Total Information Awareness* is Here
Posted: February 2, 2011 Filed under: Barack Obama, Central Intelligence Agency, Egypt, Foreign Affairs, Middle East, Patriot Act, U.S. Politics | Tags: Boeing, Egyptian protests, Hosni Mubarak, internet freedom of speech, Joseph Cannon, Narus, NSA spying, social media 14 Comments
Yesterday Joseph Cannon put up a disturbing post about the American company that made it possible for Hosni Mubarak’s authoritarian government to shut down the internet in Egypt, making it much more difficult for Egyptians to communicate over social media like Twitter and Facebook. Be sure to read Cannon’s post and watch the Democracy Now video that he included.
The company is Narus, located in Sunnyvale, CA. The company was purchased by Boeing last summer.
I was intrigued enough to do a little more reading about Narus, and thought I’d add a bit to what Cannon had to say.
According to Wikipedia, Narus (emphasis added)
is notable for being the creator of NarusInsight, a supercomputer system which is allegedly used by the NSA and other bodies to perform mass surveillance and monitoring of citizens’ and corporations’ Internet communications in real-time, and whose installation in AT&T’s San Francisco Internet backbone gave rise to a 2006 class action lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against AT&T, Hepting v. AT&T.
That’s the NSA spying program that supposedly targeted only foreign communications, but actually spied on all of us.
At the Electronic Frontier Foundation site, I found this report by Brian Reid, who is described as a “telecommunications expert.” He is also a former electrical engineer professor at Stanford and computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University West. Reid was asked by the EFF to examine the technology used by AT&T in the spying program. Here’s a bit of what he had to say:
NSA Headquarters, Fort Meade, MD
This infrastructure is capable of monitoring all traffic passing through the AT&T facility (some of it not even from AT&T customers), whether voice or data or fax, international or domestic. The most likely use of this infrastructure is wholesale, untargeted surveillance of ordinary Americans at the behest of the NSA. NSA involvement undermines arguments that the facility is intended for use by AT&T in protecting its own network operations.
This infrastructure is not limited to, nor would it be especially efficient for, targeted surveillance, or even untargeted surveillance aimed at communications where one of the ends is located outside the United States. It is also not reasonably aimed at supporting AT&T operations and security procedures.
Reid explains that the equipment he examined “is far more powerful and expensive than that needed to do targeted surveillance or surveillance aimed only at international or one-end foreign communications.” Furthermore:
The documents describe a secret, private backbone network separate from the public network where normal AT&T customer traffic is carried transmitted. A separate backbone network would not be required for transmission of the smaller amounts of data captured via targeted surveillance. You don’t need that magnitude of transport capacity if you are doing targeted surveillance.
The bottom line is that the equipment used to provide data to the NSA for Bush’s spying program was designed to spy on ordinary American citizens–not foreign terrorists.
What is Obama Waiting for? Egypt is Burning. (Live blog)
Posted: February 2, 2011 Filed under: Breaking News, Egypt | Tags: 2011: days of revolt, Orderly transition 44 Comments
Click Image to go to Feb 3 Live Blog of Egypt Protests at Al Jazeera English
This post will update frequently with links, tweets, and information.
For Live Tweets:
For Al Jazeera English LIVE feed:
Vodpod videos no longer available.
If the feed above doesn’t work for you or crashes your browser:
JohnKingCNN (at 10:11 pm CST):
Obama admin official sees tipping point, says next “24-48 hours” key and US urging military to choose “society” over mubarak.
Heartwarming moment in the middle of chaos:
Christian Protesters protecting their Muslims Fellows during their prayers in #Tahrir square.
Enduring America‘s latest tweets:
#Egypt: Captured Thug in Cairo: We Were Paid by MP to Beat Americans in Tahrir Square http://tinyurl.com/5ukrq7l
#Egypt: Egypt State TV Blaming Killings in Tahrir Square on a Random Car Shooting on Protesters http://tinyurl.com/5ukrq7l
Mona Eltahawy, an hour ago (around 10 pm CST):
My heart, my sould, my memories, what most excites me about #Egypt, is there at #Tahrir. Only thing keeping me optimistic re #Egypt is youth
Mona, we are with you in Tahrir Square!
Another tweet from Mona, about an hour later:
I am torn between staying here NYC and continuing my media uprising to amplify #Egypt voices and returning to #Cairo for revolution. #Jan25
Egyptian blogger Ramy Raoof broadcasted this LIVE about 20 minutes ago:
AJE Live reporting:
5 killed7 killed in overnight clashes and more than 800 woundedarise_subvert 836 casualties is being reported on Al Jazeera. #Egypt The reporter thinks that is low.
Interesting read from pbs.org Frontline:
Women, Islam, Egypt, and Iran by SETAREH SABETY
Last update to the live blog for now (more in the comments):
RT @kttrend: #egypt can’t sleep when i know the massacre of innocent ppl is happening wo any intervention from world leaders, do smthg #obama do smthing
Egypt Update: Ugliness unfolds as Darkness falls
Posted: February 2, 2011 Filed under: Breaking News, Egypt | Tags: 2011: days of revolt, Orderly transition 22 Comments
A supporter of embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak rides a camel through the melee in Tahrir Square. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
To recap, breaking news from earlier this morning:
Egyptian Military asks protesters to stop
Yemeni president won’t seek re-election
The military is not intervening as Clashes Erupt in Cairo Between Mubarak’s Allies and Foes (NYT):
President Obama’s calls for a rapid transition to a new order in Egypt seemed eclipsed on Wednesday as thousands of demonstrators for and against President Hosni Mubarak, some on horses and camels, fought running battles in and around Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
These pro-Mubarak rent-a-mobs coming in on camels and creating violence and anarchy are calling themselves “pro-stability forces.”
Anderson Cooper is fine and reporting live now, but earlier Anderson was attacked (Huffpo):
CNN’s Steve Brusk tweeted that “Anderson said he was punched 10 times in the head as pro-Mubarak mob surrounded him and his crew trying to cover demonstration.”
A CNN update said that “no one was seriously hurt” in the attack.
CNN Anchor and correspondent Hala Gorani reporting she was charged at again and again after the camels came to town.
Molotov cocktails being thrown. Fires being started.
If the White House is reviewing economic and military aid to Egypt, now would be the time to cut it off. Look at what our tax dollars are going to. Certainly not an “orderly transition” on the Mubarak regime’s part.
From NYT’s the Lede:
9:45 A.M. |Twitter Updates From Cairo’s Tahrir Square:
Nicholas Kristof, a Times Op-Ed columnist on the scene in Tahrir, posted this update on his Twitter feed two minutes ago:
Mubarak seems to be trying to stage a crackdown not with police or army, but with thugs. They are armed and brutal.
8:56 A.M. |Egyptian Blogger Says Clashes Are Mubarak Ploy:
In a biting, angry and harrowing commentary on the clashes unfolding in Cairo on Wednesday, the Egyptian blogger who writes as Sandmonkey has called the appearance of regime supporters on Cairo’s streets, igniting violent clashes, a ploy by President Hosni Mubarak to create chaos and justify his continued rule.
Here is Sandmonkey’s commentary, posted on Twitter on Wednesday as the first clashes were reported on Egyptian state television:
Watching the egyptian media now is driving me insane. Propaganda & Stupidity overdose!
The TV just annunced that there is a Pro Mubarak million-man-march. This will be hilarious. They managed to get 1000 today.
Clashes in Tahrir square. The egyptian TV claims that hundreds of thousands of protesters are Pro Mubarak.
Clashes, Pro Mubarak people attacking protesters. Tear Gas thrown. Very violent. No Army intervention so far.
Twitter won’t work from my phone. Everything else works.
egyptian army is not seperating the people, they r holding the egyptian flag&urging egyptians- who r beating each other- to unite.
Twitter down on all mobiles. web still works.
Camels and Horses used by Pro Mubarak protesters to attack Anti-Mubarak protesters. This is becoming literally a circus.
You can’t even make up a movie that would equal this level of insanity.
Ok, it is official, my @Mobinil line has twitter and facebook blocked on it. They work fine on my etisalat line….
This means the regime knows who I am and where I live. My life is now officially in danger.
people are showing on TV holding police ID’s from the protesters they just clashed with.
Mubarak has proven to be smarter than all of us, he will not leave. Just watch.
The aim of this is to evacuate the Tahrir square & justify never having protests there Friday, where 1 is scheduled, or ever again.
Authoritarian regimes, watch Mubarak and learn from the master…. Ben Ali must be so jealous he didn’t think of this psychotic brilliant plan.
CNN’s Ben Wedeman on the phone right now, describing this as a:
lynch mob
and
revenge of the Mubarak regime.
Anderson Cooper on the phone a couple minutes ago telling Suzanne Malveaux he does not want to reveal his exact location “for security reasons.”
Breaking: Egyptian Military Asks Protesters to Stop
Posted: February 2, 2011 Filed under: Breaking News, Egypt, Yemen | Tags: 2011: days of revolt 11 CommentsJust got this on Houston Chron alerts, coming from the AP at 4:07 am Central (just a little after noon in Cairo):
CAIRO — The Egyptian military called Wednesday for an end to more than a week of demonstrations demanding President Hosni Mubarak step down immediately after nearly 30 years in power.
“Your message has arrived, your demands became known,” military spokesman Ismail Etman said on state television in an address directed to young protesters. “You are capable of bringing normal life to Egypt.”
Internet service also began returning to Egypt after days of an unprecedented cutoff by the government.
Mubarak’s embattled regime and the powerful military appear to be making a unified push to end a street movement to drive the 82-year-old leader out.
Note: I saw this news alert early in the morning and missed a few words in the first sentence so it read like “the military calls for Mubarak to step down.” My apologies if you read the original title of this post, which I went back and corrected immediately. The military have asked the protesters to stop, not the other way around.
Minkoff Minx will have a morning post up shortly, so I’ll just leave this here until then for anyone who’s up this early in the meantime.
Update, via Huffington Post/Reuters — Yemeni President won’t seek re-election either:
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a key U.S. ally against al Qaeda, said on Wednesday he will not seek to extend his presidency in a move that would end his three-decade rule when his current term expires in 2013.
Eyeing protests that brought down Tunisia’s leader and threaten to topple Egypt’s president, Saleh also vowed not to pass on the reins of government to his son, but asked the opposition to hold down on protests.
“I present these concessions in the interests of the country. The interests of the country come before our personal interests,” Saleh told his parliament, Shoura Council and members of the military.
“I call on the opposition to freeze all planned protests, rallies and sit-ins,” Saleh said.
Lesson learned from Egypt: Working and middle class UNITE
Posted: February 1, 2011 Filed under: Breaking News, Egypt | Tags: 2011: days of revolt 18 CommentsNot a new lesson learned for some of us, but it’s a lesson that others who haven’t learned it yet should take to heart watching Egypt’s middle and working class unite. When the people come together, they cannot be stopped. When they demand their rights be upheld and demand leadership that puts people before profit and corruption and political expedience, they cannot be stopped… via the NY Times Lens (see link for a slideshow of more photos from today):
From Dima Khatib on twitter:
There were around 2 million in #Cairo
Al Jazeera said there were 8 million protesters in ALL of #Egypt. 10% of total population of the country
Another photo from Al Jazeera:
From Al Jazeera English, via twitter:
RT @AJELive: In Tahrir Square people are erecting tents, bringing in blankets, distributing food… for the long haul. http://aje.me/hnB6yp
Here is a bit more detail from the aje.me link to Tuesday’s live blog:
8:27pm Al Jazeera correspondent in Tahrir Square says that people are erecting tent, bringing in blankets, food is being distributed, either for free or at discounted prices, music is being played – so people are expecting to be here for as long as it takes.
Footage of scenes from today, via Al Jazeera producers:
And, from Mona Eltahawy on Democracy Now today below… I have been following Eltahawy’s writing from before the protests in Tunisia and Egypt erupted. She has just been amazing throughout, but if you have the time, go back and read some of her writings and interviews from even before at monaeltahawy.com. Especially this piece which I highlighted in December: “Let me, a Muslim feminist, confuse you”. Eltahawy is extremely eloquent and brings a perspective that is largely missing elsewhere in the Western media.
Here’s Mona on Democracy Now:
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