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NSA Caught With The Cookies
zardo writes "The associated press is reporting that the NSA is putting cookies on visiting computers. Apparently it is unlawful for the government to put anything but a session cookie out unless it's expressed in the site's privacy policy." From the article: "Don Weber, an NSA spokesman, said in a statement Wednesday that the cookie use resulted from a recent software upgrade. Normally, the site uses temporary, permissible cookies that are automatically deleted when users close their Web browsers, he said, but the software in use shipped with persistent cookies already on. ... In a 2003 memo, the White House's Office of Management and Budget prohibits federal agencies from using persistent cookies _ those that aren't automatically deleted right away _ unless there is a 'compelling need.' A senior official must sign off on any such use, and an agency that uses them must disclose and detail their use in its privacy policy."
There are other tricks. Did you notice that the CIA agents who did illegal things for former President Nixon were "former" CIA employees? When someone is discovered, he or she becomes a "former" employee. In that case, President Nixon was allowed to leave office, and was pardoned by the next president. The illegal acts were discovered only by accident.
A government that does anything in secret is not a secret government. Also, those who are willing to take a secret job are often amazingly psychologically unstable.
The U.S. government has decided that it can secretly force companies to help in surveillance. This means that companies in the U.S. cannot be trusted.
The problems caused by secret action are called "Blowback" by some in the U.S. government. Blowback is not seen as a bad thing, because if decreases the political stability in the world, which means that employees of U.S. government secret agencies will get raises and promotions. See the link to the book "Blowback" below.
Tips: Don't say "we", as in a U.S. citizen saying "we" kill Iraqis. When there is secrecy there is no "we". Don't think there is violence over oil. The violence is over who gets the profit from selling the oil. Oil is sold on the open market; the price is determined by the market. Before Saddam Hussein got some of the profit from selling Iraqi oil. Now many of the contracts involve citizens of the United States.
The following books show some of the history of the U.S. government's secret agencies, and help explain much of the underlying reasons for U.S. government violence in the Middle East. Often the secret agencies have acted for special interests and against the good of the people. For example, the CIA overthrew the democratically elected president, President Mossadegh, because he wanted his country to receive more of the profit from oil pumped from his country. The U.S. government's political interference eventually resulted in a violent revolution in Iran, and a determination by Iran to strike back.
Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America, and international terrorism by John K. Cooley, 2000, Third edition, Pluto Press, London, England and Sterling, Virginia, USA. Reviews: Powell's Barnes & Noble Amazon
Osama bin Laden is "the personification of blowback". You can read more about how the CIA created a political climate very supportive of Osama and his ideas in an article by Jane's, a very well-respected publication devoted to military issues. The article was published 3 days after the second World Trade Center bombings, on September 14, 2004: Why? An attempt to explain the unexplainable.
The CIA brought Arabs to the U.S. and trained them in terrorism. The rules by which al Qaeda operate seem to come from the CIA training.
Blowback: The costs and consequences of American empire by Chalmers Johnson, 2000, Metropolitan Books, New York, New York, USA. Also, there was a new edition in 2003 with a new introduction. Reviews: Powell's