html#storylink=cpy
This NSA official told us he could be quoted here, then the White House asked us to edit his quotes.
@washingtonpost: This NSA official told us he could be quoted here, then the White House asked us to edit his quotes. We declined. http://t.co/hIsvbd3R4W
WAPO front page tomorrow!
https://mobile.twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/368219251171008512
The Chief Judge of Secret FISA Court Admits In Written Statement That It Cannot Properly Oversee NSA
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023469398
NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023469108
Today, we learned this is what the vaunted Congressional oversight of NSA spying looks like.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who did not receive a copy of the 2012 audit [showing thousands of violations] until The Post asked her staff about it, said in a statement late Thursday that the committee “can and should do more to independently verify that NSA’s operations are appropriate, and its reports of compliance incidents are accurate.”
We learned this is what the vaunted FISA Court oversight of NSA spying looks like.
The chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court said the court lacks the tools to independently verify how often the government’s surveillance breaks the court’s rules that aim to protect Americans’ privacy. Without taking drastic steps, it also cannot check the veracity of the government’s assertions that the violations its staff members report are unintentional mistakes.
“The FISC is forced to rely upon the accuracy of the information that is provided to the Court,” its chief, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, said in a written statement to The Washington Post. “The FISC does not have the capacity to investigate issues of noncompliance, and in that respect the FISC is in the same position as any other court when it comes to enforcing [government] compliance with its orders.”
We learned this is what the vaunted internal NSA oversight of NSA spying looks like.
The NSA uses the term “incidental” when it sweeps up the records of an American while targeting a foreigner or a U.S. person who is believed to be involved in terrorism. Official guidelines for NSA personnel say that kind of incident, pervasive under current practices, “does not constitute a . . . violation” and “does not have to be reported” to the NSA inspector general for inclusion in quarterly reports to Congress. Once added to its databases, absent other restrictions, the communications of Americans may be searched freely.
- See more at: http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/08/15/all-three-branches-conduct-vaunted-nsa-oversight/#sthash.TND3EjNt.dpuf
WAPO: NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds
The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents.
Most of the infractions involve unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the United States, both of which are restricted by statute and executive order. They range from significant violations of law to typographical errors that resulted in unintended interception of U.S. e-mails and telephone calls.
The documents, provided earlier this summer to The Washington Post by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, include a level of detail and analysis that is not routinely shared with Congress or the special court that oversees surveillance. In one of the documents, agency personnel are instructed to remove details and substitute more generic language in reports to the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
In one instance, the NSA decided that it need not report the unintended surveillance of Americans. A notable example in 2008 was the interception of a “large number” of calls placed from Washington when a programming error confused the U.S. area code 202 for 20, the international dialing code for Egypt, according to a “quality assurance” review that was not distributed to the NSA’s oversight staff.
http://m.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-broke-privacy-rules-thousands-of-times-per-year-audit-finds/2013/08/15/3310e554-05ca-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html
Obama’s surveillance revisions omit limits on warrantless email searches
By Anita Kumar and Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — In pledging to make changes that could curtail the federal government’s ability to spy on Americans, President Barack Obama failed to address calls by lawmakers and experts to overhaul a law that allows the National Security Agency to search vast databases of individual Americans’ emails without court warrants.
Some lawmakers, technology organizations and civil liberty groups had urged Obama and his top aides to end – or at least limit – those searches at two meetings at the White House last week as the president prepared proposals to dispel criticism of the NSA surveillance programs, according to several people familiar with the sessions.
“There are a lot of questions that the government has to answer about that particular program, and it was disappointing and surprising that Obama failed to mention it” at a news conference Friday, said Jameel Jaffer, the deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, which was represented at the meetings.
Instead, Obama called on Congress to change the USA Patriot Act, which increased the government’s ability to gather intelligence after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and the secret court that oversees NSA surveillance programs.
Lawmakers and advocates applauded the president’s first significant comments on altering the programs, but they criticized his actions as being short on specifics and ignoring Section 702 of the 2008 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/08/14/199404/obamas-surveillance-revisions.html?storylink=addthis#.UgyQrMu9KSO#storylink=cpy
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