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Imagine if you\\\'re not connected to the internet, yet your computer is still vulnerable in being spied on: That is the latest leak by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden: that the US National Security Agency (NSA) used secret technology to spy on computers that were not even connected to the internet. In this edition of the debate, we\\\'ll discuss how this takes spying on ordinary citizens to a whole new level, even though NSA claims targets included the Chinese and Russian military as well as drug cartels. We\\\'ll also further disclose how this violates privacy laws, not to mention the US constitution.

Alex talks with GCN radio host and privacy activist Katherine Albrecht. She has authored and co-authored six books, including the award-winning bestseller Spychips: How major corporations and government plan to track your every move with RFID and The Spychips Threat: Why Christians should resist RFID and electronic surveillance. She is the Director of CASPIAN Consumer Privacy (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering), an 18,000-member grass-roots organization.

She has authored and co-authored six books, including the award-winning bestseller Spychips: How major corporations and government plan to track your every move with RFID and The Spychips Threat: Why Christians should resist RFID and electronic surveillance. She is the Director of CASPIAN Consumer Privacy (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering), an 18,000-member grass-roots organization.

Last year, the UK government introduced full body scanners that are now in use in all major airports including Heathrow and Manchester. The rapid introduction of these scanners has caused fury amongst child protection and privacy campaigners and has particularly distressed the Muslim population. How should Muslims respond to airport body scanners?

[17 June 2012] British government tracking Internet users - English The British government has proposed legislation that will give blank cheques to Internet and phone firms to pay them to track everyone's E-Mail, Twitter, Facebook and other Internet usage. It is going to cost hundreds of millions of pounds for a massive invasion of people's privacy along with breaching civil rights of almost every citizen in the country and presumably anyone from abroad who communicates with them. The legislation is supposed to catch terrorists before they terrorize, that is of course the excuse! Spain was bailed out during the week at the cost of one hundred billion euros which is around 80 billion pounds and 125 billion dollars. "It is impossible to speak a sentence about the Euro Zone without the words "crisis" and "bail out" in it," said George Galloway. On Sunday, Greeks went to the polls. "If the left wing coalition wins then that would be next week's crisis in the Euro Zone," Galloway added.

California: Class action lawsuits have been filed against Google and Yahoo for intercepting and scanning e-mails from people who don't even have accounts with these companies. The purpose of these automated scans is to find words and phrases that can be used to tailor advertising that will be of interest to the users. Google says that humans do not read the emails

France says it cannot accept a partner like the US invading its privacy. This after new revelations that the US National Security Agency secretly Collected over 70 million recordings of French phone data in just 30 days, between late 2012 and early 2013. The extent and scope of the US spying scandal is raising questions on civil rights, trust between nations and accountability, all of which we\'ll be addressing on this edition of The Debate.

In an awaited address by Americans, US President Barack Obama talked about reforms that he recommends for the spying agency the National Security Agency (NSA). Of course his speech has come as a reaction to uproar by Americans and much of the world. US whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed the extent of America\'s snooping agency involvement in eavesdropping on the private lives of regular Americans to foreign heads of state. Stay with us as we take a look at just what these alleged reforms means

Alex talks with GCN radio host and privacy activist Katherine Albrecht. She has authored and co-authored six books, including the award-winning bestseller Spychips: How major corporations and government plan to track your every move with RFID and The Spychips Threat: Why Christians should resist RFID and electronic surveillance. She is the Director of CASPIAN Consumer Privacy (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering), an 18,000-member grass-roots organization.

13-Investigates explains how your cell phone can be secretly hijacked and used against you - and how to protect yourself.

How RFID works

privacy of millions of Americans blows the whistle on AT and T illegal wiretapping and internet surveillance tactics He is interviewed by Keith Olbermann of MSNBC The US government has used the tragic events of 911 as a pretext for spying on millions of Americans including YOU

Do you have a Facebook Do you use it regularly Do you think what happens in Facebook stays in Facebook

You definitely have to and need to watch this presentation. The next time you give up your leased copier machine, or for that matter sell your existing machine, have your computer technician pull the hard drive from it and replace before it is trucked away. Watch this presentation and you will understand why.

Hundreds of thousands of Protesters gathered in Tahrir Square in another Friday Demonstration dubbed " saving democracy and handing over power", the days demonstration comes after the army-backed government proposed a supra-constitutional document which entailed privileges to the army regarding the privacy of its budget as well as stating that the army is protector of constitutional legitimacy, a clause many felt was paving the way for the army's intervention in state affairs even after handing power to a civilian government. A large number of Egypt's politcal forces from far left to right participated in the demonstration but the overwhelming majority belonged to islamic factions, most prominently the Muslim brotherhood who said that they will continue adding pressure on the military council till the proposed constitutional document is withdrawn and specific dates of the transition of power to a civilian government is set in place for no later than mid 2012. Another main demand for protesters was the immediate end to military trials for civilians. over 15,000 civilians have been trailed and are currently serving time in harsh military prisons, which is what propelled activists to launch a large campaign against these military tribunals that have been repeatedly used against those who oppose the ruling military council's political decisions. many of those in the square felt that the there was a sense of unity among protesters despite different political affiliations, they criticized the military council's performance during the transitional period which they felt was extremely poor with ordinary egyptians still feeling economic difficulties and suffering from security conditions which have not been restored to normal since police were forced to withdraw off the streets in late january. The proposal of the Supra-Constitutional document drove out hundreds of thousands of egyptians in protest in a seen reminiscent of the early days of the revolution and they say they will not leave till the document is withdrawn and a clear timetable to the transition of power is issued.

Microsoft X-Box Kinect games device has a video camera and a microphone that records speech. Microsoft has stated that users should not expect any level of privacy concerning your use of the live communication features," and the company "may access or disclose information about you, including the content of your communications.

[06 July 2012] Comment with George Galloway: Arafat poisoned by polonium (I) - English Scientists of a Swiss institute say they have evidence that former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned with polonium. According to the findings of laboratory research conducted at the Institute de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland, Arafat was poisoned by polonium, a rare, highly radioactive element, al-Jazeera reported on Tuesday. "I can confirm that we measured an unexplained, elevated amount of unsupported polonium-210 in the belongings of Mr. Arafat that contained stains of biological fluids," said Dr. Francois Bochud, the director of the institute. Bochud stated that the tests focused on biological samples taken from his belongings, which were given to his wife Suha Arafat by the hospital in Paris where he died. "If (Suha Arafat) really wants to know what happened to her husband (we need) to find a sample -- I mean, an exhumation... should provide us with a sample that should have a very high quantity of polonium if he was poisoned," he added. Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat died on November 11, 2004, following several weeks of medical treatment. At the time, French officials refused to reveal the exact cause of his death on grounds of privacy laws, fueling rumors that the Mossad had poisoned him with thallium, another radioactive element.

President Obama says US citizens are free to complain about what opponents call a big-brother style surveillance program, but that it\\\'s necessary to ward off terrorist attacks. Do encroachments on privacy become acceptable, if according to Obama, they\\\'re modest? Is PRISM only the next in a chain of secret US spying programs that activists say are pushing the country ever closer to a police state?

Documents previously provided by Edward Snowden show that Microsoft has worked closely with the NSA and FBI to make sure that everyone using its systems can be spied upon

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah lauded on Monday the deployment of security forces in the southern suburbs of Beirut (Dahiyeh) as a positive step hoping the State would bear its responsibilities and duties towards all Lebanese regions. Sayyed Nasrallah In a televised speech broadcast at Al-Manar TV, Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that Hezbollah had contacted the state since the explosion took place in Dahiyeh, noting that the state said it needs time to carry out its responsibilities and not because we have failed, and the problems that happened were normal and anticipated when we endured responsibility for security . Hezbollah S.G. said Hezbollah took serious responsibility since August 15 when Ruweis attack took place because of a security vacuum in the country and statements were issued rejecting autonomous security. “We also reject autonomous security and this has never been part of our agenda and we did not practice it and when we took security measures that was because we had to prevent the entry of booby-trapped cars.” “Some went on to accuse Hezbollah of practicing autonomous security as part of our ‘statelet’, but today’s deployment refuted their claims because Hezbollah would have rejected this measure if their claims were true. We had asked the official bodies to take over the reins from the outset,” His eminence said. Sayyed Nasrallah called on all Dahiyeh residents and passers-by to show the highest levels of cooperation, respect, acceptance and responsiveness to the security measures and provide all the assistance and support needed to help the security forces perform their mission. As he assured that the State is solely responsible and must definitely extend its authority in all regions, Sayyed Nasrallah hoped these security forces and state authorities will shoulder their full responsibility and assume all the intelligence and preventative missions as well. “Only the state is responsible for security in all regions and we will leave any point to which the state might send forces. Today it happened in Dahiyeh and tomorrow it might happen in Baalbek and we welcome any efforts that contribute to the success of the mission.” Some People feels Delighted with Killing of People in Dahiyeh His eminence addressed some sides that condemned Hezbollah’s measures in Dahiyeh, saying: “I feel that those people are delighted with the killing of people in Dahiyeh, Tripoli and elsewhere, it is regrettable that hostility reached to that level of thinking.” Ruweis attackSayyed Nasrallah thanked the Palestinian factions and especially the families of martyr Mohammad Samrawi over their noble stance on the regrettable incident in Burj al-Barajneh. On the investigations after Ruweis attack took place, Sayyed Nasrallah said: “As promised, we reached decisive results concerning the perpetrators of Ruweis attack. It’s a Takfiri party that is affiliated with the Syrian opposition and which is based the Syrian territories, and the same results were reached by local security apparatuses. All the details were passed on to the relevant authorities, which must take the necessary measures, especially against the perpetrators who are inside Lebanon.” Chemical Weapons Campaign against Hezbollah “Funny” The S.G. denied accusations that the Syrian government handed chemical weapons to Hezbollah and said that this accusation is funny. “The U.S. defense secretary said after reaching an agreement with Russia that chemical weapons should not be transferred to Hezbollah and on the next day some Syrian Coalition officials claimed that the Syrian government has transferred chemical arms to Hezbollah and some officials claimed that we have received a ton of chemical agents,” his eminence said. “It’s funny, it’s not like transporting wheat or flour. Unfortunately, some parties in Lebanon launched a media campaign and said they fear that the chemical weapons might be transferred to Hezbollah,” Sayyed Nasrallah noted, saying he understands the backgrounds of these serious accusations which have serious repercussions on Lebanon, and stressed that “Hezbollah did not ask our brothers in Syria to transfer such weapons and will not do in the future.” “Some friends advised me not to comment on these claims as part of psychological war against enemies, but I rejected that because Hezbollah has religious taboos with the use of such weapons and using this as psychological warfare is not an option,” S. Nasrallah added. Some Invented Mock Battle in Zahle On the scuffle that erupted over claims Hezbollah was installing a telecom network in Zahle, Sayyed Nasrallah denied these claims saying Hezbollah has never sought to install such network in Zahle. “This does not exist today and will not exist in the future. The Bekaa and Baalbek are part of the battle with the enemy and we need to have communications with the Baalbek-Hermel region. Years ago, we extended a cable at the outskirts of the city of Zahle and not inside it, it’s a cable for connecting lines. What happened few days ago was that Hezbollah young men were doing maintenance for the cable.” Unfortunately, the S.G. said, some parties were launching a mock battle to what happened in Zahle and were seeking stunts and illusionary heroism. “The head of one of March 14 parties said that Hezbollah’s wired telecom network breaches the privacy of people. I hope that he asks any security official to explain to him about our network which is incapable of spying on anyone.” Let\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Discuss Hezbollah Intervention in Syria Concerning the national dialogue, Sayyed Nasrallah said Hezbollah supported Speaker Nabih Berri’s initiative, “but we have heard calls for boycotting and setting conditions for dialogue. When the national dialogue table was held the other team disrupted it and required the resignation of Mikati in order to return to it and the government’s resignation they did not return to dialogue.” He pointed out that Hezbollah will participate in the dialogue called for by the Lebanese President, and said: “Let’s discuss the intervention in Syria, and who did so. Isn’t it considered intervention the writing of speeches and statements urging [US President Barack] Obama to launch a military attack on Syria which if it had taken place would have serious repercussions on the world and especially Lebanon? We want to discuss on the table whichever is the most dangerous, appealing to Obama to intervene in Syria or what our young people are doing in Syria?” referring to former PM Fuad Saniora’s op-ed published by the Foreign Policy magazine recently. “Those who are obstructing dialogue in Lebanon are well-known and we are willing to participate in the dialogue regardless of who would take part or not.” Gov\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t Representation = Parties\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' Political Weight On the issue of the delayed formation of the Lebanese government, Sayyed Nasrallah said that the interest of the country requires that March 14 stop stalling and form a national unity government based on real political weight of each party and urged them to stop betting on regional developments. “Despite Lebanese consensus on the need to form a government, it has yet to be formed because from the first moment Tammam Salam was designated as PM, Al-Mustaqbal Party and some of its allies said they don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t want the participation of Hezbollah in the government,” S. Nasrallah said, noting “they said they accept the participation of Hezbollah on two conditions: no tripartite formula, no to the guaranteeing one-third. However, we set one condition overtly and clearly that each political party should be represented according to the size of its Deputies.” “We reject the three-8s (8-8-8) formula because it’s unrealistic. The PM-designate is part of March 14 coalition and the minister whom he will nominate would be committed to his political decision, that means March 14 will have 10 ministers not 8.” Betting on Military Option in Syria Futile Hezbollah leader said some Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia, are insisting on accusing Hezbollah of occupying Syria and building on this to say that what is happening in Syria is not a conflict of countries, projects and nations, but rather a conflict against an “occupation force” which the Arab States should help to confront. And on such accusation they took retaliatory steps against Hezbollah. “In this context, March 14’s Veto on the participation of Hezbollah is Saudi and punishing the Lebanese in the Gulf is under the title of punishing Hezbollah.” “Is it reasonable to believe that Hezbollah has the ability to occupy Syria!” his eminence wondered, announcing that Hezbollah’s contribution with the Syrian army is modest. “Isn’t Syria occupied by the tens of thousands of fighters you brought from all countries? And today the Syrian Coalition began to raise the voice against them.” [Turkish President Abdullah] Gul was told that the Pakistani scenario will be repeated in Turkey because of its intervention in Syria, he said. Sayyed Nasrallah called upon Saudi Arabia, Gulf States and Turkey to review their positions on what is happening in Syria, saying “betting on the military option in Syria is futile.” “The salvation of Syria and the peoples of the region will be only with the political solution. The continuation of fighting in Syria will not lead to the goals you are looking for.” Criminalizing Hezbollah in Bahrain Political Hezbollah, BahrainConcerning the Bahraini crisis, the Secretary General said Bahrain regime’s insistence on criminalizing communicating with Hezbollah is a political position. “We are not surprised by the position of the Government of Bahrain in describing Hezbollah as terrorists. We supported the peaceful revolution in the Gulf country and then Manama expelled the Lebanese living there!” While insuring that the decision of the Bahraini opposition is internal and independent, Sayyed Nasrallah said Iran does not interfere in the course of the situation in Bahrain, urging Muslim scholars and states to react to confront repression in Bahrain as mosques are being destroyed and clergy men are forced in prisons. Credit: LitleButerfli

French President François Hollande has demanded answers from US President Barack Obama about the National Security Agency\'s spying on French citizens. In a statement, Hollande also expressed his deep disapproval of Washington\'s eavesdropping on millions of French people\'s phone calls. Hollande said spying activities between allies are not acceptable because it is a violation of French citizens\' privacy. Meanwhile the US says some claims by the French press about its information gathering are distorted. Earlier, the US State Department announced that it does not want to see its ties with France damaged due to the issue.

And the winners are, Alaska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Texas and Virginia. Out of 25 applicants these six states were named by federal officials to develop test sites for drones, withthe goal of sharing the skies with commercial aircrafts by the end of 2015, however technical hurdles and privacy concerns remain, in a program that\\\'s already a year behind schedule. Congress is currently in recess but its member sand other politicians had been lobbying intensely to bring the work to their states.

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