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French President François Hollande says he spoke with President Barack Obama about revelations of U.S. eavesdropping on French leaders, and that Obama reiterated promises to stop spying tactics considered “unacceptable between allies.” Hollande said in a statement that the two spoke by telephone Wednesday after the release of WikiLeaks documents about NSA intercepts of conversations involving Hollande and his two predecessors between 2006 and 2012. Obama made a similar pledge after Edward Snowden revealed the extent of NSA surveillance powers in 2013. Obama and Hollande discussed “the principles that should govern relations between allies in the domain of intelligence,” the...

President Barack Obama is aiming to show unity with Western allies on global challenges during an overnight trip to Germany, especially Chancellor Angela Merkel amid enduring anti-Americanism in her country over U.S. spying programs. Obama and Merkel plan to open his visit Sunday with a public display of friendliness, delivering remarks about the U.S.-German alliance before taking a walk through the picturesque alpine village of Kruen to sample the Bavarian food and sights. Then the two plan to meet privately at the nearby site of the two-day summit of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations to coordinate their agenda...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Saturday that Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul is “wrong” on his efforts to end post-Sept. 11 surveillance laws used against suspected spies and terrorists. Bush, a likely GOP presidential candidate in 2016, called for the reauthorization of the Patriot Act enacted under the presidency of his brother George W. Bush. “What I admire most about my brother was he kept us safe,” Jeb Bush said at a Tennessee Republican Party fundraiser. “And I believe people will respect him for a long time because of that.” […] Bush told reporters before the event that he...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Friday that the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone records should continue and the Patriot Act should be renewed in its current form. The potential 2016 Republican presidential contender said he doesn’t see the government's collection of phone records as an overreach. A federal appeals court has ruled the practice is illegal because Congress didn’t authorize it. […] Christie said he believes Congress can provide “appropriate oversight” of the program. …

A federal court has decided that the National Security Agency’s (NSA) bulk, warrantless collection of millions of Americans’ phone records is illegal. The decision from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday represents the second major court victory for opponents of the NSA, after a lower court decision called the program nearly unconstitutional six months ago. The phone records program “exceeds the scope of what Congress has authorized,” Judge Gerard Lynch wrote on behalf of the three-judge panel. The court did not examine the constitutionality of the surveillance program.

It was obvious from its construction speed just how important the new site in Bavaria was to the Americans. Only 4½ months after it was begun, the new surveillance-proof building at the Mangfall Kaserne in Bad Aibling was finished. The structure had a metal exterior and no windows, which led to its derogatory nickname among members of the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), the German foreign intelligence agency: The “tin can.” The construction project was an expression of an especially close and trusting cooperation between the American National Security Agency (NSA) and the BND. Bad Aibling had formerly been a base for US...

So! You have successfully purchased an Apple Watch, or you’re interested in how the setup process works. Either way, you are to be congratulated for your initiative and willingness to take a risk on a brand new platform, one that lives on your wrist and makes your wrist part of how you live. Also, it has a really great Mickey Mouse watch face. We’re here to help. This article explains the major steps you will need to go through to set up and understand your new Apple Watch. It is virtually identical for all versions of the watch, from the...

President Barack Obama says Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff will visit Washington this summer, nearly two years after she canceled a similar trip to protest U.S. spy programs. Her visit is set for June 30. Rousseff canceled a state visit to the U.S. in the fall of 2013 to protest an American spy program that targeted Brazil's government and citizens.

French lawmakers on Wednesday (1 April) discussed an intelligence bill that aims to give sweeping surveillance powers to internal security agencies and the prime minister’s office. Announced a day after the museum terrorist attacks in Tunis, the bill allows agencies attached to the economy, defense and interior ministries to spy on people by hacking their computers or mobile phones without the need for a warrant.Anyone suspected of terrorism or terrorism links, even incidentally, could be a target. Prime minister Manuel Valls has said the bill is needed to detect possible terrorist activities in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre...

The European Commission has warned EU citizens that they should close their Facebook accounts if they want to keep information private from US security services, finding that current Safe Harbour legislation does not protect citizen’s data. The comments were made by EC attorney Bernhard Schima in a case brought by privacy campaigner Maximilian Schrems, looking at whether the data of EU citizens should be considered safe if sent to the US in a post-Snowden revelation landscape. “You might consider closing your Facebook account, if you have one,” Schima told attorney general Yves Bot in a hearing of the case at...

Journalist Glenn Greenwald reported on Thursday that the USA told the German government it would cut off intelligence sharing if the country offered NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden asylum. Writing at The Intercept, Greenwald said he was told of the threats by Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel after an award ceremony in Homburg on Sunday, where the journalist received the Siebenpfeiffer journalism prize. “They told us they would stop notifying us of plots and other intelligence matters,” Gabriel said. “If the threat were carried out, the Americans would literally allow the German population to remain vulnerable to a brewing attack… by withholding...

Awkward. Members of the House Intelligence Committee were not briefed on the plans the White House announced today for a new cyber integration center modeled on the National Counterterrorism Center, a source with knowledge of the discussions told POLITICO. And they’re not happy about it. The Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center, projected to have a staff of 50 when it is fully operational next year, is funded by a $35 million line item in the “black budget” request for intelligence funding. Representatives from the Office of the Director for National Intelligence briefed committee members on the budget last week,

A federal judge on Tuesday sided with the government in a lawsuit alleging the National Security Agency is illegally engaging in the bulk collection of Internet and telephone records in the hunt for potential terrorists. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland said the plaintiffs in the case—AT&T customers—had not shown that all AT&T customers’ Internet communications were currently the subject of a “dragnet seizure and search program, controlled by or at the direction of the Government,” and they therefore did not have standing to file a lawsuit under the Fourth Amendment, which protects against warrantless searches and seizures. White...

British spies have warned the government they may cut off ties with their German counterparts over a parliamentary inquiry into spying by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). Focus magazine reported on Thursday that top spies at Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) are concerned that the Bundestag’s (German parliament) inquiry into the NSA could uncover secrets about how they cooperate with their German allies. Gerhard Schindler, head of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), reportedly told the leaders of the inquiry about the increased tension with his British colleagues on Wednesday evening. “Without information from British signals intelligence, we would...

A controversial Spanish former magistrate slammed Google in Geneva for handing over emails from Wikileaks staff to the FBI without informing the whistleblowing website. At a press conference in the Swiss city on Monday, Baltasar Garzón, who heads the legal team working for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, accused the American internet search engine of an “attack on journalism” by providing the emails of three Wikileaks journalists to the U.S law enforcement agency. He told the Geneva Press Club that the staff members had only been informed in December that the contents of the accounts had been handed over to federal...

The Wall Street Journal has reported that the Justice Department has been building a database which tracks vehicles across the United States. The license-plate tracking program reportedly reads plates and tracks cars on major highways across the U.S. The program’s high-tech cameras also reportedly take photos of drivers and passengers that are clear enough to identify people. The database was started in 2008 by the DEA to monitor drug traffickers along the Mexican border. It has since expanded, with more and more law enforcement agencies using it for non-drug-related reasons. Justice Department officials tells Fox News that the feds limit...

* At least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies now have access to radar devices that enable them to effectively see into people's homes * The technology has been available for more than two years, but only come to light during a federal appeals court hearing in Denver last month * The use of the technology adds to growing concerns about government surveillance and also raises legal and privacy issuesAt least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies now have access to radar devices that enable them to effectively see into people’s homes and determine if anyone is inside. Although the FBI, U.S....

The NSA's mass surveillance is just the beginning. Documents from Edward Snowden show that the intelligence agency is arming America for future digital wars -- a struggle for control of the Internet that is already well underway. Normally, internship applicants need to have polished resumes, with volunteer work on social projects considered a plus. But at Politerain, the job posting calls for candidates with significantly different skill sets. We are, the ad says, "looking for interns who want to break things." Politerain is not a project associated with a conventional company. It is run by a US government intelligence...

The bullying of the nation’s physicians continues apace, now turning to penalizing doctors who don’t meet the administration’s one-size-fits-all approach to medical records. Bruce Japsen of Forbes reports: More than 250,000 physicians and other health professionals are being notified as early as today that their payments from Medicare and Medicaid will be cut because they aren’t adequately using electronic health records in their practices, the Obama administration confirmed. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, known as CMS, is telling about 257,000 eligible medical care providers who are largely physicians that they will be paid 1 percent less in reimbursement...

Germany is at the heart of moves to limit the power of US web companies and their involvement in surveillance as American voices cry foul. Günther Oettinger, European Commissioner for the Digital Economy, said on Tuesday evening that the EU is not trying to smash Google apart in response to open letters from US politicians. Although a years-long competition probe into Google’s activities in areas like maps and price comparisons as well as hotel and restaurant reviews might end by imposing restrictions on the search giant, these would be “proportionate and targeted,” Oettinger said. And he told economic journalist Roland...