America’s new data centre makes UK surveillance plans seem petty

In the small town of Bluffdale in the Utah desert, the US government is halfway to completing a gargantuan complex designed to store and trawl through billions of phone calls, emails, and other global communications. As the UK government reveals its own plans to carry out mass surveillance, a lengthy piece in May’s Wired reveals the full […]

Alice Ross
By Alice Ross
The National Security Agency by @mjb via Flickr Creative Commons

In the small town of Bluffdale in the Utah desert, the US government is halfway to completing a gargantuan complex designed to store and trawl through billions of phone calls, emails, and other global communications. As the UK government reveals its own plans to carry out mass surveillance, a lengthy piece in May’s Wired reveals the full extent of

Read Full Article

White House helps pay for NYPD Muslim surveillance

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of dollars in White House money has helped pay for New York Police Department programs that put entire American Muslim neighborhoods under surveillance. The money is part of a little-known grant intended to help law enforcement fight drug crimes. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush and Obama […]

Associated Press
By Associated Press
FILE - In this May 2, 2011 file photo, White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan speaks at the White House in Washington. Millions of dollars in White House money has helped pay for New York Police Department programs that put entire American Muslim neighborhoods under surveillance. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of dollars in White House money has helped pay for New York Police Department programs that put entire American Muslim neighborhoods under surveillance. The money is part of a little-known grant intended to help law enforcement fight drug crimes. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush and Obama

Read Full Article

Records detail mosque spying; NYPD defends tactics

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Police Department targeted Muslim mosques with tactics normally reserved for criminal organizations, according to newly obtained police documents that showed police collecting the license plates of worshippers, monitoring them on surveillance cameras and cataloging sermons through a network of informants. The documents, obtained by The Associated Press, have […]

Associated Press
By Associated Press
FILE - In this Dec. 29, 2011, file photo, New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly speaks at a news conference with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, left, in Brooklyn, N.Y. New York Police Department spying operations began after the 2001 terror attacks with unusual help from a CIA officer. "If there are threats or leads to follow, then the NYPD's job is to do it," Bloomberg said. "The law is pretty clear about what's the requirement, and I think they follow the law. We don't stop to think about the religion. We stop to think about the threats and focus our efforts there." (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Police Department targeted Muslim mosques with tactics normally reserved for criminal organizations, according to newly obtained police documents that showed police collecting the license plates of worshippers, monitoring them on surveillance cameras and cataloging sermons through a network of informants. The

Read Full Article

Newark mayor seeks probe of NYPD Muslim spying

  NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The mayor of New Jersey’s largest city called for state authorities Wednesday to investigate a widespread spying operation conducted in Newark’s Muslim neighborhoods by the New York Police Department that he characterized as “deeply offensive.” At about the same time Newark Mayor Cory Booker made his remarks, Gov. Chris Christie, […]

Associated Press
By Associated Press
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie addresses local residents and politicians during a town hall meeting at Palisades Park High School in Palisades Park, N.J.,Wednesday, Feb, 22, 2012, one day after introducing his budget. (AP Photo/The Record of Bergen County, Tyson Trish)

  NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The mayor of New Jersey's largest city called for state authorities Wednesday to investigate a widespread spying operation conducted in Newark's Muslim neighborhoods by the New York Police Department that he characterized as "deeply offensive." At about the same time Newark Mayor Cory Booker made his remarks, Gov.

Read Full Article

NYPD built secret files on NJ, Long Island Muslims Personal Lives

Imam Abdul A. Muhammad of the Masjid Imam K. Ali Muslim mosque in Newark, N.J., speaks in his clothing and accessories store, regarding surveillance of the Muslim community by the New York Police Department, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. Americans in New Jersey’s largest city were subjected to surveillance as part of the New York Police […]

Associated Press
By Associated Press
Imam Abdul A. Muhammad

Imam Abdul A. Muhammad of the Masjid Imam K. Ali Muslim mosque in Newark, N.J., speaks in his clothing and accessories store, regarding surveillance of the Muslim community by the New York Police Department, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. Americans in New Jersey’s largest city were subjected to surveillance as part of the New York Police Department’s

Read Full Article

Judge orders NYPD payout of $15 M for 22,000 false arrests

  (NEW YORK) MintPress — At last, some progress amidst the growing calls for increased oversight of the NYPD.  A federal judge has finally approved a settlement in a class-action case charging that the police had unlawfully arrested as many as 22,000 people over a period of nearly 30 years under laws that had long been […]

Lisa Barron
By Lisa Barron
Officers from the NYPD stand on a street in New York City. (Photo by David Shankbone)

  (NEW YORK) MintPress — At last, some progress amidst the growing calls for increased oversight of the NYPD.  A federal judge has finally approved a settlement in a class-action case charging that the police had unlawfully arrested as many as 22,000 people over a period of nearly 30 years under laws that had long been declared

Read Full Article