May 11, 2012
The uproar regarding Google’s Wi-Fi data collection - which at one point used Street View cars to collect unencrypted wireless traffic - has left many wondering how the company escaped heavy penalties from the FCC and why the agency censored its report on the search giant’s activities.
May 9, 2012
- A recently released background check Steve Jobs submitted to in 1991 covers a range of potential security clearance red flags: past drug use (marijauna, LSD), his character (“dishonest”) and close relatives living in communist-controlled countries (none).
An FBI file on the founder of Apple Computers and Pixar Films, consisting primarily of a background check for a White House appointment to the President’s Export Council, was released to MuckRock last week.
May 2, 2012
- Reports by a specially-tasked agency looking for fraud in Afghanistan reveal allegations ranging from simple pay-to-play bribery schemes to concerns about whether a security contractor paid the Taliban to not attack U.S. forces and kill a rival.
In most cases, however, the investigations went nowhere. According to the heavily redacted reports, the situation in Afghanistan is often too chaotic - and the actors too transient - for Special Inspector General for Afganistan Reconstruction (SIGAR...
April 26, 2012
In a reflective piece of fiction set after the War in Iraq concludes, then-Major General David A. Fastabend outlines a strategy for victory: He said the United States needed bold, decisive moves, a focus on local reconciliation and, perhaps most controversially, a willingness to cut deals with insurgent organizations.
Fastabend's writing, dramatically titled How All This Ends: It’s Fourth and Long, Go Deep, has become a work of fiction not only hidden from the public but...
April 25, 2012
On May 3, 2011, Aaron Swartz filed a request for "photos or videos from the 2011 operation to capture or kill Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan". On Jan. 9, his request was denied.
The reason was expected to be that they were exempted from disclosure. Instead, the Defense Department...
April 17, 2012
Six months after what was probably the worst Monday of all time for two General Services Administration employees and the symbol du jour of broken government, documents requested by Jason Smathers have shed light on a restroom disaster deemed the result of an aging plumbing system and human error.
When the exploding toilet, which injured GSA two employees in Washington, D.C., few details beyond the fact that the injuries were...
March 20, 2012
While M.I.A. may yet face a steep fine for extending her middle-finger during last month’s Super Bowl half-time show, written complaints fielded by the Federal Communications Commission about the performance numbered less than 200.
The complaints came mostly from parents, who expressed “utter disgust” at the singer’s antics in front of an estimated 110 million viewers.
Broadcaster NBC, the National Football League and headliner Madonna had all been under scrutiny leading up to the...
March 5, 2012
A recent FOIA request to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for "manuals, documents or other written guidance used to access or analyze data gathered by programs developed or deployed by Carrier IQ" was met with a telling denial. In it, the FBI stated it did have responsive documents - but they were exempt under a provision that covers materials that, if disclosed, might reasonably interfere with an ongoing investigation.
Carrier IQ came under fire after a...