Author: Mandy Nagy

NSA chief Gen. Keith Alexander will testify today at a previously scheduled Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on enduring cybersecurity threats.  He is expected to face questions during the hearing concerning the recent leaks of details into the NSA's phone surveillance activities. You can follow livestream video coverage beginning at 2pm EST; follow this post for updates. [UPDATE: The feed has been removed, as the hearing has ended.] Highlights from the hearing below:   There were other very interesting exchanges between several Senators and Gen. Alexander, most notably with Senators Durbin, Collins and Merkley.  You can listen to those audio clips at NPR. Here's what people were saying on Twitter...

The ACLU has just filed a lawsuit challenging several in the Obama administration over its indiscriminate scooping up of phone records. From the ACLU's website: In the wake of the past week's revelations about the NSA's unprecedented mass surveillance of phone calls, today the ACLU filed a...

In the wake of the recent realization that the National Security Agency is creeping on all of us, Anonymous is now touting a trove of documents that the hacker collective says is proof that the NSA is spying on citizens of over 35 different countries. ...

Goal: Pass it at any cost?...

If you happened to read my prior post, you're aware by now that today was Day One in the Trial of Accused Wikileaker Bradley Manning.  One of the sites that has been reporting on the trial and the ongoing protests by supporters of Bradley Manning is Russia Today.  The site has long offered coverage that is, shall we say, favorable to Manning and Wikileaks. That apparently doesn't sit well with some, most notably Antileaks, an outfit that is opposed to Wikileaks. Last year, Antileaks launched a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack on Wikileaks' website in retaliation for Julian Assange's attempt at escaping potential prosecution by retaining asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy.  They also targeted Russia Today at the time for its coverage of Wikileaks.  And that in turn prompted a skirmish between Antileaks and other hackers claiming association to Anonymous. Now that the Manning trial has begun, Antileaks is back.  And today they took aim again at Russia Today. https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/341671645678817280 https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/341675340042747904 https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/341677051146825728 https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/341680757317701633 https://twitter.com/YourAnonNews/status/341680601906171904 https://twitter.com/AnonOpsLegion/status/341627470870630401

The alleged Fort Hood shooter will be representing himself in court, despite repeated warnings about the disadvantages of doing so from the military judge who issued the ruling today. From the Associated Press: The Army psychiatrist charged in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage will represent himself...

US Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) passed away this morning. From NorthJersey.com (The Record): Frank R. Lautenberg, who rose from a poor Paterson boyhood to become a multimillionaire businessman and New Jersey’s longest-serving U.S. senator, died  Monday at 89 of viral pneumonia, his office said. The oldest member of...

Darrell Issa says that the IRS targeting of conservatives was coordinated out of the Washington headquarters office and that he and other lawmakers are getting the proof. From CBS News: House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., citing the testimony of IRS employees who spoke to his...