NSA: Keep Eyes On The Big Picture, But Every Victory Is Important
As I wrote in my last column, an expiry of the Patriot Act means nothing to what the NSA does or does not. They have been wiretapping phonecalls since at…
Rick Falkvinge
Rick is the founder of the first Pirate Party and is a political evangelist, traveling around Europe and the world to talk and write about ideas of a sensible information policy. Additionally, he has a tech entrepreneur background and loves good whisky and fast motorcycles.
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Posts by rick:
The NSA Have Wiretapped In Bulk Since 1976. They’re Not Going To Care What Happens To The Patriot Act Of 2001.
Right now, there is a debate about a small section of the Patriot Act in the U.S., and which option best removes the authorization from the U.S. NSA to wiretap…
A Private Net Is Just As Fundamental A Right As Freedom Of Speech
This week, new invasive spying bills passed in Canada and in France. Both of them, as usual, go beyond what has been seen before in their audacity. But a private…
UK High Court Censors Many Links To Popcorn Time: Useless, Dangerous Gesture
A High Court in the UK has ordered several entire sites censored, at the request of the copyright industry, because they link to the Popcorn Time application. This is an…
What’s Section 215, And Why Should You Care?
This year, U.S. laws used to justify mass surveillance are set to expire, but the U.S. Congress will renew those laws unless overwhelmingly told to let mass surveillance die on…
In NZ, Copyright Industry Threatening ISPs Over Un-Geoblocking
News are trickling out from Down Under - from NZ to be precise, not Australia - that the copyright industry is threatening to sue Internet Service Providers who offer geoblock…
Wiretapping Today Just Doesn’t Mean What The Word Meant In The 1990s, So Don’t Fall For That Lie
Many legislators and surveillance hawks are framing an extensive real-time bulk wiretapping of the Internet as "just an adaptation to new technology", and try to pretend it doesn't mean anything…
Once Again, The Old World Doesn’t Understand That Unrestriction Is Just A VPN Away
Four pieces of news in the past week show just how little the lawmakers and courts continue to understand of the Internet: Australia introduced Data Retention, Spain ordered The Pirate…
Tax Authority Demands Customer Data From Bitcoin Exchange: Demands Trackability Of Everybody’s Past, Present, And Future
The Swedish Tax Authority has demanded the full customer transaction history, specifically including customers' wallet addresses, from the small Swedish bitcoin exchange BTC-X. This demand comes without any individual suspicion…
FCC Net Neutrality: “Lawful” Has Really Become Newspeak For “Evil”
Apparently, the FCC's version of net neutrality really does contain a gaping hole for anything copyright-monopoly-related. The little qualifier "lawful" in the sentence that "all lawful traffic must be treated…