SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Homeland Security Shuts Down 'Intelligence' Reports on Journalists:
The acting secretary of homeland security said on Friday that he had shut down an intelligence examination of the work of reporters covering the government's response to protests in Portland, Ore., beginning an investigation into what he suggested was an infringement on First Amendment rights.
[...] The acting secretary, Chad F. Wolf, "is committed to ensuring that all D.H.S. personnel uphold the principles of professionalism, impartiality and respect for civil rights and civil liberties, particularly as it relates to the exercise of First Amendment rights," said Alexei Woltornist, the department's spokesman.
The intelligence office issued three "open-source intelligence reports" in the past week that summarized the Twitter posts of a Times reporter and the editor in chief for the blog Lawfare, noting that they had published leaked unclassified documents.
Mr. Wolf ordered the intelligence arm to "immediately discontinue collecting information involving members of the press" once he found out about the practice, Mr. Woltornist said.
[...] "The Department of Homeland Security has acknowledged that its intelligence reporting system, designed to combat terrorism, has instead been misused to target journalists who were reporting on the controversial activities of federal law enforcement officers," she said in a statement. "It is imperative that D.H.S.'s investigation determines how this happened and ensures it does not happen again."
[...] "If you're allowed to do this, what else are you allowed to do? If you're allowed to keep tabs on and file reports about my social media," he added, "are you allowed to gather all the other public record material that exists about me and create a dossier?"
The American Civil Liberties Union denounced the agency's actions on Friday, saying they were part of a larger pattern.
"Under Wolf's leadership, D.H.S. was caught just last year unconstitutionally targeting and building dossiers on journalists reporting on conditions at the border," the group's senior legislative counsel, Neema Signh Guliani, said in a statement. "For weeks, D.H.S. agents have been deliberately and brutally attacking journalists covering the Portland protests. And documents show that D.H.S. intelligence arm appears to be claiming authority it does not have. This administration's assault on the First Amendment continues to escalate."
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday August 03 2020, @09:41PM (7 children)
And these are the folks who want us to trust them to regulate online speech....
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 04 2020, @12:36AM (4 children)
I'd trust them more than who the last administration hired to regulate online speech. [catbox.moe]
The Electronic Frontier Foundation set it up. If you asked the EFF to help get the word out, you became a target. They would scan through your social media history to find something to get you fired for, or you would get #metoo'd [ibiblio.org].
It wasn't only the USA doing this. [catbox.moe]
And they deliberately used the World Jewish Congress [hiddenmysteries.org] (which is an organized crime ring [hiddenmysteries.org] that favors Russia over the United States [hiddenmysteries.org]) as frontmen so that they could tell their security agencies to be on the lookout for any white supremacists talking about "The Jews" and shut them down. This is illegal in both the USA and Britain, but they did it anyways.
And if that wasn't enough, British agents [foundationcenter.org] operating inside the White House [georgetown.edu] took over the Anti-Defamation League [timesofisrael.com], gave it away to their Saudi and Qatari partners [catbox.moe], and used it for propaganda [knowyourmeme.com] against Britain's political enemies (i.e., Americans).
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 04 2020, @12:42AM (3 children)
Alex Jones, Is that you?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday August 04 2020, @03:31AM (2 children)
I don't think Alex Jones is stupid enough to post a link to a site called "The HiddenMysteries.org" and expect another adult to take him seri
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday August 04 2020, @03:32AM
*seriously.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 04 2020, @06:04AM
Yeah, you're probably right. It was probably one of those "crisis actors" from Sandy Hook [wikipedia.org]. They still need to make money and there hasn't been a mass shooting in weeks!
(Score: 1, Troll) by shortscreen on Tuesday August 04 2020, @12:22PM (1 child)
That's Ronnie's line.
It's the virtue signaling crowd that want it to be regulated at all, and by corporations themselves.
Government bad, corporations good? Are you turning Republican? Maybe you should change your name to RipePrimate.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Aegis on Tuesday August 04 2020, @02:34PM
I'm not the one trying to repeal Section 230 protections for websites...