How Spy Agency Contractors Have Already Abused Their Power

[xchrom]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/174741/how-spy-agency-contractors-have-already-abused-their-power#axzz2W8PyByq9

“I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone, from you, or your accountant, to a federal judge, to even the president if I had a personal email.”?—Edward Snowden, Booz Allen Hamilton whistleblower, during his interview with The Guardian.

Could the sprawling surveillance state enable government or its legion of private contractors to abuse their technology and spy upon domestic political targets or judges?

This is not a far off possibility. Two years ago, a batch of stolen e-mails revealed a plot by a set of three defense contractors (Palantir Technologies, Berico Technologies and HBGary Federal) to target activists, reporters, labor unions and political organizations. The plans— one concocted in concert with lawyers for the US Chamber of Commerce to sabotage left-leaning critics, like the Center for American Progress and the SEIU, and a separate proposal to “combat” WikiLeaks and its supporters, including Glenn Greenwald, on behalf of Bank of America— fell apart after reports of their existence were published online. But the episode serves as a reminder that the expanding spy industry could use its government-backed cybertools to harm ordinary Americans and political dissident groups.

The episode also shows that Greenwald, who helped Snowden expose massive spying efforts in the United States, had been targetted by spy agency contractors in the past for supporting whistleblowers and WikiLeaks.



Read more: How Spy Agency Contractors Have Already Abused Their Power | The Nation http://www.thenation.com/blog/174741/how-spy-agency-contractors-have-already-abused-their-power#ixzz2WCCjoQ4m
Follow us: @thenation on Twitter | TheNationMagazine on Facebook

[Downwinder]

1. NSA employees use data mining systems to spy on wives, ex-spouses

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11355348

[xchrom]

2. +1