Wednesday, 19 June 2013 04:06
Posted by Asad Naeem
WASHINGTON: Google said Tuesday it asked a special US court handling national security investigations for permission to publish the number of government requests for data to the Internet giant.The court filing in Washington came amid a firestorm of protests over revelations that the National Security Agency had accessed vast amounts of data in a surveillance program under the supervision of the special court, which operates in secret.Google said it already publishes in its "transparency report" data on requests from law enforcement and so-called National Security Letters from the FBI."However, greater transparency is needed, so today we have petitioned the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to allow us to publish aggregate numbers of national security requests, including FISA disclosures, separately," a Google spokesperson said."Lumping national security requests together with criminal requests -- as some companies have been permitted to do -- would be a backward step for our users."FISA refers to the ...
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WASHINGTON: Google said Tuesday it asked a special US court handling national security investigations for permission to publish the number of government requests for data to the Internet giant.The court filing in Washington came amid a firestorm of protests over revelations that the National Security Agency had accessed vast amounts of data in a surveillance program under the supervision of the special court, which operates in secret.Google said it already publishes in its "transparency report" data on requests from law enforcement and so-called National Security Letters from the FBI."However, greater transparency is needed, so today we have petitioned the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to allow us to publish aggregate numbers of national security requests, including FISA disclosures, separately," a Google spokesperson said."Lumping national security requests together with criminal requests -- as some companies have been permitted to do -- would be a backward step for our users."FISA refers to the ...
WASHINGTON: NASA announced a Grand Challenge on Tuesday to enlist government agencies, industry, academics and citizen astronomers in the hunt for asteroids that could cause massive destruction.The US space agency said the challenge would complement another recently announced project to use a robot to redirect an asteroid into the Moon's orbit so astronauts could visit the object and study it."NASA already is working to find asteroids that might be a threat to our planet, and ...
FORT MEADE: Lawyers for five men accused of planning the 9/11 attacks sought access Tuesday to confidential communications between the International Committee of the Red Cross and the men after they were held at CIA black sites.ICRC attorney Matthew MacLean urged a military judge to deny access to the records prepared for the US government, saying their release would hamper the organization's "neutral, impartial and independent" role in conflicts and regions around the world."The ICRC ...
WASHINGTON: The National Security Agency plans to reveal details about terror plots it says were thwarted by surveillance, part of an effort to assuage concern about is secret online snooping.In a rare move, the NSA wants to declassify what its director says were dozens of foiled plots, which could help justify its sweeping operations in the eyes of skeptics worried about the vast amount of data being scooped up.Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the powerful ...
ENNISKILLEN: Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin on Monday aired clashing views on Syria, but pledged to at least try to keep alive a frail and much-delayed effort to hold a Geneva peace conference.The US and Russian presidents faced off on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland, days after the White House signalled it would begin arming rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad, Moscow's top Arab ally.Putin and Obama did not try to disguise ...
MONTREAL: Montreal mayor Michael Applebaum was arrested Monday and will be questioned by the Canadian province's anti-corruption unit later in the day, said a source close to the investigation.His arrest comes amid a probe into several corruption scandals that have shaken Quebec's largest city for more than a year and that led the former mayor to resign in November.Quebec's anti-corruption squad in February raided Montreal city hall, asking employees to leave the building as they ...
MEXICO CITY: A 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Mexico early Sunday, so far without any casualties or damage reported, officials said.The quake struck just after midnight local time (0519 GMT), east of the city of Huitzuco, in Guerrero state, at a depth of about 30 miles (50 kilometers), according to Mexico's National Seismological Service and the US Geological Survey.The officials downgraded the tremor's magnitude from an initial report of 6.0 on the Richter scale.Although the quake ...
