Government blackmail...... Sibel Edmonds blows the whistle ....
corbettreport, Published on Jun 25, 2013
In this remarkable conversation, Sibel Edmonds reflects on Russ Tice’s recent revelations to Boiling Frogs Post and The Corbett Report that the NSA has wiretapped top government officials for years. Edmonds discusses from her own experience how the FBI collects dirt on Congressman and public officials for use as political leverage. We also talk about how this scandal proves that there is no “official channel” for whistleblowers to follow when they want to expose wrondoing because the system is being controlled from behind the scenes by the criminals in the national security establishment.
Connecting dots on the curious death of journalist Michael Hastings ......And answering the question of how his "accident " could have occurred - Richard Clarke opines while in his car , he was the victim of a cyber attack....
Friend: Michael Hastings Was Working on “Biggest Story Yet” About CIA
Sgt. Joe Biggs says journalist would never have driven at high speed
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
June 25, 2013
Infowars.com
June 25, 2013
A friend of Michael Hastings told Fox News today that the Rolling Stone journalist was working on “the biggest story yet” about the CIA before his suspicious death and that Hastings drove “like a grandma,” making it extremely out of character for him to be speeding in the early hours of the morning.
Sgt. Joe Biggs told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly that “something didn’t feel right” after Hastings sent a panicked email saying the authorities were on his tail, adding that the story of him driving at high speed in the early hours of the morning was completely out of character.
“His friends and family that know him, everyone says he drives like a grandma, so that right there doesn’t seem like something he’d be doing, there’s no way that he’d be acting erratic like that and driving out of control,” said Biggs, adding that “things don’t add up, there’s a lot of questions that need to be answered.”
Biggs said he had contacted Mercedes asking them if it was normal for their cars to “blow up to that extent” and for the engine to fly out 100 feet from the site of the crash.
Biggs also confirmed that Hastings was working on a story about the CIA and that it was “going to be the biggest story yet.”
As we reported yesterday, questions surrounding the death of Hastings are not only the domain of conspiracy theorists. Former counter-terror czar under two different presidents Richard Clarke told the Huffington Post that the fatal crash of Hastings’ Mercedes C250 Coupe was “consistent with a car cyber attack.”
“So if there were a cyber attack on the car — and I’m not saying there was,” he said, adding “I think whoever did it would probably get away with it,” and that “intelligence agencies for major powers” have such capabilities.
Clarke’s speculation that Hastings’ vehicle could have been remotely hijacked is echoed by Salon.com’s Andrew Leonard, who cites two studies by researchers at the University of Washington and the University of California, San Diego, “Experimental Security Analysis of a Modern Vehicle,” and“Comprehensive Experimental Analyses of Automotive Attack Surfaces.”
The studies detail how “it is a relatively trivial exercise to access the computer systems of a modern car and take control away from the driver.”
Questions about the circumstances behind Hastings’ death have persisted because he made a number of enemies in positions of power.
After Wikileaks reported that Hastings had contacted them in the hours before his death complaining about being under investigation by the FBI, the federal agency denied the claim.
According to Hastings’ colleague Cenk Uygur, the writer was, “incredibly tense and very worried, and was concerned that the government was looking in on his material,” and also a “nervous wreck” in response to the surveillance of journalists revealed by the AP phone tapping scandal and the NSA PRISM scandal.
BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith added that Hastings had told friends and family “he was concerned that he was under investigation.”
Another close friend who wishes to remain anonymous said that Hastings was “very paranoid that he was being watched by the FBI.”
It subsequently emerged that Hastings had written a panicked email shortly before his death telling his friends and colleagues that he was going into hiding to escape the attention of the authorities.
“Hey — the feds are interviewing my “close friends and associates,” the message said. “Also: I’m onto a big story, and need to go off the [radar] for a bit.”
and....
Bush advisor: Hastings crash ‘consistent with a car cyberattack’
Published time: June 25, 2013 16:19
Edited time: June 25, 2013 21:07
Edited time: June 25, 2013 21:07
A former cybersecurity advisor to President George W. Bush says a sophisticated computer hack could have been the cause of the automobile accident that claimed the life of journalist Michael Hastings last week in Los Angeles.
Richard Clarke, a State Department official-turned-special advisor to several United States presidents, said the early morning auto crash last Tuesday was "consistent with a car cyberattack,” raising new questions about the death of the award-winning journalist.
Hastings died last week when his 2013 Mercedes C250 coupe collided with a tree in Los Angeles, California on the morning of June 18. He was reportedly traveling at a high rate of speed and failed to stop at a red light moments before the single-car crash. He was only 33.
Speaking to Huffington Post this week, Clarke said that a cyberattack waged at the vehicle could have caused the fatal collision.
"What has been revealed as a result of some research at universities is that it's relatively easy to hack your way into the control system of a car, and to do such things as cause acceleration when the driver doesn't want acceleration, to throw on the brakes when the driver doesn't want the brakes on, to launch an air bag," Clarke told The Huffington Post. "You can do some really highly destructive things now, through hacking a car, and it's not that hard."
"So if there were a cyberattack on the car — and I'm not saying there was," Clarke continued, "I think whoever did it would probably get away with it."
The Los Angeles Police Department said they don’t expect foul play was involved in the crash, but an investigation has been opened nonetheless.
In an email reportedly sent by Hastings hours before the crash, he told colleagues that he thought he was the target of a federal investigation.
“Hey [redacted}, the Feds are interviewing my ‘close friends and associates,’” Hastings wrote 15 hours before the crash.
“Also: I’m onto a big story, and need to go off the rada[r] for a bit,” he added. “All the best, and hope to see you all soon.”
The email was supplied to KTLA News in Los Angeles by Staff Sgt. Joseph Biggs, who says he met Hastings while the journalist was embedded in Afghanistan in 2008. It was reportedly send to a handful of Hastings’ associates and was blind-copied to Biggs.
“I just said it doesn’t seem like him. I don’t know, I just had this gut feeling and it just really bothered me,” Biggs told KTLA.
Reporters at Buzzfeed where Hastings worked say they received an email from their colleague, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a statement two days after Hastings’ death to quash rumors that they had been looking into the reporter.
“At no time was Michael Hastings under investigation by the FBI,” FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.
According to the Associated Press, however, Hastings’ fingerprints were on file with the FBI and were used by the bureau to identify his body after flames consumed much the auto wreckage last week.
"I believe the FBI when they say they weren't investigating him," Clarke told the Huffington Post. "That was very unusual, and I'm sure they checked very carefully before they said that."
"I'm not a conspiracy guy. In fact, I've spent most of my life knocking down conspiracy theories," he said. "But my rule has always been you don't knock down a conspiracy theory until you can prove it [wrong]. And in the case of Michael Hastings, what evidence is available publicly is consistent with a car cyberattack. And the problem with that is you can't prove it."
Clarke, 62, spent nearly two decades at the Pentagon before relocating to the White House where he served under President Ronald Reagan and both Presidents Bush. He served as special advisor to President George W. Bush on cybersecurity until leaving the administration in 2003 and is currently the chairman and CEO of Good Harbor Security Risk Management, LLC.
Meanwhile the corporate fascism rolls along as Facebook plays ball .....
Facebook Now Collecting Photo IDs
Julie Wilson
Infowars.com
June 24, 2013
Infowars.com
June 24, 2013
An Infowars.com listener recently had their Facebook account suspended for asking Facebook how to change their primary email address. Coincidentally, the listener who uses Facebook as a tool to promote truth about the U.S. government, 9/11, the banking cartels, and the falsehood of the “War on Terror,” says she merely contacted Facebook requesting information on how to change the primary email address on her account.
Facebook responded by suspending her account and accusing her of using a fake name. The Facebook employee with the title “Marissa of User Operations,” told her “If you would like to use this profile again, just get back to us with your real name, and we will reactivate the account for you.”
The listener explained that she hadn’t been using a fake name, but regardless provided her real first and last name.
The listener explained that she hadn’t been using a fake name, but regardless provided her real first and last name.
Facebook replied stating that they could not verify ownership of the account, and if she would like to continue using Facebook, she would need to prove her identity.
Marissa from User Operations advised her to email a scanned or digital image of a government-issued photo ID providing her first and last name, date of birth and a photograph.
Facebook employee Marissa assured her that the photo-ID would be permanently deleted from Facebook’s servers once authenticity of the account has been confirmed. The social media giant went on to say that once the information has been received, they will reevaluate the status of the account, but will not do so without the proper proof of identification.
While Facebook seems to update their policies frequently, it’s difficult to keep up with the new rules and regulations that change daily. According to Facebook’s website, fake names and fake information is a very big concern. The social media network claims they need your ID in order to protect you from misinformation and misleading profiles.
Infowars itself has a lengthy history of being censored by Facebook, most notably during the Boston Bombing incident. Facebook disabled users’ ability to “share” Infowars’ posts and photographs by citing this dialog box:
In a separate incident, Facebook censored another photograph posted by Infowars of Osama Bin Laden with the words “Al-CIA-da” spelled across his chest. This time Facebook cited “We removed content you posted because you violated Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.”
Clearly, Facebook has become the watchdog for dissidents in social media, censoring and deactivating accounts as they see fit.
The harsh reality is that Facebook doesn’t like you bashing the government that funds and controls their operation. If they catch you doing it, you could be the next target of their proof of identification request; but don’t worry because they apologize in advance for any inconvenience.
and......
Is the Government Spying On You Through Your Own Computer’s Webcam Or Microphone?
Washington’s Blog
June 25, 2013
June 25, 2013
We documented earlier today that - if you are near your smart phone – the NSA or private parties could remotely activate your microphone and camera and spy on you.
This post shows that the same is true for our computer.
Initially, the NSA built backdoors into the world’s most popular software program – Microsoft Windows – by 1999.
And a government expert told the Washington Post that the government “quite literally can watch your ideas form as you type” (confirmed). Even that is just “the tip of the iceberg”, according to a congress member briefed on the NSA’s spying program.
The New York Times reported in 2011 that German police were using spyware to turn on the webcam and microphone on peoples’ computers:
A group that calls itself the Chaos Computer Club prompted a public outcry here recently when it discovered that German state investigators were using spying softwarecapable of turning a computer’s webcam and microphone into a sophisticated surveillance device.The club …announced last Saturday it had analyzed the hard drives of people who had been investigated and discovered that they were infected with a Trojan horse program that gave the police the ability to log keystrokes, capture screenshots and activate cameras and microphones.
Reuters documented last year that the U.S. and Israeli governments can remotely turn on a computer’s microphone:
Evidence suggest that the virus, dubbed Flame, may have been built on behalf of the same nation or nations that commissioned the Stuxnet worm that attacked Iran’s nuclear program in 2010 [i.e. the U.S. and Israel], according to Kaspersky Lab, the Russian cyber security software maker that took credit for discovering the infections.Kaspersky researchers said they have yet to determine whether Flame had a specific mission like Stuxnet, and declined to say who they think built it.Cyber security experts said the discovery publicly demonstrates what experts privy to classified information have long known: that nations have been using pieces of malicious computer code as weapons to promote their security interests for several years.***The virus contains about 20 times as much code as Stuxnet, which caused centrifuges to fail at the Iranian enrichment facility it attacked. It has about 100 times as much code as a typical virus designed to steal financial information, said Kaspersky Lab senior researcher Roel Schouwenberg.Flame can gather data files, remotely change settings on computers, turn on PC microphones to record conversations, take screen shots and log instant messaging chats.Kaspersky Lab said Flame and Stuxnet appear to infect machines by exploiting the same flaw in the Windows operating system and that both viruses employ a similar way of spreading.***“The scary thing for me is: if this is what they were capable of five years ago, I can only think what they are developing now,” Mohan Koo, managing director of British-based Dtex Systems cyber security company.
PC Magazine tech columnist John Dvorak writes:
From what we know the NSA has back door access into Apple, Microsoft [background], and Google. What kind of access we don’t know, but let us assume it is similar to what they did about 7 years ago to AT&T. They had a secret room at Fulsom St. in San Francisco and the AT&T engineers had no control and no access to a room full of NSA equipment that had direct access to everything AT&T could do.Microsoft is the source of the operating system for Windows and Windows cell phones. Apple controls the OS for Macs, iPhones, and iPads. Google controls the Chrome OS, Chrome Browser, and Android cell phones. The companies regularly push operating system upgrades and security updates to users on a regular basis.Imagine however that the NSA has access to these updates at the source and has the ability to alter these update in order to install some sort of spyware on your phone, tablet, or computer. The software could turn on your camera or microphone remotely, read all your private data, or erase everything and brick your phone or computer.
Moreover – as documented by Microsoft, Ars Technica, cnet, the Register, Sydney Morning Herald, and many other sources – private parties can turn on your computer’s microphone and camera as well.
Cracked noted in 2010:
All sorts of programs are available to let you remotely commandeer a webcam, and many of them are free. Simple versions will just take photos or videos when they detect movement, but more complex software will send you an e-mail when the computer you’ve installed the program on is in use, so you can immediately login and control the webcam without the hassle of having to stare at an empty room until the person you’re stalking shows up.
The bottom line is that – as with your phone, OnStar type system or other car microphone, Xbox, and other digital recording devices – you shouldn’t say or do anything near your computer that you don’t want shared with the world.
Postscript: You could obviously try to cover your webcam and microphone when you don’t want to use them.
But if you really want privacy, take a lesson from spy movies: Go swimming with the person you want to speak with … since electronics can’t operate in water.
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