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Privacy
Online spying bill would have given police power to find out all about you: Privacy Commissioner
The Canadian Press 22/05/2013 - The Harper government's recent bid to give police more information about Internet users would have unlocked numerous revealing personal details - from web-surfing habits to names of friends, says a new study by the federal privacy watchdog. The online surveillance bill was effectively a digital  key to determining someone's leanings, the people they know and where they travel, says the office of Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart. "What's more, each of these pieces of information can be used to uncover further information about an individual," concludes the study. "As information technologies become more and more common in our lives, and the more they become an extension of our very selves, the more sensitive and revealing subscriber identification information becomes." The Conservative government abandoned the legislation in February following a public outcry. Read moreOffice of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada: What an IP address can reveal about youConcerns arise on U.S. effort to allow Internet "wiretaps"
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Rule of law
Obama drones, Guantanamo policy laid out in major national security speech
The Huffington Post 23/05/2013 - Faced with growing questions over the legality and scope of his counterrorism policy from Congress and elsewhere, President Barack Obama said Thursday that he has codified the process his administration goes through before launching a  drone strike. Nevertheless, he gave an impassioned defense of drone strikes in countries such as Somalia and Yemen as an essential counterterrorism tool, presenting them as the best possible option. "To say a military tactic is legal, or even effective, is not to say it is wise or moral in every instance," Obama said. Speaking at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C., Obama offered a wide-ranging view of his vision for the future of U.S. national security policy. He spoke of returning to his plan to close the military detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, renewing the Authorization for Use of Military Force, and adjusting to an environment where homegrown terrorists pose more of a threat than an organized 9/11-style attack. Read more
ACLU's comments and full transcript of the speech
Washington gets explicit: its 'war on terror' is permanent
The Guardian 17/05/2013 - On Thursday, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing on whether the statutory basis for this "war" - the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) - should  be revised (meaning: expanded). This is how Wired's Spencer Ackerman (soon to be the Guardian US's national security editor) described the most significant exchange: "Asked at a Senate hearing today how long the war on terrorism will last, Michael Sheehan, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, answered, 'At least 10 to 20 years.'... A spokeswoman, Army Col. Anne Edgecomb, clarified that Sheehan meant the conflict is likely to last 10 to 20 more years from today - atop the 12 years that the conflict has already lasted. Welcome to America's Thirty Years War." Read moreUS admits drones killed four AmericansA map of every reported drone strike in PakistanAt least four suspected militants killed in Yemen drone strike
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Freedom of the press
Obama DOJ formally accuses journalist in leak case of committing crimes
The Guardian 20/05/2013 - New revelations emerged yesterday in the Washington Post that are perhaps the most extreme yet when it comes to the DOJ's attacks on press freedoms. It involves the prosecution of State Department adviser Stephen Kim, a naturalized citizen from South Korea who was indicted in 2009 for  allegedly telling Fox News' chief Washington correspondent, James Rosen, that US intelligence believed North Korea would respond to additional UN sanctions with more nuclear tests - something Rosen then reported. Kim did not obtain unauthorized access to classified information, nor steal documents, nor sell secrets, nor pass them to an enemy of the US. Instead, the DOJ alleges that he merely communicated this innocuous information to a journalist - something done every day in Washington - and, for that, this arms expert and long-time government employee faces more than a decade in prison for "espionage".
Read more
Obama worse than Nixon? Pentagon Papers Attorney decries AP phone probe, Julian Assange persecution
NYT Room for debate: Obama, the media and national security
IRS foot-dragging on tax-exempt status is stifling nonprofit investigative journalism |
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Criminalization of dissent
Dissent as 'terrorism': Targeting public protest in the post-9/11 era
Common Dreams 20/05/2013 - Results from a year-long investigation into the activities of the United States' expansive counter-terrorism apparatus found that, throughout the country, the government has turned the tax-payer-funded intelligence-gathering against its own citizens in an effort to suppress dissent. Released Monday by the DBA Press and the Center for Media and Democracy, the report, Dissent or  Terror: How the Nation's Counter Terrorism Apparatus, In Partnership With Corporate America, Turned on Occupy Wall Street, focuses primarily on the many instances of "fusion center" monitoring of Occupy Wall Street activists nationwide. "Put simply," the report states, "heavily-funded municipal, county, state and federal 'counter-terrorism' agencies (often acting in concert through state/regional 'fusion centers') view citizens engaged in movements of political and social dissent, such as Occupy Wall Street, as nothing less than nascent, if not bona fide, 'terrorist' threats."
Read more
Report - Dissent or terror: How the nation's counter terrorism apparatus, in partnership with corporate America, turned on Occupy Wall Street
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Anti-terror legislation
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Guantanamo
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Immigration and refugee rights
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Islamophobia
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National security
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Reflections on terrorism
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Rendition
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Surveillance and privacy
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Terrorism
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War on terror
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Miscellenaous
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The views expressed in this News Digest do not necessarily reflect the positions of ICLMG
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What is the News Digest?
The News Digest is ICLMG's weekly publication of news articles, events, calls to action and much more regarding national security, anti-terrorism, civil liberties and other issues related to the mandate and concerns of ICLMG and its member organizations. The ICLMG is a national coalition of thirty-nine Canadian civil society organizations that was established in the aftermath of the September, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.
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News from ICLMG
ICLMG is now on Twitter!
Follow us @ICLMG
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Take action
Why are you proud to protect refugees?
Following recent changes to Canada's refugee determination system, it may be tougher to protect refugees in Canada.  Join the Canadian Council for Refugees in showing Canadians and the world why we are still proud to protect refugees and refugee rights.
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Take action
Deportation is not entertainment! Cancel the reality show Border Security
Dozens of people were interrogated, arrested, and detained by the Canadian Border Services Agency.  Shockingly, some of these traumatic experiences were filmed for a reality TV show "Border Security" which airs on National Geographic Channel. Sign the petition to urge National Geographic Channel and Force Four Entertainment, to cancel the show "Border Security" immediately.
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Take action
Donate to the legal fund for Mohamed Mahjoub
The security certificate process was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada in the 2007 Charkaoui ruling. A new certificate was issued against Mr. Mahjoub in February 2008 under  this new process and he was forced to begin the process all over again. The Federal Court has not yet ruled on the 'reasonability' of the new certificate against him. In the context of these new security certificate proceedings, Mr. Mahjoub was subject to an unprecedented violation of his rights. The present fund-raising initiative is aimed at obtaining a permanent stay of the unfair proceedings against him in light of this unprecedented violation. |
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Take action
"Hundred for Hassan" Campaign
Hassan will be put in prison if he does not pay his "creditor" - in this case, the Canadian government - $2,000 per month for the cost of his own surveillance. Justice for Hassan Diab invites  you to be one of 100 people who care about due process and the presumption of innocence and oppose abusive extradition proceedings, by pledging $20 per month or more to share the cost of Dr. Diab's oppressive burden. |
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